ME Spoke ate yeu a oy ee 8-94 SRI, t nee de. : D SE Se é KITCHEN otetje uta LIBRARY INING ROOM VERANDA les PARLOR * AN IRREGULAR COUNTRY HOUSE—See Page 490. | A HELPING HAND af i COoF FOR J own AND fountrRy: AMERICAN HOME BOOK PRACTICAL AND SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION } CONCERNING | . AND LAWN; GARDEN AND ORCHARD; FIELD, BAR AND STABLE; APIARY AND FISH POND; WORKSHOP AND DAIRY; AND THE MANY IMPORTANT INTERESTS PERTAINING TO Domestic Economy aND-PPAMILY FLEALTH. — By LYMAN C? DRAPER, SECRETARY WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AND oe ab Wr ay°CROFFUT, rf 7 AUTHOR OF “THE HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT." ETC. _ INTRODUCTION BY HORACE GREELEY. i TWO HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS. ms n PUBLISHERS: MOORE, WILSTACH & MOORE, | 143 RACE STREET, CINCINNATI. * New York: 52 BLrecker SrReer. Ba 1870. ES He SOLO TO SUBSCRIBERS ONLY. te * R ee ts } 4 i ee Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by be: MOORE, WILSTACH & MOORE, rg In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern a District of Ohio. PREFACE. Tuts is peculiarly a volume for Working Men and Women—a class which, numbered technically, is very large, and in its broader signification includes all Americans. We need not apologize, in this age of books, for adding one to the catalogue; but we may tell the reader, briefly, how this one happened to be undertaken, and how we have been enabled to make it wider in its scope than any industrial work that has preceded it. During thirty-five years of rambling through the West and Southwest in quest of new materials for a series of biographies of such bold pioneers as Generals Grorae Rogers CiarKk, Kenton, SEVIER, Ropertson, SuMTER; Gov- ernor Suetpy; Boong, Brapy, and their heroic compeers, many valuable unpublished facts pertaining to farm culture and management, domestic econ- omy, and methods of preserving and restoring health, were learned from those whose experience had verified their value. Several manuscript collec- tions of curious statistics, useful recipes and practical experiments having, meantime, fallen into our hands, this work was suggested and begun. Cer- tain of its utility, our efforts, for the past five years, have been directed to a proper arrangement and digestion of the materials, and a completion of them so as to include the very latest discoveries in practical science, the most recent experiments in field-culture, stock-raising, fruit-growing, and subordinate branches of farming, and the last word concerning household management and health in the home circle. We have striven to make an honest and a useful book, as a contrast to certain ponderous volumes by which our rural people have been defrauded— volumes that are largely filled with turgid paid-for puffs of farming imple- ments. We have omitted most of the Latin equivalents for common names, feeling that, in pages for plain readers, constant interruption by a dead lan- guage would tend to confuse rather than enlighten. _ In one important particular, we believe this work differs conspicuously from all others. While our relation to it is chiefly editorial, yet in the agri- cultural chapters we have not only given the approved routine of farm operations, but have endeayored to cumulate experiments, and from their average results draw some approximate solution of those vexing problems of planting and harvesting, breeding and feeding, about which so many have dogmatized. One accurate experiment is worth a thousand theories. iv PREFACE. While we have been reasonably minute, we have left many simple opera- tions to the suggestion of the reader. A man who don't know enough to trundle a wheelbarrow, roll a log, or dig a post hole without being told, can never manage a farm. He had better hasten to engage in some other calling. The index is very full, directing the reader at once to any topic sought; while, still further to increase the ease of reference, we have adopted an alphabetical arrangement in such chapters as are susceptible of it, which will be found a convenient guide to each variety and subdivision. A cyclopedia like this, necessarily treating of so many subjects upon which hundreds of volumes and thousands of essays have been published, could not be prepared without citing many authorities. While we have not felt obliged to refer to the source of every suggestion, we have aimed to award ample credit to those of whose experiences we have availed ourselves. Prominent among our creditors stands the Press—especially the agricul- tural journals of America-—a faithful brotherhood of teachers that are doing more for the enlightenment and enduring welfare of tliis Republic than any other interest or institution, except the common school. It is pleasant to be able to add that our publishers, who have fully appre- ciated the demand for such a work from the first, have generously incurred every expense that could render it alike useful and attractive. As a result, it contains more matter, and is more profusely illustrated than any other book for the industrial classes ever published in America. With these few paragraphs of “preliminary egotism,” we submit ourselves to that sturdy usher, the Printing Press, for an introduction. To the thought- ‘ful Plowboy,- who meditates as he follows his team, and wonders at the - unceasing miracle of vegetable life in the earthy laboratory ; to the perplexed Planter, who strives to educe a method from the conflicting theories about cutting seed potatoes, preparing seed corn, drilling wheat, or sowing broad- cast; to the skillful Harvester, who studies how to get the most out of his crop this year, and increase it next year; to the thriving Farmer or Villager, who thinks of building; to the Stockbreeder, who asks how he may improve’ his herds, and the Dairyman who inquires if it pays to steam food; to the Gardener, the Fruitgrower, the Vinedresser, the Apiarian, the Sportsman; and last and most earnestly to the Mother of every family who is busy at’ home, presiding tenderly over all the human interests that center there, we’ come with cordial greeting, and extend A Hrnpine Hann. Manpison, Wisconsin, December 15, 1869. - “JABLE OF (ONTENTS, INTRODUCTORY ESSAY BY HORACE GREELEY. FIRST TRUTHS IN AGRICULTURE TREATMENT OF THE SOIL..........-.sc0:00000 PRACTICAL TILLAGE IN THE WEST; 1, Be aie 2, get good land; 3, use of fertilizers; 4, home manures cheapest; 5, irrigation; 6, prairie irrigation; 7, constant improvement necessary; 8, green manuring—clover; 9, thorough farm- ing cheapest ; 10, deep plowing urged—steam plow; 11, benefits of drainage........ HISTORY AND PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE. ORIGIN OF FARMING;; Palestine, Egypt, China, Pheenicia, Rome, Great Britain. HOW TO MAKE IT ATTRACTIVE; 1, Homestead surroundings ; 2, co-operative farming; 3, progress instead of routine; 4, mental and social training........+s:+0+ HOW LARGE A FARM SHOULD BBE.............cc0sscccccccoesccessscnecceceessccccssses te ACCURATE EXPERIMENTS NEEDED................- nak s cacccontommansekucdtvcndens aasevs SOILS. CONSTITUENT PROPERTIES.........+.000+ cacmuemmeetaes : ANALYSIS AND TREATMENT OF SOILS....ccc:...cccsccesscssssescesesseees HOW TO IMPROVE AND ADAPT THEM; Experiments and tables FERTILIZERS. QUALITIES AND USES.......5. .c-cccecssccscsseeecccncsereccscssenssccessseeccoscsceeccccssses sucess FE BEPACD IV GRE IV AVE U Bin csecccsncecccsccacaccccaccauc sacugnanvisseseotarssevncsaovercuces snesanascesces secon AIR, AMMONTA, ASHES, BONES. ..........ccccsesssectecosscsccsececccecscacansssenecsnscrcnanes THE COMPOST HEAP—How to make; a covered shed; manure cellars; garden COMPOSE wsssee-vevcccccsce cescsscessescesccccscsensesssseeeaccessesnssuseenssssnnsesensseccncseesetesceeees FALLOWING AND GREEN MANURING; Red and white clover; buckwheat; LIQUID MANURE; LIME.............. MUCK; PEAT; NIGHT SOILS, and ‘- value.......+0.+ Rareg funcusceadctvexcvasseock/csceus PHOSPHATE OF LIME—The great be South Carolina....... dueunctectac tecaaasevdseds ; (5) Paae. 13-15 16 16-19 21-22 22-25 25-26 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS, PLASTER; SALT; SEA-WEED; SAND; SOAP-SUDS; SULPHATE OF” HR ON facenewesccvoedosccave sonwesieccdcancecnsus deur eccescbrs duses ecbuwpay cceccs¢ey sesuecaciacesscseemmeeetes 48 PROFESSOR VILLE’S N EW SISURBiMisecsses cence svessanseaen nbescevowaseseovhcuvacuremmee 48-50 PLOWING. PRACTICAL EFFECT OF PULVERIZATION...........-.cc0e0e aesesuanenuRsanseraneaastes . 51 NECESSITY OF DEEPER PLOWING—Nine good reasons for .-sssessseeseereeseeeeene 52-53 HOW TO PLOW AND WHEN.......... peatarwadeens:varcicnansces sivas setenhinsasasessasseetaes senate 54 DRAINAGE AND IRRIGATION. BENEFITS OF UNDER-DRAINING ILLUSTRATED. .......0...cccseeesssesesecsessons 55-57 WHAT LANDS NEED DRAINING—Examples; surface and under-drains......... 57-58 | HOW TO CQNSTRUCT DRAINS AND LAY TILE; Depth and distance; size of tI1@s COSt Per ACTE....cscncovaseessnen ceccen sesencngnese, sesceveccns sescnscsecegeaeeescsversccssnsseens 58-60 ADVANTAGES OF IRRIGATION ; How and where to crrigate.. bob oeuieesvuus ansnescsa + 60-61 FIELD CROPS. CROPS OF THE COUNTRY FOR TWELVE YEARS; Amount ard prices......... 62-63. ROTATION OF CROPS; Its importance; courses illustrated.......sseec+seeeeeeeceeessense 63-66 BARLEY, BEANS, BEETS, BROOM CORN, BUCK WHEAT—Varieties; prepara- tion of soil, and methods of culture........ +++ dwessuseysndesdsvaraicnctsrubes speech eosBavpevels 66-70 CABBAGE AND CARROT; Value for food; profitableness; varieties, and how to k BTOW them .ccsccccccccscsne ssessncceccecsensrasnnscsse sessasons dascccecssessssesesenssscessos sescescceoes 70-72 CORN; Value for feeding; varieties; seed, selection and preparation ; planting; cultivation; manures; harvesting and housing. ....ss.-scccceeseeeseser sssneeeee ces seeeeeees 73-82: COTTON ; History of culture and manufacture; climate; Sea Island and Upland; how to raise, pick, and prepare for market; profitableness; the cotton gin....... 82-86 FLAX; Sowing; tilling; gathering; rotting; linseed oil and cake ssscereessseeeeeees seeee 87-89 GRASS AND HAY; Varieties and relative nutriment; when to sow; thick and thin seeding; when to cut grass; overcuring injurious; management of pasture lands ; stacking hay......ssssssssssesceceeessensecssesenscees Pucecuauwcsducvewaussauecsiiacaseescseeas 89-98) HEMP AND HOPS; Culture, harvesting, curing, and profits...+ ss+s0s+sseese Hecho era 98-106 INDIGO, JUTE, MADDER, AND MUSTARD.....ccceesesseeeeere cenennes a ionieshaoeswesnaes 106-108 OATS; Proper soil and seed; sowing and reaping; varieties—the Norway and Sur- PTISC --sesececeeneee ceessnsnscae raneesees ecsnesssecnsseegensees/ seeeeseene snanaaensensase causes unaeeunne ces 108-111 ONIONS; Soil; sowing; pulling; tracing and roping; profitableness.+...+s+4 c++ oe LLIB POTATOES; History; nutritive value; preparation of soil; special manures; cut or uncut seed; planting; cultivating; harvesting; storing; raising under straw ; causes of eecorar: varieties—the Early Rose; rot and preventives...+--.++++s++++ 114-126 POTATOES, SWEET; Sprouting; planting; after-treatment; gathering and a Pee pai Pepe cocesndnes dames spices coathsnsnes viene al MMemepeasentacraes au Sovathasencnsecieetfeg e+ 126-127 PUMPKINS AND SQUASHES; Relative value of varieties.....+1+ssserseeeeeersesseers 127-128" RAMIE, OR CHINA GRASS; Use as a textile fiber, and probable value to the COUMIETY -s0000 cecscrenaeecccccnrerseesscevevee suas ase se¥gecdsvhomsecedasuavebes Ousccrncnssecersvecenesse 128-131, RICE; RYE; Production and yield....secsecossodMMeoscccnsscnsscnssers ssseaneeeseerseees onesie le 133) t & v ‘ Fe e ee TABLE OF CONTENTS. 7 Pace. SUGAR CROPS; Statistics of product; Beer Suear, cost and mode of making; Sucar Cane, growth and manufacture; Corn SuGAR, process of making from stalk and meal; MAPLE SuGAR, tapping trees, gathering sap, buckets and boil- ers, cost and yield; Sorcuum, soil, planting, culture, manufacture... seecceseeseee 133-147 TOBACCO; Curious facts concerning its use; soil adapted to its growth; manures; transplanting ; topping; cultivating; harvesting, curing, carting, and housing; BURL PCAC CHL Se seacelenttotsd4s sacs see deuelvedveaeduecchewcvesgh-ncsestrauvers¥deheBeredvosceuese 147-151 TURNIPS; As a fertilizer; for feeding; varieties; soil; sowing; after-culture; gath- ETING. cveceees GhchwubdalsdeUubiesssssaccuuvwesbscuacdducwessscda sshsecoseretvercesshortkaameterencbietsssely 151-153 WHEAT; Origin, history, and product; a look ahead; causes of degeneracy ; soil; clover; mineral manures; varieties; selection of seed; thick vs. thin sowing; advantages of drilling; time and depth of sowing; winter-killing Spring har- rowing; time and mode of cutting; shocking and stacking; threshing, cleaning, and marketing; rust and smut; how to measure a ripening Crop...+..+..++eeeseeeeeeeee 153-169 THE VEGETABLE AND FLOWER GARDEN. EEE AUN) Od Car Ye IN| SPETE) SCAU DE Nicecenciccccoase-iscvsercctete taseveisssttojectes 171-172 DEEP TRENCHING; The hot-bed...... Rven.de aWacmapbacnanseveesosacces 609-610 DPGIGUES, JAMS “AIN'D IMPAIR MA TGA DEG cswasdeebertasacs-cst-ac+ czedseehovsdncoddsascacsars 610-611 PRESERVING (AND) CANINTN Gio R UM biceccceanarctstst rec. 680 Ucdeed sradevdesnnanvttceass 612-616 PICKLES, SOUR AND SWEET, AND VINEGAR-MAKING...........ccesseeseeeesene 616-621 CURING AND KEEPING MEATS; Hams, beef, pork, bacon, souse, tripe, sausages; PRYING OUE LAT .cvccecovaccsesansedecostssces soncnunpuuse|iaceusvascdsercase tends snes cecssats'sscave-biee 621-627 KEEPING OF DAIRY PRODUCTS—Milk, butter, cheese, care of eggs and honey; various domestic hints......++0sssee++« Sees dteepanadeseeeet uncesses) iecg=asasewauopasectcesenenactes 627-632 \ THE KITCHEN AND DINING-ROOM. WHAT TO EAT AND HOW TO COOK IT, And the sanitary conditions of diet... 633-639 TIME REQUIRED TO DIGEST DIFFERENT KINDS OF FOOD.............. ... 634-635 NEW PROCESS OF MEAT PRESERVING .......cccccssssecsce sesso eisssssseccccenersivecss 640-641 ' BREAD AND BREAD MAKING; Wheat, Graham, rye and corn, yeast, etc......... 641-648 BISCUITS; rolls, buns, rusk, muffins, short-cakes, crackers, etC.....-..++0+++ dpeitrmalsteswcns-e 648-652 BATTER CAKES—griddle cakes of different kinds, ae erullers, doughnuts, wafiles, GEC cacacccceudepe teen tes ctorchecddeceen vocccy sheaceneesaee at ccaneRdand Mame MAseRsMal et astevewactesey 652-655 SWEET CAKES—vyarieties and directions for making....... «655-659 SOUPSTAND SOU PUMA KING vevccrvessscavss cect ecenascdanunencuracseeeeseacnaelnnvaraecdacsrascacaee 659-661 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 11 ‘ 2 PAGE BP Wal ROMS ta TEC PN WON AUS wi BVI'C!:24.2.5..0ssQar cect nverisaccechsackeegclelccssndeceodscei 661-662 GRAVIES, SAUCES, AND STUFTFINGS.... 662-663 BEEF; Methods of cooking, ......-ssss-seseevsees + 663-665 MUTTON, PORK, AND VEAL; Methods of codkings of 665-667 POULTRY; Dressing and biking ceseuebbetouve we Sesblielvaccsesss teveves se COT O68. SEL ANID NO NIMES destcwsu casi cveansjsaucncmunuacsasuaspreianverar==nanacy enc ssessenedidsneunnasacsnnensyen 802 NAMES OF DAYS AND MONTHS — Their origin and Seaittidartoe easvedeceavonsesnese 803-804 CURIOUS FACTS OF HISTORY.......00.-..e00 Bike asaewenatienaumencurcbuscsasus sonntneseneaye 804-805 SUACISTICS AND HISTORY; OF ADEE MBLBIUE, «sscconssssacesdersussdesss\esscaceoctcsu suntv 805-808 DISCOVERY OF AMERICA BEFORE COLUMBUS; The Northmen in Green- land in 972; Vinland (New England) discovered and colonized in the year 1000; Prince Madoc’s voyages in 1170; traces of his settlement......0-.sesserceerseeeeeees eee 808-811 OUR COUNTRY —A glance at the future......... sesenesupeeaareee Sereroreeee “peastepepeeceacn 811-812 IN ‘AGRICULTURE: INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. BY HORACE GREELEY. Oovr earth, like the other planets forming our solar system, and probably like those composing other systems, is composed of various substances or elements existing in the form of solids, fluids, and gases, respectively, whereof the proportions are constantly changing. The ancients supposed the elements to be four only—Earth, Air, Fire, and Water—but more modern research has demonstrated that Air and Water are compounds or chemical combinations of certain gases known as Oxygen, Hydrogen, and Nitrogen, respectively. Water is composed of Oxygen and Hydrogen, in the proportion (by weight) of eight of the former to one of the latter. Air is composed of one part (by weight) of Oxygen to a little less than four parts of Nitrogen. But Oxygen combines easily with nearly every metal except Gold and Silver, forming Oxides, and it is thus a principal ingredient, in combination with one or more mineral ores, of most rocks and earths. If this globe could be retorted or dissolved in a chemist’s crucible, and thus reduced to its elements, so far as they are cognizable by the science of our day, more than half of its entire weight would be resolved into Oxygen—a gas of which the very existence was first discovered by Dr. Priesttey, less than a century ago. The learned now substantially agree in the conclusion, that our earth first had a sepa- rate, definite existence in a state of heated vapor or gas, which, gradually cooling at the surface, was contracted or condensed, and formed a crust or shell of rock, enclosing and confining the still fiery vapor which formed the bulk of the globe; that this matter fre- quently burst through its thin shell, causing earthquakes, and forming volcanoes; that such was the origin of what are now quiet and often wooded mountains; the lower chains being first formed, when the crust was comparatively thin; the higher at a more recent period, when that crust had attained far greater strength, enabling it to present greater resistance to internal fires and perturbations, thus rendering eruptions less frequent and more violent; and, when they did occur, throwing up those mighty mountain chains known to us as the Himalayas, the Andes, etc. The volcanic activity still manifested in ‘the earthquakes of South America, the Sandwich Islands, etc., may indicate that these are of more recent formation than the hemisphere known to us as the Old World. While its crust was much thinner, the earth’s surface was naturally much warmer than ‘now, causing a perpetual ascension of vapor, which necessarily returned to the ground again as rain Observations prove that the sky was more humid, the’ annual rainfail ‘more copious, and the volume of our streams and rivers far greater, than now. At a later period, cold prevailed, and a rigorous climate was nearly or quite universal, causing | a3) * 14 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. vast glaciers to form and endure for ages on the slopes of hills which have known no per- manent ice since the dawn of authentic History. Vast icebergs floated across the seas, then nearly or quite universal, often grounding upon submerged rocks, or scraping and knocking off larger or smaller fragments, and thus triturating or pulverizing them. The soils with which Agriculture now deals are composed of matter which was once gas, next water, afterward rock, and at length, often in combination with oxygen and other gasex, became what we now see it. Soil and climate at length favoring, planis finally ap- peared—at first, mainly ferns and mosses, but in time every description of annual, bush, and tree. These, in their processes of growth and yigorous life, absorbed or took up earths, even hastening the decomposition of rocks, and, decaying, restored them to the soil in a finer and more digestible form. This process is still active; and the earth, apart from Man's labors and his devastations, is slowly, steadily becoming more fertile and productive. Its soils are increasing in depth through the decomposition of rocks, and in fertility through the continual growth and decay of plants and trees; but this tendency to melioration is counteracted by the influence of rains, streams, and floods, which annually wash away millions of tons of their best ingredients, to squander them upon the thankless oceans. Fires, also, are sometimes destructive of fertility; while putrid and noisome exhalations waft away valuable elements from the husbandman’s fields and gardens to squander them on lakes, mountains, woods, and deserts, where they are of no sensible use to mankind. Though a little use has been made of Iron, in some concrete forms, by horticulturists, while it is known that several rocks contain potash, sulphur, phosphorus, and other ele- ments of plants, Agriculture has, thus far, learned how to dissolve or convert with profit but two species of rock in aid of production. These are popularly known as Lime and Gypsum or Plaster of Paris,* but are in fact both limestones; the former being a carbonate or chemical combination of Lime with Carbonic Acid in the proportion of about five parts of Lime to four of Carbonic Acid; the latter a combination of Lime with Sulphur, in the like proportion. To chemists, the former is known as a carbonaie, the latter as a sulphaie,of Lime. ‘The carbonate is made available to farmers by burning the rock to dissolution, which expels the Carbonic Acid, leaving the Lime free. The latter is simply broken and ground, when it is fit for use. It has been held that Lime is only useful as a solvent of vegetable matter; but the fact that it enters largely into the composition of bones, would seem inconsistent with this hypothesis. Gypsum is of use not merely be- cause its elements enter into the composition of animal and vegetable structures, but because its Sulphur is held to have a far greater affinity for Ammonia than for Lime; so that when Jiberated by grinding and sown over the ground, especially on eminences, or hill-sides, the Ammonia which has been taken up by the breezes that wander at will over barn-yards, pig-pens, decaying carcasses, fetid marshes, drains, etc., eagerly combines with the Sulphur of the Gypsum, forming a Sulphate of Ammonia instead of a Sulphate of Lime, leaving the Lime free. Ammonia is one of the most potent stimulants of plant growth, which explains the seeming disparity between the small quantity of Gypsum applied (usually a bushel to a barrel per acre), and the great results said to be produced. Though soils appear to respond most unequally to the demands made upon them by Gypsum—those which are located near salt water receiving little or no benefit, and some others responding but feebly—it is probable that no other purchased or commercial ma- nure ever returned, in the average, so large or so prompt a recompense for the cost of * So called because the city of Paris is built over a bed of this rock, decayed or rotted on its surface, and thus constantly imparting fertility to the soil, even where its surface is a few feet above the Gypsum. } oth } INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 15 its application as Gypsum. I firmly believe that it has often given ten for one—ten dol- lars in the increased quantity or value of crop for each dollar’s worth of Gypsum applied to the soil. Common Lime has often effected great and enduring improvement, but in no such proportion as this. TREATMENT OF THE SOIL. | The soil or finely pulverized earth, mainly mineral in its origin, is often twenty, fifty, and even in places a hundred feet deep; there are valleys in which it is even deeper. The valley of the Sacramento and the San Joacquin, in California, has been pierced a thou- sand feet at Stockton, without encountering a suggestion of rock—the strata thus tray- ersed being alternately sand, clay, and vegetable mold. Usually, however, the farmer need concern himself only with that yard in depth of his soil, which lies nearest the surface; and it is to this that my remarks shall henceforth be confined. Nine-tenths of this soil usually consists of decomposed rock, distinguished as sand, clay, or loam, which last is mainly a mixture of clay and sand. Sand, when nearly pure, was deposited by running or flowing water, by currents. Clay is rock decomposed or de- : posited in still water, as Limestone was. Neither sand nor clay is often found entirely eed from the presence of the other. To these are added the products of vegetable de- rae composition or decay, which seldom amount to three inches in depth of the surface ; Ten though the prairies of the West, the bogs and swamps of the East, are often mainly oe “veget ble to a depth of several feet. These are among the richest soils on earth, though the bogs, being wet and sour, need sweetening and curing to render them of service to the farmer. Lirne, Salt, Wood-ashes, are the alkalis usually employed to this end; _ Woodashes, when abundant, are best; but a combination of Quicklime with Salt (the -sweepings of salt-stores or vessels, the refuse of packing-houses), will usually be found ™ cheaper and more attainable, PRACTICAL TILLAGE. _ Let us suppose a young farmer to haye recently come into possession of one or two hundred acres of fair land, which he is determined to improve and till to the best advan- _ tage; how shall he begin and proceed ? East of the Alleghanies and north of Cape Fear or the Santee, the most obvious difficulty is the general inequality of the surface, constraining petty or patchy cultivation. Almost ‘every acre of good natural soil will have a rocky ridge or ledge on one side, a marsh or quagmire on the other; and these will be so interlaced and chequered, that, on a farm of a hundred acres, it will often be difficult to find ten acres together, not broken into ‘by some sort of natural interruption or obstacle to tillage. Hence, were these lands ;. naturally as fertile as the Western prairies (which they are not), it would still be impos- sible to grow Grain or Vegetables upon them so cheaply or abundantly as they are grown ‘in the West. A heavy expenditure in blasting, digging, and drawing away of stone on the one hand, and in draining marshy, boggy grounds on the other, is the indispensable prerequisite to any extensive grain-growing on the sea-board, save on the broad, rich intervals of the Connecticut, and some other rivers. I will consider, therefore, what ‘should be done by the young farmer on a Western soil. I. The first admonition I would impress on his mindis, Be thorough. Plan to make few : . fences serve, but have all of these thoroughly good fences—not seminaries for the edu- ¥ eation of breachy cattle. Begin by fencing off two pasture-lots, not too far from your ____ barns; inclose these in high, strong fences, and never let your cattle pass beyond these Pana their yard, save on special occasions, when they are allowed to gather the fodder of y. 16 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. a field whence corn has been taken. No farmer can afford to graze his meadows, whether in Spring or Fall; he should not admit cattle among his fruit trees; and he makes a * great mistake if he allows them to range and browse his woods, for they will destroy many of the best young trees, leaving the worst to take the ground. I have twenty acres of wood, whence I have rigidly excluded cattle for the last fifteen years, and the » forest trees are rapidly changing their character for the better in consequence. There were but few Sugar Maples in those woods when I bought them; now there are many; and White Ash, Tulip, and Hickory, are also coming in, where hungry. cattle used to browse them to death, leaving the ground to the Hemlocks, Dogwoods, Red Oaks, etc., which they disdained to eat. I tell you, farmers, that, as you can not afford to grow un- grafted fruit, so you can not afford to grow such forest trees only as your cattle refuse to eat. Better exclude your stock, and improve your forests by planting such trees as you wneed or fancy. II. Next, I would have you realize that good land pays better for fertilizing than poor. There are some who imagine that, because their land is good, it does not need or will not pay for enriching, which is a great mistake. If your soil contains nine-tenths of the elements required to secure a good, bountiful yield of Wheat, Corn, or Oats, you can better afford to add the remaining tenth than you could to add two, three, four, or five- tenths to a poorer soil. If it now yields a first-rate crop without manuring, it will be less and less able to do so after each crop hereafter grown on it. You may have a large balance in bank, yet if you keep drawing and never deposit you will surely exhaust it; and so the farmer who grows crop after crop on a rich soil, burning or wasting the stalks or straw, and selling the grain, is surely hastening the day when that soil will have ceased to be productive. Ill. The farmer is a manufacturer of useful and high-priced staples from elements of far inferior value. He procures what costs him but little, and transforms it into some- thing that is worth and will sell for far more. It is his art to know in what shape he * nay buy cheapest that which will sell for a much larger price. His soil is generally valuable in direct proportion to its composite or heterogeneous character. If it be pure sand or pure clay, it is of little worth; whereas, the same area of equally mingled or blended sand and clay would be fruitful and valuable. Thus the Platte, Kansas, and other streams which traverse the Great American Desert, bear there- from the elements which form the rich, fertile bottoms of the lower Mississippi. To plow often, plow deeply, and turn up the subsoil to air, light, and warmth, are of them- selyes conducive to fertility; though they may be countervailed and oyerborne by taking off crop after crop of grain or other seed and adding nothing in return. Deep, thorough, frequent working of the soil, so far as it is cultivated at all, is the basis of alk good farming. : IV. As to Fertilizers, Plaster excepted, the nearest are generally the cheapest. Wesend half-way round the globe for Guano, at a cost to the farmer of $60 (gold) per ton, yet allow materials to run to waste, and poison our waters and atmosphere, which would afford an equal amount of plant-food, at less than half the cost. Every good farmer will make the most of the excretions of his animals to begin with; and to this end he will have a barn or cattle-yard, hollow in the center, and raised on every side (like a saucer), so as to give his animals dry footing in the wettest weather, yet keep the center moist, and prevent any escape of liquids. Into this yard he will cart Muck (if he can get it), Leaves, Weeds (cut green), Stalks, Straw, and every other vegetable substance that he can find no better use for; if these-are deficient, he will cart in load after load of Swamp Muck, Leaf Mold, or even Turf or Loam, if he can get nothing better. Muck is worth INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 17 drawing a mile if his land is quite poor, but not if he can get prairie soil in abundance at hand. To make a big pile of manure, and have it thoroughly ripe for use when he wants to apply it, is the second step in good farming. If he can not make enough of this, he may buy what are called Commercial Manures—Flour of Bone, Phosphates, Lime, and even Guano; but his cheapest and best fertilizer (after Plaster, if not before even that) will be that made under his own eye, in his own yard. And of this the more he makes, within his means, the richer he will become. Millions of farmers have gone into bankruptcy for want of home-made manure; I never heard of one who was bankrupted by making and using too much of that. On our Eastern granitic soils, | am satisfied that unleached Wood-ashes are worth thirty to fifty cents per bushel, according to quality ; but on a Western prairie, of which the soil is largely composed of ashes, and whose grain is much cheaper, they can not be worth so much; still, no wise man will ever sell any nor will he leave them unused. Even Leached-ashes are worth carting half a mile, and applying to very light, warm soils. I think Shell Lime (unslaked) pays on my place, where it costs twenty-five cents per bushel applied. I doubt that any Lime that can be procured in the West will often pay ‘that price. Yet I advise every one who can get Quicklime for that price, to buy a little, and give it a careful trial; sowing and leaving strips alternately, staking them carefully, and watching the result, not on the first crop only, but on the two or three succeeding. I suspect that there are many sections of the West that it will pay to lime; and, I am sure, that farmers in dis region, who have made Pork extensively for sale, would have lost money thereon but for the manure that, carefully saved, proved of nearly equal yalue with the meat. We have barely begun to realize the value of manures. The older, and in some respects better, farmers of China and Japan are therein our masters. Y. But we have even more to learn with respect to the agricultural uses of Water. An old and successful farmer, who lives near me, sums up his observations and experience in the maxim that “‘ Water is the cheapest and best fertilizer on earth.” Of course, every rule is subject to exceptions; yet I firmly believe our American farmers more faulty in respect to water than elsewhere. After traversing fruitful, bounteous Lombardy—the yast plain which gently slopes from the Austrian Alps down to the Po—and of which the annual.product is fully doubled by water, and having also witnessed the marvelous re- sults of irrigation in Utah, I can not patiently abide the general indifference of our farm- ers to the subject. I estimate that fully One Million American farmers could dam and turn aside a brook or runnel, so as to irrigate at pleasure from two to ten acres of their several farms, at a cost of $100 for the first outlay, and $10 per annum afterward, if they would; and that the average increase of their products, respectively, would not fall below $100 per annum. This, of course, is but a beginning. Ultimately we must dam larger streams—rivers, even, and irrigate by means of little canals, from ten toa hundred square miles from a singledam. Let the water be drawn off when it is highest and richest, and sent meandering gently among fields of grain, and grass, and vegetables, ready to be let on as their needs shall indicate, and we shall have an instant increase in our present annual product, to the extent of many Millions, with a steady augmentation of the fertility and productiveness of our Agriculture for ages tocome. Every acre wisely irrigated one year, will prompt the irrigation of two more acres the next year; and soon, till all our lands that can be flowed, by skillful engineering, at a cost below $50 per acre, will have been provided with the means of illustrating the marvelous produc- tiveness of the narrow valley of the lower Nile. VI. Nor shall we stop here. I hold the prairies admirably adapted to Irrigation. Choose the highest points or swells that can be found; dig on each a deep well, and 18 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. place a self-regulating windmill over it; dig a basin by its side, and the windmill may take its own time for filling it. If the water be brackish, or hard, or otherwise mineral ized, so much the better as a general rule, though there may be exceptions. When the suns of May and June have thoroughly warmed the reservoir, begin to draw it. off through shallow ditches, leading along the highest swells or ridges, and let it ooze out from time to time to give moisture to the growing crops during the thirsty heats of July and August. I donot believe there isa prairie county in which Irrigation may not be largely inaugurated ata net profit, at least, of nearly twenty-five per cent. per annum on the. total cost. VIL. Good farming vindieates itself by a constant increase of the capacity of the soil. The farm that would scarcely keep a dozen head of cattle when the good farmer first took it in hand, soon amply subsists twenty, and by-and-by forty or fifty. It turns off more produce year after year, but in the shape that least exhausts the soil—in Beef, Pork, or Live Stock, instead of Hay and Grain. Nine-tenths of all that the soil yields is thus returned to it as manure, while the free use of Muck, Gypsum, ete., is continually increas- ing its product in quantity and value. As a general rule, I hold that no farmer ever enriched himself by a husbandry that impoverished, or even failed to enrich, his farm. VIII. Certain plants—Clover pre-eminent among them—draw nourishment from the atmosphere and impart fertility to the soil, These are wisely grown by every good farmer; but to one who has not Muck at command they are indispensable. Wherever the soil is deficient in vegetable matter—as I have often found it, even in the West, on the openings or “ barrens ’—Clover affords the cheapest and readiest corrective. If I were buying land my first inquiry would be, “ Will it grow a good stand of Clover?” If it will, it may easily be made to produce Wheat, Corn, or almost anything else; and, though turning under the crop is the shortest way to fertility, it may be mowed or fed off, and the sod turned under, with very good effect. Perhaps taking off one crop and plowing in a second—say in August for Wheat—is the better policy for the Northwest. IX. A farmer who grows Wheat, Corn, Oats, Barley, etce., to feed or sell, naturally wishes to make a profit on the labor he employs, and to secure a fair recompense for his own. To this end, he turns a large quantity of earth over and over, with plows and other implements, in order to bring his land into the right condition for seeding, as well as to keep the ground mellow and the weeds down thereafter. Now, it is plain to my mind, that he should seek to achieve the desired result with as small an expenditure of strength as will answer. In other words, if upsetting a thousand tons of earth will sub- serve his end, he can not afford to reverse and pulverize two or three thousand tons for the purpose; or, more plainly, /arge crops must be grown, in the average, to greater profit than small crops. I doubt that any light crop of grain ever paid the fair cost of growing it; while I think few really heavy crops are grown at a loss. Good farming implies good crops, as well as good management in producing them. X. But, while I would have a given quantity of grain grown with the least displace- ment of earth that will suffice, I urge the farmer not to seek his economy through a reduction of the depth of his plowing. On the contrary, ] am sure that our average furrow is quite too shallow, and should be considerably deepened. I know the excuses for shallow plowing—deficient team-power, hurry for seeding, etc., etc.; but they are ex- cuses only, not conclusive reasons. Our hot Summer suns and protracted drouths, which seem to increase both in frequency and duration, with the natural, inevitable demands of plants for ample room to strike their roots deeper, and run them farther in quest of nourishment, call urgently for deeper plowing. I have seen a large crop of Cabbage grown in a dry, hot season, from a field well subsoiled, which would not have yielded INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 19 half so much if plowed but a single furrow of the ordinary depth. In my judgment, one foot is as little as any land should be plowed; and this depth should be gradually increased by subsoiling so fast as the requisite power can be obtained. I hail with glad- ness every premonition of the coming Steam Plow, not so much because Steam will pul- verize our soils more cheaply than we now attain that end, but because it is sure to do the work more thoroughly, more profoundly. The rich, deep soil of the prairies predicts and demands the Steam Plow; its coming can not be much longer delayed; and when it shall have become as familiar as the Reaper and the Cultivator now are, I am confi- dent that we shall pulverize the soil to a depth of at least two feet, and find that none too much. Then we may defy a drouth of five or six weeks to stop the growth or curl the leaves of our corn; then we may defy the protracted rains often experienced in May and June, to stop our work or keep our young plants for days under water. We shall still employ and profit by Irrigation to increase the luxuriance of our crops; but we shall no longer watch the skies with painful apprehension that five or six weeks of daily, fervid sunshine without rain will blast our hopes of a harvest. XI. As to Drainage, while I have done my share of it with great profit and satisfac- tion, I can not hope to commend it to the present favor of Western farmers, who think they can buy land already dry enough, for less than the cost of draining marshy ground. And yet, I would urge that marshes—in fact, any lands surcharged with stagnant water, which leaves it mainly by the slow process of evaporation—are unhealthful; breeding agues and other bilious diseases—that they breed also mosquitoes and other detested insects, and are often unsightly obstacles to symmetrical and economical cultivation. Let any farmer begin by draining his wettest acre, from which the requisite fall can be obtained—draining it completely and durably—and I am sure he will not stop with that, but proceed to drain more and more, as means and time shall allow. I haye twelve to fifteen acres of natural bog or peat-swamp, from which a sufficient outlet is secured with great difficulty, the level being maintained for a full mile below it—yet I have drained it so that I have Corn growing on eight acres of it, and have had good Oats and Grass this season on the residue, where, though surrounded with tillage for two centuries, nothing but weeds and coarse, worthless swamp grass had grown till I took hold of it. I believe this land today worth all it has cost me, which is twice what a farmer living and working on his own land need have paid to achieve like results. Farmers who have facilities and opportunity to oversee your own work which I can not command, do better if you can; but, if not, go and do likewise! y ' P Ne OP ieee ae. eat 4 sok ' i : , p Yorerkz pippke at f ‘ ° irom a>) ; Siang APPT, htdp a | gi ‘ & os oP me . N ag inte Oy varie td shoe tee, whet we pull brn. base + met an ta Phew 7 ie Fe eves y a f pa lod rj 0 Hvis Vera “io hav r ba oe” itor . aan 7 Sah e's) pi A ‘ Bal sy ee ® : a “vi Kut tu | J br #i Te Li ; ai 4 sin: Ow as ut ae iy ry _- i, See ie send peers: ma? OP ete for mye 43 ap - nF eT feits Ape ue lbtetia ye of Aa 4a va wie wel 4 dex t . tye A rn ta OS Pasar ere Pl adehe ri y ‘ \ ‘ ¢ a yo ee 4 eeraeyea ut: 1 Wig aw wJ > ae in pipet Jae ie CA MA ee wi PE) Ie sere ey ery ae pe Sedburteren DY nage Saas had hs F OAs tea) « (alle raadte bo ma wy! temas Gu ALEM Lil ged se oll A: Wai. i el Ae 4 SOA oe ented ey ok ee tortiinc bad) endian SO Pe a ete ee eae wig Mae reg “onde eed? lence plat Og) cyto’ thin: petigiangemig Txt) Hatred dul Abb. ener ies RO Stnalee i) {a pret +. be Ten ottion arte ny efit eg WR -atl Oe ead Pay Weta i. ia hs cee ite Ue. ane, oe ehh” va ivkequths Me Tits dis > net lak dg apa tir aE Ti Beda, silt 7 “Cachtniad fi ie ihe ee SS Seah eecein bs SW Witt att pies Dane me ae ics leat oan 6S i bOI es Is kok Viaatns Aigsrrunce. haat see herd dius) beet ‘adh e Cepabestahe 23° oi i ay 'nhedl agen) We ATW BONS Gaal obupny pobleg! orn dgly. rice ar peg Semi eden den 44 dn igh Meese nyeticatpa bp weet } Ripa NaG oy at Soret fb ayayt ed apd Pew tele wiser Oh epee 7a i aan Gen IME Het bt yun tii alata 5. oo hey abut bat ie abal: Hag W ahaha sine oh Mati ae abe peed ibrtss; i ae vod Pe ay, ; ie aa. Bins . Siti: poet tuts Ave qj Haat hy 6k Aa Dee. Cate a) ee aL plaairel eye 1 Mahia stinod su toute we Sie graye diy i warn peer ma Fatty Loh, Meth J i ee i ee Se ee ur @ : Ball Wor: Hew 4) alee ee ia, « Pree aioe, serie ae ? vr Ley AGRICULTURE: Irs History, Progress AND Prospects, AND How iT MAY BE MADE ATTRACTIVE. AGRICULTURE may be defined to be the art of cultivating the earth in such a manner as to cause it to produce, in plenty and perfection, those cereals, vegetables, and fruits which are useful to man, and to the animals which he has | ‘gent families, clans, and races were involved subjected to his dominion. The word is made to include the preparation of the soil, the plant- ing of seeds, the culture and harvesting of crops, and the breeding, feeding, and management of _ live stock. Agriculture preceded manufactures and com- merce, and rendered both possible; it is at the basis of all other arts, and was coeval with the dawn of civilization. Systematic husbandry seems to have immediately succeeded the say- age state in all races; when population in- creased, and hunting and fishing became too precarious for a reliable subsistence, man sup- plied his needs by a tillage of the earth, and the permanent adoption of a pastoral life. The first mention of agriculture is found in the writings of Moses. From them we learn that CAIN was a “tiller of the ground,” that ABEL sacrificed “the firstlings of his flock,” and that Noaw was a husbandman and planted a vineyard. ‘The Chinese, Chaldeans, Egyptians, and Pheenicians evidently held this art in much esteem. The Carthaginians carried it to a higher degree than their cotemporaries, and Mago, one of their famous generals, wrote twenty-eight volumes on agriculture. Herstop, XENOPHON, and ARISTOTLE, among the Greeks, and Cato and Viraru for the Romans, added their hand-books on the practice of husbandry, and their poetical tributes to its praise. The early agriculture was of course very rude, and the variety of crops very limited— some simple cereals, and some coarse roots. Fuallowing seems to have been a universal prac- tice with the southern nations; but it consisted merely in a suspension of cropping for one year, during which the field was generally over- (21) run and exhausted by rampant weeds. As man ;emerged from the condition of a savage, and abandoned the hunter state, the practical work of tillage seems to have been intrusted to cap- tive slaves, while the stronger and more intelli- in a constant struggle for supremacy, in the | brief intervals of which they gave to husbandry a lazy superintendence. From such farming little progress could be expected to result. The soil was in its virgin fertility. Few weeds offered their obstruction. The ground was scratched, the seed thrown in, and a harvest reaped. Agriculture was every- where mechanical, nowhere scientific. No con- siderable improvement could be made as Jong as the soil, by the simplest processes, supported the population of a country without it. In Egypt and Rome we find the first traces of the use of manure, in those districts where the population had become dense, It was there that military chieftains came to the plow, drawn thither by the proud thought, as Puryy expressed it, that “the earth took pleasure in being cultivated by the hands of men crowned with laurels and decorated with triumphal honors.” In Great Britain, before the Nor- mans came, the need of artificial aids was little felt, and agriculture was little studied. As late as 1600, Lord Bacon showed himself worthy to be impaled upon Pope’s epigram, by having his large collection of books upon agri- culture piled up in his court-yard and burned. “Tn all these books I find no principles,” wrote the vandal, ‘‘they can, therefore, be of no use toany man.” Yet it may be said in extenuation of the act, that the volumes which composed that feu de joie were no doubt crude specimens, for farming was then the coarsest of all crafts, and farmers were ignorant and vulgar boors.. Oats and barley were almost the only vege- tables eaten, and the common people had little 22 AGRICULTURE: meat, except the wild game which the forests afforded. ‘No hoed crops or edible vegetables were cultivated,” says Macauxey, “and even as late as the reign of Henry VIII, Queen CATHARINE was obliged to send to Flanders | or Holland for salad to supply her table. Neither Indian corn, nor potatoes, nor squashes, nor carrots, nor cabbages, nor turnips were known in England till after the beginning of | the sixteenth century, The poor peasants sub- sisted chiefly upon bread made of barley, ground in a quern, or hand-mill, and baked by themselves, tivated.” For a century before the American reyolu- tion England was an exporter of breadstuffs, but after that time she was an importer; and | we find the shrewdest Englishmen seeking methods to increase their harvests and their herds. Up to that date the farmers do not seem to haye really understood the cause of the productiveness of the soil, nor to have known why persistent cropping caused infer- tility. But now fens and marshes were drained, wild tracts were subdued, barren lands were irrigated; the character and effect of animal, vegetable, and mineral manures were studied; subsoiling and the rotation of crops began to be practiced! And while many exhausted fields slowly recovered their verdure, an awakened in- terest was also taken in the breeding of stock— that strong right arm of the successful farmer. Thus agriculture, begun in its simplest form by him who was given a garden and ordered “to dress and to keep it,” has come down to us. Agriculture needs to employ seven-eighths of the inhabitants of every civilized country. Its pursuit tends to give health to the body and vigor to the mind; it is favorable to long life, to virtuous and temperate habits, and’ to knowledge and purity of character; it should be the best school of personal happiness, as it is the true support of national independence. It had such charms for Crycinnatus, that un- der his first mild consulship, the perils that surrounded the Roman republic kept him only sixteen days from the.tillage of his little farm. Is agriculture less attractive now than it was formerly? It can not be denied that as it has been practiced for the last century in this country, | it has been much less delightful and remunera- tive than the unagricultural orators and poets , would fain have us believe. Farmers and farmers’ wives are not enthusiastic in praise of their calling, Although it can be shown that they have accumulated more property than the Neither was clover yet cul-, “average of mechanics, miners, or speculators, many of them feel that they have worked early ‘and late, subdued their rebellious fields by the hardest knocks, and worn themselves out by a life of drudgery. Hoping to profit by the pa- ‘rental experience, the boys rush to the cities, where four merchants in five fail to make a living, and where ten willing men are waiting for every vacancy; and the daughters, remem- bering the mother’s weary face, become school- teachers, store-tenders, or factory girls. By [this process, thousands of farms all over the East have passed into the hands of a plodding \foreign peasantry, out of the hands of Ameri- can families tired of hereditary drudgery. Such a state of things is surely to be deplored. The prosperity and happiness of a nation al- ways depend on the thrift and happiness of its rural people. What is the remedy for this dissatisfaction? The remedy may be said to be complex: 1. The home must be made more attractive. Farmers’ houses ought to be pleasanter than any other. Standing in the midst of a rural landscape, with no crowding to compel slatternly habits, with plenty of room for flowers, hedges, garden, lawn, all relieved upon a background of summer green, Nature conspires with the thrifty farmer to make his home supremely picturesque and inviting. Yet this condition generally implies a certain degree of culture and refinement in the owner. As long as he is coarse and rude in his tastes, he will not be annoyed by a rickety well-curb, and wiil be apt to regard a pile of old rails before his fient door as ornamental as a climbing porch of roses, or a hedge of arbor vite. No wonder that so many boys who haye caught glimpses of better things, rush away, disgusted by the re- pulsive aspect of farm life. How often is it base and mean! the box-like house going to decay; the tumble-down fences; the obtrusive piles of neglected tools, wagon wheels, old iron, and infinite rubbish; the horses half starved and wandering at large, the filthy, bony cows, the squealing pigs, of land-pike variety; the whole dreary waste of fields skinned and plundered from year to year, scarcely any of its product given back in fertility, all its beauty concealed and extinguished! Without any expense, ex- cept a little time and taste, our farmers’ homes can be embellished and rendered delightful; and only thus can the best youths of this gen- eration be induced to remain in the homestead of their fathers. : 2. Co-operative farming should be encouraged. ITS HISTORY, PROGRESS, ETC. Donatp G. MitcHeLn says that being in a street-car in St. Louis, last summer, he fell into conversation with the driver, who said he was on his feet some seventeen hours a day, and was paid for it two dollars; that his knees often swelled so that he could hardly stand. Mrreu- ELL asked, ‘‘ Why don’t you give it up, and go You can get as good wages, and live decently.” ‘*Oh!” replied the driver, “I have had enough of that—it’s too lonesome; I want to see folks.” Now, the man may be called a fool by some, but he expressed a fact, and one which induces many men, and women, too, to give up a life of comfort, security, and independence on the land, and to crowd into cities, where they can have neither comfort, security, nor independ- ence, and where many of them sink into suf- fering and disgrace. What is the remedy for this unfortunate con- dition of things? It is to make farming more agreeable. How? By enabling men and women to see more of one anvther, and so to gratify a great social desire, which will tend to make farming not only the most secure and in- dependent life, as it now is, but also the most agreeable. This is to be done by working in co-opera- tion, and not single-handed and alone. MircHEL1L proposes this way: Let three to five farmers in a neighborhood combine for mutual help, each one owning his own farm, ete, ete. Instead of each alone, let the whole five combine to work one day for one man, and finish his plowing up; the next day for the next man, and so on, using up the week. Then, with sowing or planting, to work on a farm? man plowing let the same system be employed, thus using up five days in the week, provided all the days were fair. At any rate, let the system be car- ried through. The work will be done faster, with more heart; the young fellows will see one another, they will talk together, and dine together, and get some social interchange, which they must have. The women and younger members of the family must also have some social excitement and pleasure. Let these five families then set aside one afternoon or evening, or both, of each week, when they will all meet at one house, for social entertainment, for eating, for reading, talking, singing, dancing, and so on. Let this evening be sacred to this matter and not be infringed. We shall then have fewer sickly women and 23 children, and fewer dissatisfied boys and girls in farmers’ houses. Isolation and individual- ism will not work well. Co-operation will. Let us try it. 3. Progressive farming must be substituted for routine farming.—The most intelligent, practical farmers agree in believing that relief lies in breaking up the traditional routine that has passed from generation to generation, and in substituting modern and more rational methods. The farmers who are dissatisfied with their lot, who complain that farming is ‘‘to delve all your days and nothin’ to show for it,” are gen- erally the plodders, who have learned little that is new since their fathers inherited the homestead. Routine is naturally fatiguing and disgusting to the human mind. to break it up, and substitute science in its place, and we shall hear no more of a farmer’s life being a slave’s life. Scientific farming does not mean the adoption of fancy theories; it Let every farmer resolve means a willingness to learn from the laws of na- ture and the experience of other practical farmers, how to exchange bad habits of husbandry for better ones. The art of agriculture, as generally prac- ticed, is to-day behind every other art. Farm-' ers have studied less to perfect themselves in their calling than have the members of any other trade or profession. How many thou- sands there are, in every State, who never see an agricultural journal or book! Such farm- ers luck new ideas more than they lack new implements, Their minds need subsoiling more than their grounds! Routine farming, as it has been and still is widely practiced, ts drudgery—one of the most wearying and unprofitable of employments. Scientifie farming, as it is to be, and as it has already begun to be—farming based on Nature’s luws and the average experience of farmers— is the most pleasant, remunerative, and satisty- ing occupation of man.* This is the almost uniform testimony of those who have broken out of the ancestral ruts, and have learned a better way. The time has come when the farmers of the country, even of the Middle and Western States, must do something to arrest the declin- ing fertility of the soil, and the centriiugal tendency of their most intelligent sons. ‘The *According to the census showings of 1860, the total value of capital invested in lands and implements in this country was $6,897,900,000, yielding an annual product, in » value, of $2,600,000,000, 24 AGRICULTURE: hand-to-mouth farming must give way to sys- tem. A celebrated painter, being asked what he mixed his colors with, to render them so perfect, replied, “with brains.” This is the day of transition between muscle and mind— between brawn and ‘brain. Thought is being introduced as a new leyer to relieve the elbow. Inventive genius has strewn over a single county of Ohio more agricultural machinery than could be found in the whole West a few yearsago. This wonderful revolution is chang- ing the whole character of farming as an occu- pation. One intelligent man now can do more than a stupid hundred—more in quality and quantity, and derive from it more of pleasure and profit. The reaper, with binder attach- ment, whistling through the wheat-field; the mowing-machine and hay-rake; the animated tedder, kicking up its heels in the sun; the prospective rotary plow, that in a few years shall invert our prairies; the adaptable eulti- vator; the seed-drill; the hay-fork; the sta- tionary horse-power, reaching its right arm to any work—these are the iron-clad missionaries of regeneration, by whose eloquent efforts farm- ing is to become more generally profitable and inviting. Farm machinery is not only labor- saving, but it is, consequently, civilizing; it tends to elevate and refine and lead our people upward in the ways of generous prosperity, because it saves human toil, and thus affords opportunity for more intellectual acquire- ments. 4, Farmers must seek to attain a higher mental and social training.—This is a corollary to the other three propositions. A few of the best educated and cultured men of America are farmers, and their thoughtful sons are gracing the same oceupation. But these are a small proportion of the whole. Why is it that a ma- jority of farmers feel that they are inferior, socially and intellectually, to a majority of the merchants of the adjacent city? Simply be- cause it is true. In the long runwe are appre- ciated—cream rises to the surface of the milk. Farmers pass for what they are worth, as pre- cisely as any class or guild. “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings,” As long as the maxim it held through all the rural districts, “the better the scholar the worse the farmer,” and as long as it is believed to he folly for a farmer to attempt to learn anything of value to his calling from science or the ag- gregate experience of his fellows, so long will | the bright boys be selected for “the profes- sions,” and the blockheads for the farm. We must learn that mind governs matter, and that no art or profession demands for its perfect development so much general and spe- cial information, and so wide a range of sci- ence, as dves the art of tilling the soil. To make farming attractive to our boys ‘the scien- tific Why must be taught. Knowledge must supersede quackery. We must induce one to study, as a specialty, the breeding and care of live stock, in all its departments; another, the growth of crops in the laboratory of the soil ; another, the requirements of bee-culture— for there is both pleasure and profit in it; an- other, book-keeping, so as to keep a constant account with the farm, charging all that it ab- sorbs, and crediting all that it yields (and this every farmer ought to do); another, veterinary surgery—a department deemed worthy of the careful study of German princes; another, to experiment, methodically, with some of those unsettled problems which appear in almost every chapter of this book, and to publish the results. To make the boys contented with the farm, we must give the brain more and the hands less to do. Another thing: we ought to cultivate better manners—in parlor, kitchen, and field; at the fireside and at the table. Urbanity and rustic- ity originally meant merely city life and country life; it is not by accident that these words have come to signify politeness and boorishness. Iso- lation, well-improved, may give vital strength; but we can not acquire polish except through human contact. By lack of this attrition, we, as a class, have come to undervalue the aflable manners which mark the gentleman. We do not mean the seraping and bowing, the outward show and studied effect that bespeak the fop; but the ease and grace which come of polite society. Good manners are what Miss Smpa- wick calls the “minor morals;” politeness is “real kindness, kindly expressed.” Integrity and benevolence are not a guaranty of polite- ness; for politeness only comes from intercourse with well-bred people. To this end, ought we to seek to construct a society about us; to encourage neighborhood gatherings, farmers’ clubs, agricultural socie- ties, and every wholesome association that may bring us into contact with others. We can, if we will, learn from our wives also; for they are usually better read and better mannered than we. The morals of American farming commu- nities are higher than those of any other coun- ITS HISTORY, ~ try in thé world, not excepting Scotland ; and} if we can add somewhat of mental and social culture, the young man may stay upon the an- cestral homestead, assured that it is possible to find as much of Eden there, as has been en- joyed since the first farmer was driven out of Paradise. Progressive agriculture carries a blessing for. the future. The progressive farmer builds | tasteful and commodious dwellings, with fuel and water convenient, and every auxiliary that can lessen the good wife’s toil; he adorns his grounds from time to time with shrubs and flowers; he grafts pippins and greenings on the | native stock, sets out new orchards and takes eare of old ones; he obtains the handiest tools and houses them; he builds stalls for cattle and raises roots to feed them. if clayey and stiff, he earth; if light or sterile, he turns under clover and mixes heavier soil; if cold and sour, he gives lime; and he almost always plows deeply and manures liberally. He teaches his sons not only how to plow, bnt why to plow; not only how to manure, but what is the effect of different fertilizers; not only what will thrive best on a given soil, but the reason for it; irrigate, but why—because if they know the Why they can not forget the How. Thus he turns their eyes from their state capital, to their own township, school district, home, and cnlti- yates that local patriotism which is the founda- tion of the nation’s strength. pays, when condueted with skill, and it will always pay, morally, mentally, and pecuniarily. | And it must be that this progressive farming is to be honored and sought by the most enter prising American youths during the next gen-| eration, as during the last generation routine farming has been shunned. There suffer any decline. Members of the learned professions live chiefly by efforts to abolish the, sins, cure the diseases, and allay or regulate | the quarrels of their fellow-men; commerce does but exchange staple for staple ; manufac- turers can only transform pne article into an- other; the agriculturist alone has the infinite satisfaction of “making two blades of grass grow where but one grew before,” and of feel- ing that, by adding something to the aggregate wealth of the world, he is a benefactor of the whole race of man, He adapts the soil | to the needs of vegetable life; if wet, he drains; | . . | applies sand or kindred | not only how to drain and | Sugh farming | are enough, whose taste for rural life and zeal for their pro-| fession forbid that this noble occupation shall. PROGRESS, ETC. “Ten Acres Enough.”’—Ten acres are far too much for some farmers, and a hundred acres too little for others. In England there are many farmers who more than support them- ‘selves and large families on the produet of six acres, besides paying heavy rents, and agricul- | turists in Germany, who are proprietors of five | acres, support themselves on two, and lay up money on the product of the remainder. On the other hand, some farm thousands of ‘acres successfully. The largest farm in the United States is probably that of M. L. Suixr- VANT, in Champaign County, IIl., himself a resident of Columbus, O. A correspondent of ithe Cincinnati Enquirer writes: ‘He owns and presides over seventy thousand acres of the best land on this hemisphere, twenty-three thousand aeres of which is under fence, and in actual improvement and cultivation; the bal- ance is used in herding. I will venture the opinion that there can not be found five unserviceable land on Mr. SuLLIvAnt’s entire seventy thousand acres. Their produc- tiveness is unsurpassed. Almost all of his farming is conducted by labor-saving machin- ery, so that it is estimated that, throughout, acres of one man will perform the average labor of four or five as conducted onsmall farms. He drives his posts by horse-power; breaks his ground with Comstock’s ‘spader;’ unloads, and stacks his hay by horse-power ; mows, rakes, loads, cultivates his corn by improved machinery ; ditches any low ground by machinery ; sows and plants by machinery, so that all his labor- ers can ride and perform their tasks as riding in a buggy.” This is, perhaps, the gentleman who showed to TROLLOPE, in 1861, ten thousand acres of corn growing in one ‘ lot: uy Many of the farms of Spain inclose ten thou- sand acres each, and the great estancia of Senor Don Jose DE Urquiza, in Buenos Ayres, covers nine hundred square miles, giving him the larg- est farm and the most varied collection of fruits ‘and flowers in the world, and twenty thousand soldiers in his personal retinue. Any farmer will err who attempts to deduce general con- clusions from the success of either the largest as easy ‘or the smallest farm. | The fact is, that farm is just large enough, ‘where the most can be produced at the smallest ex- ‘pense and with the least exhaustion to the soil. Within a radius of twenty miles of the chief cities, farms are being rapidly subdivided into gardens, and a few acres there, under thorough tillage, and high prices for the crops, will pro- 26 duce more than ten times the same area at a} distance from market. But in America, nine- tenths of the land for the next century must be devoted to grain and stock, and these require room. There is little danger that the eligible lands will all be overrun, during this century or the In England, there are sixty-two persons to every hundred acres; in the United States, hnt one person to sixty-five acres, or ten to a Only one-sixth of the whole area is inclosed in farms, and only one-thir- teenth is actually under cultivation. In 1850, there were 113,082,614 acres under the plow; in 1860, this was increased to 162,649,848 acres. t At the same increase per year, it will be more than three hundred years before the 1,700,000,- 000 acres of unimproved land will be oceupied, supposing it all to be arable. But it should ‘really take much less time than this, for the ratio of annual settlement will increase with the growth of population. Farmers will do well to remember that the average fertility of our occupied farms is rap- idly diminishing in all the settled States, where- as it ought to increase with the increasing de- mand for food. The progressive decadence of nearly all the lands brought under cultivation from the Aroostook to the Mississippi, arises, obviously enough, from the systematic scourg- ing of the soil with crop after crop, without | rest or renovation. Hon. Justry S. Morrii1, of Vermont, the projector of the Agricultural College scheme, said in his speech in explana- tion of that measure : next. square mile.* “Many foreign States support a population vastly larger per square mile than we main- tain, and hold their annual increase ; put, by the system of husbandry generally pursued here, the land is held only until it is robbed of its virtue, skimmed of its cream, and then the owner, selling his wasted fields to some skin- flint neighbor, flies to fresh fields with the foul | purpose to repeat the same spoliation. This annual exodus which prevails oyer all the older States, and even begins upon the first settle- ments of the new States before their remoter borders have lost sight of the savage, painfully indicates that we have reached the maximum of population our Jand will support in the pres- * Census of 1860. + The proportion of nominally improved land in the dif- ferent sectious of thy country is as follows: in New Eng- land, twenty-six acres in one hundred; in the South, sixteen acres in one hundred; in the North-West, twelve in ove huudred; in the South-West, five in one hundred, , AGRICULTURE: ent state of our agricultural economy. Our skill must be further developed or here is our limit. * Shall we not prove unworthy of our patrimony, if we run over the whole before we can learn how to manage a part? “Our population is rapidly increasing, and brings annually increased demands for bread and clothing. If we can barely meet this de- mand while we have fresh soils to appropriate, we shall early reach the point of our decline and fall. The nation which tills the soil so as to leave it worse than it found it, is doomed to decay and degradation. Other nations lead us, not in the invention and handling of im- proved implements, but in nearly all the prac- tical sciences which can be brought to aid the management and results of agricultural labor. We owe it to ourselves not to become a weak competitor in the most important field where we are to meet the world as rivals. It touches us in tenderest points—our national honor, as well as our private pockets. = Able to be independent, in a broader sense than any other people, having an area ninety-five times as large as England—yet over one hun- dred millions of our imports of the last fiseal year, were products of the soil. “Should no effort be made to arrest the dete- rioration and spoliation of the soil of America, while all Europe is wisely striving to teach her agriculturists the best means of hoarding up capital in the lands on that side of the Atlan- tic, it is easy to see that we are doomed to be dwarfed in national importance; and not many years can pass away before our ships will be laden with grain—not on their outward but home- ward voyage. Then, with cheap bread no longer pecaliar to America, our. free institutions may be thought too dear by those of whom empircs are not worthy—the men with hearts, hands, and brains, vainly looking to our shores for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” These are words of soberness and wisdom which those farmers who are nomadic in their tendencies would do wellto ponder. Of course, Mr. MorrIxu does not mean to recommend the general adoption of a European standard of cultivation in this country, where land is com- paratively cheap and labor dear, but he may well admonish farmers that there is such a thing as farming too much by the bushel and too little by the acre. The average size of farms in the United States is probably twice as great as the reader would suppose, being in 1860, one hundred * % rd % ITS HISTORY, PROGRESS, ETC. The ay- ssachusetts is the smallest, being and ninety-nine acres to each farm. eruge in Mi ninety-four acres; Connecticut averages ninety- nine acres; New York, one hundred and six ; Ohio, one hundred and fourteen ; South Caro- lina, four hundred and eighty-eight; Louisiana, five hundred and thirty-six ; Texas, five hun- dred and ninety-one, and California, six hun- dved and sixty-six. The average through all the Southern States before the civil war of 1860-1865, was three hundred and twenty acres; now probably somewhat less. But throughout | the nation, farms are profitable in an inverse ratio | to their size. The greed for land has become a’ national vice, supplanting true economy and | overshadowing the pride of culture. Wanted—Accurate Experiments, In the preparation of this treatise, we have availed ourselves, as far as possible, of the aver- age experience of the most intelligent farmers ; but many highly important problems concerning erop-culture and farm and domestic economy remain unsolved. Enlightened agriculturists in England, France, and Germahy multiply experiments on these unse‘tled questions year by year, and thus, little by little, they ascertain the facts they seek; but we Americans, enter- prising in matters of immediate personal con- cern, are laggards in this method of serving ourselves whiie we serve the commonwealth. — There are twenty valuable European experi- | ments, published, reduced to an average and systematically brought to bear for the public advantage, where there is one in this country. But European results furnish no reliable guide | to our different systems of labor and tillage. None but our own feet can find the way here. Every respectable farmer ought to try a num- ber of experiments every year; and try them | accurately, weighing, measuring, and estimating | the price of everything. The unsolved prob- leims are countless; many prominent ones are indicated in these pages. It is not necessary to disprove superstitions. It probably matters, little which side of a transplanted tree is to the, north; which shoulder we see the moon over; or where “the sign” is when we plant beans, or make pickles, or wean a calf or a baby. | But the most careful inquiry may be profita-_ bly directed to the best method of selecting, seed corn; to the relative effect of planting the kernels from the bulbs and tips; to the expe- diency of artificial fertilization of seed; to the. conditions of top-dressing with manure, and the use of special manures; to the question Zi . when to plant deep or shallow, and at what depth, under given circumstances; when to cut grass of different varieties and for different uses; whether to cure much or little; whether to cut seed potatoes, and if so, how small; the cause and remedy of rot; the best methods of feeding for the dairy and the shambles; the profitableness of steaming food for stock; and the hundred obscure hypotheses and sugges- tions in regard to fruit-growing, draining, fencing, building, and the vital questions of health and the domestic life. There are conflicting theories on each of these questions; and they can not be certainly and definitely settled until experiments shall be numerous enough to enable the inquirer to It would seem that the desired knowledge might soon be attained, if experiments were made systematically—that strike a reliable average. is, if the best farmers of a county, State, or number of States could agree to act in concert in testing certain specified matters, and in set- tling certain disputed points in one depart- ment one vear, and in another department the next year. Local Agricultural Societies may profitably give direction to these experiments. If philosophy leads to practical experiment, it is practical experiment that leads to truth, directs Theory and practice assist each other. the steps of the blind, and builds up our knowledge of common things. If Science is the eye of Agriculture, Experience is its right hand, and neither can get along without the other, in ascertaining the mysteries of that hidden alchemy that is the handmaid of prog: ress, intransmuting the common soil, and the barnyard’s gathered filth to gold. Hiow to make Farming Profita- ble.—As a rule, every beginner in farming who observes the following rules will succeed ; as a rule, those who violate them will fail : 1. Buy no land that you have not capital to pay for—except mature wood land convenient to market. 2. Reserve one-third of your capital to stock, fertilize, and carry on the farm. 3. Provide good fences and gates where they are required; so that your crops shall not be lost by the depredations of intruding animals. 4. Furnish good farm buildings, to secure properly the crops, and to afford shelter to animals. 5. Select the best animals and the best im- plements that can be purchased at a reasonable price. 28 SOILS: 6. Bring the soil into good condition by ma- nuring and draining, and keep it so by a judi- cious rotation, as set forth in these pages. To raise good crops is often the best way to raise a mortgage, 7. Lay out the fields in the best order, and systematically arrange your work, 8. Employ diligence, energy, and careful management. 9. Remember that the best tilled acre on each of our farms pays the best interest; that a man on a good farm, even if a small one, gets a good living, while a man on a poor one, whether large or small, is as poor as the farm, and always will be. SOILS: THEIR CONSTITUENT PROPERTIES, AND How to Improve anp Apart THEM. It is generally believed that the surface soil, which the farmer cultivates, is mostly com- posed of the detritus or pulyerization of cer- tain rocks, formerly lying immediately under it. But Science tells us that the soil had chiefly a glacier origin. AGaAssizsays: ‘“ There has been at work a grinding machine more powerful than the action of the sun, of water, of frost, or of wearing currents. It is the agency of ice; and to that agency we owe not only the grinding of the rocks to powder, and all the comminuted material which forms tlie chief portion of the loose coatings above the rocks, which serve as the basis for our agricul- tural operations, but we owe also to that natural machinery the mixture of rocks derived from different regions, which have: formed the com- pound coating over the whole surface of the earth, without which agriculture would be lim- ited to those regions the rocky foundation of which is such as to afford a suitable soil. The agency of ice has been such as to bring to- gether from remote countries the loose materi- als from the limestone rocks, the slaty rocks, the marl beds, the granite rocks, and the wear- ing of those materials into paste has trans- formed them into that coating which really constitutes the bulk of our agricultural soil. * it * % se & * “Tt would probably excite a smile if I were to begin by saying that the whole extent of the United States has at one time been covered ‘with a sheet of ice many thousand feet in thickness; and yet geology can show that it was so. It would probably excite doubt if it were stated that the whole sheet, moving from the north in a southerly direction, has ground the loose materials resting upon the surface of the earth to that paste which constitutes the agricultural basis; and yet it is so. “T yisited in 1840 the British Isles, and dis- covered traces of the glacier in Scotland, in England, and in Ireland, and satisfied myself that that country at one time had been entirely under ice. Similar observations were made by other investigators; and, in consequence of all these observations, the conviction gradually prevailed among geologists that Europe had at one time a much colder climate than now, and that the boulders of Scandinayixin origin which were found in Northern Germany, had been transported from Norway and Sweden across the Baltic, by masses of ice extending from the North Pole across these regions to the more temperate portions of Europe; and gradually the evidence has been obtained that an ice pe- riod once preyailed upon the surface af the globe, during which the continent of Europe was all under ice.” Four earths, thus originating, are the chief constituents of all soils; viz.: Silica (flint, or | sand, from granite or sandstone), alumina (clay, from slate or granite), lime ({rom lime- stone), and magnesia, These are composed of ditferent metals, uniting with oxygen. Soils are generally classified as clayey, clayey loam, THEIR CONSTITUENT PROPERTIES, ETC. loam, sandy loam,and sandy. Other inorganic substances are usually present, such as lime, potash, magnesia, oxide of iron, etc., but clay and sand constitute the bulk of the matter, and the proportion in which they are mixed deter- mines the character of soils. It is very rare to find either pure clay or puresand near the surface, but a minimum per cent. of each has been established, below which the ingredient is dropped from the account in the classification of soils. The classification runs thus: ' Clayey soil has 5 to 15 per cent. sand. Clayey loam 15to30 “ he Loam 30 to 60 * > Sandy loam 60 to 90 cy St Sand 90 or more ** Me Organic matter, called humus, is also pres- ent in every soil, and is the product of the de- composition of vegetable matter. It feeds plants with the small amount of nitrogen they require; it is consumed by vegetation, and is reproduced wheneyer vegetable matter decays in the ground. Its restoration is the chief ob- ject sought, in adding periodically a supply of rich manure to land. The proportion of organic matter (humus) in soils which are naturally productive of any useful crops, varies from one-half of one per cent. to seventy per cent. of their whole weight. With less than the former proportion they will scarcely support vegetation; with more than the latter, they require much admixture before they can be brought into profitable cultivation. It is only in boggy and peaty soils that the latter large proportion is ever found—in the best soils the organic matter does not average five per cent., and rarely exceeds ten or twelve. Oats and rye will grow upon land containing only one or one and a half per cent.; barley where two or three per cent. are present, but good wheat and Indian corn soils contain in general from four to eight per cent., and, if very stiff and clayey, from ten to twelve per cent. may occasionally be detected. Though a certain proportion of organic matter is always found in a soil distinguished for its fertility, yet the presence of such substances is not alone sufficient to impart fertility to the land. THAR, in his work on Rational Husbandry, has given a table in which sixteen different soils analyzed by him are classed according to their comparative fertility, which is expressed in numbers, one hundred being the most fertile. This table is the result of very patient investigation, the natural fertility of each soil | being 29 ascertained by its average produce with common tillage and manuring. It is as follows: Alc o|e = 1 | 74 ) Z BY 06 Rich alluvial soils. 4| 40 The value of this could not 5/14 49 | 10 | 27 == be fixed, as it was grass land; perhaps bog-earth. 6] 20 | 67} 3] 10 78 7) 58 36 2 4 iz | 8/56 | 30) 2] 2 75 Good wheat and corn 9 | 60 | 38 Sy ae 70 | lands. 10 | 48 50] 2 2 65 1 }'68 | 30] 3 | 2 60 2] 38 | 60| = 60 a2 33 iy = : 50 artes ae land; not 144/283 |70| 5 | 2 | 40 OF Wwnea te 15 | 23361 75 | > 13] 30 Poor sand, fit only for 16 | Is}6] 80 Vs} 20 oats or buckwheat. Dr. Joun L. Buiaxe, formerly of Orange, New Jersey, sent to Dr. THomas ANTISELL, an analytic chemist of New York city, two samples of soil from a field, with the following directions: “After analyzing those soils, I wish you to inform me in what chemical constituents the land is deficient, and what manures or fer- tilizers, with the quantity of each per acre, will render it suitable for Indian corn, oats, wheat, or clover.” The following is a copy of Dr. ANTISELL’s analysis, with recommenda- tions: ANALYSIS. Surface soil.|Subsoil. Organic vegetable matter.............. 4.56 0.83 Fiue sand and silicates of lime iron... 86.20 86.00 Alumin: 3.20 Per-oxide of iron 0.43 Oxide of mangan 0.06 Lime... 0.50 Magne 0.45 Potass 0.04 Soda 0.06 Chior 0.08 Sulphuric acid 0.05 Phosphoric aeid Carbonic acid Loss... Moistur “The amount of organic vegetable matter in the soil is in moderate quantity, not sufficient for grain crops. It is in great part composed of undecomposed roots, and, when separated, leaves a very small portion of vegetable mat- ter in a rotted condition, fit for the immediate use of plants. It therefore requires that more vegetable matter should be added. “The quantity of lime is much too small, either for the crops to be raised, or for acting upon the rootlets not yet decomposed into mould. Thirty bushels of caustic lime will bring the amount of that substance in an acre 30 of ground three inches deep, over one per cent. This will be the smallest quantity that should be added, and it will need repeating for every It would then, perhaps, be In any crop of wheat. better to add it in the compost form. case, it must be added previous to, and inde- pendent of, the following manures. There is sufficient sulphuric acid present in the soil as soluble sulphates, to supply the wants of the rotation. “The soil contains much too small a quan- tity of the alkalies, potash and soda, but only a trace of phosphoric acid. These, also, will require to be added. Contrasting the subsoil with the surface soil, we find the former to con- tain an increased amount of those substances, excepting the sulphates; and thence, it is ca- pable of adding these mineral matters to the surface soil. Whether the crops will obtain what they require from the subsoil, will de- pend, howeyer, upon the facility of the roots to penetrate the earth, and upon the flow of water through the subsoil, to bring into solution these matters. As these contingencies can not be de- pended on, it would be unsafe to trust to this source alone, or in great part. “The rotation, consisting of Indian corn, oats, wheat, and clover, will ‘require, besides other substances not necessary to be added, such as silica, alumina, and oxide of iron, large amounts of alkalies and earths. If we suppose a crop of sixty-eight bushels to be raised—fifty bushels of oats, twenty-five bushels of wheat, and two tons of clover per acre, there will be removed off the soil by these four crops, the following weight in pounds of these important mineral substances : Pounds. BOGOR cose ncbstudccarsonps deuencesesevasse vwtsdsscvrverecttseeae 100.35 Soda... 29.00 Lime.. 104.60 Magnesia. 33.00 Sulphuric acid 54.65 Phosphoric acid. Chlorine “The corn draws the largest portion of this amount, being equal to one hundred and forty pounds, composed of sulphuric and phosphoric acids, lime, and potash. Therefore, it would reqnire per acre of Pounds. Unleached wodd ashes Common galt.... Gypsum... Bone dust SOILS—CONSTITUENT PROPERTIES, ETC. bie yards of farm-yard manure. One hundred pounds of guano might be substituted for the bone dust with advantage. “For the wheat and oats, the following sub- stances might be added in a compost, per acre: Pounds. Wood ashes weve 100 Nitrate of soda... 50 ONCE EM PSON BRITA... cscccvcoscsnsccssecsssescsincscnsunessuan 40 190 “This will supply the deficiency for both crops, having in view the residual matters left in the soil which the corn had not removed. “The most efficient manure for clover, scat- tered broadcast, per acre, would be of Pounds. . 150 . 1 225 Gypsum Crude sulphate of soda. The methods of scientific analysis are too, complicated and tedious for the use of the prac- tical farmer, who may be desirous of speedily comparing different soils. The following is given as an approximate test in the Prize Essay of Rev. W. L. Rum, before the Royal English Agricultural Society: “Take a glass tube, three-quarters of an inch in internal diameter, and three feet long; fit a cork into one end, and set it upright; fill it half-full of pure wa- ter; take nearly as much water as has been poured into the tube, and mix with it the por- tion of soil which is to be examined, in quan- tity not more than will occupy six inches of the tube; pour the mixture rapidly into the tube, and let it stand in a corner of a room, or supported upright in any way. In half an, hour it may be examined. The earths will have been deposited according to the size and specific gravity of their particles. The portion still suspended in the water may be allowed to settle; and there will appear in the tube layers of sand, clay, and humus, which may be meas- ured by a scale, and thus the proportions nearly ascertained. When a farmer is about to pur- chase a farm, of which the quality is not well known to him, he may be much assisted in his judgment by this simpler experiment, if he has no time or opportunity for a more accurate analysis.” Dr. P. A. CHApDBOURNE, President of the Wisconsin University and formerly President of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, gives the following simple process, whereby any per- son can determine the proportions of sand and clay in a given specimen of soil: “Take any “This should be incorporated with seven cu-|convenient quantity of soil, dry it thoroughly METHODS OF ANALYSIS. and then weigh it and note the weight. Then put it in water and boil it an hour or two, and when cool, pour all into a tall, narrow glass re- ceiver, a large vial will do (being careful to haye no more than will fill it, water included) and shake it well together. In two or three minutes the sand will be settled to the bottom and the clay, ora portion of it, will remain sus- pended in the water. Pour this off carefully nearly down to the sand and add clean water, shake it up again and when the sand has set- tled, pour off, and repeat this operation till what remains will no longer cloud the water. Then pour out the sand upon a piece of paper, dry it, weigh it, and compare it with the gross weight, and you have the proportion of the two ingredients.” A few experiments of this kind, with famil- iar soils, will enable one to judge by the eye and touch, of the character of any soil with suflicient accuracy to assign it to its proper class. This would be an accomplishment to | any farmer, and is one that may easily be ac- quired. Earth, true to her motherly relation, trans- mits her qualities ina remarkable manner to vegetation. All the four varieties of soil—lime, clay, sand, and magnesia—are indispensable as | the food of plants. Of these, lime, asa carbon- | ate, acetate, or sulphate, is far the largest ingre- dient. “The salsola soda,” says Dr. THomMson, | “is the only plant in which we know it does | not exist.”” It was found in the ashes remain- ing after the combustion of oak wood, at the rate of 32 per cent., by M. Saussure. Inthat | of the poplar at the rate of 27 per cent. He, discovered also 8 per cent. in those from the wood of the hazel; 56 in those of the mulberry | wood; 26 inthe hornbeam; 14 inthe ripe plant | of peas; 1 per cent. in the straw of the wheat, | but not any in its seeds; 12 in the chaff of bar- ley, but none in either its flour or its bran; nei- ther did he find any in the oat plant; but then, | in the ashes of the leaves of the fir (Pinus abies, ) | raised on a limestone hill, he found 43.5 per cent. The presence of sand is almost equally gen- eral. In the Dutch rush it is so plentiful that that plent is used by the turner to polish wood, bone, and eyen brass. It forms so considerable a portion of the ashes of wheat straw, that when these are exposed to the action of the blow-, pipe, it unites with the potash found also in the straw, and forms an opaque glass. Sir H. Davy found it most copiously in the epidermis or outer bark of the plants he examined. | 31 Magnesia and alumina exist in smaller quantities. The proportions of the earths contained in the commonly cultivated crops of the farmer have been ascertained by M.Scuraper. ‘This able chemist obtained “from thirty-two ounces of the seeds of wheat, rye, barley, oats, and of rye straw, the following results: Wheat.|Rye. Barley. Oat Rn SAMOA faeperanss-nseusespsads Carbonate of lime... Carb. of magne Re Alumina..... ce Oxide of manganese. Oxide of iron 33.09 4.05 6.95 4.05 According to HUXTABLE, an average acre of wheat carries off with it no less than 210 pounds of inorganic elements, namely: 30 pounds in the grain, and 180 pounds in the straw—a striking proof of the importance of consuming the straw upon the land. Barley takes off 213 pounds—43 in the grain, and 160 in the straw. Oats take 316 pounds—32 in the grain, 30 in the husks, 54 in the chaff, and 200 in the straw. A crop of turnips, of twenty tons per acre, when removed off the land, car- ries off 650 pounds of mineral matter. Pota- toes, including the tops, take off 580 pounds, the tops containing about 400 pounds. Cabbage carries off nearly 1,000 pounds. It will pay the farmer to study these figures. The more intimately he makes himself ac- quainted with the constitution of his soil and subsoil, of the chemical effects of his manures, and of the needs of his prospective crops, the better qualified he will be to adapt one to the other, and the more likely to reap bountiful harvests. The natural character of the land indicates j what crops should be put thereon, and what manures will most profitably modify it. The relation between the plant and soil is very in- timate. Each field will best support a vegeta- tion suited to its own nature; and though this may be counteracted to some extent by the ef- forts of the agriculturist, yet, on the cessation of these efforts, the vegetation returns to its original type. The love of plants for certain minerals confines them to very narrow limits; and where an alteration of the soil occurs, whereby the mineral is diminished in amount, or removed out of the soil, the plant disap- pears. This frequently occurs in fields which have been limed; the character of the weeds 32 is changed, and a new set of plants, which delight in lime, displaces the older growth. The hemp, flax, nettle, and all of the botanical family urticez, flourish in soils which contain potash; the salicorniee family, as samphire, glasswort, and saltwort, in soda soiis; and the leguminose, as clover, beans, and peas, prefer svils which have plaster as a constituent. If fields of sand, of clay, or of gravel are destitute of organie matter or vegetable mold, the deficiency may be supplied by the applica- tion of peat or muck, or vegetable or animal matter of any kind. Should a given soil prove to be almost: desti- tute of lime (of which it should contain two or three per cent.), and yet to possess the re- quisite quantity of soluble and insoluble geine —yvegetable mold (humus)—about fifty to ons liundred bushels of lime to the acre, plowed heavily under, would afford enough of the needed element. If the deficient ingredient was potash, the same number of bushels of unslaked ashes would, in all probability, furnish the necessary quantity of potash. Magnesia, if absent from the soil, might be supplied by one hundred pounds of Epsom salts, or by ashes. Tf the missing substance should be soda, a few bushels of common salt would supply that deficiency. If oxide of iron and manganese were want- ing, a sufficiency could be found in the ashes spoken of above; or they might both be added by turning up an inch or two of the subsoil, if that happened to be red clay. Should there be sulphate of iron present in the surface soil, or in the subsoil, when plowed up, its sulphuric acid would very speedily combine with the lime ap- plied, form a sulphate of lime, and oxide of iron, and thus provide the former ingredient. If ammonia be wanted, as it generally is, for the supply is seldom too abundant for fertility, it may be supplied from the barn-yard or the hog-pen, and its quantity greatly increased by the use of the liquid manure from the stable or the barn-yard. This liquid, if mixed withthe solid manure and taken to the field before the ammonia escapes, or put in the compost heap with peat or any organized matter, and mixed with sulphate of lime or plaster, so as to fix the ammonia before it escapes in gas, will af- ford a rich supply. The phosphates are also present in good Pulverized or ground bones are some- But the soils. times used to supply this element. SOILS—CONSTITUENT PROPERTIES, ETC. main supply of the phosphates must be the admixture of lime and plaster with products of the stable and barn-yard. Indeed, if common ashes were applied, most of the important salts and inorganic sub- stances, absolutely necessary, would be thereby furnished. A heavy dressing of barn-yard and stable manure should have the same effect, as in these all those inorganic, as well as organic, substances abound, which go to feed plants and form their structure. If both lime and mag- nesia should seem to be absent, an application of magnesian lime would be the simplest remedy, By way of comparison, we append «a table from Norton’s Elements of Scientifie Agricul- ture. The first column gives the elements of a soil fertile without manure; the second, of a poorer one, fertile with manure; and the last column of one known to be very barren. An analysis of one hundred pounds of each soil shows the following result : Soil fertile Soil fertile) vy... without with He mat manure. | manure, |78?TeD. Organic matter 9.7 5.0 4.0 Silica... 64.5 83.3 77.8 Alumina. 5.7 5.1 9.1 ime.. 5.9 1.8 4 Magnes 9 38 ol Oxide of iron 6.1 3.0 8.1 Oxide of mangau «l 3 Fa | Potash. 2 Soda. 4 2 2 ol 4 °2 Carbonic acid 4.0 Af Loss during the analysis.. 14 4 100.0 100.0 100.0 The substances which are exclusively present in the soil, represented as being fertile without manure, are potash, soda, and chlorine. They are so abundant, indeed, that any attempt to replace them to the same extent in the second yariety of soil, would involve an expenditure greatly exceeding the value of the land. They are not, however, necessary to be present to that degree, so far as products for a series of some years are concerned. M. Puvis has stated that “the thousandth part” of any one of the elements is sufficient to change the nature of a soil, and infuse into it fresh productive powers. The farmer should, therefore, esti- mate that by giving a good dressing of barn- yard and stable manure, and applying one hundred bushels of ashes per acre, he would not only correct the defects of the soil, but pre- pare it to go through a rotation, and be in an improved condition at the end of it. In barn- yard and stable manures, and ashes, there will HOW not only be found the deficient salts, but every other substance that enters into the texture of plants, their flowers, seeds, and fruits. The third soil described in the table, is more radically defective. It is deficient in potash, soda, chlorine, sulphuric acid, phosphoric acid, and ecarbonie acid—each and all of which bodies, in a greater or less degree, are abso- Intely essential to a productive soil—and then, it has an excess of oxide of iron, and a com- paratively small quantity of lime and organic matter. radical, and more time be devoted to the cure. Two green crops, say of peas, clover, or buck- wheat, should be grown and plowed in, as a} To prepare the ground | to grow these crops advantageously, a compost | |they cake, and present only a small surface to preliminary process, should be formed of ten loads of stable and barn-yard manure, ten loads of river or marsh mud, or peat, dried, one bushel of plaster, five bushels of pulverized bones, five gallons of oil, and six bushels of refuse salt of the meat or fish packers, per acre. This being formed into a heap, should remain a few weeks, and then) be thoroughly shoveled over, so as to be well mixed together. This being spread and plowed | | permeable to the atmosphere. | this quality, carbonate of lime and animal and in, the land should be top-dressed with fifty bushels of lime and one hundred bushels of ashes, then the peas, clover, or buckwheat : should be sown, harrowed in and rolled. So soon as the plant sown comes into bloom, it should be rolled and plowed in, the ground harrowed, a second fifty bushels of lime be sown thereon, and a second crop of the plant, selected, be sown, harrowed in and _ rolled. When this comes into bloom, it should also be plowed in, when the ground should be har- rowed, and sowed to wheat. Clover and or- chard grass seeds should be sown thereon the ensuing spring, say at the rate of fifteen pounds of clover seed, and two bushels of orchard grass seed, per acre. Such treatment would bring the land described in the third column, up to a profitable state of production. Besides their division according to texture, already given, soils may be otherwise distin- guished: First. According to their powers of produc- tion, when they are termed rich or poor; and Second. According to their habitual relation with respect to moisture, when they are termed wet or dry. The power to retain moisture in proper quantities is one of the most important quali- ties of soil. water by cohesive attraction,” said Sir Hum- = Hence, the treatment must be more, “The power of the soil to absorb TO CHANGE SOILS, 2 33 PHREY Dayy, “depends ina great measure on the state of division of its parts; the more divided they are, the greater is their absorbent power. The different constituent parts of soils likewise appear to act, even by cohesive attrac- tion, with different degrees of energy; thus, vegetable substances seem to be more absorbent than animal substances, animal substances more so than compounds of alumina and silica, an compounds of alumina and silica more absorb- ent than carbonates of lime and magnesia. “The stiff clays, approaching to pipe-clay in their nature, which take up the greatest quan- tity of water when it is poured upon them in a fluid form, are not the soils which absorb most moisture from the atmosphere in dry weather; the air, and the vegetation on them is generally burnt up almost as readily as on sands. The soils that are most efficient in supplying the plant with water by atmospheric absorption are those in which there is a due mixture of sand, finely divided clay and carbonate of lime, with some animal or vegetable matter; and which are so loose and light as to be freely With respect to vegetable matter are of great use in soils; they give absorbent power to the soil without giving it tenacity; sand, which also destroys tenacity, on the contrary, gives little absorbent power. I have,” he says, “compared the absorbent pow- ers of many soils with respect to atmospheric moisture, and havealways found it greatest in the most fertile soils; so that it aflurds one method of judging of the productiveness of land.” Davyys experiments and CUTHBERT JOHN- son’s are confirmed by those of M. Scouser, who varied his observations at intervals of three days and obtained the following results : 1000 grains on a. surface of 50 square inches, absorbed in Kinp oF Eartu. Ee) a fis = Sie _ a n = So | | grs grs| grs| ars Silicions sand.. Oo] o] ao} o C 24 3) 3) 3 Gypsum powder. 1 1 HW} a Sandy clay. 21 | 26 | 23] 2 Loamy clay 25 | 30 | 34 | 35 Stiff clay. 30 | 36 | 40 | 41 Gray pee 7 | 42 | 48 | 49 Fine lime. 26 | 31 | 35 | 35 Fine magnesia. 69] 76 | 80 | 52 Garden mold 5 | 45 | 50 | 52 Arable soi 16 | 22 | 23 | 23 Slaty mar 24 | 29 | 32 | 32 34 An experiment designed to show the reten- tive power of the different soils, resulted in the following manner: In one hundred pounds of dry soil, water will begin to drip, if it is a Quartz sand when it has absorbed 25 Ibs. water. Caleareous sand * st ZT" ce Loamy soil aS o 40 ne English chalk ‘ ss a5 see Clay loam a 23 50 3. Pure clay id ¢ (0) 3 Jonnson has extended his examination of absorbent power to various organic fertilizers, with the following result : Parts. 1000 parts of horse dung dried in a tempera- ture of 100 degrees, absorbed, by exposure for three hours to air saturated with moist- ure and of the temperature of 62 degrees....... 100) parts of cow dung, under the same cir- cumstances, absorbed. 1000 parts pig dung.. 1000 parts sheep dung 1000 parts pigeon’s dung The attractive power of the earth for the oxygen gas of the atmosphere, is also an im- portant element to be considered. Some re- markable experiments were made by Mr. H1x1, demonstrative of the great benefits plants derive from oxygen gas being applied to their roots: hyacinths, melons, Indian corn, ete., were the subjects of the experiments. The first were greatly improved in beauty, the second in fla- yor, the last in size, and all in vigor. This, 00, is another use of increasing the moisture of the soil, by deep and complete plowings, for Humpoxipr and ScuHusier have clearly shown that a dry soil is quite incapable of absorbing oxygen gas. ‘‘ Thus,” says Dr. JoHNsON, “it must be evident to the most listless observer, that the more deeply and finely a soil is pulverized, and its earths rendered permeable, the greater will be the absorption by them of both oxygen and SOILS—CONSTITUENT PROPRETIES, ETC. watery vapor from the surrounding atmos- phere.” A free access of the air to the soil also adds to its fertility, by promoting the decomposition of the excretory matters of plants and other or- ganic substances of the soil. It also increases its temperature; for earths are bad conductors of heat. The best agriculturists in Europe and America find that ventilation of the roots of plants with the cultivator, is as important as subduing the weeds. Vegetation has lungs; and even the soil can be suffocated. Every farmer knows that when the inert substratum of most cultivated soils is first brought to the surface, it is entirely barren, and that yet, by mere exposure to the atmosphere, it becomes readily productive. From these experiments of the chemical philosopher, the intelligent farmer can learn many new and important conclusions with re- gard to the improved cultivation of the earth. From each of the above tables the studious farmer, though he be a plain man, may learn how to inerease his harvests. He may learn why fallowing and finely pulverizing promote so obviously and so permanently the fertility of his acres. He may learn how manures act primarily upon his soils, and secondarily upon his crops ; how the mixture of sand with clay and muck with sand improves the texture of both; how the roots, like the tops, are exhila- rated by the oxygen and nitrogen of the air and quickened by the warm touch of the sun- shine; and how deep plowing returns com- pound interest, by giving the elastic fluids free passage to the dormant earth. Thus he may learn why the new path of science is better than the old path of tradition; and improve his mind by examining more closely the im- portant properties with which the Creator has endowed the soil. FERTILIZERS: THEIR QUALITIES, UsEs, AND COMBINATIONS. THERF is nothing more generous in reciproc- ity than the soil; if the farmer feeds it when it is hungry it will feed him when he is hun- gry. The earth will not be robbed with im- punity, but she freely exchanges fruit for fer- tilization, luxury for refuse. The parable of the barren fig-tree still instructs us; we must “dig about it and dung it,” and then we may reip the harvest. Manures, judiciously ap- plied, are the great sources of agricultural wealth. When a successful farmer was asked to what he attributed his success, he answered, “ First, manure.” “Whatsecond?” “ Manure.” “Whatthird?” “Manure!” The old Scotch minister, when taken around by his parishion- ers, in time of drouth, from field to field, to pray for rain and the blessing of Heaven upon the parched and feeble crops, coming to a very poor and neglected field, said to his brethren, “Pass on, pass on; it be no use to pray o’er this field—it needs manure |” The use of this auxiliary in vegetation was probably not practiced until the soils began to lose their natural power from oyercropping. The fabulous king AUGEAS is said to have had a supply on hand, consisting of the accumula- ted excrement of three thousand oxen for ten years, but he inade no wiser use of his treasure than to hire HrrcvLeEs to wash it away. It was but just that the spendthrift lost his head. A manure is any fertilizing compound or in- gredient added to asoil in which it is deficient. All cultivated lands should contain the earths, silica, carbonate of lime, alumina, decompos- ing organic matter, and certain salts, and where one of these is held in too small a quantity for the economy of vegetation, its addition consti- tutes the great art of manuring. Manures divide themselves into three classes: 1. The earthy, which are by far the most per- manent portions of a soil, and are usually ap- plied in the largest proportions, 2. The organic {vegetable and animal), which are the least permanent, and are used in much smaller quan- tities than the earthy ; and 3d, the saline, which are the most sparingly applied of all fertilizers, are the most readily absorbed by plants, and whose period of duration in the soil is longer than the organic, but less than the earthy. To proceed successfully the farmer must know: First, what food constituents his crop will require; second, what is the previous his- tory of the field; third, what is the composi- tion of his manures. The following classification from a small pamphlet by Professor J. B. LAWEs: “1. Plants Cultivated for their Primary Organs — Leaf and Stem.—Manures suitable for meadow grass, clover, cinquefoil, tares, cabbages, and is condensed Substances yielding am- monia rapidly. Sowrees.—Peruvian guano, sul- phate and muriate of ammonia; dung from stall-fed cattle, salts of lime, with phosphate of other fodder plants. ammonia, soot. “2. Plants Cultivated for their Intermediate Organs—Bulb or Tuber.—Manures for turnips and mangel wurtzel. Phosphates, sulphates, and carbon. Sources.—Inferior sorts of guano, superphosphate of lime, well-rotted dung. “3. Plants Cultivated for their Ultimate Or- gons—Seed.—Manures for wheat, barley, oats, peas, beans, tares, and clover seed. Organic matter, slowly yielding ammonia. Sowrces.— Residue from highly-manured green crops, rape cake, dung {rom stall-fed cattle. “Under class 1, meadow grass should be ma- nured with a substance like Peruvian guano or soot, while the clover should receive, in addi- tion, a salt of lime. In elass 2, mangel wur- zel may receive a larger amount of nitrogen- ized matter than turnips, asit does not readily produce leaves. In class 3, oats and beans are less liable to injury, from too large an amount of manure, than the other crops.” A crop of wheat yielding thirty bushels will (35) 36 FERTILIZERS—QUALITIES, contain, besides water, about 1727 pounds of carbon, 1800 pounds of oxygen, 242 pounds of hydrogen, 49 pounds of nitrogen, and 98 pounds of incombustible matter, containing 11 pounds of lime, 6} pounds of magnesia, 33 pounds of potash, and 19 pounds of phospho- ric acid, and 98 pounds of silica, with small quantities of other substances. Now from what sources does the wheat plant obtain these in- gredients? We know that all the carbon (chareoal) was derived from gas (carbonic acid) contained in the atmosphere and soil; that the oxygen and hydrogen were obtained {rom water; the nitrogen from either ammonia or nitric acid—substances present in both soil and atmosphere; the lime, potash, silica, and other incombustible ingredients we know to be derived from the soil. These plant-foods are the same for all crops; with these in abun- dance, and suitable conditions of climate, etc., any crop can be grown. Plants have thus the wonderful power of producing such substances as starch, sugar, woody fibre, gluten, from afew simple gases, water, and the ingredients of rocks. “Looking at the question abstractly,” says Jounson, “it must be evident, that as animals receive almost the whole of their nutriment, either directly or indirectly, from the vegetable kingdom, their excrement, or their decomposed bodies, returning these to the soil, must form the best manure.” : The three best crops for making both feed and manure are corn, clover, and roots, such as the different kinds of field beets and turnips. All these are excellent for the results sought, and should be cultivated on every farm. Where land is cheap and good for corn, as in the Western States, corn will be mainly grown for feed, and manure will not be considered in se- lecting the crop. But there are many reasons for growing more clover, even at the West. It ischeaper for at least a portion of winter for- age, while its fertilizing and renovating effects while growing are needed on thousands of fail- ing wheat fields. The rich nitrogenous manure obtained by feeding clover, if applied to wheat or corn, will largely increase these crops. ’ USES, AND COMBINATIONS. From numerous analyses and careful experi- ments, Professor LAWEs estimates the value of the manure made by the consumption of a ton each of many different kinds of feed. ‘“Caleu- lating the clover,” he says, “from two cuttings, one and a half tons for the first and one ‘for the second, and one ton for the roots, and add- ing one-fourth for the straw and stalks of the other crops, I find that one acre of each of the following erops will produce in manure: Value of ma-/Value of ure from a| manure ton of each/per acre. kind of feed. Yield per Description of Food. acre. Clover hay. 3\stons $9 64 $27 74 234, 338 6 43 16 07 40 bush. 5 : 340° «O* According to this table it takes nearly 13 acres of meadow hay to equal one of clover; nearly 3 acres of corn; nearly 5 of barley and oats ; about 2} acres of peas, and nearly 2} of turnips, to return the same value in manure as one acre of clover. We have from the same authority a table showing the comparative value of a ton of ma- nure made from a much greater variety of food given to cattle. It is as follows: 3. Indian cor . Malt. . Decorticated cot- ton-seed cake...2 7 2, Rape cake... Barle 6 32 3. Linseed cake Clover 9 64 4. Malt dust . Meadow hay 43 5, Lentils s, Out straw 90 6. Linseed Wheat straw 3 7. irley stray 25 8. 21. Potatoes 50 9, Mangels 07 10, Locust beaus . Swedish turnips... YL 11. Oats... 24. Common turnips... a6 12, Wheat « 25. CALL OtSecersccosesserene 5b X. A. WitxaRrp, of Utica, New York, vis- ited the farm of Mr. Lawes, in England, in 1866, and on his return furnished to the Coun- try Gentleman the following valuable table of results obtained by the scientific farmer of Rothamsted: 37 VALUABLE EXPERIMENTS. MR. LAWES’ EXPERIMENTS WITH DIFFERENT KINDS OF MANURE ON PERMANENT MEADOW LAND. THE PARK.—The land has probably been laid down with grass for some centuries. No fresh seed has been artificially sown within the last thirty years cer- tainly, nor is there record of any having been sown since the grass was first laid down. The experiments commenced in 1856, at which time the character of the herbage appeared uniform over all the plots. Excepting as explained in the Table, and in the foot notes, the same description of manure has been applied to the plots year after year. (Area under experiment, about 6} acres.) Propucr per Acre, WEIGHED As Hay, PLors, MANURES PER ACRE; ELEVENTH SEASON—1866, Ti nvIC S-ason; 865 : 1856-1565. 1865; Cwts. 1 200 lbs. Ammonia-salts* [also 14 tons Warm-yard Manure per acre per annum, for 8 years, 2 Unmanured, 1864 and since [14 tons F ard Manure per acre per annum, for 8 years, 1856- 3 Unmanured, continuously ae aft phate of Lime,( ie case b te of Lime, Ammonia-salts”’ 5 400 Ibs. ‘* Ammonia-sults’”” Ga 00 Ibs. ** Ammonia-salts’’.. nd 7 Iphates of Potass, Soda, and Magnesi (@); and *“ Superphosphate of Lime’’, GOs Sulphates of Soda and Magnesia(|)); (i OY 4 9 da. and Magnesia(@) ; oo se and 4001 “* Ammonin-salts’’.... (10 Magnesia( aS 3 400 Ibs, ** Ammmonia-salts”’. 1] a sf aC 1bs.(¥) * Ammonia-salts es lla OL of £00 Lbs.({) ‘* Ammonia-salts,’’ and 200 Ibs. each Silicate of Soda and Sili 12 Py +8 13 Superphosphate of Lime ;’’ 400 lbs. ‘* Ammor a-salts,”? und 2,000 Ibs. cut Wheat straw 14 “Superphosphate of Lime 5’ 550 Ibs. Nitrate of Suda 15 no none 10 Ths, st 16 Sulphates of Potass, Soda, aud Magnesia(?); ‘‘ Superphosphate of Lime 3” 275 Ibs, ‘* oe 17 none none 2751 nf D wf ra saaede 18 Mixture supplying the quantity of P. ‘tass, Soda, Lime, Magnesia, Phosphoric Acid, Silica, and Nitrogen contained in one ton of hay (commencing DUST SOD:)) oevanstwexsnnereesscevicessreters on Gy ory aeneeveee: sesseennnneees i (} Equal parts Sulphate and Muriate of Ammonia of Commerce, t) 200 lbs. Bone-ash, 150 lbs. Sulphurie Acid (Sp. gr. 1.7). (t) Plots 6, 8, and 10, had, besides the Mannre Specified, 2,0001bs Sawdust per acre per annum for 7 years, 1856-1862, but without effect. as 300 Ibs, Sulphate of Potass, 100 lbs. Sulphate of Souda (200 Ibs, 1856-1862), and 100 Ibs. Sulphate of Magnesia, |) 250 Ibs, Sulphate of Soda (500 Ibs. in 1862 and 1863), and 100 Ibs. Sulphate of Magnesia (Sulphate of Potass also, as on Plots 7, etc., 1856-1861, 0) 800 Ibs, in 1856-7-8; only 400 Ibs. in 1859-60-61; and 800 Ibs. since. *) Average of 8 years only, 1856-1 2 Average of 7 years only, 1859-1 Average of 4 years only, the application of Silicates not being commenced until 1862, Average of 8 years only, as these experiments did not commence until 185s, 38 FERTILIZERS—QUALITIES, Mr, Wirxarp added: “The different plots of grass are cut toa line, and with the great- est care, so that each “may be kept sepa- rate. They are kept separate while curing, and each goes upon the scales and is weighed accu- rately, so that there shall be no mistake or guess-work in the matter. Just before loading upon the cart the sampler goes through the’ different pieces and selects samples from each to be used in the laboratory. The influence of the different manures has a marked effect upon the quality of the grasses, and it would seem that certain fertilizers have the power of chang- ing the entire character of plants upon a field, forcing out the one to give place to another. “The grass upon No, 1 (see table page 37), was of very good quality, but rather coarse. No. 2 was finer, with a little clover among it. No. 3 was very fine and of good quality. No. 4 very good quality, and in a more forward state of maturity, (6) coarser than (a), and in both a very little clover, No. 5, plenty of grass—dark color, fine, and no elover. No. 6 like the above. No. 7, some clover, and 8 Jess than 7. No.9 had but very little clover, and 10 of similar character. No. 11, grass and no clover among it. No. 12, grass very fine, with a little clover. No. 13, like 9 and 10; 14, very coarse grass and no clover; 15, very coarse, and 17 finer than 15. No. 18, very good.” very coarse Different Soils require different treat- ment. Clay soils should be treated with lime, ashes, and light composts; such as contain straw and partially decomposed vegetable matters keep such soils light, and furnish by their decompo- sition the humus in which they are deficient. Black, moist soils, that have been long eulti- vated, are generally exhausted of the lime and sand needed for grass and grain crops; hence composts containing sand are especially useful on such soils. Lime may be applied freely upon the surface of such soils in the form of plas- ter, slaked lime, or superphosphate, with adyan- tage. On light, sandy soils, well-worked com- posts, rendered as fine as possible, and contain- ing a large proportion of muck or other carbon- aceous substances, and animal manures of all sorts, are peculiarly appropriate. The influ- ence of animal manures upon sandy soils is well illustrated by the luxuriant growth of corn and melons upon the sands of Cape Cod, USES, AND COMBINATIONS. |hungry for the elements which these manures contain. Application of Manures.—Ought manure to be applied directly to the surface or be plowed under? This question is still much diseussed, and is far from being settled—the | best cultivators differing. As to the propriety of top-dressing meadow lands there is little difference of opinion; and many of the oldest and wisest farmers of the country, like Jonn Jounston, of New York State, insist that a top-dressing is best for all crops and all lands. So much interest has this question excited, that some five years ago the Massachusetts Agricultural Society offered premiums to in- duce farmers in different parts of the State to ‘try experiments with manure placed at differ- jent depths in the soil.* The plan was as fol- jlows: Five lots of the same size, on similar isoil, side by side, were to be selected, marked, |and numbered. On number one the manure | was to be plowed in deeply; on number two it was to be plowed in four inches; on number three it was to be spread on the surface and har- jrowed in; on number four it was to be spread ;On the surface and not harrowed in; on num- |ber five no manure was to be put. The lots were all to be planted and cultivated alike for three years in succession, without the addition of any more manure, and the entire crop of each lot for each year weighed, and an account of the seasons, with description of the soil, was to accompany each report. The reports indi- cated that the best average results were ob- tained from placing the manure about four inches deep. The depth at which manures should be coy- ered will depend upon three circurustances— the nature of the soil, the kind of manure, and the kind of crop. All manures should be placed at a sufficient depth in the soil to keep them moist, or they will be inactive. Manures containing a large proportion of volatile ele- ments should be buried neyer less than four inches. These elements, when the soil be- comes warm, assume the gaseous form, and tend to rise to the surface, and will be diffused through the soil lying over them, and, if there are elements in the soil having an affinity for them, will be retained. Other elements which are not volatile, as lime, ashes, muck, and salt, but which are soluble in water, may be safely by means of fish offal and prepared fish ma- nures, and by the application of white-fish | along the coast of Connecticut. Such soils are *See Essay by Simon Brown and Josuva ReyYNOLDS, M. D., of Massachusetts, in United States Agricultural Report, 1865. AMMONIA—ASHES—BONES. applied on or near the surface, where they will be dissolved by the rain and sink into the soil. Some vegetables strike their roots deeply into the soil, and for their perfect development re- quire a deep tilth. In such instances trench- ing or deep plowing is peculiarly beneficial. For such crops a portion of the manure should be worked deeply into the soil. Some haul out manure in the Fall or Winter and leave it in heaps till Spring. This prac- tice is objectionable, because it prevents an un- equal distributiony and much of the volatile gases is lost. To leave manure spread broad- cast all Winter is almost as bad. Keep it under cover till ready to apply it for the crop. Air—Ammonia.—It is well known that humus, or upper mold, the most valuable con- stituent of soils, is formed by the action of the atmosphere on the animal and vegetable mat- ter contained in the earth. The air, however, coming into contact only with the surface of our planet, this fertile substance is generated only to a slight depth. An invention has been introduced into Germany for increasing this agent of fertility, by Herr Nonrenprucn, of the Agricultural College connected with the University of Bonn. It consists in introdu- cing air mechanically to the subsoil, but the method must be simplified before it can be of public utility. Professor VILLE, in France, has demonstra- ted that the nitrogen of air is directly assimi- lated by plants; and also, that ammonia is similarly absorbed from the air. He introdu- ced a quantity of ammonia under a bell-glass, and he says: “From the very first day, the in- fluence of the addition was manifested. The leaves of the plants became tinged with a fresher and brighter green; the stems rose higher, the branches more numerous, and had more leaves; all the plants, however, were not affected to the same degree, the greatest change being observed in the cereals.” Ashes.—Take care of the wood ashes made on your place; don’t throw them away or sell them, and don’t expose them to the weather. They contain some of the very best fertilizing qualities. Five bushels of ashes, mixed with two double-horse cart-loads of marsh or river muck or peat will convert the whole into good manure. The Maine Furmer tells of a farmer who went into the soap-making business some years ago, for the purpose of securing the ashes, after having been leached, to apply to his 39 land. He made his farm of clayey loam a garden. W. H. Wurre, of South Windsor, Conn., a thoughtful observer, also testifies to the great value of leached ashes, although in leaching they part with an important fertilizing ecle- ment. On rich land, wood ashes tend to pre- vent oats and wheat from lodging, by furnish- ing silex to strengthen the stem. Hickory ashes are worth fifty cents a bushel on sowe Levi BArtrLetrT says he has seen the effect of ashes upon land “for twenty years after their application.” Turf ashes are al- most equally valuable. Coal ashes are by no means worthless. soils. In heavy clay soils, they will, by mechanical ac- tion, tend to make the ground porous and easy of tillage. In potato fields they render the soil light and dry, and so favor the healthful- ness of the tuber. Thirty, fifty, or even a hun- dred bushels an aere, on a clayey loam, are not too much. They may be used advantageously as a top-dressing to grass lands; also as a mulch to fruit trees in Summer, and a protection to their roots in Winter. Bomnes.—Save the bones as you would saye dimes; apply them to your land in the most economical form, as you would reap dollars. The use of bones as manure was begun in Eng- land shortly before 1820, and in 1868 fifty thousand tons were imported there. The phos- phate of lime can be more easily obtained from bones than from any other common source. They are generally composed of, say, two-fifths fat and gelatine (producing ammonia), two- fifths phosphate of lime, one-tenth moisture, and three per cent. of carbonate of lime. How to prepare bones for manure. If added in their unprepared state, they will yield an- nually asmall portion of substance to the crops, but a hundred bushels will produce no more effect fora single year, when thus applied, than five bushels when finely broken or pulverized. There are five methods of preparing bones. 1, Grinding isan expensive mode. Millsand great outlay are involved. 2. Burning is a summary process, but is at- tended with a loss of fat and albumen, valuable for manure, amounting to about one-third of the whole. 3. Dissolving is an expeditious mode, and much practiced. First break the bones with a hammer, then throw them into tubs or casks, containing a fluid which is five or six parts water and one part sulphuric acid (oil of yit- 40 FERTILIZERS—QUALITIES, riol), Let them soak till they become a con- sistent paste. The water then may be evapo- rated, and a pure superphosphate is left—one of the most valuable of manures. 4. Decomposition: If fresh bones are thrown into compact heaps and mixed with moist, | sandy loam and ashes, they will gradually be- come heated and decomposed, The result will he hastened, by occasionally sprinkling with The heap should be covered with muck or charcoal to retain the ammonia. 5. Steaming has lately been adopted to some extent. This is done by using a strong boiler with a false bottom inside, on which the bones | are placed. Water is then added so as par- tially to cover the bones, and when converted into steam, it completely envelops them, for twenty-four hours, at a pressure of twenty-four pounds to the square inch, when they are re- duced to an unresisting mass. urine, or mixing with horse manure. The third or fourth process given will proba- bly be found most practicable for the ordinary farmer. All should beware, however, of swind- lers who go about the country puffing and sell- ing the fine sort of calcined bone dust, used up and rejected by sugar refiners, which has been for months repeatedly burnt over and over, until it is perfectly vitrified and worthless. Farmers ought to be protected from fraud by legislative enactment, providing for an in- spector to visit all manufactories of fertilizers within each State, and to declare the whole stock confiscate when adulteration shall be discovered. Cheating in this matter is easy and almost universal, and the knaves can be circumyented only by heroic remedies. Composting.—“See to it that you in- crease your dung hill!” said Caro, two thou- Special manures can be used with great advantage, and adapted to different varieties of soil and crop; but the farmer’s main reliance must always be the compost heap—the gatherings from the stable and barn- yard. “It is known,” says CotmMan’s Rural World, “‘that green manure, or manure fresh from the stables, will not do to apply to erops. This manure must in all cases be changed be- fore it is applied. It must be decomposed— rotted. It is then plant-food, and may be ap- plied directly, either as top-dressing or other- wise.” Fresh manure may be profitably plowed under sometimes, for this mixes it with mold, sand years ago, and is equivalent to compounding in the barn- USES, AND COMBINATIONS. yard. But it can not be turned under in Winter, and meanwhile its fertilizing proper- ties must be caught and held. Professor 8. W. Jounson, of Yale College, pronounces the following opinion of several farmers “a fact,” and ‘fone which deserves to be painted in bold letters on every barndoor in Connecticut :” “That a well made compost of two loads of muck and one of stable manure is equal to three loads of stable manure.” ALEXANDER Hypr, of Massachusetts, in a prize essay, says: “We know that it is said by some that the manure is increased in bulk but not in value by this operation of composting; that all the virtue is in the manure, and the more concentrated we can get it the better. As well might it be said that all the virtue is in | the flour, and there is no need of composting it into bread. The increased value of the ma- nure is not owing merely to the gases being absorbed, which otherwise would have been dissipated, but by the combined action of heat, air, light, and moisture, chemical changes are produced, and the whole rendered the fit food for vegetation. The muck acts not only as an absorbent, but contains in itself the elements of fertility, and by coming in contact with the putrescent manure, the process of decay in the muck itself is hastened, much in the same way as one rotten apple generates decay among its fellows. This influence of contact, catalytic, as the chemists call it, is wonderful, and fur- nishes the key for the indefinite increase of the compost heap,” In the management of farm-yard manure three problems require to be considered. First, the production of a manure containing the greatest possible amount of nitrogen ; secondly, the successful conversion of that nitrogen into ammonia; and thirdly, the adoption of a meth- od which will prevent the escape of the am- monia, Manure Cellars—Most of the natural ma- nures contain valuable elements that are vola- tile and soluble. Ifthe heap be exposed tothe rain and sun the soluble elements will be dis- solved and washed out, and the volatile ele- ments evaporated. Experiments of Lord K1n- NARD, in England, proved that housed manures are worth sixty per cent. more than unhoused. “The most convenient arrangement for the protection of manures is the barn cellar, and this is coming rapidly into use in the Eastern and Northern States. In every section of the country in which barns are required for the storage of forage and the protection of stock in COMPOSTING. 41 Winter, we would recommend the barn cellar|solid manure; and they become, after decom as both a convenient and economical arrange- ment. It should be easy of access and of suf- ficient height, be built of brick or well-pointed stone walls, and with a bottom impervious to water. It should be protected from currents of air, and if possible secured from frost, so that fermentation and putrefaction may go on| Material should be pro-) vided and placed in or near the cellar, and be) through the Winter. frequentiy spread over the fresh droppings of the animals, in sufficient quantity to absorb the liquids and to take up the gases as fast as they are formed.”* This should be under the sta- bles when practicable. Where this can not be made conyenient, the compost heap in the yard should always be sheltered by A Covered Shed.—Every rain that falls on your manure heap washes away silver dollars. H. M. Baker, of Virginia, recommends the following shed: “Set a row of forked posts through the ecattle-yard, ten feet high, to sus- tain a range pole. Nine feet distant setanother row, eight feet high; and nine feet further an- other row six feet high; put range poles upon these and cover the whole with old rails or poles, and brush, and upon these put straw, cornstalks, or sedge, to form a roof, which will shed off most of the water and all the sun. Brace the corners well to prevent accidents from high winds, and you will gain twice the cost | of the shed every year.” The size of the yard should be proportioned to the amount of stock kept, and its shape sim- ilar to a shallow wooden bowl. The barn be- ing furnished with eaves troughs, no more water will be collected in the yard than is. ne- cessary for the fermentation of the manure. The yard should be slightly concave, and if possible have a clay bottom, and it ought al- ways to fuce the south. The drainings should be caught in a covered tank, immediately below the yard, and returned to tne top of the heap, from time to time, in dry weather. Punch the heap with a crowbar to admit the liquid, and it will prevent the manure from pecoming fire- fanged. How to make the Compost.—Go to the forest in the fall, and gather with hay-rake and corn- basket ten to a hundred loads of leaves—as mnany as you have time for—and carry them and spread them in your barn-yard, They fur- nish the best of beds for horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs; they prevent any loss of liquid or *U.S. Agricultural Report for 1363, p . 374. All such deciduous leaves contain phosphates and other vegetable nutriment, as well as the rich position, one of the richest of fertilizers. ingredients of humus. ’ There is also near or on almost every large farm, a pond of water, where leaf mold has lain for years, or a swamp where peat has ac- cumulated for ages. Cart this to the yard* by the dozen loads, for luscious fruits and beau- tiful flowers, and vegetable food are concealed in the decaying mud. Mix this the leaves, refuse straw, and excrement from the yard and stable, and you have the key to your next harvest. Throw a little lime or ashes upon the muck (but never on fresh dung, for it will release the ammonia), and build up your heap with alternate layers. Plaster, or a solution of copperas should be sprinkled on with whenever it is overhauled. Of all substances used in composting with ani- mal excrement, perhaps there is none superior to good dry muck; while it absorbs the liquids it deodorizes the manures with which it is mixed, absorbing and retaining the ammonia and other gases, and is ready when applied to the soil to impart them to vegetation. It is this which is mixed with night-soil in the manufacture of poudrette, rendering the night- soil managable and easy of transportation and application. “The greater quantity of humus a svil con- tains, in a state of natural decay,” says W. H. Wuire, “the better prepared is it to support vegetation—the greater ifs capacity to absorb and retain heat and moisture, essentials in the support of plant growth. The great source of this humus of the soil is animal and vegetable substances, and as these substances are unequal in their decay, it is better to mix them; the animal putrefaction proceeding rapidly tends to hasten the vegetable, while the vegetable tends to temper the animal, thus together ben- efiting each.” Muck and leaves should also be added to the hog-pen occasionally during the Winter, and, unless the hog manure is to be kept for corn or garden, the whole should be added month by month to the compost heap. It should all be worked over fine in early Spring, and rendered dry by adding peat, if neces- sary. *It will be still more valuable if taken out and al- lowed to dry four some weeks or months before being used in the yard. The muck from the pond is better than the peat, 9 et FERTILIZERS—QUALITIES, By perseverance and industry in this pro- cess, few farmers will need to buy manure. Any farm may thus be made to manufacture all the manure for the crops grown upon it, except potatoes, and those should have plaster or ashes instead of barn-yard manure, as the latter increases their tendency to rot. Millions of dollars are yearly expended that ought to be saved, for with adequate painstaking, a farm whose stock is rightly proportioned to the num- ber of acres tilled, will furnish all the manure necessary to keep the soil constantly increasing in fertility. The Garden Compost.—In some convenient. spot, at a distance back of the house, excavate a basin ten or fifteen feet in diameter. Cast in a few loads of forest leaves, and some dry muck, then arrange so that all the soapy water from the sink and wash-room may be conveyed to it, also the urine made on the premises. Add old shoes, old rags, and every dead ani- mal. Throw in the rakings from the paths, the weeds, fine chip-dirt, and sawdust from the wood pile, leaves, and, in Autumn, the vines from the garden. The privy should be so constructed as to yield up readily its accumulations, either from a tight box, so hung as to be easily moved, or from a sliding drawer, whence the contents should be conyeyed to the heap of absorbent refuse. The addition of swamp muck, dry earth, or a little chloride of lime to the vault now and then, will prevent any offensive odor. Or the dry earth may be added in the privy, and the whole mixed, so as to render the con- tents more manageable. The saving of the night-soil of the farm is certainly worthy of receiving more attention, as it forms one of our best and most concen- trated fertilizers, rich in all the elements of plant food. Many object to utilizing it from the disagreeableness of the manipulatign or prejudice, but would they but adopt some such course as the above, there would be little, if any, more offense in its manipulation than in handling poudrette of commerce, and certainly less objection in the whole than in the single cleaning the vault, where no absorbent or deo- dorizer has been used. Now and then a peck of salt may be added to the pile. If the droppings of the poultry- house are not kept for a separate guano, they should be brought and emptied into this gar- den mine. Overhaul the whole occasionally, and by good management you may have twenty or thirty loads of the very richest fertilizer for USES, AND COMBINATIONS, |garden and farm. During the Summer, the “mine” may be surrounded by pole-beans, which will yield a treble tribute, hide the de- formity, form a pleasant group, and supply the table with wholesome and seasonable vege- tables, Fallowing is a process of fertilization formerly much in vogue. It consists in plow- ing land and exposing it to the influence of the atmosphere, to render it friable, clear it of weeds, and, sometimes, to give it rest. Unless on the first occupation of an exhausted and dirty farm, and without the means of manuring for fallow crops, the system of an entire Sum- mer fallowing is indefensible. Sir H. Davy says: “It is scarcely possible to imagine a single instance of a cultivated soil, which ean be supposed to remain fallow for a year with advantage to the farmer.” An alternation of green crops is better. Half fallowing, and thus loosening the adhesive particles of earth and admitting air, is sometimes very benelicial to clayey soils. Akin-to fallowing is Green Manuring.—Mold, as has been seen, is indispensable to every soil, and a healthy supply can be preserved by turning in succulent green crops in a deficieney of rich This returns to the soil the salts, silicates, and humus which the plant has drawn from it, with the organic matter which it has elaborated from the oxygen and hydro- gen, carbon and nitrogen of the air and water. The Flemish people early added green manur- ing to their otherwise careful husbandry, until their fields averaged to the acre, in 1820, thirty- two bushels of wheat and rye, fifty-two bushels of oats, and three hundred and fifty bushels of potatoes. Clover seems to have been their main reliance. When green crops are to be employed for enriching a soil, they should be plowed in, if it be possible, when in flower, or at the time the flower is beginning to appear; for it is at this period that they contain the largest quan- tity of easily soluble substances, and that their leaves are most active in forming nutritive matter. Red clover, both in its green and dried state, ‘contains a large proportion of lime, magnesia, ‘carbonic acid, and potash, and also considerable ‘quantities of phosphoric and sulphuric acid, ‘chlorine and nitrogen,* and hence its value as a | composts, * Professor JOHNSON analyzed a first crop of clover from GREEN MANURING. manure. Asa plant it has numerous and strong stems, branching upward and sideways from a single seed or root, and broad, succulent, and shady leaves, and long, thick, and strong tap roots. When we consider that it is a very hardy plant, tillers well, covers the ground thickly, displaces weeds, extends its roots more deeply into the soil than any of the grasses, yields largely to the most of its fertilizing acre, absorbs much and gases of carbonic, phos- phorie, and sulphurie acid, chlorine, and nitro- gen, or ammoniay® from the air, and also grows well on every variety of dry soil, we need not wonder at its great celebrity as a manurial plant in our Northern and Middle States. Its stems, leaves, and roots, when plowed down as a manure, not only render the soil porous, mel- low, and permeable to heat, air, and moisture, but also in and by their decay draw the fertili- zing saline, and mineral elements of the subsoil up into the suriace soil, and so enrich and fit it for the production of all other valuable farm erops, such as wheat, corn, and the like. It is more popular in America than other manurial crop. White clover is grown; too small for the scythe, it forms a most valuable pasturage. Sow plaster, if any also your soil is suitable, to make the clover grow rank, and do not mow it—plow it all under, and run a subsoiler in every furrow to be sure and break up all the tap-roots. Sow lime or ashes upon the sod to help the work of decom- position. Do this once in three years, and you will manure your fields cheaper than you can by any purchasable fertilizer, Buckwheat straw contains considerable quan- tities of lime, magnesia, potash, soda, and phos- phorie and sulphurie acid, and hence its value as a green manure. It grows up rapidly on an acre of land, and found it to contain the following ingredients: Albumen, gluten, and eascin Fat, oil, etc.. : Starch, sugar, gum, and dextrine. Vibre and husk..... c.csescaescereee 3,554 tbs. The value of the ashes may be estimated by the follow- ing per ceutage of its several elements: 12.164 B cent. 241 re ry “ “ Magnesia Phosphate of iron at “ “ “ “ “ 99.718 @ cent. * Joun F. Woxrrncer, of Pennsylvania, in U. 8. Agri- cultural Report. 43 almost any soil where other plants would starve. It is at once a cleanser and renoyator. It blos- soms so much earlier than most other plants that two crops of it can, if necessary, be grown and plowed down on the same land the same season, and the ground be seeded with grass or a grain crop in September. Lands too poor to grow clover have been renewed by rye plowed under, and also by oats and corn. Ripened cornstalks or straw should never be burned, but always be turned under to yield their full fertility. ble fertilizer when plowed under. The common pea is a remarka- The stalks of bushbeans contain a very large proportion of lime, jotash, carbonic acid, and chloride of sodium, and considerable quantities of mag- nesia, soda, phosphoric and sulphuric acid, and nitrogen, hence where plowed in, after picking the beans by hand, they impart to the soil far The vines of peas are equally yaluable. They not only rid the ground of weeds, but leave it in a more strength than they received from it. light and mellow condition for wheat. They succeed best on moist and loamy ground. All such crops may be pastured slightly, and some agricultural writers maintain that sheep are a positive advantage, GrEORGE GEDDEs, of Ontario County, New York, said recently, at a meeting of farmers, that though now an old man, and haying an ex- cellent farm, which he has kept constantly im- proving for many years, the chief manures he has used have been clover and the sheep’s foot. Other manures were used only to produce the clover. The wise farmer allows no manure to waste; he composts the droppings of his animals with straw and litter; he makes the swamps and woods contribute to his manure heaps; he keeps his farm up by one year after another enriching different fields, and he sends the longerooted clover to bring up the hidden wealth of the subsoil, With all this he will find it is with the whole farm as it is with the single field—in time it will feel the draft, and the farmer must look beyond the resources of the farm itself to supply what he sends away in his marketable production, whatever they may be. No matter what the farmer sells, he sells the inorganic constituents of his soil. If he would keep his soil improving, or not de- creasing in value, he must restore those in some way. To Feed or Plow Under.—It ought to be con- stantly remembered that green crops plowed under will fertilize far more than when fed to 44 FERTILIZERS :—QUALITIES, cattle in the barn-yard and subsequently ap- plied in the form of the resulting manure. In all vegetable mold, carbon and the elements of: water are important and indispensable ele- ments; and when hay and grass are eaten by farm stock, about sixty per cent. of the elements of mold and manure is converted into gas and vapor to provide animal heat by ceaseless res- piration. « J. B. BoussrnGavuut, a practical farmer, a man of science, fortune, caution, and integrity, has made experiments that bear directly on this question.* A horse that neither gained nor lost weight, consumed 20 lbs. of hay, 6 Ibs. of oats, and 43 of water in 24 hours.« The hay and oats contained 10 lbs. 6 oz. carbon; 1 Ib. 2 oz. 5 dwt. hydrogen; 8 lbs. 7 oz. 2 dwt. oxy- gen; and 4 oz. 9 dwt. nitrogen. Of these the dung and urine gave on an average in each 24 hours, carbon 3 Ibs. 11 oz. 7 dwt.; hydrogen 6 oz. 2 dwt.; oxygen 3 lbs. 7 oz. 16 dwt.; nitrogen 3 oz. 14 dwe. It will be seen that ten pounds six ounces of carbon are reduced to less than four pounds; so that over six-tenths are lost to the manure heap and to the mold in the soil. Eight pounds and over seven ounces of organized oxygen are reduced to less than four pounds; and hydrogen in about the same proportion. It is remarkable that while the horse consumed 43 pounds of water as drink, and 3} Ibs. in hay and oats not perfectly dry, he voided in urine only 3 lbs. 6 oz. 15 dwt.. and over 25 lbs. in excrement and the balance to make up 66 Ibs. and over as insensible perspiration or cuta- neous exhalation. A cow that consumed 12 Ibs. 10 oz. 13 dwt. of carbon in her daily food gave only 5 lbs. 3 oz. 7 dwt. in her liquid and solid excrements; with other results similar to those named in feeding the horse. The researches of THomp- son, Lawes, GILBERT, and several others.con- firm the general accuracy of those above cited. How to Plow in the Crop—When the crop is ready for the plow, it ought to be rolled down, when the morning dew is on, in the direction that the furrows are torun. It should be covered to the depth of five or six inches only, be- cause a greater depth will carry it beyond the immediate influence of sun and air.” Guano.—This article of commerce has been known for ages in Peru, but has been in- * A fullexposition of this matter will be found in Bous- | BING\ULI’s Rural Economy, published by Oranex Jupp, | New York, \ USES, AND COMBINATIONS. | troduced to the United States during the pres- ‘ent century. It is composed of the excrement | of the sea-birds of the Pacific, which fly above and live upon the rocky islands in flocks of millions. Professor Norton, of Yale College, gives the composition of a few leading varieties of guano in the following table: Variety. Water. Organic matter and | Phosphates. ammoniacal salts, Bolivian .. 5to 7 56 to 64 25 to 29 Peruvian. 7 to 10 56 to 66 16 to 23 Chilian. ..| 10 to 13 50 to 56 22 to 30 Ichaboe...] 18 to 26 36 to 44 21 to 29 This, itis evident at a glance, is an ex- tremely rich manure; the quantities of ammo- nia and of phosphates are remarkably large. According to an analysis by VasLcKER, one pound of guano was found to be equal to fifty pounds of barn-yard manure. Of this fertilizer the Peruvian government estimates that the Chincha Islands alone contain the enormous quantity of twenty millions of tons! This will supply the world, at the present rate, during the next fifty years. The American Farmer recommends the use of plaster or charcoal with guano to fix the ammonia; while others ad- vise a mixture with five or six times its weight of dried muck. A series of elaborate experi- ments with potatoes, by General BraTson, on St. Helena, resulted as follows: Ibs. Guano, or sea-fowl dung at 35 bushels per acre. #39 Tiorse dung, 35 cart loads per acre 626 Hogs’ dung, 35 cart loads per 534 Soil simple 446 With mangel wurzel, the product per acre was as follows Leaves. | Roots. Tons, | Tons. ' Soil simple 38 1936 Hogs’ dung and ashes, 360 bushels per acre rol ie aks 6636 Guano, 35 bushels per acre 15314 77% Hon. MAarsHAuy P. WILDER, well known to the country as one of its leading pomologists, applied eight hundred pounds per acre, and harvested from it sixteen hundred bushels of carrots. It is believed, however, that the best use that can be made of guano at seventy dol- lars a ton, is to give a start to poor or ex- hausted land. It is best applied in damp or showery weather, and when put on plowed land should be immediately harrowed in. LIQUID MANURE—LIME. Farmers can not be too cautious how they “certify” to the good qualities of certain guanos. They can not know, accurately, any- thing about it, being able to judge only from the effect on their own fields. English dealers in fertilizers use only the certificates of well- known chemists, and these are the certificates most to be depended on. Liquid Manure.—The saving and use of liquid manures are deserving of more at- tention than they have hitherto received in this country. When cattle are kept in stalls through the Winter, and especially where soiling is practiced, and cows are kept in the stall through the year, the floor should be so arranged as to conduct the urine into troughs beneath it, which will convey it into a reservoir in the cellar or outside the barn. This can be done at very little expense. The accumulated urine may be pumped into a water cart, to which a sprinkler is attached, similar to those used for watering the streets. If it is pumped in through a strainer the sprinkler does not be- come clogged, and it may be immediately con- veyed to the field and distributed as a top-dress- ing upon grass or grain When the soil is not deficient in carbonaceous matter there can probably be no better top- dressing applied. It is not as permanent in its effects as the solid excrements, but more imme- diate, and may be applied two or three times a year. For raising green crops for soiling it is invaluable. If plaster, or a solution of sul- phate of iron be added occasionally to the res- ervoir, it will act as a deodorizer, while at the same time it adds to the etlicacy of the manure. “Each family, of five hundred families in a country town, might save manure to the value of five dollars annually that is now wasted. This would amount to twenty-five hundred dollars, or one dollar for each indi- vidual in the town. This would be sufficient to pay the highway tax and build one good school-house, or it would pay the entire school tax of most towns of that number of inhab- itants.” Remember that a pound of urine will pro- duce a pound of wheat! The utilization of liquid manures is one of the secrets of the mar- velous suecess of Flemish husbandry, where a hundred aeres of arable land will support a hundred head of cattle. Cisterns for liquid manure should be made of the same material as for rain water, and should be tight and durable. Wood will answer until 45 it decays, but stone laid in water-lime mortar or cement and plastered with two or three coats, is much better. Where a single reservoir only is required, it may be made as shown in the following illustration, being contracted toward the top like an arch, but with an opening large enough for a man to enter to shovel up sedi- ment when it accumulates. It should be set in an excavation deep enough to admit an earth covering a foot or two thick, in the Northern States, to prevent freezing, and so placed as to receive the liquid portions of the manure from the stables and the drainings of the manure heap, but not surface water. Liquid magure is allowed to stand several weeks before applying, and is diluted with some three times its bulk of water, which may be drawn from the roofs of the buildings. Uy CISTERN } Lime.—Of all the mineral manures, lime is the most powerful and rapid in its effect as a promoter of vegetation, and as a chemical mod- ifyer of the soil in rendering clays more fria- ble. It is an essential ingredient of plants, and abounds in the stalks and grains of all the ce- reals.* Lime, in any state, applied to the sur- face of peat soil (and in such ease it should be given in large quantities), causes the vegetation of white clover and the finer grasses, where only the coarsest herbage had previously ap- peared; but-as a general rule, especially where it isa costly article, it is most efficaciously ap- plied to fallows, and should be harrowed or lightly plowed in at the conclusion of the course of tillage, as it has a tendency to sink in the soil. It is almost useless to supply it to any land requiring drainage. *Twenty-five bushels of wheat contain about thirteen pounds of lime; twenty-five bushels of barley contain about ten pounds of lime; fifty bushels of corn contain about twenty-two pounds of lime; two tons of clover contain about seventy-seven pounds of lime. 46 FERTILIZERS—QUALITIES, Lime must be among the manures which pro- mote the permanent fertility of the land, as, un- less washed away, it can not escape except by preparing food for the cultivator’s crops. It is profitably applied to old pasture leys at the rate of fifty to five hundred bushels per acre; and some of the English moors have appro- priated fifteen hundred bushels per acre, It is valuable in proportion to the amount of vege- table mold it has to act on. Indications of want of lime in the soil may be seen in heavy crops of straw, and light crops of grain; and in root crops where they seem to run to fingers and toes. Lime is applicable to every clay soil, every peaty soil, and every soil in which vegetable fibre does not readily decay, because that is a sign that it contains some antiseptic acid, which prevents decay. This is the case in peat beds and swamps. Sandy, gravelly, or thin soils, muy be overlimed and more food must be given for the lime to act upon. No farmer, who knows what the action of lime is, upon all soils, will ever do without it as an accessory to his manure, The effect of lime is not perceptible in the soil the first season it is applied, and ils full influence is seen only after the second or third. Its effect is greatest when kept near the surface. Lime is hardly a direct fertilizer, its office being to absorb ammonia, reduce it to a salt, and yield it up to growing plants, and thus to anticipate the fertilizing properties of vegetable manures that are slow in the process of decomposition. Muck.—The value of muck, or swamp and pond mud, is not yet understood in this coun- try. If finely pulverized peat be strewn over the floors of stables, piggeries, or cow-houses, with a very slight covering of straw over it, it will absorb and retain all moisture, disinfect the building of every noxious gas injurious to cattle, and by its mixture with the excreta from the animals, form a most valuable und portable manure fit for immediate use. Sheep folded upon it at night would produce wonderful and most important results to farmers in the vast production of valuable manure. Two or three hogs will work up a cubie yard of good muck n two days, if furnished on a good floor, and a prinkling of corn mixed in for them to find. This muck is chiefly formed from decayed vegetable matter, the humus of plant-food, and when composted, its value is greatly enhanced. Muck hauled directly from the bed, and dried a few weeks in the sun, will produce excellent USES, AND COMBINATIONS. crops on any good sandy loam. This is the stuff to spread in the barn-yard and hen-house in the fall. Night-Soils.—We return to the manure which has already been treated, to impress again the value of the privy’s contents. The compost and the privy are premises of which the harvest is the logical conclusion. “ As the body of an adult does not increase in weight, it needs no particular calculation to make out that the collected excrements must contain the ash constituents of the bread, meat, and vegetables and the whole of the nitrogen of the food.”* Build your privy square on the ground, with- out any vault underneath. Fix a board to swing horizontally on the back side. Turn this up occasionally and cast in two or three barrow loads of muck, or dry mold, or plaster, as a deoderizer and retainer of the valuable elements. By such treatment you may deprive this place of frequent resort of any offensive- ness, and may draw from underneath, from time to time, the richest poudrette, almost as good as the best guano, free from all comnfer- cial adulterations. A majority of the privies in America are a disgrace to humanity. Every town in the country should adopt measures, without delay, to utilize these de- posits. In no city of continental Europe is human ordure allowed to waste, much less, as in some of our cities, to mingle with the water which is to be drawn upon for culinary pur- poses. At Nice, it sells so high that every peas- ant makes it an article of commerce, and keeps a convenient office for passengers. Night-soil mixed with peat will produce a prodigious yield of corn or potatoes, and, judiciously applied, will double the yield of almost any crop. The farmer living near a city can hardly pay too high a price for it. The in- crease of crops which American farms could be made to produce by the systematic appli- cation of all the night-soil that is now wasted, would be sufficient to pay the national debt in twenty years / Phosphate of Lime.—At a meeting of the Masachusetts Board of Agriculture in De- cember, 1868, Wm. S. CLARK President of the State Agricultural College, announced his be- lief that ‘the best farming demands commer cial fertilizers,” and gave an interesting account of the recent discoveries of mines of hidden wealth. We quote: *Lirpia’s Natural Laws of Husbandry, p. 259. PHOSPHATE OF LIME—PLASTER,. 47 “ Now I am oneof those who believe that the treasures which are necessary for man in his highest development, in his highest degree of civilization, when the earth is populated more densely than it is anywhere to-day—I believe that those treasures are in the earth, and are to be brought forth as gold was in California when wanted, as petroleum was in Pennsylvania when wanted, as they have just discovered in Germany, at Stassfurth, a wonderful deposit, as of the boil- ing down of an ocean, leaving a mineral deposit which will enrich all the continent—twenty-five miles square and twelve hundred feet thick. At the bottom, the least soluble part, is sul- phate of lime; above that, a thousand feet of rock-salt; above that, sulphate of magnesia and sulphate of soda; and above that, a hun- dred feet, more or less, of the chloride of mag- nesium, chloride of calcium, and chloride of potassium. Here is a supply of mineral wealth enough to last the whole continent for centuries. I believe that chemistry is to evolve out of that mineral deposit an immense mine of wealth for the agriculture, rot only of this country, but of all countries where science is applied to that branch of industry. “But Lrose particularly to eall attention toa more wonderful discovery in this country than that at Stassfurth. It was said, years ago, by Professor LrExiG, that we had asupply of phos- phates for only twenty years in all the world; ‘that the guano islands would soon be stripped, and then where were we to look for phosphates? That has been the great problem for those who have looked for the future progresss of agricul- ture. There is a limit to the number of guano or bird islands, and the question was, what should we do? They talked about phosphatic minerals? Where? Why, there have been found small deposits of phosphate of lime, very hard and difficult of solution, in Spain, Eng- land, and Canada, but furnishing no adequate supply for the future. Now we are to supply the world with phosphates, and the world may thank the Yankees of these United States of America for the very thing I have to reveal here to-day. “The announcement which I have to make is this. That there has been discovered in South Carolina a bed of phosphate of lime, the origin of which the wisest geologists have as yet been unable to discover, which contains, after it has been roasted and ground toa fine powder, seventy-five per cent. of phosphates, easily dissolved in sulphuric acid, and con- verted into superphosphates. The quantity there is absolutely inexhaustible. The whole world may come to Charleston, and run their ships up the Ashley and Cooper Rivers and take in cargoes of the phosphate anywhere along the banks, There are hundreds of tons to the acre over just as many acres as you please to travel. I compare that, as a discoy- ery for the interests of agriculture, with the discovery of petroleum for enlightening the world. It is of the same sort, and this mineral will be utilized and will be of immense benefit to mankind.” The phosphatic nodules hold some seventy per cent. of the phosphate of lime, and ten per cent. of the sulphate and carbonate. Profes- sor U. C. SHEPARD, having examined the beds, says: “The best beds lay at an average depth of eighteen inches from the surface; the nodules were from the size of a boy’s fist to that of a man’s head; the depth of the stratum from twelve to eighteen inches. Some such beds extended over hundreds of acres. These nod- ules are compact, very hard, sometimes brown in color; when dug up, very much of the mud adheres to them. They lie so close to one an- other that the amount produced from the best land appears incredible. Where the stratum is fifteen to eighteen inches in thickness, the actual yield exceeds, in some cases, one thou- sand three hundred tons to the acre; and much is wasted, the smallest lumps being neglected entirely. “The mining of the deposits is easy, re- quiring only the digging a trench and picking out the nodules with a pick, the nodules being thrown into carts, placed on railways in some cases, the loose earth being thrown to the rear. The phosphates are brought to the river-bank and washed in large cylinders. Vessels can come up to the banks of the river and load there; the river admits as large vessels as can cross Charleston bar. The raw phosphates, clean and dry, were said to bring about fifteen dollars a ton in Philadelphia last Winter. This appears to me too high, especially if labor continues to be as abundant as it is in the South, and the extent of the deposit so great.” Professor AGAssiz is of opinion that this remarkable deposit is the result of the decon.- posed bones of extinct animals. Plaster.—The gypsum of commerce— sometimes also called plaster-of-Paris, from being quarried near that capital. It was in- 48 troduced into Pennsylvania by BENJAMIN | FRANKLIN, but experience has not justified his estimate of it as a manure. There are only five commonly cultivated crops which contain plaster in any sensible proportions, and of these there are raised in this country, Iucern, red clover, and turnips. These are’ precisely the crops for which the farmer | finds plaster, on most soils, to be a fertilizing Corn, potatoes, and most of the grasses, are also somewhat benefited by It is a powerful deodorizer, and should be ‘used plentifully about barns and out-houses. t»p-dressing. its use, Salt.—Salt applied in considerable quanti- ties, as the sea-beach shows, completely steril- izes the soil. Whenused moderately to amend certain soils, it has been found very efficacious. It also cleans a field of grubs and weeds, and is used as a remedy for rust and smut in wheat. WixtrrAm Bacon, of Massachusetts, testifies that sown in small quantities among fruit- trees, it tends to destroy the cureulio. Roots are sometimes much benefited by it. It is es- pecially adaptable to clay loams, tending to lighten the soil. “Coarse, sour herbage, re- jected or disliked by cattle, will be rendered grateful to their taste by the application of a suflicient quantity of salt; but this depends upon the quality of the land.”* Mr. Joun JOHNSTON says that on his wheat land “the application of two hundred and eighty to three hundred pounds of salt will hasten the matur- ing at least four days, besides giving a brighter straw, plumper grain, and finer sample every way, and I think,” he says, “that four hundred pounds per acre might pay still better.” It seems to be agreed that on some soils salt is detrimental, while on others it is very bene- ficial. This point can be ascertained only by actual experiment; and no other manure de- mands so much caution in its use. Sea-Weed, as a manure, is subject to somewhat the same conditions as salt. It is much used all along the New England shore, where it floats in and lodges in heavy quanti- ties, and farmers cart it inland, sometimes to the distance of ten miles. It should be plowed in as soon as gathered, when that is practica- ble, as it loses a portion of its virtues, even by composting. *Doy.Le’s Encyclopedia, p. 386. FERTILIZERS—QUALITIES, USES, AND COMBINATIONS. Sea-Samd.—Some farmers have found it profitable to adopt the use of sea-sand as a bedding for all stock. One ton of sand will go about as far as a ton of straw, and its fertilizing effect in the resultant manure is said to be very striking. Soap-Suds,—‘I say now that ar is a wicked waste—d’ ye know it, neighbor FLANn- pry?” ‘What, Uncle Enocu? Dunno as I quite understand ye.” ‘Why, throwin’ out and wastin’ that way all them soap-suds, the way your gals there is doin’.” “ What is soap- suds worth, Uncle ENnocuH?” “’ Bout a hun- dred dollars, I guess; what your folks Il make ?tween now and Spring. Ourn was worth more’n that last Winter, and I guess our folks don’t wash more dishes and clothes ’n yourn.” “Why, what in natur do you do with soap- suds to make ’em worth that, Uncle Enocu?” “Didn’t I tell ye? Wal, raly now, I meant to done it, and I will now. We save every mite of our suds and dishwater for the garden and truck patch, splashin’ it over the ground ’bout once a week all Winter. A tubful of suds ’Il go as fur as a wheelbarrer load o’ manure, Its good for gooseberries and currants, and kills a powerful lot of bugs and beetles, and pesky worms, and fattens the ground more’n a hun- dred dollars’ worth besides. suds is good for.” If you do not wish to “splash” your suds over the ground in the Winter time, as Uncle Enocu did-—for it is not the best way—pour them upon your compost heap. That’s what soap- Soot is a powerful stimulant but too scarce to justify comment. Sulphate of Tron.—tThe British Medi- cal Journal states, as a new discovery, that wonderful effects may be obtained by watering fruit-trees and vegetables with a solution of sulphate of iron. Under this system beans will grow to nearly double the ordinary size, and, will acquire a much more savory taste. The pear seems to be particularly well adapted for this treatment. Old nails thrown into water and left to rust there, will impart to it all the necessary qualities for forcing vegetation as described. Iron dust is also sometimes used to heighten the colors of flowers. Professor Ville’s New System.—Is Agriculture an exact science? Perhaps so; it PROFESSOR VILL is certainly rising rapidly from the “hap- hazard” condition, and is becoming every day more rational, systematic, and certain in its processes. Among the most brilliant discover- ies of the day are those of M. GEorGE VILLE, Professor of Vegetable Physiology at the Museum of Natural History, at Paris, who, after an experimental study of ten years, seems to have possessed himself of some of | Giving the important secrets of vegetation. up the ordinary complex methods of analysis, he returned to first principles—the synthetic method. He took common flower-pots for his field; | clean white sand for his soil. To the barren sand he added a few essential properties—for | instance, the phosphates, potash, nitrogen, and lime. He found that when one constituent was added, certain plants grew in it, while others did not. added, a larger number of plants would grow; and when, in short, all these four constituents were added, in their proper proportions, a full crop of any desired vegetable or plant was ob- tained. The farmers laughed at Vrie’s “plant- making machinery,” but he persevered, and on a farm set apart for his use by the Emperor, he demonstrated his propositions to be true, and prepared an accurate table of the food of plants. Patient and careful observation led him to recognize—what Lrepic had already shown analytically—that the aliment preferred by cereals is nitrogen; by liguminous plants—peas, beans, clover, ete., potash; by roots, the phos- phates. These are not the exclusive elements, as already shown; for these three substances, in various proportions, are necessary to each and all, and even lime, which humus renders as- similable, must be added. One fertilizer is attached to each class of plants, only to indi- cate that it is the element which is most es- sential, For four years previous to 1864, many curi- ous visitors were shown plots of ground ma- nured and sown in accordance with Professor VILLE’s system. Some of them had been planted four times in succession with the same kind of crop, giving at the commencement what he calls a complete manure, and adding yearly the ingredients principally absorbed by the crop—thus showing the possibility of growing the same crop, at the maximum, for a series of years, without rotation. Upon others the crops were changed yearly, so that each year the particular crop required principally 4 Another constituent being E'S NEW SYSTEM. 49 a different agent; then, after passing through |the series furnished by the complete manure | the ingredient principally required by the crop | proposed should be added, till the crop showed, by a falling off, that the complete manure was jagain wanted. Under these circumstances, the ‘erops reached to results of irrefutable elo- quence. By adding nitrogenous matter, phosphate of lime, lime, and potassa—that is, a normal and | complete manure—to calcined sand—the seed- wheat being equal to 1—the full crop of wheat was represented by 23. Upon withdrawing the lime from the mix- ture of four elements, the crop fell to 21.62. Upon restoring the lime, and omitting the nitrogenous matter, the crop fell to 8.83. | Then, withdrawing the potassa, the crop fell to 6.57. When the phosphate of lime was also with- | drawn, the crop was reduced to 0.77, vegetation ceased, and the plant died. By adding humus to the complete manure, the crop was increased to 33. The lime, which in the absence of all organic matter, influences the yield but little, manifests a very decisive action in the presence of humus. Humus, alone, produces no effect. After experimenting on a large scale, Pro- fessor VILLE was able to arrange the following table: Average Wheat Crop per Acre. ‘) e4| #2 | ez | Ee He | sa | sa = BRS ei: |) pean ree & == Se ea = act "oo s- 5 : = z Ibs. Ibs. lbs. Ibs. Straw ...... 6,952 8,580 | 10,117 | 11,059 Grain 3,617 | 4,313 4,721 4,825 16,904 | 10,569 | 12,893 | 14,838 | 15,854 This table shows that without phosphates the crop was nearly equal to that with a complete manure—without potash, it sensibly dimin- ished; without nitrogenous matter, it was very inferior. The complete manure gives an in- crease over that without nitrates, sixty per cent.; without minerals, thirty-one per cent.; without potash, fifteen per cent.; without pho-- phate, seven per cent. These results are al- most exactly like those derived from experi- ments on a small seale. Professor VILLE publishes a table of the |quantity of the four agents contained in the 50 FERTILIZERS—QUALITIES, crops, and in the complete manure, per acre We introduce it here: Bee) ee ee eee BSe| oe = 5 = E] zom| 23 | £2 | & 5 SE ey | Paes 3 = = ip _o - ims =| ie ingen |} a wag] : :6 z : . Spring wheat..| 6.080 | 73.03 | 26.36 | 33.02 | 17.80 = Beet-root 8.972 | 289.53 46.59 | 134.21 67.56 % ) Barley 7.058 | 108.89 | 33.22 | 72.06] 35.86 | Peas... 148.17 | 35.60 82.39 | 112.93 Complete manure,)....ccce 153.10 | 176.00 | 176.00 | 176.00 So that the complete manure contained in this case, for these four crops, 153 pounds of nitrogen, 176 pounds of phosphoric acid; 176 ponnds of potassa, and 176 pounds of lime, the nitrogen being in the state of nitrate of soda or of sal ammoniac; the phosphorie acid in the state of phosphate of lime; the potassa in the state of carbonate of potassa; and the lime in a caustic state. By carefully obeying these hints, M. VittE insists that he can produce wheat upon wheat, peas upon peas, beet upon beet, for an indefi- nite term of years, without any rotation; first having recourse to the complete manure (the four named ingredients), and afterward admin- istering only the dominant element, until a de- crease in the crop shows a lack of the auxiliary elements, when the complete manure must be renewed, Joun A. Rrppxx, of New Hampshire, in a pamphlet in explanation of Vr~i4’s system, anticipates that “by the use of the new method we may abolish the old practices and replace them by a simpler agriculture, more managea- ble and more remunerative. Instead of, by great care and precaution, maintaining the fer- tility of the soil, we reconstitute it, by means of the four agents pointed out, which can be de- rived from the great storehouse of nature, and USES, AND COMBINATIONS. added to the usual stock of farm manure No cattle need be kept.” We trust that our readers will not be quite so sanguine and enthusiastic as this writer. Let no farmer tear down his barn, or plow up his barn-yard or sell his cattle. The agricult- ural millenium has not come yet. The compost heap must still be the main reliance. Cattle and crops must continue to be each the off- spring of the other. For, in the first place, certain localities require a perfectly raw manure, as a sort of yeast, to create fermentation in the soil. In the second place, it is believed that farmers generally can furnish the elements men tioned, cheaper in stable manure than in a purer state. As a correspondent says: “If we had free tickets to this ‘great storehouse of Nature,’ all would be very fine; but unfortu- nately the substances named are costly. No man requires to be told that the addition of ground bones, or superphosphate, or guano (ammonia), or lime, will be of advantage. to the soil. We are all glad to add these things when we can get them ; but with superphosphate at $50 to $60, and guano at $80 per ton, it be- comes a serious question as to how far it pays to buy these things and dispense with farm-yard manure.” i Yet we agree with Levi BARTLETT that “the principles are correct,” and with the Journal of Chemistry that “it is impossible to doubt the importance of Prof. V1LLE’s investigations.” Thousands who can not keep cattle, who live near cities, who desire to crop without rotation, can apply the system with great benefit. In- deed, all intelligent farmers can advantageously study it, and use it as an assfstant and regula- tor of the inaccurate present method of culture, These pages have already pointed out the most economical means of obtaining the required fertilizers, - PLOWING: PracricaAL Errect OF PULVERIZATION.—How To PLow AND WHEN. WE ought to cultivate more land!—not side- ways but downward—toward China instead of toward sunset. Farmers plow too wide and too shallow; if they would dig deeper and narrower, on almost all soils, they would reap greater harvests at less expense. “ We must, more than ever before,” says the Genessee Farmer, “ realize the fact that tillage is manuwre—that the literal meaning of the word ‘manure’ (manus, hand, ouvrer, to work), is hand-labor. To manure the land is to hoe, to dig, to stir the soil, to expose it to the atmosphere, to plow, to harrow, to cul- tivate. The ancient Romans made Srercurivus a god because he discovered that the droppings of animals had the same effect in enriching the soil as to hoe it.” Merely to alter the texture of a soil by me- chanical means has the effect to fertilize it by allowing a more free transition of air and water, these substances imparting some element held in combination, such element uniting with some of the other elements of the soil, and setting others free, ready to form new combinations, or to enter into plant structure as food. Suppose a soil which weighs about 1,000 tons per acre is pulverized so as to be freely perme- able by the atmosphere, and that such a soil, after being thoroughly dried, is exposed to the air, then we find from the experiments of ScHusxeEr, that it will absorb water in twenty- four hours: Ifa sandy clay, equal to... Ifa loamy clay. Ifa stiff clay..... Ifa garden mold. The inquiry is closely connected with the good effects produced in most soils by deepen- ing and pulverizing them. Well-pulverized soils absorb much more dew than when suffered to remain close. Deep plowing gives the descending rains a deeper lodgment in the soils, and so provides a storehouse for retaining the ammonia till it is needed for plants. In the West, especially, it matters little how deep the plow goes. Almost every farm is made up of half a dozen farms laid one upon another; and there is no danger of plowing through. A trial is the best proof; plow two feet deep next year, and test the har- vest. The Belgians plow three feet deep. The Journal of Applied Chemistry thus gives the philosophy of plowing: “The effects of pulverizing or stirring the soil are numerous: ‘1. It gives free scope to the roots of vegeta- bles, and they become more fibrous in a loose than ina hard soil, by which the mouths of the pores become more numerous, and such food as is in the soil has a better chance of being sought after and taken up by them. 2. It admits the atmospheric air to the spon- gioles of the roots, without which no plant can make a healthy growth. 3. It increases the capillary attraction or sponge-like property of soils, by which their humidity is rendered more uniform, and in a hot season it increases the deposit of dew, and and admits it to the roots. 4. It increases the temperature of the soil in the spring by admitting the warm air and tepid rain. 5. It increases the supply of organic food. The atmosphere contains carbonic acid, ammo- nia, and nitric acid, all most powerful fertilizers and solyents. A loose soil contracts and con- denses them. Rain and dew also contain them. And when these fertilizing gases are carried into the soil by rain water, they are absorbed and retained by the soil for the use of plants. On the other hand, if the soil be hard, the water runs off the surface, and instead of leaving these gases in the soil, carries off some of the best portions of the soil with it. 6. By means of pulverization, a portion of atmospheric air is buried in the soil, and it is supposed that ammonia and nitric acid are formed by the mutual decomposition of this air (51) 52 and the moisture of the soil, heat also being evolved by the changes. 7. Pulverization of the surface of the soils serves to retain the moisture of the subsoil, and to prevent it from being penetrated by heat from a warmer, as well as from radiating its heat to a colder, atmosphere than itself. These effects are produced by the porosity of the pul- verized stratum, which acts as a mulch, espe- cially on heavy soils. 8. Pulverization also, as the combined effect of several of the preceding causes, accelerates the decomposition of the organic matter in the soil, and the disintegration of the mineral mat- ter, and thus prepares the inert matter of the soil for assimilation by the plants.” HoracrE GREELEY read an excellent Essay on deep plowing, before the American Institute Farmers’ Club, December 1, 1868. We quote it entire: “Many controversies result from imperfect definitions. The same words and phrases con- vey different ideas to the rival disputants. Let mebegin, then, by making myself clearly understood. To save time, I will define by ne- gation or exclusion—as follows: All soils do not require plowing to the same depth, because 1. A large portion of the earth’s surface should never be plowed at all. No wet lands should be plowed until thoroughly permanently drained; plowing them while still wet, or cer- tain to become so after rains, is throwing labor away. -A very large area, consisting of swamps, marshes, bogs, fens, sea, lake, river, and brook margin, or intervales frequently submerged or sodden, should never be plowed until drained or embanked. 2. Then a great proportion of the rocky hill- side or crests, which consist mainly of rocks thinly covered by and often protruding through the soil, should never be plowed, but should be kept always in forest from which timber is taken from time to time, but never tosuch ex- tent as to reveal its ruggedness. Westchester County alone has thousands of acres, now de- nuded and devoted to grazing, which should never haye been cleared. Cut off the timber, if you are not content with cutting out, but keep such rough land always in wood. Its cultiva- tion can neyer pay; its grass is burnt up by a sultry week; while stripping it of timber tends to render our springs and streams scanty and capricious. There is nothing worse in our rural economy than this uncovering of rocky. steeps that ought to remain timbered evermore. PLOWING—PRACTICAL EFFECT OF PULVERIZATION. 3. There are, moreover, lands too sterile to be cultivated with profit, at least while so much good land lies idle and useless. These lands are often, level enough, and not too stony; but it will cost more to bring them to a proper state of fertility than they will then be worth. Some of these might be, and probably ought forthwith to be, sowed with nuts and tree-seeds, and so covered with timber; probably the plow might be advantageously used in the process; but it would be unwise to subject them to other cul- ture for ages yet, if ever. : 4. Then there are lands which have a good though shallow surface soil, but covering a poi- sonous subsoil, which must not be disturbed. Professor Mapes found such a tract in West Jersey, where a stratum of sulphate of iron (copperas) lay but eight inches below the sur- face. To plow into this and mix it With the surface soil, arrested vegetation altogether. 5. And again: There are soils mainly allu- vial, at once so mellow and so fertile that the roots of the cereals, and of most plants, will permeate and draw sustenance from them, if they are never disturbed by the plow. I pre- sume the annually flooded intervale of the Nile is of this class. I judge that the valley south of Marysville, California, annually covered many feet deep by the turbid floods of the Yuba, Feather, and American rivers, is much the same. There are portions of the intervale of the Illinois, where the muck is sixteen feet deep, very loose, and very rich. I was told in California that the grape, though it had to be watered sparingly during its first two Summers, needed no irrigation thereafter in the valleys of that State, though they are dried up in Sum mer to adepth of several feet. The roots strike down through the rich loam below till they find moisture that they can appropriate and thrive upon. I judge that the valley of the Sacra- mento and its main tributaries is often parched to a depth of four or five feet. I have thus fully conceded that deep plowing is not everywhere requisite. Now let me show where and why it is needed: 1. It has been abundantly demonstrated here that the roots of plants are often found at a distance of several feet from the stem.* Any *1n the New York State Agricultural Society, in 1555, Mr. P. T. Quinn, urging the necessity of deepor plowing, said: ‘*Why, come over to my farm, gentlemen, and 1 | will show you celery, common celery, sending down roots thirty-one inches—corn going from thirty to thirty-six inches into the earth—squashes sending out rootlets four or five feet, and going down sixteen inches. Can I be persuaded that these plants gain nothing by having a NECESSITY ofus may have seen that this is as true of In- dian corn as of Canada thistles; with a micro- scope and due patience, the roots of wheat may be traced from four to six feet. Of course, these roots seek nourishment and find it. Nature, in the broad view, makes no abortive, at least no wanton, effort. Roots wander in search of food not otherwise to be found. } 2. Our subsoils are generally compact and . | repellant. Wherever a ditcher would naturally use a pick, there few roots can make their way, except very slowly and by wasting effort. Few or no cereals or edible roots can feed and flourish on the penetration of such subsoils. And, while our sands and looser gravels are more easily traversed, they seldom contain the plant-food whereof the roots are in search. They either remain unpenetrated, or the effort is unrewarded by any gain of nutrition to the plant. 3. Our Summers and Autumns are often per- sistently hot and dry. The continuously torrid suns which this year destroyed half the later erop of Europe, are here encountered as often as every third year. Drouth is one of the foremost causes of the failure of our crops. Our ancestors mainly emigrated hither from the British Isles, from Holland, and the coasts of Northern and Western Europe, where hu- midity is the rule, protracted drouth the exeep- tion. Sixteen inches of soil in our climate is hardly equal, as an antidote to drouth, to*six inches in Ireland or Holland. And yet the best farmers of those countries agree in commending deeper plowing. 4, What we advocate is not the burying of the vegetable mold, or natural surface-soil, under several inches of cold, lifeless clay, sand, or gravel. Ifthe subsoil is not to be enriched, it may better remain the subsoil; but that does not prove that it ought not to be lifted, stirred, aerated, pulverized. The right thing to do is to enrich as well as mellow and aerate the entire soil to a depth of fully eighteen inches, though twelve may answer as a beginning. Use a Michigan or a subsoil plow, if you will, and keep the various strata where Nature placed them; but give your plants, like your eattle, a chance to reach food and drink at all times. Let down the bars that would keep them from the life-giving springs. 5. Plants look to the soil for 1, anchorage; 2, moisture, 3, most of their food. If they can deep as well as rich soil? Take the crop of cabbages, aud show mea farmer who can make anything on cabbages with five inch plowing.”’ General Harmon, of Monroe County, said he had traced wheat roots to the depth of four feet. OF DEEP PLOWING. }constrain them to dive for moisture. 53 not find these more certainly and more abund- antly in twelve to eighteen inches of soil than in six, then reason is a fool, mathematics a con- jectural science, and a farmer should prefer a balance in bank to his credit of $600 to one of $1,800. 6. We are told that roots prefer to run near the surface, loving the warmth of the sun. Let them run there, then; we do not hinder them. Make the soil rich as well as deep, and let them run near the surface for warmth, or descend for moisture, or both, as they shall see fit. We proffer them freedom of choice. If a wet season attracts them to the surface, a dry one must It is our duty so to provide that they may flourish, how- ever wayward the season. 7. I havea steep hillside, which I choose to cultivate, the soil being warm and kind. Plow this six inches deep, and the first hard shower sweeps its soil, by cart-loads, into the brook below, where it is useless. Plow it twice as deep, and not a peck of soil will be flooded off in a lifetime. 8. In a wet season deep plowing does, at the worst, no harm. In a dry season it doubles the crop. 9. Unless asmall army is more effective than a large one, an empty pocket-book better than a full one, a lean crop preferable to a large one, then a deep soil must be more productive than a shallow one.”—HorAcE GREELEY. The fact is placed beyond controversy that plowing twice as deep as the present average, on almost any arable soil,will prove a striking advantage to the crops, and, with fair manuring, is the best means of renovating exhausted land. Hon. Horace CApron, Commissioner of Agriculture, thus sets forth the necessity of deep plowing, in his report for 1867: “We may not be able to calculate the precise amount of increase in production due to an additional inch in depth of cultivation, but experiments have shown that in many soils it bears, rela- tively, a near proportion to the increase in depth of culture; so that, where the soil is now worked to six inches, an inch greater depth of cultivation would give nearly one-sixth more production. Theagricultural produce of 1867, of those articles which would be influenced by depth of culture, has a total value of at least $1,500,000,000. Now, an increase of even one- tenth of this amount by an additional inch of culture, would add $150,000,000 to the value of the annual agricultural productions of the country !” 54 How to Plow.—The following practical comments are from a paper by Donaup G. MitcHeuu, in Hours at Home: “One of the most striking of those contrasts which arrest the attention of an intelligent agricultural ob- server, between the tillage of English fields and those of New England, as well as of America generally, is in the matter of plowing. In England, bad plowing is rare; in New England, good plowing is even rarer. Something is to be allowed, of course, for the irregular and rocky surface of new lands, but even upon the best meadow bottoms along our river courses, a clean, straight furrow, well turned, so as to offer the largest possible amount of friable mold for a seed bed, is a sight so unusual, that in a month of Spring travel we might count the number on our fingers. I go still further, and say—though doubtless offending the patriotic susceptibilities of a great many—that not one American farmer in twenty knows what really good plowing is. Over and over the wiseacres at the county fairs give their first premiums to the man who, by a little deft handling of the plow, can turn a flat furrow, and who wins his honors by his capacity to hide every vestige of the stubble, and to leave an utterly level sur- face. But a flat furrow, with ordinary imple ments, involves a broad cut and a consequent diminution of depth. The perfection of plow- ing upon sward land implies on the contrary, little pyramidal ridgelets of mold, running, like an arrow’s flight, the full length of the field—all which a good cross-harrowing will break down into fine and even tilth, like a garden-bed,” Fall Plowing.—lIf heavy clay or loamy soils are plowed in the fall, the natural agents, air, water, and frost, will be silently at work all Winter, enriching the ground and mellowing it better than could be done by any work of man. The Country Gentleman, objects to this, how- ever, in cases where there has been no under- draining, unless the lands are so situated that surplus water may be readily carried off. It is claimed by many that sandy soils do not receive so much benefit as injury from fall plowing, as it PLOWING—FALL PLOWING. |is believed that by exposure to rains and wind the light, soluble manures are exhaled, or | washed out. A correspondent of the New England Farmer, names the following as some prominent adyan- tages to be derived from fall plowing: 1. August and September is a good time to turn over bound-out sod land, and manure and re-seed it at once to grass, obtaining a crop of hay the following year. 2. October and November is an excellent time to break up sod land for planting the fol- lowing Spring. 3. The weather is then cool and bracing, and the team strong and hearty for the work; while the weather in the Spring is more relaxing and team less able; and Spring work being always hurrying, it saves time to dispatch as much as possible during the previous Autumn, 4. Sod land, broken.up late in Autumn, will be quite free from growing grass the following Spring; the roots of the late overturned sward being so generally killed by the immediately succeeding Winter that not much grass will readily start in Spring. 5. The frosts of Winter disintegrate the plowed land, so that it readily crumbles in fine particles in Spring, and a deep, mellow, seed- bed is easily made. The chemical changes and modifications resulting from atmospherie action during the Winter, develop latent fertility in the upturned furrows, which, together with the mellowing influences, materially increase the crop. 6. Most kinds of insects are either wholly destroyed, or their depredations materially checked by late fall plowing, especially the common white grub and the cut worm. 7. Corn stubble land may be plowed late in the fall, and thus be all ready for very early sowing in Spring, thereby going far to insure a good catch of grass; the roots of the new seeding getting hold well, or being well es- tablished before the drouths of Summer come on. All Western farmers know that some of the above rules can not be applied profitably to breaking prairie land. DRAINAGE AND IRRIGATION: MetTHOoDS AND ADVANTAGES CONSIDERED. DRAINAGE and Irrigation—the former hay- ing for its primary purpose the relief of fields that are too wet, and the latter the replenish- ment of fields that are too dry—are not so much practiced in this country as in Great Britain* and continental Europe, where labor is plenty and lands searce and ‘high. They ought rap- idly to increase among us, however, as popula- tion becomes denser. The philosophy of both processes was well enough illustrated by the professor ina French College before his class: “Take this flower- pot,” said he, “what is the use of this small hole at the bottom? To enable us to renew and remove the water. Why is this necessary? Because water gives life or death; life, when it is only made to pass through the bed of earth, for it leaves with the soil its productive princi- ples, and renders soluble the nutritive proper- ties destined to nourish the plant; death, on the other hand, when it remains in the pot, for it soon becomes putrid, and rots the roots, or ac- cumulates and drives out the air which is the breath of vegetation.” Drainage.—I may be asked, observes the great English agriculturist, Mecur, why I attach so much importance to drainage. Why, you mightas well ask, do Lattach so much impor- tance to circulation, vital or monetary. Stag- nant water, or stagnant air, are as ruinous to plants as they would be to our own vitality. Fix a cork in the drainage-hole of your flower- pot, and you will soon have a practical illus- tration of my meaning. The sallow and bilious plants (like many turnip crops I know of on undrained land), will show by their expression what is denied to them in speech. This is not the occasion to enter into subterranean examin- ation of gravity, capillary attraction, aeration, * As early as 1855, there had been 1,365,000) acres perma- nently drained in Great Britain; aud the Duke of Port- land had made on his estates more than seven thousand miles of drains.—£slimates of J. BArLEY DENTON. or filteration, much less of all those affectionate or repulsive interchanges that turn air, water, and earth into food for man and beast: But be assured, circulation is vitality—stagnation, death and ruin. RateH Waxpo Emerson, in a characteris- tic address in his native town, said: “Concord is one of the oldest towns in the country—far on now in its third century. The selectmen have oncein five years perambulated its bounds, and yet, in this year, a very large quantity of land has been discovered and added to the agricultural land, and without a murmur of complaint from any neighbor. By drainage, we have gone to the subsoil. and we have a Concord under Concord, a Middlesex under Middlesex, and a basement-story of Massachu- setts more valuable than all the superstructure. Tiles are political economists. They are so many Young Americans announcing a better era, and a day of fat things.” Some of the beneficial results of drainage are generally recognized. Drainage removes stag- nant water from the surface and surplus water from under the surface. It lengthens the sea- sons. It deepens the soil. It warms the subsoil. It equalizes the temperature of the earth that comes in contact with plants. It increases the quantity of crops, and improves their quality. It augments the effect of manure. It tends to prevent Winter-killing, injury from drought, rust in wheat, and rot in potatoes. It drives out weeds and the ox-eyed daisy. Drainage is full of paradoxes. It makes cold land warmer, and warm land cooler; wet land drier, and dry land wetter; heavy land lighter, and light land, in some cases, heavier. It brings up moisture from the depths below, and with it soluble food that else could not rise sul- ficiently near the surface; while it tempts the plant-roots to seek the lower strata where they find fresh water without losing their food and light and air. (55) 56 The Secretary of the New York State Agri- cultural Society, in one of his reports, says: “The testimony of farmers in different sections of the State, is almost unanimous, that drained lands have suffered far Jess from drought than undrained.” Alleghany County reports that “drained lands have been less affected by the drought than undrained;” Chatauqua County, that “the drained lands have stood the drought better than the undrained.” The report from Clinton County, says: ‘‘ Drained lands have been less affected by the drought than un- drained.” Montgomery County reports: “ We find that drained lands have a better crop in either wet or dry seasons than undrained.” B. F. Nourse, of Orrington, Maine, says that on his drained lands, in that State, “during the drought, there was at all times sufficient damp- ness apparent on scraping the surface of the ground with his foot, in passing, and a crop of beans was planted, grown, and gathered there- ia i Hi WT Shoe OF LAND BEFORE IT IS ell vi : In the first figure, 1 represents the surface- soil, in which evaporation takes place, using up the water which might otherwise go to the roots of plants; }, represents the water-table, or surface of stagnant water, below which roots seldom go; a, water of evaporation; 6, water of capillary attraction; ¢, water of drainage, or stagnant water. In the second figure, 1 represents the surface- DRAINAGE AND IRRIGATION: from, without as much rain as will usually fall in a shower of fifteen minutes’ duration, while vegetation on the next field was parching for lack of moisture. A committee of the New York Farmers’ Club, which visited the farm of Professor Mapes, in New Jersey, in the time of a severe drought in 1855, reported that the professor’s fences were the boundaries of the drought, all the lands outside being affected by it, while his remained free from injury. This was attributed, both by the committee and by Professor Marns himself, to thorough drainage and deep tillage with the subsoil plow. The accompanying engravings will show the effect which stagnant water within a foot or two of thesurface, has on the roots of wheat plants. They should enable the reader to see why thorough underdraining is beneficial in time of drought: ; a, iy Section oF LAND AFTER IT IS DRAINED. soil warmed by the sun and Summer rains; 2, the water-table nearly four feet below the sur- face; d, water of capillary attraction; e, water of drainage, or stagnant water. In a well-drained soil, the earth is permeable to rain and dew, andape numerous roots absorb it readily in seasons en the ground in the undrained soil is baked and the few roots fam- ished. = METHODS AND ADVANTAGES CONSIDERED. 57 Drainage improves the healthfulness of the ‘locality. A doctor took one of the Sanitary Commissioners to a hill overlooking his district. “There,” said he, ‘‘wherever you see those patches of white mist I have, frequent illness, and if there is a cess-pool, or other nuisance as well, I can reckon on typhus every now and then. Outside these mists I am rarely wanted.” Dr. Bowprrcx testifies that “there are two or three times as many deaths from consumption in wet places as in dry.” Will Draining Pay?—Yes. Draining by some method will pay in almost every in- stance where arable or meadow land is too wet, eyen in America, To lay manure on wet soils is to throw money away. DANIEL GATEs, of New York State, testifies that draining has in- creased his land to “three times its former value.” Mr. Lurton said, in the New York State Agri- cultural Society, that for four successive years he applied twenty-five loads of manure per acre to seven acres, and reaped thirty-one bushels of oats per acre ;-he then drained the same land, and without manure, it produced eighty-nine and a half bushels per acre. JouHN JOHNSTON, a Scotchman, came to this country poor; purchased a farm in 1835, near Geneva, New York, said to be the poorest land in that section of the State. It was a heavy, gravely clay, with a close clay subsoil; and it had been cropped down by former owners, until, instead of being a farm to live on, it had be- come proverbially a place to starve on; but by a thorough system of tile drainage (not then much known in the country), followed by deep plowing and manuring, Mr. JouNsTon soon made it produce better crops than the best farms in that section, and by its help found him- self owner of three hundred acres of the most productive land in the county. He was never a capitalist, and never engaged in fortunate outside speculations. He was solely a working farmer, and he owed his success chiefly to his system of subsoil drainage. His drains are fifty miles in length. What Lands require Drainaget?-— Mr. GREELEY thinks that all lands worth plow- ing would be improved bydraining. But Hon. Henry F. Frencu, in his admirable little manual on Farm Draining, insists that some land does not require it, as nature herself has thoroughly drained a large proportion of the soil. He sets forth the following descriptions of soil as requiring drainage: all lands oyer- flowed in Summer; all swamps and bogs; and all soils that contain too much water at any time. There is probably not one farm in fifty that does not need considerable thorough drain- ing; and the venerable JonN JoHNnsron, the original tile-drainer of this country, thinks that four-fifths of all our lands require this relief. Will Underdraining Pay ?—This depends on circumstances. If good, naturally underdrained land can be obtained in your neighborhood—as in most of the counties of the West—for from $15 to $20 per acre, it would not pay, in all probability, to expend $30 per acre in underdraining low, wet, springy land; but in all districts where land is worth $50 per acre, nothing can pay better than to expend $20 to $30 per acre in judicious underdraining. The labor of cultivation is much reduced, while the produce is generally increased one-half,and is not unfrequently doubled ; and it must be remem- bered that the increase is net profit. If we get $15 worth of wheat from one acre and $20 worth from the other, and the expense of cultivation is $10 in both cases, the profit from one is twice as much as from the other. That judi- cious underdraining will increase the crops one-third, can not be doubted by any one who has witnessed its effects. If it should double the crops, as it often does, the profit would be four-fold. Mr. Jounston estimates that the average surplus profit on two years’ crop will pay for the drainage. Surface Drainimg.—On cheap lands, where tile drainage seems too expensive, surface draining will afford to wet lands a partial relief, and will answer avery good purpose on all swales and wet places that are not fed by springs. If necessary, let off the water by plowing a furrow, or by opening a trench with the spade; then plow the field. After the sod has rotted so that you can plow to advantage, mark out a land, the center of which will be where you want your drain, with the outside extending, if practicable, to where the ground ascends. Plow deep, repeatedly lessening the land a little at each plowing, so as not to leave a ridge between the outside of the field and the center. By plowing from three to five times, and clearing out the dead furrow in the center, with a shovel or spade, you will have a drain two or three feet deep, that will last for years. This can be stoned up, if you prefer it, and be- come permanent in the form of an open ditch, 58 And such ditches may be multiplied as the land seems to require it. They are very bene- ficial, as compared with none at all; but they are expensive; they obstruct good husbandry, especially impeding mowing machines; they occupy too much land; they carry off much of the manure; they are but a clumsy expedient; and something better should be substituted for them as soon as practicable. But remember that the sides of an open ditch should always slant, at least forty-five degrees. Under Drains.— Among the first covered drains in use, were those made by throwing stones into the bottom of a ditch, and replacing the earth above them. These “blind ditches” have sometimes produced marvelous effects, drying up the moist lands and bringing in clover plentifully—but in two or three years they generally fail entirely. They become choked with earth or weeds; the stagnant water again soaks in the soil, and the wild grass re-appears. Brush draining—that is, blind ditches filled with brush instead of stones—have been some- what used. In a peat or clay soil, they last a number of years—sometimes ten or twenty, though always liable to clog; but in sandy soil they are quite unreliable. In fact, both the stone and the brush drain, are generally in the end more expensive than the tile drain. The mole-plow is somewhat used in the West, and has been found serviceable in soils that are ex- clusively clay. But for general use, nothing yet has been found to be equal to Vile Drains.—Tiles form the most per- fect channels for underdrains. They may be Fig. 4, Fig. 3. Sore Tite. tubular, as shown in figure 1, and laid in the bottom as represented by figure 4; or, they may be in the horse-shoe form, like figure 2, which answers a good purpose when placed on a very hard or rocky bottom; or, if the bottom be not hard, which is most usually the case, plates of tile, termed soles, are first laid, to prevent the DRAINAGE AND IRRIGATION: heavy weight of earth above from sinking the edges into the soil (figure3). This is, however, complex and expensive, and hence the tubular tile is now generally used. They are most rapidly and easily laid : ‘| by means of the tile Fig. 5. Tite Hook; hook (figure 5), which is simply placed within the bore, and they are lowered to their place. A little earth is then rammed down on each side, to keep them straight until covered. Where the soil is quite soft, they must be laid npon flat stone, tile soles, or narrow boards of durable wood. They may be first covered with straw, small brush, gravel, or small stone, or, if collars are placed on the joints, inverted turf may be laid in direct con- tact with the tile. If in hard clayey earth, small stone alone will answer, with straw or turf placed upon them before the earth is filled in. But if the subsoil approaches the nature of quicksand, more care will be required, and fine gravel, with a heavy coating of straw, may be necessary. , The importance of filling most of the ditch above the tile with stone, is sometimes urged, under the belief that water can not find its wa down to the bottom through three feet of earth, But a moment’s thought will show the fallacy of this objection, for if the drain will carry off the water lying one rod distant horizontally it will convey away with far greater ease what happens to be only two or three feet directly above. It was once the practice to perforate tile with small holes, to let the water pass into them; but it has been since found that the joints at the ends and the porosity of the tile will admit all that is required. Laying out Drains.—The first opera- tion necessary upon a field intended to be drained, is the examination of the strata, or veins of earth of which it is composed; and this is commonly effected with the boring auger, or by digging small pits, or open drains, as by this means the oozings or weepings will speediy display themselves, and indicate pretty correctly the source whence the superabundant water pro- ceeds. This being ascertained, the direction of the underdrains will be the more easily de- cided. Inthe formation of these drains the work- man always commences on the lowest extremity ;” by this means, besides other advantages, the water, as he arrives at it, drains away from him, and shows him, by its escape, that he is pre- serving a proper fall. — : LAYING OUT DRAINS. 59 The simplest mode of proceeding is most'| practiced, and is believed to be the best; that. is, to run the parallel drains directly down the natural slope of the land, tapping them once or, twice if the locations of water should render it necessary. Never step in the bottom of the ditch when laying tile. A spirit-level will be’ found convenient. Depth and distance of Drains-—Experience | has determined that twenty-five to thirty feet apart, for compact or clayey soils, and thirty- five to sixty for light and porous soils, are vroper distances for accomplishing speedy and effectual drainage. Three or four feet is the most economical depth. When draining was first introduced into some parts of Great Britain, the drains were made one and a half or two feet deep, and eighteen feet apart. After many thousand miles were laid, they became defective. They were then made about three feet deep, and twice as far apart. Thiscost less, and was more eflicient. Size of Tile——The larger tiles should be used near the outlet. Large mains and small feeders isthe rule. The larger sizes are also necessary where the grade is slight; for example, a two inch tile with ordinary imperfections in laying, will carry off eight hundred or nine hundred | hogsheads in twenty-four hours, with a descent | of one foot in ten; while a four-inch tile will carry off about twice as much with a descent of only one foot in a hundred. The size of a drain depends on two circum- stances: its rate of descent and its length (the ageregate of main and branches), ‘The drains should be of such a magnitude as to carry off a thousand hogsheads per acre, in twenty-four hours. If each drain relieves a space of a rod on each side, or a strip of land two rods wide, it must be eighty feet long for an acre of this breadth, and carry off forty-two hogsheads every hour, forty-six gallons per minute, or three- fourths of a gallon per second. A tubular tile, two inches in diameter, and perfectly smooth and straight, would accomplish this if it had a descent of one foot in twenty. With ordinary imperfections, it would require a descent of about one foot in ten or twelye. If the descent was only one foot in fifty, it would require a three inch bore.”* Almost any field can be drained, however flat. Rivers will run with a + fall of only two inches in a mile.f *Second Volume Annual Register Rural Affairs, p. 172. + VeLocivy OF WATER IN TILE Drains.—An acre of land, in » wet time, contains about 1,000 spare hogsheads of water. Aun underdrain will curry off from a strip of land = Cost of Tile Drainage.—Tubular tile, with two- inch bore, which is large enough generally, except for main drains or those nearly level, usually costs about ten dollars at the manufac- tory, for enough to lay sixty rods. T’o be more definite, the following are the prices, by the 1000 pieces, at some of the prominent Tile Works in the country: ROUND TILE. 144 inch diameter,.. 236 ws 3. 2 inch rise aul ciate Mircea pee hae gue ist “ . HORSE-SHOE TILE. 2! inch rise... .. $15 per 1000. By 29 woe Oe ne see peiom 1 es fates ae eee Me ipa ne 100) 9 mee Round pipe tiles are generally preferred in England, and are rapidly coming into use in this country. They are much the most reliable. Tiles are cut thirteen to fourteen inches long, but drying shortens them to twelve and a half inches, and a fraction must be allowed for breakage; so it is estimated that a thousand tiles will lay a thousand feet of drain on an average. Judge Frencnw, in his “Farm Drainage,” gives the following experience under the head of “Expense: “We have opened our drains of 4 foot depth, but 20 inches at top and 4 inches about two rods wide, and one eighty rods long will drain an acre. The following table will show the size of the tile required to drain an acre in two days’ time (the longest admissible), at different rates of descent; or the size for any larger area: Diameter Rate of Velocity Hogsheads of Bore. Descent. of current |discharged per second, | in 24 hrs. 2 inches. 1 foot in 100 22 inches. 400 2 inches. 1 footin 50 32 inches. 560 2 inches. 1 fout in 20 51 inches, 900 2 inches. 1 foot in 10 73 inches. 1290 3 inches. 1 foot in 100 27 inches. 1170 3 inches. 1 foot in 50 38 inches. 1640 3 inches. 1 foot in 20 67 inches. 3100 3 inches, 1 foot in W 84 inches. 3600 4 inches. 1 foot in 100 32 inches. 2500 4 inches. 1 foot in 50 45 inches. 3500 4 inches. 1 fuot in 20 72 inches. SHH) 4 inches. 1 foot in 10 100 inches. 7800 A deduction of one-third to one-half must be made for the roughness of the tile or imperfection in laying. The drains must be of some length to give the water velocity, and these numbers do not, therefore, apply to very short drains. ' 60 DRAINAGE AND at bottom, giving a mean width of 12inches. In one instance, in the Summer of 1858, two men opened 14 rods of such drain in one day. In six days, the same two men opened, laid, and filled 947 feet, or about 574 rods of such drain. Their labor was worth $12 00, or 21 cents per rod. The actual cost of this job was as fol- lows: 847 two-inch tiles, at $13 per 1000.. 100 three-inch, for MAaiN .......06668 70 bushels of tan to protect the joints Horse to haul tiles and tan 50 Labor, twelve days, at $1 12 00 Total. 25 71 “This is 464 cents per rod, besides our own time and skill in laying out and superintending the work.” The following table gives the number of twelve-inch tiles required to drain an acre, be- ing laid at different distances apart, and the number of rods of such drain to the acre: Intervals between the Twelve-inch Drains, in feet. Pipe. Rods per Acre, _ We may caleulate that in the average of soils, at least three rods of four-foot ditch, twelve inches wide, will be dug and refilled by one man inaday. This would reduce the ex- pense to the following statement: «.. 3334 cents. Opening and filling, per rod Tiles, at two cents each ES Total cost of each Od. sssesereseee 6634 cents. Multiply the number of rods to the acre, as shown in the above table, by two, and divide by three, and the answer will be about the number of dollars tile-drainage will cost per acre, at the different distances. Tiles ought to be furnished much cheaper than the above rates, and doubtless will be as soon as their use becomes more general. There are now tile factories in every North- ern State—no less than sixty in Ohioalone. No department of agriculture is making more rapid general progress than that of subsoil drainage, Irrigation in its agricultural sense, implies the watering of grass lands with running water at certain intervals, by means of artificial con- structions. It is the reverse of draining—they are the balancing forces in farming economy. Irrigation is least important, however, because IRRIGATION: « the average of lands have too much water. Yet it is no slight auxiliary. Snow has been called “the poor man’s manure,” and properly, for it not only warms, but possesses positive fertilizing elements. So does fresh water of almost any kind, when applied in moderate quantities, and as freely removed. Early Irrigation.—The ancients learn- ed and practiced this art. Wrrarn advised his people to “bring down the waters of the river upon the sunned corn, and when the field is parched and the plants drying, convey it from the brow of the hill in channels.” The most won- derful remains of antiquity among the Chinese, Indians, Greeks, Romans, Syrians, Peruvians, and other nations are the immense aqueducts for the purpose of irrigation. No amount of labor or expense was deemed incommensurate with their importance and value to the nation. Through mountains and over valleys, spanning rivers and climbing precipices, for hundreds of miles went great arteries of stone, that car- ried the life-fluid through the parched and barren land. At the present day in many Eu- ropean and Asiatic countries the irrigation of land is by far the most important process of agriculture. By irrigation in the valley of the Po, “every rood of earth maintains its man,” In Egypt the overflowing of the Nile is the source of all the fertility and wealth of the land; and in China and India, and on many parts of the Mediterranean coast, sowing and reaping are not more a matter of course than regular watering. In Italy canals are in some sections as numerous as roads, running along them for miles, with branches to the various farms and vineyards, and companies are estab- lished which have the privilege of supplying the farms with water at a prescribed tariff. In Germany, France, and even in the moist climate of England, the irrigation of fields has become a very common and _ profitable practice. j Irrigation in America.—There are several of our States, especially in the East, where the necessity of irrigation will soon force itself upon the public attention. In some neighborhoods the farmers already complain, about every other season, that their fruit falls untimely to the ground, their grain withers in the field, their potatoes bake in the earth, and their pastures scorch and dry up, till scarcely a green blade or a drop of water can be found for the stock. , I METHOD OF IRRIGATION—SOILS TO WHICH IT IS ADAPTED. It is evident that the seasons are gradually growing drier and hotter, owing to the vandal- ism of man in cutting off the forests, which attract and retain the moisture, and temper the winds that sweep over the earth. Many scien- tifie writers have been for the last score of years warning our utilitarian people against the error of destroying our noble forests, but so long as there was a market for wood and lumber, or the land could be turned to a few dollars more account for some other purpose, they were laughed at as a set of croakers, and the present advantage was seized at the ex- pense of the future. But within one or two years almost every agricultural society has begun to discuss the matter, and to evince a determination to plant again the forests which have been so ruthlessly destroyed. The destruction of forests is not the only cause of the dryness of the seasons. The great net-work of railroads and telegraph wires which covers the face of the civilized globe, to say nothing of millions of lightning rods, with their thievish fingers thrust up into the clouds, are constantly drawing away the elec- tricity, and by restoring the equilibrium be- tween the clouds and the earth, prevent the storms that accomplish the same purpose in a noisy way. It is a man’s mission to conquer the earth and subdue it, but in meeting the forces of nature and seeking to conquer them| and render them subservient to his own ends, he should take care lest they flank him, and in the end turn his own batteries upon him- self. It is never too late to mend, but it will) take half a century to restore the trees that 61 were destroyed in a day. In the meantime many of our hills and dry places should be supplied with artificial sustenance, by means of a system of irrigation, Method of KIrrigation.—The whole art of irrigation may be deduced from two simple rules; which are, first, to give a suffi- cient supply of water during all the time the plants are growing; and, secondly, never to allow it to accumulate so long as to stagnate. As the water must flow in a sheet over the land, or in channels through it, the supply must be above the level of the land to be irri- gated. This is one of the chief points to be considered. A main conductor should run along the top of the field, with small conduits passing out of it. The water must be drained off easily after being used. Soils to .which it is Adapted.— Light, porous soils show the effect of irrigation in a marked degree; and all sorts of dry and warm Jand receive almost instantaneous im- provement from it. Boggy land, even in its natural state, is also greatly helped by it, and produces in consequence heavy crops of coarse hay, serviceable for store cattle; but clay soils are the least susceptible of benefit, unless they are first thoroughly underdrained. On a dry sloping meadow, where irrigation is practica- ble, it pays better than any other form of fer- tilization. Many parts of the West are permanently de- prived of its advantages, not possessing streams that can be thus utilized, ; FIELD CROPS: CEREALS, GRASSES, VEGETABLES, TEXTILES, Etc.—BeENEFITS OF ROTATION AND Moves or CuLture. At the time of the revival of letters, hardly 1,500 plants were known from the descriptions of the ancients. A hundred years ago, the Swede, CHARLES LINNE, generally called Lin- Nazus, the father of botany, reckoned about 8,000 varieties; HumMBoLpt mentions 44,000; later observers have carried the number of as- certained sorts up to 100,000; and AcAssiz has since returned from South America, and added largely to the enumeration. A chronicler of curious things estimates that “there are 15,000 useful plants known in the world; of these 3,000 are edible fruits, berries and seeds; 250 cereals; 75 kinds of Indian corn; 2,500 vege- tables and salads;* 300 shrubs, ete., which yield various drinks; and 260 aromatics. There are 50 substitutes for coffee, and 129 for tea. About 900 known plants are poisonous.” Amount of Different Crops.—A comparison of the total productions of the more important staples of the country, as re- turned by the census of 1850 and of 1860, with the estimates of 1867 for the same products, indicates a fair progression, under the adverse circumstances connected with a civil war which devastated one section and withdrew a heavy percentage of agricultural labor from the other. In the following table, which makes this ex- hibit, the items of corn and potatoes of 1867 are unusually small, those crops having suffered greater injury than for several years previous: Comparative Prices of Twelve Wears.—The Journal of Commerce contains an interesting table of the comparative prices of various articles at New York on the first of May in each of the past twelve years. quote some of these figures below: We Rye. |Oats.| Corn. | Hay. | Hops. $ 66 $46 |$ 73 |S 4 1S 8 84 od 86 75 13 84 43 82 95 lo 68 36 67 80 16 80 40 58 5 115 1 03 85 94 80 20 153 86 138 160 23 1 03 72 148 90 35 78 61 86 40 65 1 58 140 | 190 60 215 8536] 1 20 80 50 130 90 90 60 8 Mess Pork| Mess Beef.|Butter eons ———|—— ——— $18 75 $11 50 $ 25 8 37 16 35 8 25 2236 56 17 75 5 25 18 47 17 87 6 0) 16 55 12 62 6 00 18 49 15 00 6 00 19 78 26 50 13 00 3l 77 26 00 14 00 35 7 26 00 20 00 50 62 22 80 16 0 28 65 28 00 20 00 48 57 31 00 12 00 38 54 If these quotations are trustworthy, as from their source we presume to be the case, we may judge of present prices (1869), more justly by reducing them to a gold standard (calling gold $1 35) and placing them side by side with the average prices of the three years before the war, 1858-9-60, which were years of general pros- perity with gold at par: Price May 1, 1869, reduced Average Prices May 1, 1858, 5 360. to gold value. 1859, 1860. Hay pr 100 pounds. 1850. 1860. 1867. Corn, bushels.. «| 592,071,104 | 838,792,740 | 768,320,000 Wheat, bushels ... «| 100,485,944 | 173,104,924 | 217,870,400 Rye, bushels. 14,188,813 23,490,000 Oats, bushels 146,554, 190 275,098,000 Barley, bushe 5,167,015 25,727,000 Buckwheat, bu 8,956,912 5 21,359,000 Potatoes, bushels .. 65,797,896 | 111,148,867 67,783,000 | TR: Tobacco, pounds 199,752,655 | 434,209,461 Hay, tons... 13,838,642 | 19,083,896 Cotton, bales... 2,445,793 5,387,052 Wool, pounds... 52,516,959 | 60,264,913 EEE *Frarina Burr in his, well-known book, enumerates nearly 1,100 varieties of the field and garden vegetables of America. (62) Mess Pork, per bri. Mess Beef, ‘* * Butter, per pound... Cheese, _** sf Merino Wool, ** Butter, per pound - Cheese, ** ee Merino Wool, ** WEIGHT OF GRAIN—ROTATION OF CROPS. Thus, of the ten articles, four are lower now than before the war, and six are higher—the most marked decrease being in hay, and the largest advance on cheese, oats, mess pork, but- ter, and rye, in the order named. Weight of Grain, etc., per bush- el.—-Wheat is 60 pounds to the bushel in all the States except Connecticut, where it is 56 pounds; Rye is 56 pounds in nearly all the States; Corn 56 pounds in nearly all, but 58 in New York; Oats 32 pounds; Barley 48 pounds; Buckwheat 46 to 50 pounds, but mostly 48; Clover Seed mostly 60 pounds, but 64 in Ohio and New Jersey; Timothy 44 pounds; Flax Seed 56 pounds; Potatoes 60 pounds; Beans mostly 60 pounds, but 62 in New York, and 56 ‘in Ohio; Blue-grass Seed 14 pounds; Hemp Seed 44 pounds; Dried Peaches 28 to 33 pounds; Dried Apples 22 to 28 pounds. Rotation of Crops.—The necessity for a rotation in crops does not seem to haye been at all felt until the middle of the last century, and not till after 1800 did it find its way to America to supersede the expensive habit of naked fallowing. It was then seen that the same crop, planted successively, year after year, gradually ran out, and demanded transplanta- tion, Science has more recently taught us the reason for this, in the fact that each crop draws from the soil certain elements which are its natural food, and which it exhausts year by year. Meantime, those elements which would produce a vigorous growth of some other plant, lie dormant, or expend their force in the pro- duction and propagation of some vile weed which you do not want. “The true general reason why a second or third crop of the same kind will not grow well, is that it contains too little of one or more kinds of matter. If, after manuring, turnips grow luxuriantly, it is be- eause the soil has been enriched with all that the crop requires. If a healthy barley crop follow the turnips, it is because the soil still contains ull the food of this new plant. Ifclover thrive after this, it is because it naturally re- quires certain other kinds of nourishment which neither of the former crops has exhausted. If, again, luxuriant wheat succeeds, it is because the soil abounds still in all that the wheat crop needs—the failing vegetable and other matters of the surface being increased and renewed by the enriching roots of the preceding clover. And if now turnips refuse again to give a fair return, it is because you have not added to the 63 soil a fresh supply of that manure without which they can not thrive. Add the manure, and the same rotation of crops may again ensue.” On some of the rich, deep lands of the West, corn, and even wheat, have been occasionally produced, year after year, without obvious de- terioration; but this is doubtful economy, even where the result seems to justify it, for in the end, the wastefulness of the method will make itself felt. Wherever Nature is left untram- meled by the, farmer, she almost invariably produces a rotation of crops. Our artificial grasses soon cease to struggle with the natural ones; and eyen the latter succeed one another in almost regular order. In our Southern States, when the pine and other soft woods are cut off, the scrub oak and other hard woods succeed them, to give place in their time to softer ones. AIl have noticed in the Northern section of the Union, that when a forest of oak, hickory, or other hard wood, is cleared off, it is generally followed by a growth of soft wood. No two varieties of crops extract their food in the same proportion. JOHNSTON gives the following table, showing the amount of salts ex- tracted by a crop of turnips, growing five tons to the acre; of barley, 38 bushels; one ton each of dry clover or rye grass; and of wheat 25 bushels. | Barrer. | 5 | 3] Wueat s we a} < Sc on el|® = = OF) i 2)=!\aQ}] @ - = gu rs] = S| = 3 : : Bl/eisla|e] & : 5 Sle Se ASE |e - | 4.5 |45.0 25.5) 3.3 1.1 /12.0) 9.0) 3.5 12.9 |63.0:16,5 Magnesi 1.8]7 i ie Alumina.. 3.4/0 8 4 Silica 90.0 | 8.0/62,0) 6.0 Sul. Acid. 2.8 |10.0) 8.0) 0.8 Phos. ‘* 3.7 |15.0) 0.6] 0.6 Chlorine. . 1.5 | 8.0) 0.1] 0.2 970.9% It is necessary that each plant shall find these salts in the soil, in quantities and condi- tions adapted to its use; rotation effects this end. “* Not every soil each grateful gift supplies ; P Here waving corn—there happier vineyards rise,’ A planter near Jacksonville, Florida, had kept one hundred and ninety-five acres of rich land under continual cultivation of corn and cotton, for a period of nearly fifty years, until they were completely worn out by the meager rotation—being incapable of producing five bushels of corn or fifty pounds of seed cotton * CuTHBERT JomnstTon’s Chemistry. 64 per acre. He planted it to cane, and produced twenty-five hogsheads of very superior sugar, averaging one thousand pounds, from the one hundred and ninety-five acres. GEORGE SryciarrR took the following view of the cause of the exhaustion of soils: “If,” he says. ‘‘a plant impoverishes a soil in pro- portion to the weight of vegetable matter it produces on a given space of ground, the fol- lowing will be the order in which the under- mentioned plants exhaust the ground, being the proportion they bear to each other with respect to weight of produce: Mangel wurzel.. Cabb: Potatoes... Kohl-rabi Swedish turnip. Carrots, “But when we take the weight of nutritive matter which a plant affords from a given space of ground, the results are very different, and will be found to agree with the daily ex- perience in the garden and the farm. “The following figures represent the propor- tion in which they stand to each other with respect to the weight of nutritive matter per acre, and in exhausting the land: Potatoes .. Cabbages.. . 42 Mangel wurzel 28 Carrots... . 24 Kobl-rabi. ~17 Swedish tu - 16 “Change of crops also suppresses weeds, and prevents very materially the increase of the predatory grub and insects which also more or less prey upon the farmer’s crops.’ The German farmers pay much more atten- tion to asystematic rotation of crops than has been customary in this country. On this point, Joun H. Kurppart, Secretary of the Ohio Agricultural Society, recently said, in an ad- dress in that State: “In Europe there is a regular rotation of crops adapted to the soil— a three course system, a four course system, a six, eight, ten or twelve course system—accord- ing to the size of the farm and quality of the soil. The farm is divided into as many fields as there are rotations in the course, or else into multiples of the rotations; then, the kind of crop which was grown in field No. 1 last year, is grown in field No. 2 this year, and will be grown in field No. 3 next year, and so on till the course is completed; this insures a crop of wheat every year on a different field, and has many advantages; it has the advantage of hay- ‘ing the soil properly prepared by previous FIELD CROPS: crops; it is very much less liable to insect dep- redations, and the crop is every year on a com- paratively new soil, and there is, as a rule, a good wheat crop every year.” Tucker’s Rural Affairs, for 1868, proposes a similar methodical practice for this country, “The following simple three and four course systems may be adopted in grain growing dis- tricts: “Three-course system—First year, corn and roots, well manured; second year, wheat; third year, clover one or more years, according to fertility and amount of manureat hand. Early corn should be planted to admit of early re- moval for sowing the wheat. “ Four-course system—First year, corn and roots with all the manure; second year, barley or peas, or both; third year, wheat; fourth year, clover, one or more years. “Oats is a severe crop anywhere in a rota- tion, but may be admitted on strong soils, the second year, if followed with fine manure. An experienced farmer, who adopts the preceding three-course system, never permits oats to grow on land fit for wheat, but confines the crop ex- clusively to the more moist parts of his farm, otherwise devoted to meadow and pasture. “The following course occupies nine fields: First year, corn and:roots with all the manure ; second year, barley; third year, wheat seeded with clover; fourth year, pasture; fifth year, meadow; sixth year, fallow; seventh year, wheat; eighth year, oats or barley with clover; ninth year, pasture or meadow. “A rotation used by some good farmers in Maryland is this: First year, corn with ma- nure; second year, oats with one hundred and fifty pounds of guano, and buckwheat turned under as manure; third year, wheat, clover and timothy; fourth year, meadow; fifth year, pasture; sixth year, buckwheat, root crops, and peas. “The rotation below is well adapted to stony soils when the dairy is a prominent business: First year, after fall plowing, sow in Spring oats; second year, after fall plowing, plant corn in Spring, applying a compost of muck, manure, and ashes, and top-dressing with plas- ter; third year, after fall plowing, sow early in Spring to wheat, barley, or a thinly seeded crop of oats, seeding down to clover and timothy, and top-dressing with one bushel of plaster to the acre; fourth, let the land lie in grass as long as it produces well, with the help of plas- ter and a triennial dressing in Autumn. ‘The following course is used where little ROTATION else than the dairy is depended on for profit, the wheat or flour being purchased: First year, corn or sward with manure from barn-yard (applied and spread in Autumn or during Winter), and one bushel of plaster to the acre, putting the old or composted manure and plas- ter inthe hills; second year, sow barley, Spring wheat or a thinly seeded crop of oats, with timothy and clover; third, pasture or mow five or six years, and top-dress with manure in Au- tumn. The grass seed should be sown at the rate of about half a bushel per acre, that the pasture may be fine and rich like old fields.” The following diagram exhibits, to such as may not be familiar with the subject, the man- ner of laying out a farm with fields, each being alloted to its regular course, with the following rotation in each field for the six years. Wheat, corn, and roots, barley, wheat, clover, grass: No. 3. 1865— EG No. 1 1865—Wheat. No. 2. 1865—Corn 1s66—Corn and roots. 1867—Barley. 1858—W heat. 869—W eae 1869—Clover, 86 1 1s70—Corn and 1870—Grass. 1870—W heat. roots. sober ~~ LANE WITH GATE TO EACH FIELD Sy meemecerrcmeceme a ee ee eas No. 6. No. 5. No. 4. 1865—Grass, 1865—Clover. 1865—W heat.’ 1866—Wheat. 186—Grass. Clover. 1867—Corn and 1887—W heat. Grass. roots, 1s68—Corn and 1sis—W heat. 1868—Barley. roots. 1869—Corn and 1869—W heat. 1869—Barley. roots. 1s70—Clover, 1870—Wheat. 1870—Barley. Of course the selection and arrangement of the best rotation must depend upon the climate, soil, size of farm, and local position (for a market.) It will be governed, also, by the cir- cumstance whether the farmer chooses, or finds it for his interest, to devote his farm mainly, Ist, to stock for sale; 2d, to crops for sale; 3d, to mixed crops, partly for sale and partly for use; 4th, to dairying; or 5th, to wool. Ina majority of instances, every farmer will find it to his interest to engage to some extent in each of the specialties, but if he is wise he will make some of them his main object, to which all of his farm work will be made to contribute. Haying settled these preliminary questions, the farmer is prepared to consider the subject of rotation intelligently. Rotation secures another important adyan- tage; it enables the farmer to apply manures in adyance to those sensilive crops which. might be injured by a direct contact with it. Wheat is liable to mildew, rust, and an over- 5 OF CROPS, 65 growth of straw with a diminution of kernel, if manured heavily from the barn-yard; but who ever knew corn and most of the other hoed crops to be overfed? By rotation the sensitive cereals can be safely fertilized by being placed in a soil whose richness has been modified by the grass feed of the previous season. The following alternation of crops is found by some farmers to produce excellent results on a good medium loam: First year—Corn on sod. Second year—Barley, followed by clover, not cut nor pastured, but allowed to rot down. Third year—Clover plowed under when full grown, and after pulverizing the top of the in- verted sod with a two-horse cultivator, sowing with wheat. Fourth year—Wheat. Fifth year—Clover and timothy meadow. Sixth year—Pasture. It will be seen that only two tillage crops are allowed in succession, it being noticed that three always make the land “sleepy.” Farmers are often driven by necessity to the successive culture of those crops which will make the heaviest immediate cash returns, without much regard for the wear and tear of land, This will generally be found poor econ- omy, and should be ayoided where it can be. Eyen a narrow course of rotation between wheat and cloyer is a vast improvement on the old-fashioned way of wedding a crop to a field for the life-time of the owner. “Yor thirty years,” says a correspondent of the Prairie Furmer, “I have practiced a rota- tion in farming, which to me is good. I put two years in grain, and two years in grass. My grass seed is mixed—two parts timothy and one part clover, and I sow one peck to the This is a good proportion for both meadow and pasture; it will keep down the weeds better than any other course that I have seen or practiced. Turn over the sod at two years old; to lie longer, in some places, the’ grass gets out and weeds, or something else, gets in, to the injury of the other crops or working of the land. The second grain crop is the best time for the grass seed to grow, for then it has the full benefit of the decomposed sod. Corn is, I think, the best crop on the sod, where the land is suitable, for corn is more easily attended, and is less troubled with weeds; other crops are grown as circumstances direct. “Tn the beginning of my experience in ro- acre, | tation, I tried with the two years’ course one 66 FIELD field for fifteen years without manure; at the end of that time it was worth twice as much for farming purposes as when I began; and to- day I think as well of it, or better than ever. I keep as much stock as will eat up all the hay and pasture, and work up all the straw, and return the whole to the farm in manure.” We shall here take up the field crops sepa- rately, treating under an alphabetical arrange- ment, such as are exclusively or frequently grown in large quantities on the field. Barley.—Barley seems to have been the earliest known of the cereals, and in Europe it ranks next to wheat in importance. In this country it yields precedence to corn, rye, and oats. The subjoined table, compiled by M. PAyYeEN, shows the proportions of the proxi- mate principles of. the cereal grains: 7] PQ 2 a eee ieee | se 5 so 24 = = : = : S i! ea 55 . P ° 100 parts of : By Head a is BRB | im | | i 2 i so [is | 3 oe) eae Wheat. 22.75 | 9.50} 2.61 | 4.00 | 3.02 Ry 13.50 | 12.00 | 2.15 | 4.10 |) 2.60 Barle 13.96 | 10.00 b | 4.75 | 3.10 Outs. 14.39 | 9.25 7.06 | 3.25 Maiz 12.50 4.00 5.90 | 1.25 Rice. 7.05 1.00} .80 | 3.00 90 It appears that barley is much less valuable than wheat, containing more starch and less gluten. It ranks nearly the same as rye, as food for man. The following indicates the price of the cereals at Chicago at the times mentioned, and may serve as an approximate answer to the inquiry, “Is barley a profitable crop?” Wheat, September, 1863-4, $1 08 to $2 05; corn, $0 76 to $1 30; oats, $0 54 to $0 84; rye, SO 82 to $1 50; barley, $1 17 to $1 40. The extraordinary demand for barley, for malting purposes, which has sprung up since 1850, and which continues to increase, renders its more general cultivation inevitable. The rapid growth in its production in the United States is shown by the following statement : There were raised in 1840, 4,038,315 bushels; 1850, 5,109,054 bushels; 1860, 15,433,297 bush- els; 1863, 17,754,351 bushels. The wheat crop increased 70 per cent. between 1850 and 1860; the barley crop, 300 per cent. The New Eng- lund States produced of barley in 1850, 414,496 bushels—in 1860, 1,199,119; the Middle States, CROPS: in 1850, 3,758,011—in 1860, 4,763,469; the Southern States, in 1850, 56,132—in 1860, 219,930; the Western States, in 1850, 717,168— in 1860, 4,472,101; the Pacific States, in 1850, 11,516—in 1860, 4,462,376. In California, barley supplies the place that is occupied by oats and corn in the States east of the Rocky Mountains; it is the principal feed grain. In 1866, California had 472,621 acres—one-fourth of all its cultivated Jand—in barley, producing more than eleven million bushels—as much as all the rest of the States. It grew only one-fifth as many bushels of oats and corn combined. Barley is much more nutritious than oats, and is one of the very best articles for fatten- ing swine, and forms excellent food for poultry. The green crop is much used in England as Spring pasturage for cows and sheep. It is a remarkably hardy plant, is subject to fewer e| diseases, and will stand, without serious injury, a longer drought than any other cereal. The soil best adapted to barley is a light sandy loam. To grow good crops the soil should be rich, and should be deeply plowed and com- pletely pulverized by frequent harrowings and rollings. Tn some sections of the country where wheat has failed, farmers have been led to the culture of barley as a sort of substitute therefor. It makes a fair quality of family flour, and hot barley cakes are very palatable. It is less lia- ble to the attack of insects than wheat, and is regarded as a safe crop. Its average yield in Maine, where it is largely cultivated, is twenty- nine bushels to the acre, and forty bushels are counted upon in good seasons, where the crop is sowed in drills. Beans.—BPeans are principally raised for human food, though there is hardly anything equal to bean-meal as food for hard-worked horses and fattening swine and cattle. The United States Census Statistics, for 1860, give 15,061,995 bushels as our annual product of beans and peas, or nearly a half bushel to each inhabitant. ° : Beans as a field crop are quite profitable. They can be grown on very poor, light lands, but the yield will be small in comparison with crops grown on good soil. Some have tlie im- pression that only poor soils are adapted to beans, but they thrive best on strong, rich soil, and under good cultivationmake a much more remunerative crop than is generally supposed. BEANS— BEETS. 67 The bean contains more nutritive matter than] four or five stalks jin a hill will yield a maxi- most other vegetables. Sir H. Davy, more than half its weight con-| sists Bee cnuipies ft for nutriment. Ripe beans contain, according to ErnHorr, eighty-four per cent. of nutritive matter, of which fifty is pure | farina, the rest chiefly gluten and mucilage. | The field culture of bush beans is ‘exten-| sively practiced in nearly every State in the Union, with varying success. On proper soil, few crops give more lucrative returns. In’ former years beans were profitably raised at one dollar per bushel ; high as $2 50 for extras, and were much higher during the late war. It is believed that the cost of raising a bushel of beans is but a trifle more than that of potatoes, and only about double that of oats. Preparation of Soil—The Agriculturist gives the following directions for the culture of white beans: If the soil be light, plow it when the apple trees are in blossom, and in about two weeks afterward harrow thoroughly and put in the seed. If the soil be rather heavy, plow it twice, once at the time mentioned, and again — two weeks after. Harrow and roll, if there are lumps, and put in the seed as soon as practica- ble after harrowing. Beans, as well as other seed, will vegetate much sooner in fresh soil, than when it has been plowed several days. If the ground be in sod, and a light open soil, plow with a flat furrow slice, harrow, plant, and roll. By putting off the planting in wet ground until it has become warm, settled, and dry enough to pulverize well, the beans will vegetate in a short time; get the start of the weeds, and thus save much labor in hoeing. Planting.—There are several ways of plant- ing beans. One is to plant in hills, about two feet apart each way. Another is in hills with rows only one way. Still another is to put. in the seeds with a single drill, or scatter the | beans along in a shallow furrow, a few inches | apart. The most expeditious way of planting is, to put them in with a two-horse grain drill, | adjusting it so that every third tube or tooth | will plant a row. By this arrangement the rows will be about two feet apart, which will allow a horse and cultivator to pass between them. The drill should be adjusted to scatter the beans about two inches apart. A greater | crop can be procured in this way than to plant in hills, because the seed is distributed more evenly over the entire ground. There is noth- ing gained by planting beans too thickly, as they now command as From the analysis by | mum product. The quantity of seed per acre will depend entirely on the size of the beans, and the distance apart—usually from two four bushels per acre. Harvesting.—Thehack-aching operation of pulling is now obviated by a handy little ma- chine, called the bean harvester. It is worked by horse, and pulls the plants, delivering them in a row with the roots all one way in good order. If the weather is dry they need not be moved until time to draw them in, but if the weather is damp they should be stacked loosely around poles and covered with straw to shed rain. It will be better to avoid stacking if ‘possible, since in the operation there is apt to be loss from shelling. What is the Best Kind?—In this matter the reader is respectfully invited to make his own selection, as the field of choice is wide. FRrar- ‘Inc Burr, in his Field and Garden Vegetables ‘of America, specifies and describes one hundred ‘and fifty varieties of beans. The white mar- row is generally preferred; and for family use is probably the best. It is a handsome, round- ish, white bean, cooks in much less time than ‘the other varieties, sells higher, and yields The blue- pod is better, or rather preferred for shipping long distances; being firmer, sells more readily, and is some ten days or more earlier than the good crops in favorable seasons. marrow; a material advantage for escaping early frosts, or when the crop is to be followed by Winter grain, for which the ground is admi- rably fitted. On varieties yield the sinaller shell the worst in The vines with fewer stalks ; and come up ready to hoe some days earlier than the others, which is a mate- rial advantage in weedy land. poorish land, the best; gathering, and the best in threshing. marrows have larger pull easier, Beets.—Burr describes sixty varieties of beet raised in America, but most of these confined to garden culture. Mangel Wurzel.—This is a red beet, and ac- cording to Von THAER, is a mongrel between the red and white beet. It has been long eul- tivated in France, Germany, and Switzerland, “partly as food for eattle, and partly to be “ibaa in distillation, and in the extraction of sugar. It has been ieee introduced into America, and is much esteemed for its strong nutritive qualities. The following is the analysis of Sir H. Davy: are 68 Roots. Quan. of Nutriti#e Matter in 1,000 parts. & = Species. 2 Swedish turnip} 9 rT eae 2 (4 White turnip... 7 St 1 42 Manzel wurzel) 15 lly 4 136 Oringe-vlobe wurzel. 10634 1.20 Jess than 1 Susi beet. 12654 14 1 By this table it isapparent that equal quanti- ties of Swedish turnip and orange-globe ntangel wurzel contain very different proportions of nutritive matter, the latter more than doubling the former in quantity; and should the mangel wurzel be of equally easy culture with the Swedish turnip, it seems almost unaccountable that it should not generally supersede it in the fields. Mangel wurzel may be grown on stiffer soils than those adapted for the turnip, and it is better food for milch cows, as it does not, like turnips, give to the milk a taint. It can not bear the cold, however, so well as the Swedish turnip. The mangel wurzel is a great lover of rich sland, and the more manure the larger the crop. It also should have a finely pulverized bed— this is essential to a heavy yield. To plow and harrow twice before sowing will pay the extra expense; and the tilth can scarcely be too deep. The mangel wurzel should be harvested when frosty nights arrive, as the freezing of the tops injures their value for feeding purposes; be- sides, the men ean then remain in the field in pulling the roots. The tops at that time are invaluable to feed to mileh cows when the pas- tures are failing, and the cows need to be kept with a full flow of milk and not allowed on the mowing fields, thereby saying all the ma- nure and getting more milk. If planted early the mangel wurzel escapes the insects which are so fatal to all the turnip tribe. Yield—This root yields tremendously. In 1866, Mr. Payson, manager of the farm be- longing to the city of Boston, raised an acre of mangels, “which produced seventy-three tons, carefully weighed (two thousand four hundred bushels), besides five tons of tops (estimated” ). This acre had been planted with potatoes in 1863; carrots in 1864, and onions in 1865, The manure each previous year had been twenty cords of sea kelp and stable manure. In the fall of 1865 it was heavily coated with sea-weed, and the weed plowed in, replowed in spring of 1866, and the seed sown in drills FIELD CROPS: thirty inches apart. Dr. Grorce B. Lorine, of Salem, Massachusetts, raised on one acre -|and one-eighth, at a cost of $135, including every expense, one thousand eight hundred bushels of mangels—red and yellow globe— the crop thus costing seven cents and a half a bushel. According to analysis and experience, four hundred pounds of mangels are equal to one hundred pounds of good hay. Mr. PAy- son’s crop was thus equal to more than ¢hirteen a quantity which it would take several acres to produce. ‘ Wirtram Breniz, of Springfield, Massa- chusetts, raised in 1859, on two acres and a half of land, three thousand one hundred and sixty- tons of hay six bushels, or ninety-five tons, of mangel wurzels. The cost of growing and harvesting. these was six and a half cents per bushel when stored in the cellar, according to a strict and accurate account kept of labor, fertilizers, ete. There were twelve hundred and sixty-six bush- els, or thirty-eight tons, to the acre, equal cer- tainly to nine and a half tons of hay. What other crop is there that from an acre will pro- duce such an amount of nutritious and yalua- ble food with so reasonable an outlay ? These are extra crops, which all farmers may not hope to rival; but any man, with careful culture, on good soil, may rely on a thousand bushels to the acre. Every man who keeps a cow should mark off in his garden a space six rods long and half a rod wide, and raise upon it forty bushels mangels. Sugar Beets—Some preter these to mangels. Tt will be seen, in the table already given, that the sugar beet contains nine per cent. more nu- tritive and fat-producing matter than any other beet or turnip, and it is regarded as more pala- table to cattle. The sugar beet is much more highly prized in Europe than in this country, and is a great favorite with dairymen, There is no doubt that for feeding purposes it is the best of the beet variety; though its average yield is only about three-fourths as great as the mangels. It needs the same kind of treat- ment, is sowed in the same manner, and har- vested about the same time. Broom-Corn.—This is a native of Amer- ica, of the Sorghum genus, and is scarcely a product of any other country.* It grows per- fectly straight to the height of eight to twelve feet, flowering at the top ina cluster of long, *Great Britain still uses for brooms the bundles of With from the yellow-flowered shrub that grows on the heath. BROOM-CORN—BUCKWUEAT. graceful panicles, crowned with abundant seed. It requires about the same soil and general treatment as Indian corn—plenty of manure and attentive culture. If too many plants ap- pear, they must be thinned so as to insure the free growth of eight healthy stalks. several varieties. There are The North river kind makes ordinarily the best crop; it is ten days earlier than the large kind, and yields about seven hundred and twenty pounds of the brush per acre—the brush, meaning the dried panicles, cleaned of the seedy with eight or twelve inches of the stalk. The New Jersey, or large kind, yields a thousand or eleven hundred pounds of brush peracre. The stalks and seed are large. In good seasons, this is the most profitable crop. The average crop at the West is four hundred pounds to the acre. The price of broom-corn varies materially, ranging from five to fifteen cents a pound. Cleaning the Brush.—This is done by drawing the dried brush through a hetchel. The fol- lowing simple form is much used. The ope- rator stands at the end A. aly 4) mn The lower plank may rest on the barn floor, or have short legs. The upper oblique has a hole, through which the scraper passes, and down which the seed may fall. Each side of the instrument a wedge may be inserted, to regulate its elasticity, or by some other contrivance this object may be secured. In scraping, the panicles must first be laid evenly together, and the stalks taken in the hand. This machine is not expensive; but a still cheaper one can be obtained at any country store, by investing twenty-five to fifty cents. It is simply a common curry-comb. Hold the brush on a board with one hand and scratch off the seed with the other. Tt will be found to work pretty well. Culture.—The broom-corn may be hoed three or four times profitably. As soon as tie seed is formed, a man should pass between all the rows, and break the stalk a foot below the brush, so as to leave the brush suspended seed downward. When nearly ripe, cut the stalk eight or ten inches from the brush, and carry 69 under cover to dry by spreading on slats. Never dry in the 8un. The tall remnant of stalk should always be plowed under. J. M. BrowpeEr, of Cedarville, O., writes to the Cincinnati Gazette, March, 1869, urging the theory that the brush for brooms should be cut when rt is green, wilted in the sun, and cured in the shade. He says: “Broom-corn, ripe, is red, harsh and rough; green brush is pliable and elastic—about one-half as hard on a car- pet as the red is, and will last more than twice as long. The green brush is worth more than double as much as red brush, and weighs more to the bulk. TI have tested all stages, from the time of bloom to dead ripe. I find the brusli most elastic and tough when cut just as the water begins to thicken in the grain. The market price here of brooms made of red brush, is $3 25 per dozen; green brooms, $4 to 35 per dozen.” Yield.—L. G. THomas, of Lone Rock, Wis- consin, sent to the Farmer, in 1865, the result of a seven years’ experience, as follows: ‘‘Haye raised from five to thirty acres per year on light sand, and get five hundred to six hundred pounds per acre, and manufacture all into brooms. One anda half pounds clean brush is required per broom. thirty dozen brooms. Hence an acre makes Prior to the rise in gold, sold them on anaverage at $2 per dozen. The same quality now brings $4 to $4 50. The seed, per acre, averages twenty-five to thirty- five bushels, and weighs, when clean, forty-five to fifty pounds, and is now worth, to feed, one cent per pound. Teavyy, strong land, not liable to early frost, will produce one-third to one- half more. In my opinion, eight hundred pounds is the extreme in this State. The value of broom brush, as quoted by the Chicago Tiib- une in that city, is $250 to $325 per ton—the highest price ever known there. It usually brings $100 to $150 per ton.” Any farmer can easily learn to make up his own brush into good marketable cord or wire brooms. Buckwheat.—tThis is a native of North- ern Asia, and is not a cereal, though, for con- venience, classed among them. We have al- ready treated of its excellent properties as a green manure. For its value as grain, there were 21,359,000 acres raised in the United States in 1857, at a total valuation of about 5,000,000. It thrives best on light soils or sandy loams, but they should be tolerably fer- tile to secure a remunerative harvest. manure injures the plant. mC bil ? Fresh 70 Thorongh pulverization should precede eul- ture, in order toa seasonable ripening. Buck- wheat should be sown when chestnut trees are in full blossom—about the Ist to the 6th of July in the latitude of Central New York, so that the hottest weather will haye passed by the time the buckwheat is in full bloom. Cool weather, or at least cool nights, are quite as essential to a good fructification of buckwheat, as hot days and nights are to Indian corn. The point to be aimed at in every locality, is to defer sow- ing as long as possible and allow it sufficient time to mature before an early frost will de- stroy the crop. When, perhaps, one-half of the seeds are turned brown, the grain should be cut, in the dew, and as the straw is very succulent and juicy, the unripened grain will draw nourish- ment from the stock, and will fill out and ripen very well after it is cut. The common way of treating buckwheat effectually prevents making good flour, it being allowed to remain in the swath for several weeks, when it should never be suffered to lie longer than a day or two, and it is decidedly better for the grain to rake it and set it on end, as fast as it is cradled. Much less grain will be wasted by shelling out; the straw will cure and dry out sooner, and make better fodder ; the crop will be ready for thresh- ing or housing in less time, and the grain will yield a much better quality of flour. To subdue a bush pasture, that it is desired to break up,or land that has become foul with thistles, rushes, ete., this is an excellent crop. It grows very rapidly, spreading its branches, takes the lead of all other plants, overshadow- ing them, and by keeping them in the shade often subdues them, as well as by keeping the roots and sods moist, which causes a rapid de- composition, As a renoyating crop buckwheat has no equal. The grain is not only widely used as a flour for one of the most savory of breakfast dishes, but serves an excellent purpose as food for horses, hogs, and poultry. The flowers are very attractive to bees. “Sheep will feed and thrive as well on the straw as on good hay,”* and it is very easily threshed. The popular whimsey that buckwheat is exhausting, and in- jures land, is not confirmed by experience in those cases where the cultivator returns to the soil as mueh of the straw as possible. According to the analysis of the grain we find it composed of—water, 14.0; flesh-formers, ———— * ALLEN’s Amprican Farm Book. FIELD CROPS: 9.0; fat-formers, 52.1; accessories, 23.3; min- eral matters, 1.6, showing it to be a valuable grain for fattening purposes. Compared with other food for man, it is easily digestible, but the popular method of serving it up in hot cakes is responsible for much of the national dyspepsia. i Cabbage.— Burr enumerates some sey- enty varieties of the cabbage grown in America. Its Value for Food.—It has more than ten per cent. of fat and flesh-forming elements, and is very succulent. The relative value of cab- bages, as compared with other vegetable food, is shown by Professor JounsTon in his Agricul- tural Chemistry, where he says; ‘In the case of the ox the daily waste or loss of muscle or tissue requires that he should consume twenty to twenty-four ounces of gluten or albumen, which will be supplied by any of the following weights of vegetable food : Pounds. Meadow ha: 20 Cabbage. Clover ha 16 Wheat Oat straw 110 Potatoe Peu straw 12 Carrots |. ‘ Oil cake 4 Beans and Peas.... 6 Turnips 120 From this table it appears that cabbages are worth as much, pound per pound, as carrots, and nearly twice as much as turnips. This is more than the popular estimate, but is, no doubt, correct. Cabbages are much grown as a food for stock. One of the commonest ob- jections urged is that they are deteriorating and often fatal to the health of the animal. This result is always attributable to careless- ness in overfeeding. Animals incline to eat voraciously of green succulent vegetables, which are intended to be fed sparingly, mainly as an appetizer, and to keep the system in tone. Profitableness as a Crop—The great cabbage growers about New York city sometimes cal- enlate upon ten thousand heads per acre, al- lowing four superficial feet. to each plant, which gives a surplus of three thousand for missing plants. We suppose the crop may average five cents a head, giving $500 an acre, which, considering it is a second or third crop of the season, affords a pretty good return. In Essex county, Massachusetts, whole fields of mammoth drumhead haye averaged thirty pounds per head, or more than a hundred tons to the acre! Cabbages often follow peas, with which radishes or lettuce has been grown; and the ground from which an early crop of pota- toes has been taken is often planted with late CABBAGE—INSECTS., cabbages. In New Jersey, upward of twenty thousand, by one grower, were raised on four acres, and sold for about $1,500. More than forty thousand were obtained by another suc- cessful grower from about eleven acres, which returned a gross sum of nearly $3,300; and a third, produced, on thirty acres, one hundred and seventy-five thousand, which were sold for $9,000. But the yield and year were both ex- ceptional. The cabbage is capricious in its growth, Sometimes, because of defective seed, injudicious culturé, or an unfavorable season, whole fields refuse to head. Varieties —There are a great number of ya- rieties of cabbages, many of which are inferior, The Winningstadt is placed among the first for excellence. It is a choice variety for the table, and taking all its good qualities into ac- count, is scarcely excelled. The Wakefield, the Ox-heart, the Drumheads, the Red-Dutch, the Early York, the Bergen, the Stone-mason, and the Sugar-loaf are popular varieties, all of which make good returns. ties of the Savoy are quite desirable for cook- ing. The leayes are much wrinkled, and the variety is very highly esteemed for its flavor and richness. A Massachusetts grower an- nounces a new variety called the Cannon Ball. It is said to be very hard-headed and heavy for its size, being round like a cannon ball, and excelling in hardness every known variety. Soil—The soil can not easily be made too rich for cabbages. They can be grown on al- most any soil that is adapted to corn if an abundance of well-rotted manure from the compost is applied to the land. That mainly from the hog-pens produces the best results. Cabbages are not likely to do so well on ground that has been successfully cropped by them for three or four years, but succeeds best on fresh lands. Planted in a hog-yard, or where ma- nure long has lain, they yield enormous crops. The preparation of the ground where the best results are sought for, should not be inferior to that for the tobacco crop. It should include two plowings, with sufficient harrowing, to make the ground light and fine. If it is at all stiff and unyielding, fall plowing, like that re- commended in the cultivation of onions, will be found very beneficial. One point of consider- able importance is to have the last plowing immediately before the plants are set. Lrriga- tion also helps cabbages greatly. Raising and Sowing Seed—Burr’s directions | yield well-formed and good-sized cabbages. Some of the varie- 71 they grow, remove the side shoots and encour- age the main sprout, which will push up through the center of the head. Seed thus cultivated for a few successive years will pro- duce plants, ninety per cent. of which will In sowing seed for plants it is always well to sow plentifully in order to secure enough plants to meet every emergency. Having selected a suitable seed-bed, which should be fine and rich, prepare it well by plowing or digging and raking; sow the seed, about the middle or last of May, in drills about a foot apart, and roll. or spot the ground smoothly, so that there shall be no lumps for insects to secrete themselves under. The great care at this period will be to have a bed rich enough to give the plants a good start, to have moisture enough to in- duce an even and quick germination of the seed, and to ward off, if possible, the depreda- tions of the turnip fly. Transplanting. — Transplant into rows two feet apart, and eighteen inches apart in the row, give the plants a copious watering the evening previous to taking up, and water again after setting out. The whole secret of their after culture lies in deep hoeing. Hoe while the dew is on, if practicable. Emsects.—The first insect to whose rava- ges the cabbage is subject, is the fly or black bug, already mentioned. The following are named among the preventives: 1. ‘Steep the seed in a pint of warm water two hours, in which is infused an ounce of saltpeter; dry it, add currier’s oil enough to moisten the whole, after which mix with plaster enough to sepa- rate it, and fit it for sowing.” 2. “After pre- paring the ground in the usual way for the seed-bed, cover it up thickly with almost any kind of combustible rubbish ; burn this to ashes, and rake the ground and sow the seed, and no insects will attack it while the effects of the fire remain.” 3. “Sprinkle black pepper and flour on the drills, while the dew is on, as soon as the plants can be seen.” Keeping in Winter.—Owing to their great bulk and liability to decay, it is a somewhat difficult matter to preserve cabbages in large quantities in our common cellars. One way is to hang them up by the roots; another is to thin off the outside leaves and stumps and pack in barrels; still another is to set them cut in the cellar, as thick as they can be made to stand. Where for obtaining seed are to select perfect heads the object is to keep them in very large quan- and set them three feet apart each way. As tities over winter, pits are dug of the size neces- 72 FIELD sary to contain the required number, say a foot or eighteen inches deep; into these the cabba- ges ure packed as tightly as possible, in an up- riglit position, and over the whole enough litter is thrown to protect them from severe frost. A slight degree of frost does not injure them if In addi- tion to these methods, they are sometimes pitted they are kept at an even temperature. by digging a trench in a dry place, wide enough Into these trenches the cabbages are put, head down- ward, and covered with boards and earth or litter. to hold the heads, and about a foot deep. Carrot.—tThis is a valuable root, and, is considerably grown in the field. Five or six hundred bushels to the acre is an average crop ; a thousand bushels are often raised and twelve hundred sometimes. Twenty-five tons of car- rots can be raised on one acre of good land, which are equal to more than eight tons of The value of carrots as a field-crop depends upon the locality, and upon the success of the farmer in getting his seed to germinate. They are generally regarded as the most unre- liable crop a farmer can raise, but the failure is good hay. sometimes the result of improper culture. Their value for milch-cows is unsurpassed, producing a rich yellow cream; their weight per bushel is less ut the time of harvesting than that of mangels ; their shrinkage during the winter is greater, and they do not keep as long into warm weather as the mangels. They are valuable, however to keep the stock in spirits and health, and give them an appetite chief benefit of all root erops. Varieties —Those sown in the fall are chiefly the Long Red, the Long Orange, and the White Belgian. The latter attains huge’ dimensions, but is inferior in quality to the Orange. The best soil is a fertile sandy loam. Pulver- ize it thoroughly. Let it be plowed deep twice, or thrice, if itis not in sod. Then, about the twentieth of May, or the first of June, searify the surface, for the purpose of exterminating the weeds. the lumps be crushed with a roller. of the pure superphosphate of lime, spread in a shallow drill on each side of the rows of car- rots and raked in, will result profitably. Preparation and Sowing of Seed.—As the Seeds | area long time germinating, they should be sprouted before they are planted, and this: should be done early in May, in the latitude’ of New York. Soak the seed in warm water in fact this is the) If the surface is at all lumpy, let} If the} ground be ina poor state of fertility, a dressing CROPS: (enough for two or three pounds to the acre), for twenty hours. Then mingle it with fine sand in a vessel that will not hold water. Keep the sand and seeds moist and warm. As soon as the seeds exhibit signs of germination, let them be sown with a drill in soil just stirred with some implement. In four or five days, if the soil be moist and warm, the carrots will appear above ground ; and scarcely a weed will be seen among the young plants. Then the carrots will vegetate rapidly, and outgrow nox- ious weeds; and the labor of weeding the rows will be comparatively light. Unless the ground is rich and free from weeds, do not make the drills nearer than two feet, so that a horse-hoe may do almost the entire weeding, Culture.—W hen the young plants are two or three inches high, let the thinning be performed with a sharp, broad hoe, worked across the drills, leaying three or four plants in a cluster. During wet and lowrey weather, when laborers can not work advantageously at other employ- ment, let the smaller carrots be pulled up, leay- ing one in a place—about six or eight inches apart. Cultivators should be used which are adapted to the purpose, and if made so as to stretch over two or three or more rows at once, the labor would not only be cheapened, but the crop would be increased by the more frequent stirring of the soil, which would be sure to re- sult from this increased facility for doing it. Harvesting.—One method is to top them with a sharpened hoe, and then to run a subsoil | plow directly by the side of the row of roots, which lifts them out of the ground about two inches; then with potato diggers, go along and rake them out, so as to lift them from the ground and throw them inward, leaving room for the team to go through. This should be done in the forenoon of a dry, sunshiny day ; in the afternoon, pick them up, shake them, and cast them into the cellar. It is important that they go in as dry as possible. Castor Bean.—This bean, from which castor-oil is expressed, is a native of the West Indies, where it is found in great abundance. Its cultivation as a field-crop is extensively car- ‘ried on in our Middle and Western States, and is rapidly increasing. A single firm in St. | Louis has worked up 18,500 bushels of beans in four months, producing 17,750 gallons of oil— ‘sold at an average price of $50 a barrel. The bean thrives best in a rich sandy loam, and is planted and cultivated in hills like corn. It grows up irregularly to about the same height ‘ CORN—ITS VALUE AS FOOD—VARIETIES. and bears twenty-five bushels to the acre, the seeds being -inclosed in capsules. The oil is separated in two different ways: First, by boil- ing the bruised seeds inclosed in a bag, and skimming off the oil as it rises, and finally, pressing the bag. Second, by heating the seeds in iron trays slightly, so as not to char, pressing under a screw, collecting the oil, and boiling in water, taking care to separate all the white parts, and reserving the pure limpid oil only. ©Corm.—Cornds the generic name by which wheat, barley, oats, ete., are designated in Europe; but in America it is exclusively used This is a native of our soil, and was first found by Co- LUMBUS, extensively cultivated by the savages of Hispaniola, now Hayti. He carried the tall ear-bearing stalks back with him among the trophies of his conquest. It was cultivated by the whites in Virginia in 1607, and by the Massachnsetts Pilgrims soon after they took possession of the soil. It is still found grow- ing in a wild state beyond the borders of settle- ment, almost the whole length of the continent, from New Mexico to Buenos Ayres. In Par- aguay, each grain wears a separate husk of its own. Tts Value as Food—Corn ‘may justly be re garded as the national crop of the United States. Its money value is double that of hay, three-fold that of wheat, and five times that of cotton. In 1850, the amount of the corn crop was 591,630,564 bushels, and in 1860 it was $27,694,528 bushels—an increase of forty per cent., and twice as great as the aggregate bushels of wheat, rye, oats, barley, buckwheat, peas, and beans. Nearly all the beef, mutton, and pork in the North and West is fattened on Indian corn; and its abundance accounts for the relatively low price of provisions in this country, as contrasted with most other lands. While other substances contain more flesh-producing material, there is nothing which makes so much good, firm fat in so short a time. Under the head of Barley we have already given a table that includes an analysis of corn, exhibiting in it an abundance of fat-forming principles, with a liberal supply of the nutri- tious. ‘The comparative value of maize with other foods, has been the object of much re- search by experimenters; the results have been unanimously in favor of this grain before all others used for fattening animals.”* In it to refer to Indian corn, or maize. *U. S. Agricultural Rep., 1865. 73 there is a natural coalescence of elementary principles which constitute the basis of organic life, that exist in no other tion. vegetable produc- In ultimate composition, in nutritious properties, in digestibility, and in its adapta- tion to the various necessities of animal life in the different climates of the earth, corn real is capable of supplying more of the absolute wants of the adult animal system than any other single substance in nature. [For condi- tions of feeding of corn see the subsequent ar- ticle on Stock.] As an article of every day consumption by man and beast, Indian corn is without a rival, Slowly, but certainly, it is forcing its way into common use in England, Scotland, and Ire- land; and to this end its most economical pro- duction in this country is a matter of the high- est importance. Varieties.—There are, as already intimated, varieties of Indian corn. The best kind, in any given case, depends much on the soil, climate, and uses for Which it is designed. The yellow flint will probably remain the fa- vorite in the Northern and Middie States, while the white dent seems best to answer the 1e- quirements of the South and Southwest. The dent corn contains less oil than the flint; the flint less than the little pop-corn. The oil in the yellow corn is a most valuable part of its many composition, as it renders the grain harder and less liable to mold or spoil in very wet weather, or when stored in a corn-crib. The meal or flour made from yellow corn is also less liable to ferment and turn sour, and is more nutritious for fattening cattle, hogs, and poultry than the white, and nearly oilless va- rieties of Indian corn, though it is not so easily digestible by man. The improved King Phillip is an excellent variety; ripens in a hundred days from plant- ing, and will produce one-half more than the ordinary King Phillip. SonLon Ropryson says it will not hybridize when planted near other corn. There are several hybrids of the Dutton corn which will ripen in seventy-five to ninety days. Sweet corn will pay as a field crop fer feed, after the farmer has used and sold as much of it, in the green ear, as table and mar- ket require, Cattle and hogs are very fond of it, and it contains twice as much sugar as any other corn. The stalks and leaves are sweeter than those of ordinary varieties. Selecting Seed to Plant.—It is now well under- stood to be one of the essential points of re- spectable farming, to select from the matured alsu 74 crop, the largest, fairest, and earliest ripened ears, to keep as seed-corn for the ensuing year. In this practice experience abundantly justi- fies the suggestion of philosophy. In every State the most enterprising farmers have in- creased the yield and quality of their corn from five to fifty per cent., by the persevering exercise of a judicious selection, continued for a series of years. The improved variety of Baden corn was produced in just this way. The propagator thus tells his story in the New England Farm- er: “I have the pleasure to say that I have brought this corn to its high state of perfec- tion by carefully selecting the best seed in the field for a long course of years, having especial reference to those stalks which pro- duced the most ears. When the corn was husked, I made a re-selection, taking those ears only which appeared sound and fully ripe, haying a regard to the deepest and best color, as well as to the size of the cob. “In the Spring, before shelling the corn, L examined it again, and selected that which was the best in all respects. In shelling the corn, I omitted to take the irregular kernels at both the large and small ends. I have carefully followed this mode of selecting seed-corn for twenty-three years, and still continue to do so. When I first commenced it was with a common kind of corn, for there was no other in this part of the country, If any other person un- dertook the same experiment, I did not hear of it; I do not believe others exercised the patience to bring the experiment to the present state of perfection. At first I was troubled to find stalks with even two good ears on them; perhaps one good ear and one small one, or one good ear and a ‘nubbin,’ It was several years before I could discover much benefit re- sulting from my efforts; however, at length the quality and quantity began to improve, and the improvement was then yery rapid. “At present I do not pretend to lay up any seed, unless it comes from stalks which bear four, five, or six ears. I have seen stalks bear- ing eight ears. One of my neighbors informed me that he had a single stalk with ten perfect ears on it, and that he. intended to send the same to the museum at Baltimore. In addi- tion to the number of ears, and of course, the great increase in quantity unshelled, it may be mentioned that it yields much more than the common corn when shelled, Some gentlemen in whom I have full confidence, informed me that they shelled a barrel (ten bushels of ears) FIELD CROPS: of my kind of corn which measured a little more than six bushels. The common kind of corn will measure about five bushels only. I believe I raise double, or nearly so, to what T could with any other corn I have eyer seen. I generally plant the corn about the Ist of May, and place the hills five feet apart each way, and have two stalks in a hill.” Ex-Goyernor F. Hoxisroox, of Vermont, testifies to a similar result, after twelve years experience. The most careful farmers in the country are now uniform in their habit in this matter, They go through the field when the harvest is ripening—it is of prime importance to secure the seed-corn before the frost has touched it— and select those ears which ripen earliest and best, from stalks bearing two or more ears, well filled out over the end, seed set close together with no vacant places or openings between the rows, large kernels with small cobs. Leave two or three husks on each ear and braid them into strings of about two dozen each; hang” them up in the attic of your buildings, where they will keep dry and not be disturbed and have a free circulation of air around. When wanted for use, break or chop off both the tip and butt end of the ears, using the middle portion only for seed. Some experiments, however, do not seem to confirm the wisdom of the method indicated in the‘last sentence. In 1858 an experiment was instituted and carried through on the farm connected with the Reform School in West- borough, Massachusetts, in order to ascertain the facts in the case. An acre of land was planted with corn, in alternate rows, with seed taken from the butts, middle, and tips of the ears. The sound corn, soft corn, and stover of each were weighed, and in the report is a table of figures, showing the yield of each kind of seeds. Cuartes L. Furnt, Secretary of the Board of Agriculture, gives the result: ‘On compar- ing the crops grown on this field, and esti- mating the sound corn and the stover at $7 the ton, it will be found that the value of the crops produced by the rows planted with seed taken from the butts, was $12 53. The value of the produce of the rows seeded from the tips of the ears was $12 36—pretty near a draw game. The butts produced the most, the tips the next, and the middle the least money value; while the tips produced the most, the butts the next, and the middles the least sound corn; and the middles produced the most, the CORN—PREPARATION butts the next, and the tips the least soft corn. It is difficult to determine by this experiment from what part of the ear the seed should be tuken. Probably a mixture of the whole ear, being most natural, would be the best.” Another experimenter reports in the New York Independent that he tried an ear of corn to note the result. The butt, middle, and tip were planted in different rows, in the same garden, and subjected to the same treatment. “The large end produced fair sized ears, with irregular rows, Much as you will find them at that end of the ear. The middle kernels pro- duced large ears, mostly straight and fair. The tips brought fortlt nubbins only. There was not a fair ear on the two rows of corn, planted from the tip!” If the reader shall re- gard the mooted question to some extent un- decided, he can join the experimenters and “try it.” In times of severe early frost, the corn is apt to be fatally frost-bitten, so that the suc- ceeding crop will be a total or partial failure. There is no grain whose vegetative powers are so liable to injury as corn. A very slight freeze before the grain arrives at maturity in the field, a slight heating in the crib,*or ex- posure to alternations of wet and frost, most effectually destroy its germ. This is another reason why farmers should not rely upon their corn-crib for seed. “It is not sale,’ observes the Jowa Homestead, “to judge seed-corn alone by its external appear- ance. The only safe criterion to go by in se- lecting seed-corn, is the appearance of the chit. Every ear intended for seed should be broken near the center. When thus broken, if the skin of the chit is blistered or wrinkled, reject it. If the skin is smooth and clear, not dis- colored, not one kernel in a hundred will fail to grow.” i Preparation of the Seed-—Judge JessE Buru gives the following advice: “The enemies to be combated are the wire worm, brown grub, birds, and squirrels. Of these, the first and last two prey upon the kernels, and against these, tar offers a complete protection. I soak my seed twelve hours in hot water, in which is dissolved a few ounces of crude saltpeter. When the corn has been thus soaked, I take for each half bushel of seed half a pint of tar, put it into an iron vessel with water, and heat it till the tar is dissolved, when it is turned upon the seed in steep. The mass is well stirred, the corn taken out, and as much plaster added as will OF THE SEED—SOIL, 73 The ex- perience of years will warrant me in confi- dently recommending this as a protection for the seed.” The seed so prepared should be planted im- mediately after it has undergone this protective partially coats the seed with the tar. preparation, since too much drying might in- jure it. JAmeEs C, Taytor, of New Jersey, thus writes: ‘I thoroughly tested the benefit of soaking seed-corn in saltpeter this year on a small piece of ground, planted late. I had not enough soaked to plant all the piece. Where it was not soaked the blackbirds pulled out about one-third; where it was soaked, they seldom touched a hill. But what was most peculiar, there happened to be one row planted with dry corn between two rows that were soaked; of the dry, they took several hills clean, and altogether, about one-third of. the row; while they did not take more than one hill of the two saltpeter rows. The Practical Farmer says that a table-spoon- ful of coarse salt dropped on each hill of corn, soon after planting, is far better to keep off cut worms than soaking the corn in gas tar. The salt is carried down by the rains, and acts as a fertilizer, besides destroying the worm. An Indianian says that hanging seed-corn in a smoke-house, and leaving it there, while the meat is being smoked, will keep moles and field-mice from eating it after it is planted. Some agricultural chemists who have ex- perimented, insist that farmers would derive great benefit from fertilizing their seed-corn, by soaking in some solution that will forward germination. Dr, CHAMBERLAIN, of Chicago, set four boxes in his office for experiment, and in these he planted, at the same hour, kernels of corn differently prepared; he examined them afterward with the following result: In the first, the seeds that had not been soaked had not germinated; in the second, the seeds soaked in warm water had just begun to ger- minate; in the third, the seeds soaked in a solution of chloride of lime, showed blades just breaking through the soil; in the fourth, seeds soaked in a solution of chloride of lime and copperas, had sent green blades three inches above the ground. If a month, or even a week can thus be saved, it will prove a most valuable discovery. The solution tends to pro- tect the seeds from birds and worms, and enough of it ean be bought for a dollar to soak the seed-corn of a hundred acres. Soil.—The best soils for a growth of corn are adhere to the grain. This impregnates and|such as contain a deep, rich, warm, mellow, e 76 and_porous ground, fully permeable to the air, | too deep. heat, and moisture. In such soils the growing corn can extend its roots freely both in depth and sideways, as corn must do to yield large and finé crops; and as our river bottoms and sandy and loamy grounds possess these proper- ties in the highest degree, they are everywhere regarded as our best corn soils. The lowlands or bottoms usually produce the largest stalks and ears, and the uplands or higher grounds have the heaviest grains. Corn planted upon stiff clays and hard gravelly grounds is very likely to prove poor or a total failure, because such soils are so tough and compact as to ex- clude the air, heat, and moisture, and hence are destitute of the necessary porousness and warmth, Corn is, indeed, a very hardy plant, and will grow almost anywhere, but it will yield the most profitable crops on soils that are deep, rich, mellow, and warm. ‘The ground can scarcely be too rich for corn, for it is avery A clover lay, or thick grassy mold, furnishes an excellent base. Preparation of Soil—If the ground intended for a crop of corn is a clover or grass lay, it is generally plowed but once, early in the Spring, or just before planting time, if the soil is natu- rally a loose and mellow one; but if the soil is hard and tough, it is customary to plow the ground twice, once in the Summer or full, or Winter, if possible, and just deep enough to cover the sod properly, say from three to five inches deep, as that depth will hasten the de- gross feeder. composition of the clover or grass more rapidly than deeper plowing, and then eross-plow the whole again in the ensuing Spring as deeply as desired. Late fall or Winter plowing of grass and clover grounds for corn has many advan- tages to recommend it; it exposes the cut worm, heart worm, and wire worm, in their embryo state, to the action of the frosts, and thus destroys them; the grass or clover then plowed down becomes rotten so much earlier*than it would under Spring plowing, that it enriches the soil and makes it mellow, and so more easily tilla- ble in the ensuing Spring, while at the same time it greatly increases its moisture and pro- ductive power, and so secures a good crop of corn in times of severe Summer drought. “Where there is a sod,” says Judge Burr, “the rows should be superficially marked, and the seed planted upon the surface. Where the field is flat, or the subsoil retentive 6f moisture, the land should be laid in ridges, that the excess of water which falls may pass off in the fur- rows.” Corn ground can scarcely be plowed FIELD CROPS: The plant sometimes shoots into the earth to the depth of three feet; the root sends its feeding branches abroad as the stalk does its leaves. Deep plowing is on the increase; farm- ers are discovering that where there has been deep plowing, crops will stand the drought, and that they can cultivate more land by work- ing vertically, without investing in any more acres. Planting.—The time of planting depends on location and seasons. The ground should be sufficiently warmed by vernal heat to cause a speedy germination. Natural vegetation af- fords the best guide. Judge Burt used to say, corn should be plante@ “when the apple is bursting its blossom buds.” This, in the South- ern States, is from the first of February to the first of May; and in the Middle and Western States, from the middle of April to the first of June. Poor, cold soil should be planted earliest, and have careful cultivation. Deep warm soils ought not to be planted in our Western States till some time in May. The number of grains should be about five to the hill, viz: ‘*One for the blackbird, one for the crow One for the cut worm, and two to grow.” Three grains are enough to grow if the hills are three or four feet apart, and two if nearer. The old Indian fashion of hilling corn is rap- idly passing away, to be retained only on wet land, and even there, draining should be sub- stituted for it. Constructing large conical hills on land which is light and dry, must inevitably tend to increase the effects of drought, inasmuch as it exposes more surface to the atmosphere, and consequently increases aerification at times when all the moisture contained in the soil is required for the support and sustenance of the plants. When rain falls, the conical hill con- ducts the water from the roots to the center of space between the rows and hills, very little of the fluid being retained about the plants, or within range of the small roots, by which the pabulwn is taken up by the growing plants, and without which they would immediately lan- guisb and deeay. On light soils, hilling is al- ways disadvantageous to thecrop. Every fresh stratum of earth placed over the roots causes a protrusion of a new set of laterals, to the detri- ment of those previously formed. — This ex- hausts the energy of the plant, without increas- ing, in any degree, its powers of appropriating food from the surrounding soil. Witiram H. Wuire, of South Windsor, Connecticut, an excellent authority in such CORN—PLANTING—CULTIVATION. matters, favors rectangular or quincuux plant- ing, as it will admit of cross cultivation, and sets both the rows and hills three and a half feet apart. Strong, rich, soils, like the deep mold of the West, will bear much thicker planting than weak soils, and dense culture has an additional advantage of shading the ground and retarding the growth of weeds. But too close on any soil will result in a crop of fodder instead of corn.. Many of our best farmers have been con- yinced of the superiority of planting corn in drills three feet apart, the seeds being covered twelve to twenty inches apart, one or two grains ina place. JOHN JOHNSTON says that this results, in a majority of cases, in an in- crease of twenty-five per cent. J. W. CLARKE, of Green Lake county, Wisconsin, expresses his opinion in the Prairie Farmer, that separate distribution of theseed in planting is as really essential to growing large crops of corn as in growing large cabbages, or fine, thrifty trees, and for the same reason, namely—that of preventing a double or quadruple demand forthe same space to grow in, and the same elements of growth by two to four plants bunched together, and each plant requiring the same identical space and feed. The elements of growth being distributed all through the surface soil, the plants should stand where their feed is, instead of growing their passage to it; or, in other words, the dis- tribution of the plants should be such that they can absorb nutrition from the whole surface mold, making the entire soil of the ground con- tribute to the growth of the crop, as far as com- patible with thorough and frequent cultivation. The depth at which corn should be planted necessarily varies from one to six inches, ac- cording to the nature of the soil, for it ought on every soil to be planted just deep enough, what- ever that depth may he, to keep the seed moist and insure its germination and prevent the growing plant from shriveling or drying up. “A deep covering of the seed will prevent it from rotting if planted early and the ground should continue wet and cold, while in a very dry season the seed will sprout and grow the better for it, as it will have more moisture than if planted shallow. The cut worm, also, in such cases will not go deep enough into the soil to reach and destroy the heart of the seed, and hence all the injury it can do above the seed will not be so serious asif it reached the heart or bud itself.””* * Essay of J. M. WoLringer, of Pennsylvania, in U.S. Agricultural Report for 1866, he Several experiments have been made in order to ascertain the proper depth at which to plant corn, and by one of them it was discovered that when it was planted three inches deep, it came up and grew well until it was three or four inches high, and. then stopped for a fort- night, while the corn in the same field which was planted at a less depth, grew rapidly. On examination it was found that a joint had been formed about one inch and a half above the kernel, and that the roots had sprouted out from that joint, leaving all below to perish. While the process of changing roots was going on, the plants ceased to grow above ground, but in about a fortnight recovered their vigor, and they were about that length of time later in maturing the grain than the seeds which were planted shallower. A series of careful experiments by one man showed that corn planted at the following depth came up as described: No. “ ‘ ue “ inch came up in wi“ Siam nee wo 8 “ re ote “ to wer 8 days. ge * “ a “ “ “6 “a “ “ “ “c ‘ec “ “ “ ry “ a “ ‘ec “ “ “ Ty “ us “ “ rs Nos. 8, 9, and 11 were dug up after twenty- two days, when it was found that No. 8 had an inch more to grow to reach the surface. Nos. 9 and 11 were three inches beneath the surface. No. 10 came up in seventeenand a half days, but withered after six days’ growth. The more shallow the seed was covered, the more rapidly the sprout made its appearance, and the stronger was the stalk. Farmers should bear this in mind lest they should be induced to plant their corn too deep in the soil. A great number of experiments should be made for the purpose of testing the relative merits of deep and shallow planting. \ Planting machines have been recently in- vented for putting in this grain, which greatly diminish the labor, while they perform the operation more perfectly. A light horse, or mule, and boy can furrow and drop the seed, cover and roll, from eight to twelve acres per day ; and with entire uniformity as to distance, depth of covering, and quantity of seed in each hill. , Cultivation —The culture of the growing corn plants varies also according to the soil and the season, as well as the attentive skill and imple- ments used by the grower. Some use nothing but the hoe, especially in small patches, and hoe 78 FIELD it from two to four times, as weeds or drought require. Others use nothing but the plow, and plow the ground around their corn plants from two to five times, and do it crosswise, or both ways, if the crop admits of it, as it should. Others, again, use nothing but the cultivator, and cultivate it from two to five times, and also both ways. Some, after plowing or cultivating the crop, use the hoe in dressing it up nicely. The method in the line of true economy, is to stir the soil with the plow, and cultivator, or horse hoe, so thoroughly and so frequently, that the hand hoe will not be required. There is believed to be a difference in expense of two hundred per cent. in favor of machine culture. Never heap up the soil around the plants, ex- cept in very heavy or very wet soils Flat culture is the true practice. Stir the ground often in dry weather; it is almost asserviceable as irrigation. Never stir it when it is wet. The first stirring of the soil after the corn is fairly above ground, should be deep, and every additional stirring shallower and shallower, as the plants increase in size and extend their roots. Don’t interfere with the roots, but keep the earth mellow about them, and weeds from drawing their nourishment. Some farmers plant pumpkins, or field- squashes in every third, fourth, or fifth row of corn, and as far apartin the row. This vegetable feeds on elements somewhat different from those required by corn, so that the corn is not sup; posed to be injured by it, but rather benefited in dry seasons. Manure for Corn—We have treated this matter indirectly under the topie ‘ Manures,” but will here revert to it briefly. In the West, farmers generally regard their lands strong enough without artificial fertilization; but they will soon see the necessity of imitating their brethren of the East. The best way, perhaps, of manuring corn ground is to cover it with a good coating of barn-yard manure, and plow it down, and top-dress it with another coat of a different kind, and harrow it well before plant- | ing. It is a rapid feeder and grower, and strong manuring and thorough tillage are in- dispensable to an extra yield of superior corn. Manuring in the hill, either when the grain is planted or when the blade is a few inches high, _ takes less manure and does nearly, if not quite, us Well for the crop as a broadcast, top-dressing manure scattered all over the ground. Expe- rience has shown that a small quantity of ma- nure put into each hill with the seed is of great | CROPS: up rapidly and strong, and get an early start; and after it is about a foot high it will, if planted on a grass clover lea, push its stalks ahead with great vigor, if the weeds and grass are kept down. The following substances are generally used as top-dressings and hill manuring for corn crops, to wil:* 1. Stableand Barn-yard Dung—Stable and barn-yard manure, applied at the rate of a whole or half shovelful to each hill of corn. 2. Hog Dung.—The same quantity of pure or unmixed hog dung, applied in the Same man- ner. Hog dungis one of the very best manures for corn. Cornfields hogged down, or allowed when ripe, to be overrun with hogs, that eat the corn or nubbins, not only fatten the hogs, but are rendered rich for a wheat crop. This is a common practice among the farmers of our Western States, but it is a slovenly and wasteful way of manuring land. 3. Lime.—Finely air-slaked lime, sown broad- cast over the ground before the corn is planted, at the rate of from twenty to one hundred bushels per acre. 4. Gypsum.—Ground gypsum, or plaster, strewn broadcast, at the rate of froma half to two bushels to the acre, or a spoonful or small handful of plaster applied to each hill of corn as soon as the plants appear above ground, The mere stirring of the soil alone renders the ground porous or sponge-like; but plastering is a powerful auxiliary in securing the neces- sary degree of moisture, because it attracts moisture from the atmosphere and imparts it tothe soil. Plaster will sometimes nearly double the product of corn on sandy lands, gravelly |knolls, and slaty hillsides, but seems to do but little good to corn-growing on clay or heayy and hard soils. 5. Salt.—Salt sown broadcast, at the: rate of \Srorn one and a half to four or five bushels to the acre, and harrowed in before the corn is | planted. , 6. Wood Ashes.—Wood ashes applied to sandy soils are a valuable manure, and on some soils leached ashes are as good as unleached. Land too poor to grow eight bushels of corn per acre has been made to produce forty-five bushels per acre by the use of wood ashes alone, for they stimulate its growth like plaster. Wood ashes, however, are more valuable on a sandy soil than any other, as they enable the sand to retain its moisture—a matter of great import- ance—hence such ashes as are used to very benefit, as it makes the corn germinate and grow, *kssay of JM. Wourincer. EXPERIMENTS IN great advantage on the sandy lands of Long Island, near the city of New York, and also in the State of New Jersey. 7. Stone Coal Ashes.—Stone coal ashes possess the same general nature that wood ashes do, though in an inferior degree, and hence are a good manure for corn crops. 8. Bone Dust.—Bone dust should be well mixed with fine earth, and sown broadcast and harrowed in at the rate of from ten to twenty bushels to the acre, before the corn is planted. 9. Guano—Guano mixed with from three to five times its own weight or bulk of fine earth and sown broadeast, at the rate of from two hundred to four hundred pounds of guano per acre, and well plowed or harrowed into the soil before the corn is planted, or put into the hills with the seed-corn, at the rate of from two to three table-spoonfuls of this guano and earth mixture to each hill of corn. The pure guano alone might prove too hot for the corn-seed, and so should be used very cautiously. 10. Cotton Seed—Cotton seed sown broadcast, at the rate of from fifty to one hundred bushels per acre, before the corn is planted, or put into the hills with the seed-corn, at the rate of a handful to each hill of corn. But the cotton seed must be well rotted or decomposed, or it will overheat and greatly injure, if not destroy the seed-corn. 11. Compost Manure-—Compost manures, com- posed of fine, rich earth, and wood ashes, stone coal ashes, lime, plaster, salt, human excrement, hen, and dove dung, and the like, must be well intermixed and sown broadcast, or applied at the rate of a small handful of the compost to each hill of corn. Wood ashes and plaster, in equal parts, well mixed, and applied at the rate of from two to six bushels to the acre, broad- east, or a gill or small handful of the mixture put into the ground with the seed-corn, or to each hill of corn after the plants are up, is a valuable manure; also, wood ashes, plaster, and lime, mixed in equal parts, and sprinkled over the corn hills as soon as the plants are above the ground. Some prefer.a mixture consisting of three parts of unleached ashes, two parts of slaked lime, and one part of the ground plas- ter well mixed, and applied at the rate of a large handful of the mixture to each hill of corn. Wood ashes, plaster, lime, and salt, mixed together in equal parts, and put under the seed-corn at the time of planting, at the rate of a handful of the mixture to each hill, will kill or drive away the cut and grub worm, attract carbonic acid gas from the air, retain CORN PLANTING. 79 moisture, and stimulate and nourish the corn plants, and increase the yield one-third. When wood ashes alone are used, it is customary to apply a small handful of it, either leached or unleached, to each hill of corn ; and that would, perhaps, be the proper quantity of plaster, or of lime, when they are used alone, while the one-half of that quantity of salt would be suffi- cient. Some soils will require a good deal more of these, as well as of all the other ma- nures above mentioned, and hence it is impos- sible to lay down any fixed rules ‘upon the subject. Every corn planter must determine the proper qualities of each for himself, as he best can from his own experience and that of his neighbors. 12. Red ‘Clover and Grasses—The cheapest, most easily attainable, and best of all manures for a corn crop, is a dense mass of red clover, either in its green or in its ripened and dried state, plowed down to the depth of three or four inches only, just deep enough to prevent wastage, and yét near enough to the surface of the ground to be acted on by the sun’s heat and the air, and also in its decay to afford certain, active, and constant nourishment to the young and expanding roots of the corn growing overits remains. leys, are very generally freer from disease and insects, and better in yield and quality, than crops grown on or with animal manures. The New York Agricultural Society offered a prize to test the Value of various manures as applied to corn. The prize was taken by Jos. Harris, editor of the Genesee Farmer. The soil on which the experiments were made, is a light sandy loam. It has been under cultiva- tion for upward of twenty years, and, so far as could be ascertained, had never been manured. It had been somewhat impoverished by the growth of cereal crops, and it was thought that for this reason, and on account of its light tex- ture and active character, which would cause the manures to act immediately, it was well adapted to the purpose of showing the effect of different manurial substances on the corn crop. The land was a clover sod, two years old, pas- tured the previous Summer. It was plowed early in the Spring, and harrowed till in excel- lent condition. The corn was planted May 23, in hills three and one-half feet apart each way. . Each experiment was made on the one-tenth of an acre, and consisted of four rows, with one row between each plot, without any manure. The manures were applied in the hill immedi- ately before the seed was planted. With the Corn and wheat grown over clover 80 FIELD superphosphate of lime, and with plaster (gyp- sum, or sulphate of lime), the seed was placed directly on the top of the manure. The ashes were dropped in a hill and covered with soil, upon which the seed was planted, that it should not come in contact with the ashes. Guano and sulphate of aummonia were treated in the same way. On the plots where ashes and guano, or ashes and sulphate of ammonia were both used, the ashes were first put in the hill and covered with soil, and the guano or sulphate of ammo- nia placed above, and also covered with soil, before the seed was planted, The ashes and su- perphosphate of lime were treated in the same CROPS: way. It is well known that unleached ashes, mixed either with guano, sulphate of ammonia, or superphosphate of lime, mutually decompose each other, setting free the ammonia of the guano and sulphate of ammonia, and convert- ing the soluble phosphate of the superphos- phate of lime into the insoluble form in which it existed before treatment with sulphurie acid. All the plots were planted on the same day, and the manures weighed and applied under Mr. Harrts’s immediate supervision. Every- thing was done that seemed necessary to secure accuracy. The following table gives the result of the six experiments : DrscriIpTions OF MANURE AND QUANTITIES APPLIE “‘sqo]d oq] jo roquinyn 10) pounds pl 3 | 400 ponnds unleac 150 pounds sulphate of ammonia,... 300 pounds superphosphate of lime, gypsum, or sulphate uf sed wood ashes and 100 pounds o lime (mixed). 400 pounds unleached wood ash 150 pounds sulphate of ammon ashes (sown separately), “Gincertain) and 400 pounds unleached wood 10 | 400 pounds unleached wood ashes,. 11 | 100 pounds plister, 400 pounds unleached wood ask superphosphate of lime, and 200 pounds Peruvian 12 | 75 pounds sulphate of ammonia,. 13 | 200 pounds Peruy 4 | 400 pounds unleached Peruvian giano, 4 5 6 | 150 pounds sulphate of ammonia and 300 pounds superphosphate of 7 8 and 400 pounds un 9 | 300 ponnils supe rphosphate ot lime, 150 ‘pounds “sulphate of ammonia, I c col ° =e on je 3 = 2. 4m | ES z = 22) a= a b= = 5 =n | co 3 c= =e me 5 ° > > a5 ge | a> | 36 e2| 38 D PER ACRE. 5 tal eezie ie eae it re =o Salles : ee see | teat & [Ore HBOS z Else ig|is a ie Ewin Ieee 0 7 BY \ussninase| easuaee 70 8 78 10 1 plaster (mixe ya 68 10 73 8 3 90 15 105 30 8 70 8 78 10 85 5 90 25s Vesweseneel| need eevee 60 12 72 prrcen| | 5 hed wood crbeetendetice 87 10 97 27 3 30 100 5 108 40 1 41 60 8 6S |asecesns, 1 1 s, 300 pounds guano .. 95 10 105 35 3 38 73 10 88 18 3 21 838 13 101 2: 6 34 nd 500 pounds uaetsusvesveceverestecsece{ | DLE 4 125 51 fi 58 Harvesting.—There are five methods, each of which is considerably in yogue, for har- vesting corn; 1. The corn is cut at the sur- face of the ground when the grain has become glazed or hard upon the outside, put imme- diately into stooks, and, when sufficiently dried, the corn and stalks are separated, and both secured. 2. The tops are taken off when the corn has become glazed, and the grain per- mitted to remain till October or November not settle the question of economy in its favor. The fourth mode is slovenly, but some large farmers can not avail themselves of a better way. The second mode is much practiced, but careful experiments show that it is injurious to the proper ripening of the grain, and yields less corn, though fresher fodder. The first plan is generally deemed the best. It not only saves more of the succulent stalks for fodder, but both science and. experiment upon the butts. 3. Both corn and stalks are left standing till the grain has fully ripened, and the later become dry, when both are se- cured. 4. The corn is husked on the stalk and removed, while the entire stalk is left to be plowed under on the field. 5. Neither corn nor stalk is saved, but cattle are turned in for an hour in the morning and another at night, to harvest as they require. 4 This last mode is confined to the large stock farms of the West, but even the apparent ne- cessity, which the immense crops impose, does teach that the maturing ear gathers something like one-fifth of its sustenance from the stalk alter cutting up by the roots. Science instructs us that the nourishing sap, springing upward from the earth, passes through the stem and into the leaf where it is modified by an element which it drinks from the air, and is fitted to serve as the proper food of the grain. But this digestive process goes on above the ear, and, if the stalk be removed, the seed loses the nour- ishment by which it might become perfect. his theory of ripening has been abundantly 7 CORN—HARVESTING, ETC. tested and verified by many farmers in many States. Judge Burt, about the 5th of Septem- ber, selected four rows, in different parts of his corn-field, and topped every other hill in each row. He gives the result, as follows: To recapitulate, row No. 2, on which the ex- periment was commenced, taken by itself, is as follows, viz. + 45 hills, on which the stalks had not been cut, gave 42 lbs. 8 oz. dry shelled corn, equal to, per acre coe 60 bush. 8 lbs. 46 hills, from which the stalks had beeu cut, gave 33 lbs. 7 oz. dry shelled corn, equal TO, PEL ACTEL.ccr.eceseeee :.. AT 1g ‘ Loss by cutting the stalks, per acre......... 46 ‘* The four rows, taken together, stand as fol- lows: Nos. land 4, on which no stalks were cut, gave an average of, per acre Nos. 2 and 3, from which half the stalks 60 bush. 8 Ibs. were cut, gave an average of, per acre...,... GE ee 3S, Se Loss by cutting one half the stalks, per BROWNE ered faeces nacas ceca cusccnoncdncsvorocancacsne 5 3836 ** out to, per acre. Any farmer who doubts that this would be the ayerage result of a similar experiment, had better try it for himself. The stalks, blades, and tops of corn, if well secured, are an excellent fodder for neat cattle. If cut, or cut and steamed, so that they can be readily masticated, they are superior to hay. Besides, their fertilizing properties as a manure are greatly augmented by being fed out in the cattle-yard and imbibing the urine and liquids which always there abound, and which are lost to the farm, in ordinary yards, without an abundance of dry litter to take them up. There is another argument, by no means despisable, which commends plan No. 1—it gives an opportunity for a continuation and re- vival of the memorial corn-husking frolics in shadowy farms on moonlight Autumn nights, when lanterns swing from beam and ladder to illuminate the assembled neighborhood ; when song and friendly jest go round, and when “red ears” are followed by red cheeks, and ap- ples and pumpkin pies and cider diminish as the golden pyramid increases. Americans have fewer holidays and festive gatherings than any other people; there is too little fun and music in our grim struggle of money-get- ting; let us welcome any pretext for tempering our a days with innocent relaxation. Large Crops of Corn.—There is a tradition that somebody, sometime, somewhere, raised two hundred ‘and forty bushels of corn to the acre—but we are not acquainted with that suc- cessful man. It seems to be duly certified, 6 81 however, that Dr. J. W. PARKER, of Columbia, S. C., raised two hundred bushels and twelve quarts of shelled corn on an acre, in 1857. He soaked the seed for twelve hours in a strong solution of niter, and planted in drills, ten inches inthe row. The ground was then rolled and left perfectly level. The field had been twice plowed and twice manured with compost manure, besides an application of three eart- loads of air-slacked lime and two sacks of sat to the acre, and guano and plaster in the fur- rows. It was also irrigated. It would have been very ungrateful soil, if it had produced less than two hundred bushels to the acre! A hundred and fifty bushels to the acre is occa- sionally raised, and with good culture a hun- dred may be often reached. Every field in America ought to average eighty bushels—the actual average was only twenty-eight bushels in 1867. It is produced cheaper per bushel, and more bushels per acre now than at any for- mer period in our history, by those farmers who keep pace with the increase of agricultu- ral knowledge in the United States. Corn-Cribs—Every corn-crib should haye a water-shedding of some sort; it is a useless and foolish waste to leave any grain exposed. Eyen if corn is at a low price it makes a ma- terial difference whether it sells for No. 1, or No. 2 and rejected. The cribs should not be more than three or four feet wide at bottom and six at top, elevated from the ground, and open all round to a free circulation of air. This will be more definitely treated elsewhere. Measuring in Bulk.—A correspondent of the Prairie Farmer gives a rule for ascertaining the number of bushels of shelled corn in a erib of ears, by multiplying the cubic feet in the pile by .45 (forty-five hundreths), “ Ex- ample: In a crib or bin of corn in the ear, measuring ten feet in length, eight feet high, and seven feet wide, there will be two hundred and fifty-two bushels of shelled corn. Thus— 10*8X7X.45=252. This rule agrees with weighing corn—seventy pounds to the bushel in the ear. But the rule applies only to local- ities where three heap half-bushels of ears make a bushel of shelled corn.” Corn shrinks in weight and bulk, between harvest and the suc- ceeding Spring, ten to twenty per cent., shelled corn less than that on the cob. Crows.—Tarring and otherwise coating the seed has already been referredto, (Gas tar can not safely be substituted.) Encircling the field with twine, tied high on poles, is thought to make crows shy of entering the charmed pre- 82 cinets, but it is not by any means infallible. Some are shrewd enough to detect the harmless character of the trap. Many farmers find more certain relief in hanging one or more dead crows where the carcasses can be inspected by reconnoitering brethren. Others tie young crows on twine stretched across the field; their obvious calamity causes the parental birds to The old-fashioned way of frightening crows and blackbirds the erection of effigies, keep at a distance. was known as scare-crows, of which the accom- panying engraving is e— a fairreminder. Don’t kill birds of any sort, except forgame. They are the farmers best friends in the long run, for the destruction of pestilent vermin is their chief life-work, while a bite at corn-fields and cherry-trees is only to procure, occasionally, a more plentiful lunch. A happy illustration of the folly of slaying the birds is given by LonGFELLOow in his “ Birds of Killingworth,” Cotton.—A soft downy substance, resem- bling fine wool} growing in the capsules or pods of the Gossypium, or cotton-plant. This plant is indigenous to the tropical belt all around the earth, but it grows best in rich allu- vial bottom lands, or in fine moist sandy loams, containing at least eighty per cent. of sand. History —Hrrovorus wrote, four hundred years before Cunist: “There is a plant in India which produces wool, finer and better than that of sheep, and the natives make their The cloth of his time was call- ed “fleeces from trees.” ALEXANDER soon brought it into Persia, Arabia, and Egypt. In the first century, A. D., the cloth was embel- lished in a rude fashion, with a fantastic print of flowers. CoLumsus found cotton in Hayti, and Cortez found cotton cloth of fine and firm texture in use by the Aztecs. The Indians of the United States seem to have known nothing of its value. It was introduced into Georgia from Barbadoes, about the middle of the sev- euteenth century, but it was not much grown fer a hundred years, As early as 1400, the manufacture of cotton into cloth found its way into Europe, but it struggled with persecution for two hundred yeurs before it reached France and England. The first was woven with wool on a hand-loom, clothes of it.” FIELD CROPS: slowly and tediously. In 1730, Mr. Wyarr first spun yarn cotton by machinery. In 1741, raw cotton imports into England amounted to 1,900,000 pounds. In 1742, at Birmingham, England, the first cotton spinning-mill was built; its motive power was mules or horses. In 1760, $1,000,000 was the entire value of manufactured cotton goods in England. In 1761, ARKWRIGHT (afterward knighted) ob- tained the first patent for his spinning-frame. In 1767, the spinning-jenny was invented by James HArGRAVE, which spun eight threads instead of one. Raw cotton imports were about 3,000,000 pounds. , In 1785, Rev. Mr. CARTWRIGHT invented the power-loom. The same year, WArtT’s steam engines were first introduced as the mo- tive power in driving machinery in cotton manulactories. The following year, chlorine was first used for bleaching. In 1789, short stuple cotton began to be eultivated in the South, and Sea-Island cotton was first intro- duced into England. In 1790, at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, Mr. SLATER erected a cotton- mill—the first America. In 1792, Enxr Wuitney, of New Haven, Connecticut, then residing in Georgia, invented his first cotton- gin. Before that time, the seed was separated from the ball chiefly by hand—a very expen- sive process. By WurtNey’s gin, filly pounds of cotton could be cleaned in a day, which was fifty times as much as could be done by hand. With the best improved gins now in use, one thousand five hundred pounds can be cleaned in a day, equivalent to the labor of a regi- ment of men! It was this machine that gave the great stimulus to cotton culture in America, In 1805, the first power-loom was introduced into the United States, at Waltham, Massachu- setts, and twenty years later the first cotton factory was erected at Lowell. The recent increase in the cotton product of the world has been astonishing. Little was export- in ed or produced in the United States prior to 1795. _ It is said that in 1784, an American vessel havy-_ ing seventy-one bags of cotton on board, was seized at Liverpool, on the plea that so large an amount of cotton could not have been produced in the United States. obtained fifteen small bales from five acres, if was not thought strange that he exclaimed, “Well, well, I have done with cotton; here is enough to make stockings for all the people of America.” In 1791, the export was the mea- ger item of 189,316 pounds, or less than 5,000 bales; in 1800 it had reached 17,789,803 pounds; al And when an old planter ~ COTTON—CULTIVATION OF SEA-ISLAND. in 1860, 1,767,086,338 pounds, or 3,812,345 bales, and this was searcely more than half of the entire product. The crop of the United States has been equivalent to seven-eighths of the production of the world; and the manu- factories of the United States have attained a consumption of nearly one-filth, or twenty per cent. of this crop. Climate-—The cotton plant is a child of the sun, flourishing under ardent skies, growing with superior luxuriance in dry seasons, and withering under the influence of a soaking sub- soil and long-continued storms. In latitude thirty to thirty-two degrees in this country, upon the proper soils, it luxuriates in its great- est vigor. It delights not in an arid, brazen sky, but in an unobscured sun by day and co- pious dews at night—abundant moisture with continuous sunlight in its season. It may now be considered a settled question, that cotton must command very high prices to average a paying crop north of the thirty-sixth par- allel. In other words, the line drawn through Nashville, Tennessee, and Raleigh, North Car- olina, divides the country into two sections. In the northern portion cotton is profitable only when it commands war prices, and south of this line its growth will be lucrative until it falls below ten cents a pound; but this line is not the northern limit of the cotton belt proper. In the Valley of the Mississippi one must go below Memphis to find an entirely suitable climate, and on the Atlantic sea-board he must go south of Cape Hatteras. The western limit of the cotton-fields of the United States is a line passing north and south through San An- tonio, in Texas. When the fiber sells at forty cents to one dollar per pound, there is an inducement to encounter greater climatic risks, and «accept smaller and more uncertain in ig) therefore, planted at the present time, or was recently, to a considerable extent in more northern latitudes, in soils deemed most suit- able—in Kentucky, in Missouri, somewhat largely in Kansas, in southern Illinois and Indiana, on the eastern shore of Maryland, and in southern Delaware. There is a possi- bility of ripening, under fayorable circum- stances, up to forty degrees north latitude, with success sufficient to tempt experiment when the fiber approaches its highest commer- cial figure. Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana raises more than 500 pounds of unginued cotton to the acre; Mississippi, 650; Arkansas, 700, returns. 83 and Texas 750. The unginned cotton weighs four times as much as the clean staple. Cultivation of Sea-Island Cotton.—The follow- ing is from the American Agriculturist: “Preparing the Land for the Crop.—Karly in February, any hands not engaged in preparing the previous crop for market are employed in cleaning up the rested fields, and either in burning off the fennel weeds and grass of the previous year, or in listing them in at five leet apart, to serve as the base of the future ridges or bed. There is much difference of opinion upon the subject of burning or listing in; for myself, I am inclined to take the first opinion, believing that the light dressing of ashes the more benefi- cial to the soil than the decay of the vegetable field receives from burning off is matter, and renders it less liable to produce what is a growing evil, the rust, a species of blight much resembling the rust or blight upon wheat, and which takes place about the same period, just as the plant is putting out and pre- paring to ripen its fruit. ; “Ridging.—The land being listed in short lines across the entire field, at five feet apart, the operation of ridging is commenced about the first of March. The ridges ocenpy the entire surface; that is, the foot of one ridge commencing where the other ridge ends, and rising about eight inches above the natural level of the land, thus presenting a surface almost as smooth, and almost as deeply worked as a garden-bed. This ridging is carried on but a few days ahead of the planting. The ridge, if the operation has been carefully done, is from two to two and a half feet broad at the top; it is then trenched on the upper surface with the hoe, six inches wide, and from three to six inches deep, depending upon the period of planting. “Planting—In the beginning, if the seed is covered more than two inches, the soil will not feel the influence of the sun, and the seed will not vegetate later; that is, in April, up to the first of May, you must give from three to four inches of covering to preserve the moisture, or there, too, you fail from an opposite cause, the wind and burning influence of the sun drying the soil too much for vegetation. countries, after sowing the seed the roller is applied; but in cotton planting, in our ridge husbandry, the foot, in covering the seed and pressing down the earth, well supplies its place. “Quantity of Seed per Acre.—A bushel of seed is generally sown to the acre; I believe half a bushel is better, for where the eyil comes, In mosi £4 FIELD whether the worm, or wind, or drought, or wet, there is no security in the many; but, on the contrary, Where they come up thin, they soon grow out of the way of injury from any enemy. “ After Culture—The cultivation of Sea- Island cotton is carried on by the hand hoe, ‘and the quantity always limited to four acres iothelaborer. The operation of weeding com- mences as soon as we finish planting, because, in our flat and sandy soils, the grass-seed springs with the first growth of the cotton, and by the time we finish planting, say the first of May, what we planted in March requires the hoe. The land is kept in the operation of hoeing and weeding, as far as may be, at its original level, the beds neither increased nor diminished, that rains, which generally fall with beating power, and in redundant quantity in the month of Au- gust, may as little as possible injure the grow- ing plants, which are then in full bearing. The young cotton is thinned out slowly at from “six to twelve inches apart on the ridge by the 10th of June. As soon as the rains commence, which is about the last of July, it is wise to leave nature to herself, and no longer disturb the soil; four hoeings, if well done, and the grass well picked at each hoeing, is enough, nor does any after growth of grass do in- jury.” Hon. Josep B. Lyman, of Louisiana, gives in the United States Agricultural Report for 1866, the result of his experience in cotton culture (up-land) as follows: . “Cotton differs from almost every other plant cultivated in this country in the length of the season required for reaping the full profits that may be derived from it. This results from the fact that cotton is, in its nature, a perennial, and consequently displays no alacrity in maturing its fruit be- fore frost, hence the necessity, on the part of the farmer, of pressing the advancement of the plant as rapidly as possible during the Summer months. The great desideratum with the cot- ton planter is to obtain the longest possible period for his harvest season; consequently, during the early part of the Summer, his policy should be to press the crop and obtain open bolls early in August, so that the pickers may start in with their bags and baskets by the fif- teenth or twentieth of that month. The first cultivation the crop receives should commence about fifteen days after the planting. which has ,seed and contracting for the crop,’ been practiced to a large extent in Ohio, In- diana, and elsewhere. Time and Mvae of Cutting —Cut the flax when the seed bolls begin to turn brown, in order to pre- vent the loss of seed in harvesting, and also to make a good lint. If the flax is left standing alter the seed bolls are ripened and have turned brown, the seed will waste badly in handling, and, what is worse, the straw will become over- ripened, and the lint from it will be coarse and weak. Gathering.—After cutting the flax, if labor can be got, bind it up in small bundles, about \five or six inches in diameter, with the seed /ends evened, and set them up on their butt ends, in small shocks to dry and cure the seed. But when labor is too scaree, or the flax very short, it may be cut and cured loose and tan- gled, like hay; and the seed be removed by a threshing-machine for tangled straw. Itis not necessary to keep the straw straight after the seed ends are removed. Preserving.—When the flax straw is perfecily dry, and the seed ripened, stack fully and compactly, covering straw or slough grass, so as thoroughly. the straw care- it with other to turn rain 88 Threshing—“ With a flail,” say the Germans around Chicago, who have raised some of the finest crops on record; but the larger number of people are for “treading it out with the horses,” oramachine. Those who have tried it, report no difficulty in using the machine, with some slight alterations to suit better the nature of the Undoubtedly treading out will be the handiest and most economical to farmers, un- crop. less they cultivate a large amount, when a ma- chine could be used to advantage. There is one thing, however, to be considered, which is now of much importance; that the machine will give you tangled flax, which, for manufac- turing purposes is always of less value than straight. In this matter, the good sense and peculiar circumstances of each farmer must control his judgment. Rotting the Flax—After threshing out the seed, the flax straw should be dew-rotted within the months of September, October, and Novem- ber, about six weeks being required to dew-rot. Two coats of flax may be dew-rotted on the same ground, one after the other in the same In dew-rotting, the flax straw should be spread out evenly on grass land, without tangling, at the rate of one to one and a half tons to an acre. While dew-rotting, and when the upper stalks appear nearly well rotted, turn the flax over, picking open all the bunches. It should be taken up as soon as it is found to be dew-rotted just right, and is perfectly dry. To ascertain when it is rotted right, take a few of the stalks of flax and rub them smartly between the hands. If the lint separates freely from the broken stalks, and is strong, it is well dew- rotted. Great care should be taken not to over- rot the flax, which destroys the fiber. It should then be either put compactly in stacks, raised from the ground, and well covered, or hauled to the flax mill, and there be stacked in the same manner, or stored in the flax millor barns. The greatest care is required to have the flax straw perfectly dry when stacked or stored, and afterward, until it is worked into lint at the flax mill, as clean, good tow can not be made from it, if at all damp. The value of tow made from damp straw, is from two to five cents per pound less than that made from the same qual- ity of dry straw. Cleaning the Seed.—This is an item in raising flax that must have more attention from our Western farmers than it has hitherto received. Until the past few years, the makers of fanning mills had little or no experience with it, and so season, FIELD CROPS: furnished no screens suitable; now, many of them furnish flax screens, with which a large amount of the foul seeds is removed. The dif ference in price between lots belonging to dif- ferent parties, is mainly determined by the manner in which it has been cleaned by the farmers. Yield.—The average yield of seed may be stated at eight to twelve bushels per acre; its market value ranges from $1 50 to $5 a bushel. In 1863, clean seed for planting sold from $4 50 to $5. The yield of straw is one and a half to two and a half tons per acre, an average of one ton of rotted straw giving two hundred and fifty pounds of lint and one hundred and fifty pounds oftow. The towsells at $1 to $8 per hundred ; the lint at ten to twenty-five cents a pound, Taking the run of seasons, flax is as reliable as any other crop. Linseed Oil and Cake.—Linseed oil is the oil obtained from flax seed, and “ cake” is the resi- duum left after the oil is expressed. The oil is an article of commerce, and is much used by painters. Linseed is used in the economy of the farm, for feeding cattle, and other purposes. A bushel of linseed averages in weight about fifty-one pounds; this weight, when crushed, produces about a quarter of its weight of lin- seed oil, and the remainder is cake. The cul- tivation of flax for the seed alone has become an important item among the farmers of the West, some having twenty or thirty acres under culture. The establishment of oil mills in our Western cities makes a home market, at a price that pays well for the cultivation, even for the seed alone. Linseed cake is a well known and valuable article for the food of live stock, al- most equally good for cattle, horses, sheep, and hogs. One thousand parts of it, according to Davy, contain one hundred and fifty-one parts of nutritive matter. We have treated of its quality as food, under the head of “ Feeding.” A correspondent of the Cincinnati Guzette urges a protective duty on the importation of jute, in order to bring inco use the flax tow made from tangled flax straw, which is now thrown away all over the West. Flax’ is raised by many farmers in the West, but al- most exclusively for seed. “In the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, there has been enough flax grown in some years—had it been manufactured—to have supplied the whole United States with the coarser fabric. But only a small portion was saved and dressed into tow, and that is now a drug upon the market. GRASS AND HAY. Some of it can be bought in Cincinnati to-day for 14 cents per pound. During the last thirty or forty years there have been upward of $5,000,000 invested in machines and buildings to dress and prepare for market this flax tow. But to-day there is hardly a flax tow mili in operation in the West, for the reason that there is no market for the stock. Yet we pay $12,- 000,000 in gold for a poorer article.” There have been many experiments to de- velop the use of flax as a substitute for cotton, and Congress appropriated $20,000 {or investi- gations; but little progress has been made to- ward that end. Grass and Hay.—“ Grass,” says Pro- fessor MARTYN, “vulgarly formed one single idea, and a husbandman, when he is looking over his inclosure, does not dream that there are upward of three hundred species of grass, of which thirty or forty may be present under his eye.” The hay crop of the United States is second only to the corn crop, having been, in 1860, 20,000,000 tons, valued at $3800,000,000. Of this, eleven-twelfths was cut in the Northern States. Most of the South does not grow grasses for hay, because much of its stock winters with- out it, and the remainder needs but little. “The time has not yet come,” writes N. C. MEEKER, agricultural editor of the New York Tribune, ‘when farmers appreciate grass as they should. If I wished to buy a farm for my posterity, which would continually increase in value, I certainly should choose it in the re- gion of grass. For I do know that during the course of one’s life, a grass farm will bring more money and comfort, and with less work, than any other farm, whether on the Sciota, the Wabash, or the Mississippi bottoms; nor can a farm of equal value be selected and made anywhere within the belt formed by the tropics, the whole world around.” In choosing the mixture of grass-seeds most valuable for the farmer’s soil says CUTHBERT JOHNSON, many considerations must be taken into the calculation; not only the nature of the soil, and the supply of water to which its habits are the best adapted, but also the objects which the farmer has in view. Thus, the meadow fox- tail, although an early, nutritive, and produe- tive grass, requires more than two years to ar- rive at perfection ; it is therefore better adapted for permanent pasture than the alternate hus- bandry. And then, again, the meadow eat’s tail, although remarkable for producing the 89 most nutritious culms of all the grasses, and that, too, in a considerable bulk, yields rowen of very little value. Valuable, therefore, as it is for hay, it is of little consideration for feed- ing purposes, if sown by itself; it must be com- bined with other grasses. So, the cock’s-loot, which soon arrives at perfection, and yields early and late a profusion of leaves, which are highly nutritive, has culms or stalks of little value—it is a grass most profitable for feeding purposes. “Under these different relations, therefore,” says Mr. G. Sryciatr, ‘‘a grass should be considered before it is absolutely re- jected, or indiscriminately recommended.” Relative Nutriment.—The knowledge of the relatite nutritive matters contained in different grasses will, also, be a highly important object of research as connected with their feeding properties. The following are some of the general results of the observations of SrN- CLAIR: 1. Grasses which have culms with swollen joints, leaves thick and succulent, and flowers with downy husks, contain greater proportions of sugar and mucilage, than those of a less sue- culent nature, : 2. When this structure is of a light glaucous color, the sugar is generally in excess. 3. Grasses which have culms with small joints; flowers pointed, collected into a spike, or spike-like panicle; leaves thin, flat, rough, and of a light green color, contain a greater proportion of extractive matter than others. 4. Grasses which have culms furnished with numerous joints; leaves smooth and succulent, flowers in a spike, or close panicle; florets blunt and large, contain most gluten and mucilage, 5. When this structure is of a glaucous color, and the florets woolly, sugar is in the next pro- portion to mucilage. 6. Grasses which have thin flowers in a pan- icle; florets pointed or awned, points of the culm smooth and succulent, contain most mucilage and extractive. 7. Grasses with flowers in a panicle; florets thinly scattered, pointed, or furnished with long awns; culms lofty, with leaves flat and rough, contain a greater proportion of saline matter and bitter extractive. 8. Grasses with strong creeping roots; culms few; leaves flat and rough; flower in a spike, contain a greater proportion of bitter extract with mucilage. In the first part of April 1820 grains of the leaves of the following grasses, etc., afford, ac- 90 cording to Sryciarr, the following proportions of nutritive matter, in the varieties of promi- nent English grasses named : Meadow fi Tall oat-lik Round panic ene cock’ Woolly soft gi Creeping soft Meadow cat’s-ti thy or herd’s grass) Fertile meadow grass Nerved meadow gra Smooth ¢ bre 80} Wood fiori Yellow vet Rough Common quaking gras Greater bird’s-foot trefo Long-rooted clover 70) Lucern Creeping-bent or fio It may not be uninteresting to the cultivator to learn of what these nutritive matters consist: the following is the result of Mr. Srycuatr’s examinations: i | Sacch, Bitter 100 grains of the Nutri-)Mucilage yi tier) | (hte) kU tive Matter of the or | ten. x Starch. | sugar Saline Matters, Meadow fox-tail con- sist of 64 8 se 28 Meailow 59 20 — 20 Rye gras 65 7 - 28 Meadow 74 10 — 16 Covk's- -fou! 59 ll — 30 Meadow oa 80 i} _ 10 White clover 7 2 7 l4 Red clover 79 8 5 8 Tares 68 25 — 7 Fiori 55 5 << 40 Varieties—The botanical family of grasses (Gramine) includes almost half of the vegetable kingdom—notonly comprising the tender mead- ow growth, but also, rice, the cereals, Indian corn, sugar cane, and even the bamboo cane that frequently mounts almost a hundred feet into theair. Weshall here treat only of those grasses which are cultipated and reaped for eattle food. Familiar names will be used, and technical and botanical phraseology omitted. Timothy.—This is sometimes called herd’s grass, and is the meadow cat’s-tail of England. | It is, however, better known as timothy, from | Timoruy Hanson, who introduced it to pub- lic notice. It is the favorite grass raised in the United States, both with farmers and their stock. It is a perennial, likes best a moist fertile clay loam, and is found in the highest perfection in the Northern States. It is hardy, grows rapidly, and yields, in its favorable moods, from one and a half to four tons per acre. It makes the most Succulent food for dairy purposes and young stock when cut just as it goes into flower, but SrycLATR estimates that it has not, at that period, attained more than half the nourishing yalue which it possesses when cut later. FIELD CROPS: Two-thirds of the hay which enters into the commerce of this country is made from this grass. It has greater weight and more nutri- ment in the same bulk than any other kind. Its great yield, its adaptation to land too moist or wet for grain crops, the time of its maturing being after the grain harvests, and the contin- ued growth of nutritive elements in the blade, and in the stalks during and after the flowering and ripening of the seed, make it the best of our grasses for hay. Cut at the time when it retains the ripened seed, it unites more than other grasses the nutrition of the seed with an undiminished yalue of the stalk and the leaves. Its defects are, that it does not start early in the Spring, that the aftermath grows slowly, although it is very nutritious, and that when fed alone as hay it is binding from its heating qualities. For the farm stock, it is best to feed it with other less heating foddering substances, as corn fodder or clover hay. It may be sown with wheat in the Fall or Spring. ALLEN says, “from its late ripening, it is not advantageously grown with clover, un- less upon heavy clays which hold back the clover. I have tried it with the northern or mammoth clover, on clay, and found the latter, though mostly in full blossom, still pushing out new branches and buds, when the former was fit to cut.” In seeding, give from fifteen to twenty-five quarts to the acre, the latter on stiff dry soils. Timothy is rather more liable to winter-kill than many other varieties of grass, and it requires frequent renewal. June Grass—(Kentucky Blue Grass)—Is a native of our soil; among the earliest of the grasses; makes a thick sward; stands the eold; is not very sensitive to drought; and sticks to a field from year to year with great tenacity. It reaches its best condition on a fertile upland, and leaves a heavy aftermath. This is nearly or quite identical with the Kentucky blue-grass, and in that State it grows with an astonishing luxuriance, covering the ground with a density of delicious herbage that is not equalled in any other State of the Union. Orchard Grass—| Cock’s-foot Grass).—Is indi- ‘genous, and for shaded, fertile soils, is very profitable, growing four or five feet high, and yielding, sometimes, five tons to the acre, It thrives in every State of the Union. Its nutri- tive value, is generally considered less than other ‘prominent grasses; being about two-thirds that of timothy, by the ton. It is somewhat grown for hay, but its chief value is in the rapid growth and sweetness of its rowen for pasture. It GRASSES ripens and is cut at about the same time as clover. ALEXANDER HyDE, a prominent farmer, says of this grass: “It gives two fine crops each season, in June and August, | the second being very nutritious and even bet-| ter for growing stock than the first. The cat- tle eat it clean and prefer it to any other hay.” Red Top.—F lowers abundantly; is hardy | and prolific; grows well on almost any moist soil; and is relished by cattle when carefully | Rosrnson thinks ittis more acceptable! cured. P | to working ox€n than to any other stock. It) is not half as valuable as timothy per acre. Meadow Fox-tail—Very early, tolerably nu- tritious, and a luxuriant grower. of all kinds. grass, it establishes itself slowly, but when once is a favorite wiih stock rooted over a field, may be coasidered perma- nent. It prefers a moist loam; is about halt as valuable as timothy, and is beiter for pasture than for hay. This is quite different from that pestilent fox-tail of the West which is known as “a necessary evil,” and which ecatule dislike as food. Fescue-—The blossom of the meadow fescue is a sort of cross between that of red top and that of rye grass. There are half a dozen ya- rieties of the fescue; all of them early, and of about half the value of timothy. Hungarian Grass—( Millet)—This is a tall grass, topped with a bushy fox-tail, somewhat like timothy. the greatest luxuriance, and is almost insensi- ble to the severest droughts. It requires rich soil, and the land that carries it will need con- stant fertilizing. It seems admirably adapted to the rich prairies of the West, and upon the It is very vigorous, grows with more porous soils, it seems likely to supersede timothy almost entirely. It especially delights in a warm sun, and a sandy or loamy soil, but is adaptable, and will thrive under serious dis- advantages. The Farmer and Gardner says: ‘The more experience we have with this production, the better are we pleased with it, and the fact of the deficiency of the pastures, the present sea- son, urges us to suggest the propriety of farm- ers introducing its culture into their respective systems of husbandry. How fortunate would it be for those who are now compelled to feed , out their Winter stock of hay, had they flushed up a few acres of their harvest fieids, after the grain was cut off} and put it down in miliet, to cut and feed to their stock. ‘I'wo acres of it in good ground, would yield grass enough to soil twenty head of cattle six weeks, and carry them As a food it) | As a AND HAY. 91 ‘in good condition into the middle of Autumn, ‘If eut and given to the milch cows, from its ‘suceulence and nutritious qualities, it would greatly add to the yield and quality of the milk and butter, and thereby increase the reve- nue of the dairy.” As a universal substitute, millet deserves to be first named, though in some parts of the | United States it is likely that other plants can be substituted to better advantage, to supply the loss of the hay-producing grasses. Millet, however, if sown upon dry ground, in June, or even the first of July, with just rain enough to vegetate it, will mature in about eight weeks, and yield two or three tons of good fodder to the acre. As soon as the furmer finds his hay crop Will be cut short by the drought, he should plow up the most ayailable piece of land he has, and prepare the surface well with the har- row, and while the ground is as fresh as possi- ble, sow half a bushel to a bushel of seed to the acre, and harrow in. ‘The proper time to cut the millet for hay is when the blades begin to turn yellow, or when the seed is just passing out of the milky state. If allowed to fully ripen the seed, the hay is not so rich and nutritious, while the harsh seeds frequently injure and have been known \to kill horses and sheep, forming hard balls in the intestines. It will grow three to five tons to the acre, and should be cured in the cock, like clover. Cattle are very fond of it, either as soiling, or when cut in a machine. There are numerous other familiar grasses, which it is not necessary to describe—such as the rough-stalked and smooth-stalked meadow, rye grass, pony grass, English bent, oat grass, sweet-scented vernal, foul meadow, Wire grass, and prairie grass—besides some kinds of which the less there is known the better. Clover.—Clover is not properly a grass, as it isa member of the family of leguminous plants, But it seems naturally to belong with this branch of foraging, and we shall admit it here. Natural- ists have detected more than one hundred and classing with the bean, pea, vetch, ete. sixty species of clover; the attention of farm- ers needs to be called to but very ftew—the com- mon red clover, the Southern cloyer, the white clover, and the scarlet clover. Of these ‘the common red is most cultivated. Cloyer requires a fertile soil; but it returns to the earth more than it extracts, and as a fertilizer it is placed far above every other spe- cies of vegetation. Of this we have treated | under the head of manures. 92 FIELD Wheat thrives wonderfully after clover, and is generally healthier than when fertilized with any other manure. “Strike this plant out of existence,” says GEORGE GrppEs, “and a rey- olution would follow that would make it neces- sary to learn everything anew in regard to cul- tivating our lands.” Its nutritive elements are somewhat less than those of timothy, but it is regarded as fully equal to it, in consideration of its relative product and expense, and the fact that it both pulvyerizes and enriches the soil. LIncern is another of the substitutes for hay, and its merits seem to be but little known. It affords a larger produce of fodder than any other species of artificial grass. ‘The stems are two feet high, and nearly erect, the leaflets oblong, | CROPS: tural Quarterly, “lucern is a plant of the utmost value; for if the seed be good, the ground rich and in heart, and rendered deep in the first instance by a thorough trenching, the young plants start into lively growth, attain strength in the shortest possible time, and yield a bulk of luxuriant herbage that can not be surpassed. If the plant require four years to attain its maximum of power, it is still a giant even from its infancy, advancing from strength to strength.” Lucern may be estimated as the ‘choicest of all fodder, because it lasts many years; will bear cutting down four, five, or six times a year; enriches the Jand on which it grows; will fatten cattle, and often proves a ‘remedy for the diseased. Hon. Joun 8. Skinners, one of the wisest the flowers in clusters, and the fruit a spiral! of the pioneers of American agriculture, said legume. It is adapted to almost any climate of lucern: below 42°, and prefers a dry warm soil. roots strike deep, like the clover. “ As a soiling grass, it has no equal, Its being the earliest in Spring, and latest in the It is com- Fall—it promotes the secretion of milk, and monly cut several times in a season, and the imparts a rich and delicate flavor to butter, yield is enormous. Chaneellor Liyinasron, | As a dairy grass, it stands peerless and alone, one of its first American cultivators, harvested o’ertopping all other grasses full a head and six and a half tons.of dried lucern to the acre, shoulders. Those who may desire to have a lot the aggregate of five cuttings. In England, thirty to forty tons of the green’ forage are sometimes cut from) an acre, per year, though ten to fifteen are acommon yield, Sre- PUENS, in the Book of the Farm, writes: ‘“Lu- cern is particularly calculated for thongh pigs will greedily consume the refuse that comes from the stables and thrive well upon it; but it is too strong in the stalk for cows, and by no means so good for them as tares. If cultivated upon proper soil, an acre will keep three strong cart horses from 1st May to October, and after the first year may be mowed twice or thrice.” It should be cut when in bloom or just be- fore; the first time about the middle of May, and every thirty days thereafter. cern thrives, it is fit for cutting a fortnight earlier than red clover. Not only is it ready for the scythe earlier than any other forage plant, but it grows stronger and heavier each successive year. WILLIAM Pepper, an Eng- lish farmer, who grew it largely, states that, after years of mowing and manuring it, he has got as much as twelve tons per acre (dry for- age), and that it is hardy and will endure cold, if cultivated in dry soil. He has seen it green and succulent when all the other grasses were burnt up—running to a height of five feet and five inches in a hot summer. “Upon the whole,” says the English Agricul- horses, Where !u-! of grass to cut to be fed green to their stock— and all should do so—should not omit to pre- pare an acre or two, and sow thereon Incern, at The best way is in drills a foot apart, though if the ground be properly prepared, it will do well- sown broadeast. ‘To the latter method, the ground shouid be plowed at least twice. After plowing the first time, it should be harrowed and rolled; suffered to remain until the weeds spring up and have attained a ‘few inches in height, when the ground should be manured liberally, plowed deeply, and thor- oughly pulverized, by repeated harrowings. Then soak the seed in warm water for twelve ‘hours, drain off the water, dry the seed in the rate of twenty pounds per acre. succeed in _ashes, and sow it—after which if must be lightly ,harrowed in and the ground rolled.” Plaster |is a special manure for lucern, the stalk con- taining considerable gypsum. Alfalfa is also somewhat cultivated among the substitute grasses, especially for soiling cat- ‘tle. It is a rank grower,-and gives several crops a year. Lupine is moderately used for soiling, but is raised more frequently for a green manure. It grows fast, is a thorough pulverulent, and is ,very hardy. The Vetch is a running plant of the leeumin- ous species, resembling the pea. Sown. in ‘April, it will be found ready to cut the last of WHEN TO SOW GRASS SEED. June, and will probably be found valuable in a regular soiling course. It enriches the soil, and sheep and horses fatten upon it faster than on clover. JOHN WILSON, author of the arti- cle on Agriculture in the Encyclopedia Britan- nica, says, “There are other forage crops well worthy the attention of the farmer, but the yetch is less fastidious in regard to soil and cli- mate than any of them, and can be grown suc- cessfully on very poor soils.” It is probable that any farmer, having moist arable land, can raise a good crop of vetches, merely by sowing them broadcast, three bushels of vetches with one of oats. lie upon the ground, and a great part of the crop might rot. The weight of a full crop of yetches, if the two cuttings be weighed green, will be found nearly equal to the weight of a crop of cornstalks. A New Clover—H. W. Ravenat, of Aiken, S. C., in 1867, presented to the Academy of Natural Sciences, specimens of a new plant, which botanists know only as the Lespendozu Striata of China, and of which a correspondent of the Zribune thus speaks: men of a new species of clover, supposed to be from China, which first became plentiful in 1862. It seems indestructible, the closest graz- ing does not destroy “it, and last year during nine weeks of drought, it only withered and) turned yellow, and revived on the first shower. The cattle are very fond of it. It has covered the entire country with a dense growth and seems to choke out all other kinds of grass. The specimen I send grew on the red, bare hill-side. It was necessary to wrench it from the soil. On good ground I have seen it two feet high.” Bunch Grass.—Attempts are making to intro- duce east of the Mississippi, the bunch-grass, which the emigrants to the land of gold find so nutritious for their cattle in crossing the Rocky Mountains. It grows on hill-sides, preferring pebbly and sandy soils, producing a seed like the oat, and a stalk which contains abundance of saccharine matter. the mountains ripen it in May or June, and the hay on the stalk remains good all Winter, till the following year. of meat cattle a fine flavor. When to Sow Grass-Seed.—The edi- tor of the Rural American says ; The oats are added to sustain | the stems of the vetch, which otherwise would | “T send a speci-| The dry Summers on) Tt is said to give the flesh | “Probably | ninety-nine farmers in a hundred sow all their _seed in the Spring, the usual way being to seed 93 down with a crop of oats; but grass-seed may be sown in September, in many cases to much better advantage than in the Spring, and the next season a good crop of hay will be the result of such sowing, in all cases when no other crop is grown, and frequently when such seeding is done when sowing wheat.” Says an intelligent writer in the New Eng- land Farmer, “We may conclude that the re- sult of sowing grain and grass together is to injure both crops, and very often to lose the grass entirely. Such loss and vyexation may | be obyiated by sowing the grain alone in the early part of the Spring, with such manure as has been allotted to the field; and as soon as possible after the grain has been harvested, to plow the stubble in with a deep furrow, that the stubble may have a chance to molder away, which the showers that take place about that time, and the heat of the weather, will generally bring about in the course of ten or twelve days. Before the end of July the field should be cross-plowed, the grass-seed sown on the furrow, harrowed and rolledin. It is of much importance in this part of the process to avoid any delay, and therefore it is quite need- ful to put in the grass-seeds, even if the weather should happen to be dry at the time. They will lie safe in the ground, and be ready to improve the benefit of the first showers, when the grass will soon appear, and generally make a good progress before Winter sets in, If the Winter should prove favorable, nothing further is wanting to insure a good and lasting field of grass, than to draw the roller over it in the Spring, as soon as the frost is out of the ground, which will settle the roots of the young plants, which would suffer from exposure to the sun and the wind.” The Cultivator says: “It requires more la- bor, but is enough better to repay it, to pre- pare the land late in Fall, and sow grass very early in Spring, with nothing else. If well seeded on a rich soil, the young plants will quickly spring up, and soon be out of the reach of drought. It will make a good crop the first year.” In Youne’s Farmer's Calendar, under the date of August, it is said: “This is the best season of the year for laying down land to grass; and no other is admissible for it on strong, wet, or heavy soils. Spring sowings with grain may succeed, and do often, but that they are hazardous, I know from forty years’ experience.” The best mode, says W. C. CAMPBELL, in 94 FIELD CROPS: the Prairie Farmer, of getting a wheat field set| grasses, contains about a thousand plants; and in grass, is to sow it in March, the sooner the better, one peck of timothy, with a considera- ble sprinkling of cloyer, to the acre, will be very apt to get a set if the season should be favorable. I have had some experience in sowing grass on the prairies, and find early Spring the best time to sow, and. that when the ground is frozen, and, better still, when there is snow on the ground—then the sower can see where he has sown, and will not leave strips When the ground thaws, the seed will sink deep enough inthe ground to “grow with the first warmth of Spring. LTalways have the best set when I sow on the land where with no grass on. there is no other crop to come off the same season, as I have always found that it does not pay to try to grow two crops on the same land at the same time, for if the oats or wheat, or whatever it may be, should be very thick, the young grass is smothered out, or in a very stunted condition, and when the ground is cleared of the oats or wheat the hot sun of August will frequently kill it; but I would sow with wheat sooner than any other erop, as it is not apt to be so thick. On low lands, which are too wet for any crop but grass, as our seasons generally oceur, it is better to prepare the ground, and sow the grass-seed without any grain. Worn out lands do well when thus prepared, without any ma- nure, for two or three years, when the process should be repeated, and so on for successive periods. “We have seen land. taken up and thus prepared,” says a correspondent, “ where not more than one-fourth of a ton of hay had been mown on the acre, and by simply being well plowed and sown down with herds-grass, produce two tons first quality hay for the market. The second year the crop would be lighter, and the third still less, when the ground would be again plowed and sown, but with still better success than the first trial.” How much Seed to the Acre2—An English authorily gives the following statement of grass-seed required per acre: Millet, one- half bushel; white clover, four quarts; red clover, eight quarts; timothy, six quarts; or- chard grass, two bushels; red-top, one to two pecks; Kentucky blue-grass, two bushels; mix- ed lawn grass, one to two bushels; rye-grass, twelve quarts.” Weare certain that this is too thin seeding. The Annual Register of Rural Ajiuirs, which is high authority, says that “it has been found by careful counting that a foot squire of rich old pasture, composed of mixed some highly enriched and irrigated meadows have contained nearly twice that number. This is seven to twelve plants to a square inch.” Now there are in a bushel of clear seed: Seeds. 0041.00 7,000,000 Seeds, 25,000,000 «000,000 5, 000, O40) Meadow fiscue Red clover, White clove Jur Kep-top.... 70,000,000 There are about six million square inches to the acre. Now, how much will you allow for failures to germinate?—and how many roots will profitably grow up on each square inch? From the basis of the above table a calculation can be made, which will only need to be slightly varied to suit the soil and the conditions of the crops. Many of the best farmers are satisfied that a thicker seeding than usual would be beneficiai. The depth of covering should not be any less nor much more than one-fourth of an inch; when covered an inch or two not half the seedsrvill ever re-appear, In smooth, mellow ground, rolling will be found to cover sufficiently. When to Cut Grass? —The answer to this question depends on circumstances—especially on the answer to another question. What do you expect to do with your hay? If it is to be fed to working oxen or working horses, it should generally stand until two-thirds in blossom; if to milch cows, calves, and sheep, it should, undoubtedly, be cut considerably- earlier—before much of it passes into flower. There are some advantages attending both late Grass that is cut green cer- tainly exhausts the land much less, and is more savory and toothsome to stock of all kinds. Properly kept, it carries much of its original sweetness and aroma through the Winter; and it is well-known that food that is taken with a relish always. does more good than that which is worried down. On the other hand, it is believed by stage companies and large livery owners that ripe grass makes the strongest and heartiest hay. The reason for this last opinion is, that the road horse that eats more grain than hay re- quires ripe hay or straw to extend the stomach and prevent too rapid fermentation and pass- ing off of the food through the stomach and bowels, and to supply the waste of muscular tissue from seyere exercise. Ripe hay or straw contains more silica than grass does, so it pro- bably is better to supply the muscle of a horse, The New York men rely upon the nutriment and early cutting. HOW MUCH TO CURE HAY, ETC. in the grain they feed for keeping up the con- dition of their horses, and the ripe hay to serve as a divisor for distending the stomach. Moreover, grass will very soon run out if cut before any of its seed ripens. SiNcLAtr’s analysis shows that ripe hay contains thirty per cent. more nutriment than immature hay; while Professor Way’s analysis convinced him that grass mowed just in flower was at the maximum of value. J. Sranron Goubp, of New York, holds that “‘ when grass is allowed to ripen its seed, the straw woody fiber, is indigestible, is converted into and its nutritive value very much lessened.” Clover should be cut when the fullest bloom. farmer can cut all his hay ata particular time. Let him begin so that his mowing machine will be off the field by the. 25th of July, and there will be difference enough between the earliest and latest, if kept somewhat separate, to feed what is best for different kinds of stock. Don- ALD G. MrircHerty lays down a safe rule: “The milkman’s haying should commence a fortnight before the grazier’s, and end a fort- night earlier.” it is turning from The fact is, that no large How much to Cure Hay.—There is even more diversity of opinion on the question whether grass should be cured much or little than there is as to the time of cutting it. All agree that clover may be put up with less curing than finer grasses, for the reason that it will not pack as close in the mow, giving more circulation of air through it than any other hay. Farmers are gradually coming to the conclusion that grass of all kinds is ordinarily cured too much. Captain WILLARD, Warden of Connecticut State Prison, says he does not dry clover in the sun, but puts it in cock and turns it over two or three times the first day—the next day he turns the cock bottom side up and takes it to the mow, putting about four quarts of salt into each load. molding and makes it more nutritious as well as palatable. The best farmers turn clover out to the sun as little as possible, leav- ing it in the cock a day or two, and storing it without hustling it about. All the heads and leaves, and most of the seeds are thus saved, and these are worth more than the stems. For new milch cows in the winter there is nothing better. It will make them give as great a flow of milk as any hay, unless it be good rowen. Clover need not be left in the cock long enough for the outside to blacken; for clover, like the grasses, is generally oyercured. their The salt keeps the hay from} 95 T. S. Gotp, Secretary of the Connecticut Agricultural Society, gives it as his opinion, strengthened by observation and experience, that it is better to cut grass with the dew upon it, put in a tedder immediately and cock about noon. Let the hay remain until the next day, shake it up well and put it under cover before night. Others the mostly off, start the tedder at ten o'clock, mow as soon as dew is begin to cart just after dinner, and get it all in before night, when the weather is favorable. In a warm day, this method should be preferred to all others. The result of this one-day cur- ing, followed safely even with clover, is, that we have in the Spring of the year seen clover in a well yentilated barn, eut the previous Summer, the honey candied, the heads blushing as if just mown, and breathing as delicious an aroma as when taken from the field. Hay so eut will work miracles in the dairy. The Boston Cultivator “ General THOMPSON has, for some five years past, cured says : small quantities of hay in casks, without drying, cut when the dew was entirely off, any and closely packed in clean casks, replacing the heads again, making them nearly if not quite air-tight, and allowing them to stand in the barn until the next Spring. He has lately opened one and has favored us with a sample, and when the box containing it was opened, there gushed out such a sweetness of aroma as man was perhaps never before delighted with, and it could not be believed, in the absence of the evidence, that so highly impregnated a feed, the aroma from which could have such strength, came from so small a box. It may be observed that the scent of the sample was somewhat sickening, like that of fresh May- flowers when confined in a close room, but when laid before our animals, which had just filled themselves with fresh green grass, it was eaten with avidity.” Two things are to be avoided with equal care: not to wet the hay, and not to burn it up in the scorching suns of There is very little danger of putting Its color and flavor Summer. hay in the barn too green. should both be preserved. Tools—We speak elsewhere of pruning im- plements, and will only say here that no farmer who cuts much hay will think of getting alon without a set of muslin caps for the cocks, t hay tedder, and a horse-fork, any more than he will try co cut his meadows by hand. A pat- ent tedder will do the work of fifteen men, and do it better than they can; a horse-fork will pitch off a load of hay in five minutes; anda 96 set of caps will be likely to save ten times their cost every year. Hay-Caps.—Take strong sheeting a yard and a quarter, or a yard and a half wide, and cut into pieces of equal length, so that each cap shall be square; paint one side with a mixture of linseed oil, beeswax, and japan, in the pro- portion of two gallons of the oil, eight pounds of wax, and two quarts of japan for one hun- dred caps; the oil to be simmered with the wax until dissolved, and the japan to be added afterward. Appty with a whitewash brush or with the hand, and dry in the sun, The paint will prevent raveling, and the cap may be se- cured in its place by sewing up asmall stone in each corner. Caps of this sort would cost about twenty cents each, and would last ten years if properly taken care of. Of course, they should only be kept on the hay during the night in fair weather, and during the storms in bad weather. New and Old Hay.—It has been ascertained that well-cured hay, weighed in the field July 20, and then stored in the barn until February 20, had lost twenty-seven and a half per cent. of its weight. It is, therefore, better to sell hay in the field at $15 per ton than from the barn at $20, in midwinter. Nutritive Value of Hay.—According to the experiments of several eminent European agri- culturists, 100 pounds of good meadow hay are equal to about 90 pounds of best cured clover hay, 300 to 500 pounds of rye straw (varying with time of cutting, etc.), 200 to 400 pounds of oat straw, 200 to 800 pounds of ruta-bagas, 250 to 400 pounds of mangel wurzels, 200 to 300 pounds of carrots, 150 to 200 pounds of potatoes, 30 to 60 pounds of beans or peas, 50 to 60 pounds of Indian corn, 65 pounds of buckwheat, 35 to 75 pounds of barley, 40 to 80 pounds of oats, 80 to 70 pounds of rye, 30 to 60 pounds of wheat, and 40 to 100 pounds of oil cake. Management of Grass Lands.—Some of the old- est and shrewdest farmers in this country hold that plowing up good natural grass lands is mal- practice; that such lands need never be turned over, but that their fertility should be kept up by top-dressing of animal manure, ashes, plas- ter, muck, earth, or whatsoever enriches pas- tures almost atany time. In mowing lands this surface dressing may be applied soon after the crop is remoyed, that it may actefavorably upon the roots and afford protection during the Winter. Natural meadows—that is, the level land FIELD CROPS: bordering on streams and rivers—are undoubt- edly best for mowing, and can usually be made smooth without even a first plowing, and are sometimes found self-sustaining; also, lands receiving the wash of hills, roads, and barn- yards, often keep up their fertility without any direct application, though the hay crop is con- tinnally taken off. It is well known that a cat- tle-feeder can not so easily fatten stock on new- ly-seeded ground, as on lands put down many years ago, or that have never been broken up. A top-dressing of sawdust, in which the liquid manures have been absorbed, applied in Fall or Spring, gives great vigor and growth to grasses. It is better and cheaper to apply this or other manures to old pastures than -to plow and re-seed. A volume of the Michigan Agri- cultural Reports gives the advice of SANrorD Howarp on this point, thus: “Ist. That, on some soils, grasses will live so short a time that it is not an object to en- deavor to continue them for permanent pas- tures. Such land, if suited to grain or other cultivated crops, may be brought under a sys- tem of rotation, if not devoted to forest trees. “9d. That some soils may be kept perma- nently in grass by occasional scarifyings, or harrowings, with top-dressings of suitable ma- nures, and surface re-seeding of spots where the sward becomes weakened. “3d. That some soils which are particularly natural to grass, if once set with the proper species, may be kept in pasture for an indefinite length of time, in many cases without manifest deterioration, through fertilizers, as bones, ashes, plaster, etc., which may be advantage- ously applied at intervals.” Overcropping is the chief vice of farmers in pasturing. “On late and off early” should be painted on every entrance to a pasture-field, Too many cattle on grass lands in the Spring prevent the young roots from taking a firm hold of the soil; too close feeding in Summer exposes the roots to the scorching heat of the sun; and in the late Fall, in low meadows, the cattle are apt to trample the sward so as to render the next growth of grass irregular. A mixed husbandry is often best, especially in those sections where the land will carry more dairy cows, when partially given to grain and roots, than when it is principally kept in grass. A. L, Fis, an experienced New York farmer, gives the following as his method of laying down to grass such lands as it is advisa- ble to plow: ‘Let them be deeply and thor- oughly pulyerized, and as much manurial mat- MANAGEMENT OF GRASS LANDS—CLOVER-SEED. ter incorporated in the process as will amend for the crops taken off; then seed with a va- riety of the indigenous grasses with the usual variety of cultivated grasses, keep the herd from grazing or trampling it the first year, so that the new roots may be thoroughly interspersed through the soil before it becomes packed again, and I will risk my reputation as a farmer upon the assertion that its productiveness will be much improved, and the grass quite as succu- lent and nutritious as the old indigenous sward. The prejudice against re-seeding for pasturage has no doubt grown out of the fact that the tilth and manner of seeding has not been properly done. Thelay and texture of land is so unlike in different localities that it would be difficult to adopt a rule of general practice without broad exceptions. Some soils require to be pulverized and packed to make them less por- ous—others to be pulverized and not packed to have them more permeable. AJI soils must be permeable to receive full benefit from the cireu- lating elements passing through them.” Many farmers effect a speedy renovation of pastures which have become “ hide-bound,” and seem to be running out, by giving a mode- rate top-dressing of five to ten cords of barn- yard manure to the acre—or an application of ashes, plaster, lime, or any liquid manure— evenly sowing four to six quarts of new seed, and then subjecting the sod yery thoroughly to the harrow. The harrow must not be spared in such case; the meadow may look as if ‘all dragged to pieces,” but the new seeds will take the better for it, and the old roots strike out with remarkable vigor. The roller may always profitably follow the harrow where the land is not wet. Occasional pasturing, too, for a full season, is highly advantageous to mowing grounds. Mr. Fisu says: ‘‘My mode of using manure is to apply it to all crops at a season when the growing crop will appropriate it most speedily to ils use, to prevent waste by evaporation, and otherwise, while vegetable growth is dormant. The very convenient way of spreading manure broadeast in the Winter season I discard as ruinous to the farmer, as the frost decomposes and prepares for excessive waste before the soil ean receive it. Let any dairyman take one- tenth of his pasture land and cultivate it to grow maize for soiling, and feed it to his cows annu- ally, and I will engage that he will have made more cheese or butter from the same number of cows, and the same area of land, and the land will have improved under the treatment, pro-| 7 97 vided he makes judicious use of manures and grass-seed.”’ The excellence of pastures depends greatly both upon their position and the different spe- cies of animals for whose support they are in- tended. Thus, uplands which are eleyated, open, and dry are the best adapted for the feeding of sheep. While a heavy stock is fed with more adyantage upon ground which is lower in point of situation, as well as better in- closed. The soil of uplands, particularly if it be of a chalky nature, bears a sweet, though a short bite of grass, which is so favorable to the pasturage of the smaller breeds of sheep, that although it will support but a scanty stock, it yet produces the finest species of mutton. It is well known that certain grasses are pre- ferred by particular species of stock, and some persons on this account put different kinds of animals at the same time on their pasture, but it is difficult to proportion the different num- bers, especially as they will all agree in crop- ping the sweetest herbage first. It appears most injudicious to congregate different classes of animals, as they are apt, from their respective habits, to interfere with the comforts and repose of each other. Horses and cows do not mingle sociably together, nor eat exactly after the same mode; but horses and sheep, both biting closely and quickly, are fit followers together after a leading stock. Clover-Seed.— Western farmers are begining to imitate their Eastern brethren, in consider- ing the importance of saving clover-seed. “The saving of this seed for market,” says the Valley Furmer, “has heretofore been chiefly confined to three or four States, and the constantly in- creasing demand is now beyond their ability to supply, and consequently, the price has become a heavy burden upon the farmer; and however great this tax may be, few good farmers will consent to exclude clover from their rotation of crops, because they must either substitute ma- nure at a still greater cost, or consent to see their land lose in fertility.’ On a small scale, it will be fully as remunerative as wheat grow- ing. It is a new thing to many farmers to save the seed; but it isa simple process. The clover should be cut with a mowing machine when the heads are two-thirds brown, and cured and handled with care. Only a threshing machine and a clover-huller are required afterward. A farmer in Illinois gives the following re- sult of his experiments in saving clover-seed. The last week in June and the first week in July, he says he cut and stacked seventy large 98 3 loads of hay from twenty acres of ground. In September he cut over the same piece of ground for seed. This was threshed and hulled, yield- ing eighty bushels of clean seed. He estimated the hay to be equal to fifty tons, worth $8 per ton, or $400; 80 bushels of seed at $8 per bushel, the present market price, $640; making in all $1040, Besides the hay and seed, there are miuny tons of cloyer roots left in the ground, worth, as manure, twice the cost of the seed sown. Now, evenif half of this can be obtained, it will then be as profitable as the best farm crop asually grown. In a late number of the Ohio Cultivator,-Mr. E. R. WurraKer, of Clinton county, states that he had a field in clover, containing ten and a quarter acres, from which he made two tons of clover hay to the acre, estimated to be worth $246. From the second crop he saved the seed which yielded 42$ bushels, which he sold at home at $7 per bushel, amounting to $299 25— which added to the value of the hay, makes the handsome sum of $545 25. Plaster upon Clover—With the exception of a small district near the sea-shore, clover is greatly benefited by the application of plaster. About one bushel to the aere is, perhaps, the most suitable quantity. Apply it upon a moist day, early in the Spring. Ammonia is con- stantly brought to the earth by dews, rains, or snow, and the plaster acts as a collector of this fertilizing matter, and preserves it for the use of the plant. SrackrnG in America is generally consid- ered as necessarily wasteful, and to be avoided as long as there is a foot of barn-room unap- propriated. In England, it is preferred, as being more economical than any other method of storing either grain or hay, because freer from rats and mice, and better ventilated. There, stacks are skillfully and scientifically constructed; here, they are thrown together in a slovenly manner that inyites damage from the elements. There is more science, says an intelligent writer on this subject, involved in building a stack of hay, loose grain or bundles, in a correct manner, than there is in erecting a pyramid that will stand the test of wasting and raging elements, of time and of changing weather. The main point is to build a stack so as to turn all the rain off instead of turning it toward the middle of the stack, where it would produce more or less damage. Begin- ners will almost always commence at the cir- cumference or outside of the stack instead of FIELD CROPS: commencing in the middle. Whether a stack is to be made of bundles or loose material, it should always be begun in the middle, and the middle should be always kept fullest—from one to two feet higher than the outside, and well pressed down, The middle should always be trod down more closely than the outside, so that when the stack commences to settle, the outside will settle more than the middle, and thus tend to give a good inclination to the straw on the outside, and carry off the water rapidly. A stack should be constructed in a circular form on the ground, and should always be built in the shape of a hen’s egg, small end up, with the bulge extending two or three feet be- yond the circumference at the base. It will pay to thatch every stack, so that it will shed rain like a roof. Here is a simple and easy method: begin at the “eaves,” and push verti- cally into the stack the ends of long grass or straw, and so continue until the other ends hang in a fringe around the stack, Then begin again, and form another course a foot above, and so on until the pole or apex is reached, where finish off carefully so that all rain will be shed down the roof. Such a thatch will sometimes keep a stack sweet year after year, The bottom of a stack should always be made of rails crossed, or stout brush, Ventilate the Hay.— Ventilation will keep hay, even when it is put up half cured. Soton RoBrINsoN recommends that all barn “bays” be ventilated, not only underneath, but from bottom to top, by a sort of chimney, made of four tall poles, set so as to form a square, and connected with rounds like a ladder. He saved a green stack by a flue of rails, and a prairie- hay rick by “an air tube of brush.” The English have a simpler flue, which they make as follows: They fill a large bag, say three and one-half feet high and twenty inches in diameter, with straw, and place it vertically in the center of the stack, putting the barley, oats, or. hay—whichever it may happen to be— around it. As the stack rises, they lift the sack; and so on until near the top, then lay some rails across it, leaving them to project beyond the side of the stack, and finish off the dome in the usual manner above. This mode of ventilation would also be most effective in hay mows, and the flue could be left open, Hemp is a diccious annual of the nettle tribe, cultivated for the value of its fiber as a fabric for ropes, and bagging. ‘The seeds are HEMP—CULTURE AND HARVESTING. alsu serviceavle for fattening purposes, when fed moderately, containing thirty per cent. of oil. Its leaves are strongly narcotic, and in the eastern climates are used like opium, and smoked like tobacco. Hemp seems to have come to us from India; but the Russian Em- pire is by far the largest modern producer. In America the staple and its fabrics are larzely supplied by importation, as its growth as astaple has been mainly limited to Kentucky and Missouri, the first named State having raised forty thousand tons of fiber in 1860; but it is now being introduced into the newer Northwestern States as a crop which is in great demand. Their climate is well adapted to its cultivation, as it requires hot, quick, forcing seasons. The hemp plant needs for its growth a fair, highly manured soil, but it is not par- ticular as to the quality. Old deep meadow lands, all rich alluvial, and even peaty soils, are adapted to its growth. In turning under a green sward, the ground should be plowed and thoroughly harrowed, or cross plowed, to re- duce it to as fine a tilth as possible. A fine soil is as much needed as in flax culture. It takes fifty tons of hemp to rig a man-of- war, or the crop of at least one hundred acres. The price of hemp averages about five cents a pound, passing into the hands of the first pur- chaser. L. J. BRADFoRD, President of the Kentucky State Agricultural Society, apprehends*, that the seasons are too short in Minnesota, Wiscon- sin, and Iowa, for the successful growth of seed, a defect easily remedied by the purchase of seeds grown in more southern latitudes, but not a shadow of doubt exists in his mind that they can, at the very first effort, produce better hemp than any territory south. Time, he thinks, will demonstrate that Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin compose the TRUE HEMP RE- GION of the American continent. Culture of Seed.—The first step in hemp cul- ture is the production of good, sound, plump, seed, Land intended for seed must be in good tilth and well prepared by early corn-planting; it should be laid off in straight rows, four feet apart each way, and planted in hills seven or eight seeds to the hill; the same rules observed for cultivating corn will apply in the after eul- ture of hemp-seed; when the plants reach the height of six or eight inches, they should be thinned to from three to four plants. Hemp plants are divided into male and fe- *See Essay on Hemp, in Ill, State Ag. Report of 1861. 99 male, the former producing the pollen or im- pregnating powder, the latter bearing the seed. A very little observation will enable the grower to distinguish between them. As soon as the distinetion can be made, the male should be drawn up by the root, except here and there a solitary one left that the female plant may be |properly impregnated; the female is to be re- properly preg ; tained until its seeds are perfected, when it is to be harvested by cutting at the ground and remoyal to cover; when cured, detach the seed with a stout stick of convenient length, winnow | and put up in barrels or sacks, perfectly dry, and out of the way of rats and mice. Putting in the Crop—The ground haying been faithfully prepared, the grower must has- ten the operation of seeding with the utmost dispatch, as, generally, the earlier the seeding the heavier the lint of the plant. Mark off the land with a small plow, and very shallow furrow, or it may be marked off by a drag made of a small log of wood—anything to make a line to guide the sower accurately; then pro- ceed by hand to broadcast your seed evenly at the rate of fifty pounds of seed per acre as the minimum, or even up to seventy pounds as the maximum quantity, varying with the strength of the land, the object being to produce as thick a growth of plants as the land will sus- tain. IPf set too thin on rich soil, the stalks grow too large, producing a coarse and inilerior jint; on the contrary, if seeded too thick, the growth proves so short as to materially affect the value of the crop. In Kentucky, the seed- ing is generally done from the Ist to the 15th of April; in a higher latitude it should be at- tended to as soon as the ground is dry enough. Cover with a light eross-harrowing. Although the seed is very tender, its vitality easily affected, and its germination often seriously disturbed by untayorable circumstances, yet if the plants come on well for the first month, and coyer the ground, the harvest is pretty sure, as it stands the frost and the drought better than most cul- tivated crops. From seed time to harvest, the laborer has only to watch its magic growth from day to day. Harvesting.—The earliest sown hemp is usu- ally ready to harvest about the middle of Au- gust. Maturity is indicated by a change of color in the leaf, it generally fading trom a deep green to a paler hue bordering on yellow. The male plants ripen ten days earlier than the female, and the time of harvesting should be cast fairly between the two. The old manner of harvesting was pulling, like flax, but this 100 has generally been abandoned in favor of the hemp hook, as the knife is called. McCor- MICK’S reaper effective attachment for cutting hemp, well-adapted to level lands. The operator, in taking up the hemp, uses a a rude stick cut from the branches of the near- est tree, about the length and weight of a heavy hickory walking-cane, having at the end of the stick a small branch making a hook. With this primitive but very effective tool he can rapidly draw the stalks into bunches of the proper size for sheaves. In operating he throws his rude hook forward to its full length, and suddenly draws it towards him, each motion making a bunch. This he raises quickly from the ground, and with his hook, by a few well- directed strokes, divests the plant of its leaves. He then binds his sheaf with its own stalks, and passes on to repeat the operation, Other laborers follow, and place the hemp into neat, close shocks of convenient size, securing the top by a neat band made of the hemp stalks themselves, after the manner of shocking corn. lt is afterward neatly stacked, to keep the crop secure and dry until the proper time for rotting arrives. Dew Rotting-Hemp.—In the latitude of Ken- tucky about the middle of October is the proper time. The crop must be retained in the rick or stack until the Summer heats and rain have passed, and frost appears instead of dew. The whole crop is then removed from the rick, and hauled back to the same ground on which it grew, there to be spread in thin swaths for rot- ting, where it remains without turning until properly rotted—generally from six to ten weeks. This is indicated by the fiber freely parting from the stalk, and the dissolution by the ac- tion of the elements of the peculiar substance that causes it to adhere thereto. This stage is only to be learned to perfection by practical experience. If taken up too soon, the process of breaking is made very difficult, and the lint is not plia- ble. If it remains spread too long, the lint is made tender, and its value is injured. If the weather is cold, however, it is not damaged by remaining a week or two longer than is abso- lutely necessary. After rotting, the plants are again carefully gathered, and put in shocks or stacks, or what is still better, stored under a shed to wait for breaking. Water-Rotting—In Russia, and in some sec- tions of our own country, hemp is rotted by steeping four or five days in soft clear water, and such treatment furnishes a quality of fab- has an FIELD CROPS: ric of fully double the value of the dew-rotted. Kentucky lacks the necessary streams and ponds of clear water for this process. Iowa, Wiscon- sin, and Minnesota possess the greatest facili- ties for it, in their abundant lakes. Epwarp 8. Cox, of Sangamon county, Illi- nois, thus describes his method:* ‘‘For the purpose of water-rotting hemp, I have exeaya- tions made in the ground into which are built half a dozen framed vats ninety feet long, nine feet wide, and six feet deep, the tops being on a level with the ground, These vats are con- structed by thirty six-by-eight inch sills laid crosswise, at each end of which, six-by-eight inch upright posts are morticed and keyed, and stayed at the top by an occasional cross timber. The bottoms ends, and sides, are planked with two inch oak timber and ship-caulked. The bundles of hemp are laid crosswise the vats, which are filled to the top. Four strings of plank or rails are placed lengthwise’ the vats, across the hemp, over which again, cross tim- bers are placed and confined at each end under cap pieces projecting from the top of the vat. Thus is the hemp firmly confined under the water, The vats are then filled with water from a cistern arranged for the purpose, and the hemp is completely submerged, the water rising six inches above it. The water for rot- ting the hemp is drawn from a creek near by, by means of three very powerful suction and force pumps, through cast-iron pipes, into a framed, planked and caulked cistern, fifty-six feet long, fifteen feet wide, and six feet deep, constructed above and at the end of the vats. This cistern, by the aid of the pump, can be kept filled with water, which can settle and be- come clear, and be let into the vats at pleasure. “The pumps and machinery for dressing the hemp are propelled by a steam engine, the es- cape steam of which is admitted into cast-iron pipes laid at the base of the vats, and the heat thus communicated raises the temperature of the water in the vat to ninety degrees Fahren- heit. With this temperature the hemp is rot- ted in from five to seven days, the glutinous, or cementing matter, which fastens the lint to the stalk, being dissolved by the process of fermen- tation, and the filaments of the wood becoming concrete and brittle, are easily broken and sepa- rated from the lint. At this time all fermenta- tion has ceased and the water is unpleasantly stagnant. The water is now let off through plug holes at the end near the bottom of the *Sce Manual on Ilempand Flax Culture, by D. D. T. Moone, of the Rural New Yorker. BREAKING HEMP, ETC.—HOPS. vat, and passes off through a ditch into the ereek. The hemp in a few hours is drained teady for throwing out. The confining timbers being first removed, the bundles of hemp are easily thrown out, two men emptying a vatina half day; each vat holding stalk to make.one ton of lint. By this method of water-rotting the busi- ness can be earried on eyery month in the year, in Winter as well as in Summer, as the water ein be kept of a uniform temperature by means of steam. The workmen are protected from wet by oil clothes. The business is not un- pleasant or unhealthy. “From the vats the hemp is hauled to the drying grounds, when it is set up in shocks of three or four hundred each—a band being tied around the blossom ends to keep them from falling down. Then the old bands are cut and the stalks well spread, the butts to the ground, inclining outward. As soon as thoroughly dry it is bound in large bundles and secured in store sheds ready for breaking.” Breaking Hemp.—Then comes the last and crowning operation—breaking and dressing the fiber or lint for market. The peculiar break to be used, like the knife or hook for cutting, needs no description, being manufactured in the old henip regions, at a cost of about five dollars each, and from long experience has been found perfectly adapted to the uses required. The beginner would save time and money by order- ing a sample break, from which any carpenter can manufacture as desired. The crop is bro- ken in Kentucky directly from the shock in the open field, by the removal of the break from shock to shock as fast as broken. In higher latitudes, owing to the severity of the climate, it would probably be necessary to remove the rotted hemp to the barn, where the labor of breaking could be more certainly performed. The coldest and clearest weather is the best for this operation; in fact, excess of dampness in the atmosphere suspends this labor altogether. Mr. Cox, already quoted, thus describes his process of breaking: “Small bunches, having been first separated from the bundles, and the butts uniformly shaken together, are thinly spread upon a revolving endless apron, which passes the hemp between one set of plain and two sets of scolloped rollers, of eight inches in diameter, which gear into each other. By these the wood is crushed, broken, and loosened from the lint. From this machine the hank of hemp, with the butt always kept perfectly square, is passed under a break consisting of three stationary and two interplaying smooth- 101 edged iron knives, connected by two pitmans, rists and flanges, to a shaft driven by pulleys, by whose rapid motion the shives are effectu- ally detached and stricken out from the lint. Finally the hank of hemp is held and spread over a rest, and receives the action of a square cylinder or scutcher, having four projecting knives or beaters, the rapid revolution of which thoroughly clears it of shives and tow. Thus prepared, the hemp is placed in an extended state, with the root-ends evenly together, into wooden boxes holding twenty-five or thirty pounds. The bundles are then tied firmly, pressed into bales of about five hundred and fifty pounds, well covered with bagging, and secured by cordage, ready for market.” Projitableness as a Crop—Hemp draws largely upon the nourishing elements of the soil, being almost as exhausting as tobacco. But it sells in our markets at $10 to $12 per hundred, and is largely imported from Russia and the Indies, where it sells at 80 cents to $1 00 a hundred. The True Kentuckian says that a gentleman in Scott county purchased thirty acres of land at 3100 per acre. He sowed it in hemp, and the first year’s yield was $140 per acre. The Lexington Gazette adds that Mr. Hirer, of Woodford, re: lized $163 per acre for his year’s hemp crop. He sold the seed at $10 per bushel and the hemp at $10 per hundred. J. H. CrumBaveu, of Scott, raised 3,309 pounds of hemp on two measured acres of land. W. Vance, of Woodford, got somewhat over 1,700 pounds to the acre the first year he introduced the China seed. These perhaps represent an unusual yield, but the demand for hemp in this country is so large and constant, and the product so small, that the erop can not well fail to give a high average profit. A new textile of the hempen family has been discovered in Humboldt Valley, Nevada, where it grows abundantly as a native. It is said to have a stronger and finer fiber than the hemp proper, and a much longer staple. In propor- tion to the wood too, the fiber is reputed to be much more abundant and more easily separa- ted than flax or hemp, capable of being stripped clean from the stock without preparation. If it really possess all these desirable characteris- tics, it will soon take its place among the val- uable textile crops of the country. Hiops.—tThe hop is a well known climbing perennial, whose blossoms are used for making yeast, and for preserving and imparting a flavor to small beer. ‘They made their way into Eug- 102 FIELD land about 1525, and as the Reformation was then in progress, the following doggerel re- sulted; “* Hops and heresy, pickerel, and beer, Were brought to England in one year.” This crop is more uncertain than any other production, and consequently the prices are very fluctuating. When there is a scarcity, speculators seize upon it and hold up the price to the highest point at which the crop can be sold, and when there is a full crop, the prices sink lower than they should because the crop can not be kept long without great loss in its value—the peculiar aroma passing off. The foreign demand is also irregular, affecting prices in this country. The following is a table of the annual range of prices since 1850: to 40 2 10 46 5 to é to 4 to 4 to Sto 1s h to 25 Soil.—The hop plant delights in a rich loam, or caleareous sand, and when these are situated on a ealeareous bed, the plants will continue to flourish for many years, but otherwise ten or twelve years is about the limit of their contin- uance in perfection. Under favorable circum- stances, the roots of the hop plant extend, in some instances, toa depth of eight or ten feet. The plant is usually raised from root-cuttings, in the Spring, as the seed tends to produce new and unreliable varieties, like the seeds of fruit. Site for a Hop-Yard.—In the selection of a site for a hop-yard, it is best to avoid low and wet localities, and to select some spot where the circulation of the air is good, and where no water stands upon the ground at any season of the year. The hop in such localities “fills” much better, and is less liable to blight and mildew, or to suffer from attacks of vermin. As the vines grow very dense, however, and present a good deal of surface to the wind, it is possible to select a location too much exposed. For convenience in harvesting and curing, it is desirable to have the hop-yard as near the farm house as possible, Planting.—The ground should be prepared thoroughly, in about the same manner as for corn, and well pulverized. The hills should not be less than eight or nine feet apart in all directions, making six hundred and | CROPS. dred and forty hills are commonly reckonea, a vacant space on either side Jeft for turning the team being required. Asthe yard mce planted lasts for years, great pains should be taken to make the hills at a uniform distance, so as to be in a perfect line in each direction. A long line should be used in locating the hills, and the spaces between them accurately measured. Early Spring planting is advisable, as it ad- mits of the plant growing beyond the harm of the cut-worm, and it will better withstand the early droughts, and perhaps yield a hand- some profit the first season. Early Fall plant- ing, with some cultivation and light manuring, will yield half a crop the following season. November is an excellent time for planting, but one or two shovelfulls of manure are re- quired to the hill to protect the roots in winter. The following is perhaps the best method of laying out a hop-yard, methodically: A wire or rope (a wire is preferable as it will not stretch) with a piece of red yarn attached to it every eight feet, and a sharpened stake attached °|to each end to manage it by, is stretehed across the end of the piece. A manat each end carries the wire forward, and stops long enough at each stake to straighten it and give time for one or two boys with baskets of pins (eighteen inches long) to pass along and place a pin at each yarn. Where the hills have been located the earth should be removed from about a foot square, and the place filled with carefully pul- verized soil. In this, place three roots, the “eyes” up. The soil should be tramped gently around them, and they should then be covered to the depth of about two inches. Male and Female Plants—The sexes of the hop plant are not united in the same plant, but sonie are male and others female—the staminate and the pistillate. Since the sexual relations of the strawberry plants has been so thoroughly discussed in the United States, the importance of having some male piants in the hop-grounds will be generally admitted. The male flower erows in a loose panicle, while the female flower is compact, like the cone of the pine tree. The former bears no fruit, but is still necessary to render the other vines fruitful, and is not to be omitted from any well-regulated hop-yard. There should be at least one mule plant to fifty female—every seventh hill of every seventh row—in order that the female plant may be vitalized by the winged pollen. A permanent stake should be driven in all the male hills, to distinguish them from the others. eighty hills to the acre, though only six hun- | In ordering hop-roots for a new yard, which HOPS—POLING—CULTIVATION—PICKING,. can be done from any old hop-grower any- where, and the roots sent in barrels by express, they will be cut up in pieces of the required length, and the male roots put up in a small package, to designate them from the others. Poling-—Each hill should have two poles, from fourteen to eighteen feet in length, and two to three-and-a-half inches in diameter at the butt. They should be set firmly in the ground, about a foot from the roots, and their tops inclined away from each other. ming them, the knots should not be shaved off too closely, or the vines, when they become heavy, will slip down. In some localities, where young timber suitable for poles can not be obtained, sawed poles are used, sawed to a taper and nails driven ina few feet apart, to In trim- support the vines when they become heavy. A crowbar will be used in setting them. It is scarcely necessary to pole the yard the first season; but it is better. Some farmers, in sparsely timbered neigh- borhoods, instead of using the long poles, use stakes eight feet high, connected with twine or wire across the top, like an arbor. The supe- riority of this method over the poles is very doubtful. Cultivation —The cultivation of hops the first season, is confined almost exclusively to keeping them free from weeds. They will yield a light crop the first season, but scarcely enough to pay for looking after, unless prices should be high. During this year of immatu- rity, corn or potatoes, or what is better, alter- nate rows of corn and potatoes and beans, which let in more air and sunshine, can be planted between the hills, and cultivated in the usual manner. Late in the Fall, when the frost has killed the vine, it should be cut off close to fhe ground, and the hill covered with two or three forks full of “long” manure, or mulched well with straw, to prevent the vines being killed by the intense cold of Winter. This mulching must be followed up each Win- ter, during the life of the yard. Next Spring, the vine will put forth vigorous- ly. Inashort time it will have grown to be eight or ten inches high; then commences the work of tying up. ew S S 25 S ec 6 = = Sz5 ie ieee neg ~ +3 Ane A OS ee < + ee o 90 © wxB~c0 om 10> Za a ' a > 2 A i 5, ee) id Zz m qd = 3 Hof 2 ee + a | BESS g as i ies a, mos 2 a Rin aeads! 5 os BS B38 x os 2s mn as ao = g go oe } es a s n ot 2 = 5 a ° z = 5 I Ea ce] 2 © = fae bo | be ee = a A a cue —a ow cream or B23 = = A farmer in Michigan recently wrote thus to The Prairie Farmer: “ Having fitted a piece of sward, and planted about one-third of an acre in the usnal way, with eut seed, three pieces to the hill, I selected good-sized potatoes, cut off the seed-end, about one-fourth of the potato, and planted a row of the butt-ends, and another of the seed-ends; planted one row with whole ones of the same size, one toa hill; then one row of small ones, of the size of a hickory nut, three to a hill, with stakes to mark all the rows. Having dug the portion planted in the usual way with a yield of one bushel to twenty-two hills, I dug the row of butt-ends, yielding one bushel to fifteen hills, all large cooking pota- toes, and no small ones; then the row of whole potatoes, seventeen hills for a bushel, some small ones; next the row planted with seed- ends from large potatoes, twenty-eight hills to a bushel, some large ones; and last, the row 118 FIELD planted with small seed, thir‘y-four hills yield- ing a bushel, all small ones. The rows were three feet apart, and the hills two and a half feet apart.” These experiments would seem satisfactory in their uniform verdict against small potatoes for seed, Tompson says, in the English Gar- diner’s Assistunt: ‘Large tubers are prefera- ble for seed, for the following reasons: In all plants, large buds tend to produce large shoots, and small or weak buds, the reverse. Now, the eyes of potatoes are true buds, and in small tubers they are comparatively weak; they consequently produce weak shoots, and the crop from such is inferior to that obtained from plants originating from larger tubers, fur- nished with stronger eyes.” But the results above recorded appear incon- clusive as deciding the question between whole potatoes and cuts, and between many and few eyes; though the tendency of the testimony favors cuts, from fair, good-sized potatoes. “The practice of cutting to three or four eyes, or to a single eye, must depend on circumstan- ces. For ordinary management, or where the finest culture and best care can not be given, pieces with three or four eyes may be planted, twelve to twenty inches apart in the row. This is the mode now most, generally adopted by the better class of cultivators. But if the soil is in the finest condition, a larger crop, with more uniformly large potatoes, may be ob- tained by adopting the single-eye mode. For this purpose the tubers should be of fair size, and be cut some days before planting, so as to form a thin dry crust on the cut surtace before depositing in the ground. Some cultivators regard it as important to roll the pieces in slaked lime or plaster, while others entirely dis- regard it. Weare unable to say what amount of value’the practice possesses. The distance should not exceed eight or ten inches in the row, but may vary with the character of the variety, for spreading at the top and at the roots—some varieties forming more compact masses of tubers than others.” Selection and care of Seed-Potatoes.—The best time, suggests the Agriculturist, to select seed- potatoes, is when they are dug. As soon as they are brought to the surface and lie spread on the ground, the best can be selected with less difficulty than at any other time. Those that are perfectly matured, and of good shape, haying the marked characteristics of the vari- ety, and good average size, should “be selected for seed, in preference to those of any other CROPS. qualities. They should then be placed in box- es or barrels, and kept where they will not be injured by freezing or by warmth. If seed-po- tatoes are saved in this manner for a few years in succession, we have no doubt a decided im- provement will be observed in the yield per acre, as well as in the quality of the crops. And we think this practice will also be found an effectual security against small ones, and a good defence against the rot. When potatoes first come from the ground, the skins haye a clearness, which they soon lose. | Testing Potatoes for Seed—The heaviest po- tatoes contain the most starch and are, on that account, nutritious and -valuable. As new varieties of seedlings are very desirable to keep up the vigor of the plant and avoid disease, and are, of late frequently offered to the public, it is well to know of a convenient and accurate method of testing their respective qualities. The potato will sink in pure water, To test the relative qualities of different kinds, put a piece in a definite quantity of water and add salt by weight until the’ potato will float. The potato which requires the greatest quantity of salt to float it in the water is the best. Cultivating.—As soon as the tops make their appearance generally above ground, go through with the horse cultivator, and repeat two or three times during the season, according to the condition of the field. Going through after a rain and pulling all the weeds carefully, will obviate the necessity of hand-hoeing, which is so expensive with large cultivators. The last dressing should be sometime previous to blos- soming, and the ridges be but slightly raised. In cultivating, the soil will work into the furrows and somewhat deepen the covering. The young tubers will form and grow without disturbance. If the earth is now hilled much, new and late tubers will form higher or above the first, producing too many, and irregular in size. The best way is to leave the soil nearly flat until the middle or latter part of Summer, when the potatoes begin to assume considera- ble size, and to protrude toward the surface. Now is the time for hilling, which is, in effect, nothing more than mulching the roots to pro- tect them from light, and to prevent them from becoming green. A small quantity of soil be- ing sufficient for a mulch; the old Indian plan of drawing the earth up into great mounds is passing away. Harvesting.—The crop shonld be harvested’ as soon as ripe, not left in the ground through the Fall rains, for this practice is often produc- most POTATOES—STORING. tive of rot. Potatoes are ripe when the tops have died down, and gan be pulled without bringing many, if any, tubers with them. the skin does not peel readily when rubbed with the thumb, the potato is ripe. The dig- ging on a small scale is best done with a potato hook; ona larger by a plow; and dry ‘weather should, if possible, be selected for the operation. Potatoes should not be permitted to lie in the sun and wind, but should be gath- If | ] ered at once, on the same day, and carried) . . . | under cover, with as much soil as will adhere | to them. They may then be carefully spread, if they are wet or muddy, and dried, previous to being binned. Storing.— Farmers, even the best farmers, have different favorite methods of preserving potatoes. indispensable conditions : 1, Potatoes should be kept dry; 2, they should be kept from the light; 8, they should be kept as cool as possi- ble, without the danger of freezing; 4, they should be well ventilated; 5, they should be handled as carefully as fruit, for bruises invite disease. By disregarding these simple requirements, more than one-fourth of the entire potato crop of the country is sacrificed every year mense and a needless loss. If potatoes are stored in cellar-bins, the cel- lar should be kept at a uniform temperature of 40° to 45°—and the fact that most cellars are much warmer than this in Autumn, and sometimes considerably colder in Winter, tends to make general cellar storage unadvisable. Bins should never be more than two or thrée feet deep, and should be elevated a few inches from the ground, to admit of complete ventila- tion. A correspondent of the Scientific American earnestly recommends the following method, having been enabled by it to keep potatoes for an im- years with complete success, though in some in- stances the tubers were diseased when taken out of the ground; “ Dust over the floor of the bin with lime and put in about six or seven inches deep of potatoes, then dust with lime as before. Put in six or seven inches of potatoes, and lime again; repeat the operation until all are stored away. One bushel of lime will do for forty bushels of potatoes, though more will not hurt them, the lime rather improving the flavor than otherwise.” The tendency of potatoes to sprout in the early Spring is reported to be prevented in Scotland, and by so doing, their full edible qualities are preserved, and “mealy ”’ potatoes All agree, howeyer, upon certain} 119 can be had all Summer from the previous year’s growth. The experiment costs but little, and is worthy,of being tested by every one who doubts its efficacy. “Obtain from a druggist one ounce of liquor of ammonia (hartshorn) to a pint of water; let the potatoes be im- mersed jn a mixture of this proportion four or five days; dry them. Their substance is thus consolidated, and much of their moisture extracted without’the slightest injury for all table qualities, but their vegetative power is forever destroyed. If spread out after immer- sion so as to be well dried, they will keep good for ten months.” Storage by burying out of doors has been much practiced of late, and tends to supersede the old plan of cellaring for potatoes that are to be kept over until Spring. It isa little more work, and the roots are less accessible, but it secures to them more uniform darkness and dryness, and an eyvener temperature, and so, better average preservation. For “holing out” select a high dry spot, thoroughly drained, and on its summit scoop out a circular earthen saucer, say four to eight feet in diameter, and eight to ten inches below the surface, and lay around the outside a ring or wreath of clean, bright straw, to keep the Then pile up a potatoe pyramid, leaving the surface smooth and uni- form. Some farmers shovel over the heap first six or eight inches of fine dry loam—accord- ing to the climate—with a stratum of straw over that, but experiment indicates that the layers should be reyersed, bringing the course of straw next the heap. potatoes in place. Section or Poraro Heap. The Annual Register says: ‘‘We have found that by placing sixty or seventy bushels in a heap, covering with a foot of packed straw and three inches of earth, has been uniformly suc- cessful, not one per cent. generally being lost by keeping through Winter.” Ventilation is effected by fixing a chimney of straw through the earth at the top of the pile—projecting horizontally so as to prevent the introduction of water. From twenty up to a hundred bushels can be preserved in this way. They 120 FIELD should be taken out of the pit in early Spring and marketed or put into barrels, headed up and placed in a cool cellar, or ice room, where the temperature is low enough to keep them from sprouting. All other root crops may be kept in capital condition in the same manner, and the soundest, brightest cabbages we ever saw were cut from the stumps in November, piled up and coy- ered in that way, and came out the first week in May, not an unedible head among them. Plucking the Blossoms,—M. ZELLER, director of the Agricultural Society of Darmstadt, re- ported that in 1839, he planted two plots of ground with potatoes. When the plants had flowered the blossoms were removed from those in one field, while those in the other field were left untouched. The former produced four hundred and seventy-six pounds, the latter only thirty-seven pounds. Mr. Grawam, in England, tried a similar experiment, and re- ports that the difference of yield in favor of the rows from which he plucked the blossoms, was forty-three per cent. This testimony must be received with hesitation, and the experi- ment should be tried on a small scale. Raising Po atoes under Straw,—-Co~Man’s Rural World has the following: ‘On a recent trip in St. Clair county, Illinois, we saw hun- dreds of acres of land covered with straw. The ground had been plowed and harrowed, and marked off, and potatoes dropped, and then the whole surface covered about six inches deep with straw. The potatoes have no further atten- tion till digging time, when two or three hundred bushels per acre are obtained. The straw keeps the weeds down, and the soil cool and moist. The straw is raked away-in Autumn, and there lie the potatoes, white and clean. The straw potatoes bring the highest price in the market.” This method of planting has been tried largely, sometimes resulting in great success, and sometimes in failure—depending appar- ently on peculiarities of climate and soil. J. Cass, Sacramento county, California, writes: “For the last three years my potatoes have in- variably run to vines and set no potatoes. Last year I tried the covering with straw, and I had splendid potatoes; the ground kept moist ull Summer, and we could get a mess any time by rooting in the straw with our hands. I planted as follows: Old ground that was in assorted vegetables the year previous, was plowed in, and half potatoes, cut lengthwise, dropped fifteen inches apart, in every third furrow, and put about eight inches of old wheat CROPS: straw on them; it seemed to check the growth of vines and made the potatoes set.” 'Tan-bark, and forest leaves, have each been used with similar success. Yield—In former years, the average crop was rated at four hundred bushels an acre; at a later period, at two hundred bushels; at a recent period, at one hundred and fifty bushels; and, since the ravages of the rot, the average has been still further considerably reduced. General BurNnuM, of Vermont, many years ago, raised a thousand bushels of potatoes to the acre, but his plan involved laborious culture, and a frequent supply of rich, light compost, during the period of growth. The national statistician in his report for 1867, estimates the average yield of the potato crop at eighty- two bushels per acre. Florida gave the highest average, one hundred and forty-three bushels ; then Texas, one hundred and thirty; Vermont, one hundred and sixteen; Michigan, rinety- five; Some farmers still raise five hundred on an acre almost every year. Degeneracy of the Potato.—The frequency with which the potato fails to produce the expected harvest, seems to indicate that it ought not to be depended upon as the chief edible crop of any nation. Expevience has proved that there is a great tendency to deterioration in the po- tato when planted for a long time. Some of the older kinds, that were so productive and good when introduced, have degenerated to a very low scale. By continued planting they lose their robustness of growth and great yield- ing powers, and become feeble, and liable to be Masked by disease. Corn, beans, turnips, ete., can be improved by careful culture, while the potato is best near the time of its origin. Remedies have been sought to prevent the potato disease. New ground, ashes, ete., have been tried; but the best specific is doubtless the adoption of new, vigorous varieties. At the present time this remedy is most easy, owing to the great num- ber of seedlings produced by enterprising culti- vators. Indeed, every man may try new va- rieties, producing them from the seed of the ball. Renewal seems to be demanded by the potato, New blood serves it better than old. It is the most democratic of tubers. No aristocracies cain long exist in its domain. The “first fami- lies” dwindle and die out from year to year, and their place is taken by some red-faced par- venue that has no reliable ancestry whatever, but is sweet in flavor and sound in heart. It POTATOES—VARIETIES. is a fact now generally admitted, that persist- ence in the culture of any one potato for aterm of years, tends to rapid deterioration. The tubers obtained from the true seed will be small | |favorite for the table. the first season; the quality. Vanrizrins.—The sorts of potatoes that have been cultivated are quite innumerable; even of those which have in their time and home, proved to be of good quality. Weshall enumerate a few that have been more or less the second growth will suggest extensively grown: The Mercer, known also as the Nishannoek, (from the stream near which it originated), the Shannock, Chenango, and Philadelphia, was first grown fifty years ago in Mercer county, Penn- sylvania, by JouNn Gitkey. It was for twenty years much more largely cultivated than any other potato, and was esteemed for its early ripening, excellent quality, and reliable yield. But it rots badly, and its culture has been gen- erally discontinued, except on light, dry soils. The Carter, originated by Joun Carrer, in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, forty years ago, is unexcelled by any of the old varieties. It boils to mealiness, and has a delicate flavor, but it ripens late, is very liable to rot, and is now running out. The old Pinkeye family have done good ser- vice in their time. They were of fair quality, but they straggled much in the hill, and were of poor average yield. The Early June, a fine, large, smooth tuber, especially prized for its early growth; but this, too, is crowded to the wall by varieties of a more productive yield. The Prince Albert is an English seedling, ob- long, flat, white, smooth, and handsome, and generally prolific. It is of good average qual- ity; but has yielded to the rot and promises to be superseded, The Dykeman originated in Oneida county, New York; it is large, round, and white, yields well, and the fact that it is earlier than the Mercer has made it quite a favorite in the vi- cinity of large Eastern cities. In some soils it still does well, in others it degenerates rapidly. The Buckeye has been grown sometimes with remarkable success, especially iit Obio. It is a fine, large, white, round potato; matures early, and comes to the table mealy and de- licious. It is a little capricious. but often returns a heavy yield, and is said to be less affected by the rot than most other kinds. early use an excellent variety. For The Peachblow was originated by CALEB! ‘of the rotation of potatoes. SHEPARD, of New York, in 1850, and it has done excellent service in the course Saratoga, It isstill much cul- tivated, especially at the West, and is a general It is of a color that sug- gests the name, but its flesh is white and deli- cious. The yieldis good. Its habit is to ripen late, and this makes it less liable to rot. The White Peachblow was produced trom the pit of the Peachblow, and now holds its place as one of the best known varieties. It is hardy, pro- duces remarkably well, keeps admirably, and takes the lead in the New York market in the Spring. Peachblows require to be planted early, and they will then be the very last to ripen. The vines grow rank, and they will not bear crowding. The tubers run a great deal in the hill, which makes the digging slower and more laborious than any other variety. The Shepard Reds were introduced, by the same gentleman; they area good potato, much prized in some localities. The Jenny Lind; strong and vigorous ; and irregular; in color red and white; coarse in flesh, and not very good for the table. It keeps well, and seems {reer from disease than most potatoes that are of better quality. There are also the Dover, small, red, and of good quality; the Davis, large, productive, and hardy, farinaceous, and excellent for the table, but little known out of New England; Jackson White or Orono (nearly or quite identical), white, large, round, fair, tender, and a heavy yielder—an offspring of the Carter; the St. Helena and California, both immense yielders, large one coarse and soggy, and the other coarse, strong, and watery, equally unfit for the table, and of doubtful value for stock; the Rohan, fa- mous in history and infamous for the table; the Keeper Blue, a Western variety, large, round, and excellent for the table—its meat white and ten- der, its coata dark blue; the Black Mercers, Scotch Grays, English Whites, and other well- known varieties, cultivated, most of them, all through the last generation. The right to the field is being contested By newer varieties. Many of these seem more vigorous than the old sorts now are } less sus- ceptible to disease, and more productive, If this shall prove to be as it seems, we shall have a clue to the whole mischief; the degeneracy may be checked, and the potato may be restored to the health and productiveness of its ancient days. South American.—These potatoes are some- times called the Hurly Peachblow, and were transplanted some years ago from South Amer- 122 . FIELD ica, to Columbus, Ohio, whence they have spread. G.S. Lynts says:* “They are stronger growers, have larger tops, and yield more abun- dantly than the Peachblow. We have yet to see the first rotten oné or unsound one—that is to say, one with the potato disease or hollow- hearted.” Among the recent varieties which attract general attention are a half dozen seedlings propagated by the late Rev. Caauncey E. GoopricH, Chaplain of the Lunatic Asylum at Utica, New York, who spent sixteen years ex- perimenting, and who finally selected and dis- seminated these as the best out of some thousand new varieties. The Early Goodrich is the best known of these. It is very early and large, with a white skin, smooth eyes, white flesh, of fair but not the very best quality, sound and solid to the core, keeps well and yields abundantly—on good, rich soil, 300 bushels to the acre. The testimony is al- most unanimous affirming the very heavy yield of the Early Goodrich during the last three years. A farmer planted, May 6, on a turned sward—three small cuts in a hill—and thus gives the result: “I dug a few hills August 14, when they were fully ripe. The crop was har- vested September 4th, and proved the finest and largest Iever grew. I weighed many hills that produced 11 pounds each, or five and a half hills to the bushel. Nearly half gave 9 pounds each, or less than seven hills to the bushel— many of the tubers weighing overa pound. In quality they are nearly if not quite equal to the Carter, ‘the ne plus ultra of potatoes.’ In ordi- nary field culture they matured earlier and produced less—about 350 bushels to the acre. They are of medium size, with few small ones.” Another gathered more than seven bushels from seven pounds planted ; another more than a bushel from a single potato. The Goodrich seems to be one of the very earliest of potatoes, boiling dry two weeks be- fore the White Sprout, and yielding more. L. M. Brown, of Woodbury, Iowa, writes that he raised the Early Goodrich at the rate of over five hundred bushels to the acre, and that they were “in quality superior to any early potato with which we are acquainted.” The extraor- dinary yield of this potato was maintained throngh 1869, though accompanied, some thought, with a tendency to degenerate in quality. The Harison is another famous potato of the *In an Essay on the Potato in Ohio Agricultural Rep, for 1806, CROPS: Goodrich seedlings, maturing rather late. It is long, large, and smooth, with full eyes, white skin and flesh, sound and healthy, an admirable keeper, of the best quality for the table, and very productive. The average yield on good, rich soil, well cultivated, is three or four hun- dred bushels to the acre, Its pre-eminence is mainly attributable to the fact that it is a first class table potato. C. R. Cureman, of Dane county, Wisconsin, writes: “I procured four pounds of the Harison potatoes, planted them on one and one half rods of ground, putting one eye ina hill; hoed them twice, and dug eight bushels of good sound potatoes, which is at the rate of eight hundred and fifty-three and one- third bushels per acre.” ; The Gleason is much esteemed among the new varieties. It is a handsome red potato; rough skin; small proportion of undersized tubers; luxuriant vines; grows till frost, ma- turing late; generally very free from rot, and good for the table. Is quite prolific, yielding three hundred to six hundred bushels to the acre, with proper culture. : The Cuzco is another of these seedlings. A farmer says of it: ‘This will be classed as a late variety—is the most productive kind grown so far. The produce, with the little at- tention received, exceeds four hundred and fifty bushels per acre. White, irregular, and un- promising in appearance, with some show of the disease; but the yield is so heavy it can not fail to be in demand fora market variety where quantity is the object to be obtained.” The Cul- tivator says: “The Cuzco has yielded on the grounds of the writer at the rate of five hun- dred and twenty bushels per acre—and there was but one objection to this sort, namely, that the potatoes were not good for anything.” The Garnet Chili has been widely introduved, and is a good hardy sort of excellent quality, It perhaps averages better for the table than any other of the Goodrich seedlings, and this may be the result of the fact that it produces rather less. It has a rongh red skin, and is hardy and little liable to disease. The Calico is a seedling of the Garnet Chili, which it fully equals in productiveness and hardiness. In shape it resembles the Prince Albert; being white, smooth, and handsome, with splashes of pink. Very good for the table. A correspondent says: “I have raised the last two years, a potato called the Early Main, said to be a seedling from Mr. Goopricu’s stock, which I think very highly of. It is 4 POTATOES—EXVERIMENTS IN PLANTING. kidney potato, with scarcely perceptible eyes— a good yielder when properly cultivated, quite as early as the Early Goodrich, and for table use unexcelled by any potato now cultivated ; white, mealy, and of the flavor of roasted chest- nuts. For baking, I prefer it to any potato I know of, early or late.” The Coppermine is represented as being “early enough fur an early market variety, a first-class table potato, light red, very smooth and regu- lar, not very productive as classed with other of the Goodrich seedlings, but has yielded two hundred and fifty bushels from one acre.” The Early Rose potato was presented two or three years ago as a candidate for the public ‘ preference, and it has succeeded in attracting | much attention and winning many advocates. It is a seedling of the Garnet Chili, and was originated in 1861 by ALBERT BRAZEE, an intel- ligent Vermont farmer. It ts claimed to be the earliest variety known, and the most productive. Its general character is stated thus by the New York Sun: “ Very early and large; skin smooth, of a pale rose-color, almost white when fully matured; the eyes prominent, not deeply sunken as in many of the older varieties ; form long, oval, slightly compressed; flesh snow- white, and very dry and mealy, without any strong flavor as found in some of the large late varieties; it is also very productive, and the tubers keep well and retain their good qualities until Spring.” During 1867 and 1868, these potatoes were in demand at ten to fifty dol- lars a bushel, and were widely disseminated. The testimony in their fayor was voluminous. N. Ricwarr writes from Columbia county, Pennsylvania, “I bonght last Spring one pound of “Early Rose” which I planted May 6th and dug August 6th. After drying them four days I weighed them, and had one hundred and one pounds of the finest potatoes I ever raised, sev- eral of them weighing over one pound each.” G, and §. Boanr, nurserymen of Norwalk, Ohio, testify to the following astonishing yield: “We bought one pound of “ Early Rose” po- tatoes last Spring and have just dug the crop from one-half of them, and we have (by meas- ure) four and three-fourths bushels. We do not think the other half will do quite as well, but we are confident we shall get three bushels from it, making seven and one-third bushels or four hundred and forty pounds from one of seed.” It is said that marketable potatoes of this variety can be grown in sixty days. Our readers will, of course, make some allowance for reports of extraordinary results, and proceed carefully in 123 experiments based thereon. There is one great agricultural truth that farmers should’ under- stand, viz.: that different conditions in growing potatoes, in many instances, produce very dif- ferent results. The influence of soil and cli- mate and seasons, whether wet or dry, cold or hot; is great, and varieties that may yield abun- dantly and be of superior quality in one loeal- ity, often prove unproductive and almost worth- less in another, Unless the statements concerning the Early Rose are greatly exaggerated, and there is a | wide-spread conspiracy to misrepresent in the interest of the propagators, which seems im- possible, the potato is worthy of general ac- ceptance wherever soil and climate are adapted to its growth. J. Larurop, jr., of Centerville, Lake Su- |perior, writes: “On the 29th of last May I ‘planted one-half peck each of the Early Good- lrich, Harison, Gleason, and Calico potatoes. |My land was new and just cleared, stumps all | I cut them the same as I cut all my green. | potatoes, only a little smaller, planted three /pieces in a hill; each lot was planted on about |five rods of ground (a trifle less). The Early Goodrich were ripe and tops all dead in Au- gust. I dug them September 20th, before which time they had been killed by an early jfrost. The Calicoes were in full bloom, and }some blossoms still on the Harison when the frost struck them : Seep PLANTED. | 46 peck Early Good- rich. : ck Harisor J. V. VAN Wyck reports the result of an experiment to ascertain the best variety of po- tato, and the best method of planting. The following table shows the yield of each variety by each method, per acre: Gleason Common White Peachblow . Garnet... Jackson Dykeman 124 “Those planted deepest, came up last, but looked better throughout the season than the others. They were all plowed five times and hoed once, the Jabor of cultivating being the same on each patch. The labor of digging Number 1, was somewhat the greatest, as the potatoes were nearly a foot beneath the surface. ‘The season was very wet, so that the yield was small. Had it been dry, I think there would have been a much lar- ger difference in favor of those deeply plant- ed. None rotted except a few of the Jackson Whites. “The average of the whole was but sixty-six bushels per acre—a very small yield; still, my object, to a certain extent, has been gained, and the lesson is as valuable as if learned from a yield of two hundred bushels per acre.” Dr. F. M. HeExAmer, of New York, recently read a paper before the Fruit Grower’s Club, from which the following is an extract: “Had I to make a selection of six varieties to plant for early marketing, I would choose, for early: “ Barly Rose, because it is the earliest and best early variety. “ Early Goodrich, which, although it has not succeeded well in the last wet season, is, when grown under favorable conditions, of excellent quality, of good size, shape, and color, produc- tive and free from disease, For medium or main crops: “ Harison, because it is the most productive and most profitable table potato in existence, of white skin and flesh, large size, fair quality, and entirely free from disease. “ Lapstone Kidney, for its beautiful shape and appearance. It succeeds in soils where the Prince Albert has failed. It is an excellent baking potato, and by many preferred to any other. For late: “ White Peachblow, because it is, when ma- tured, the most sought for potato in market, unequalled by any other variety for its meali- ness. The growing of the White Peachblow has made many a farmer rich, and favorable seasons will no doubt improve it again, as they have improved other varieties. “ Gleason—For its hardiness. It is a surer crop than any other potato. Be the season wet or dry, bethe land manured with fresh manure or old, or none at all used, the Gleason is cer- tain to grow, if it is planted early enough and well cultivated. Its quality is not first rate when dug, but it improves by keeping and is FIELD CROPS: quite acceptable if kept till April, when some other varieties are no longer fit for table.” The Potato Fever.—Beware of the potato fever. It is during some years and in some districts, more malignant than the potato rot. It affects the dealers more than the tubers, and generally breaks out in the eye—of the former. Printer’s ink aggravates the infection. It soon makes its way to the pocket. The symptoms are indicated in the following extract from a newspaper: “Sixteen potatoes brought $825, twelve potatoes brought $615, one brought $50, and one was traded for a good cow, valued at $60.” Another paper tells of a man in Vermont who “bought one eye of a potato, and raised from it, this season, po- tatoes that he has sold for $750, and has three left. Eight were bought by one man for $400.” We trust there is nothing in these pages cal- culated to spread this contagion. It is quite similar, in its general characteristics, to the tulip disease, which prevailed in Holland in the early part of the seventeenth century, spreading over the whole kingdom, affecting the inhabitants far more than the precious bulbs. While this disease was at its height, one person was known to invest his whole fortune, 100,000 florins (about $50,000) in the purchase of forty roots. A writer of that period gave the following inventory of articles that could be bought for one tulip root: ‘“‘Two casks of wheat, four casks of rye, four fat oxen, eight fat swine, twelve fat sheep, two hogsheads of- wine, four tons of beer, two tons of butter, one thousand pounds of cheese, a complete bed, a suit of clothes, and a silver drinking-cup—the whole valued at 2,500 florins.” This fever comes in the shape of a mild financial insanity; the infected never know they have caught it. It breaks out in a virulent form about once in thirty years; seizing, at each re-appearance, some new plant. The Morus Multicaulis was its last idol; then fools rushed from town to town offering thousands of dollars for worthless bundles of twigs. Beware of the fatal virus; once absorbed, there is no known remedy but “bleeding.” The Potato Rot.—The disease, in the form of rot, which sweeps off most of the potato crop every few years, would seem, as already intimated, to be an admonition to warn us that no nation ought to rely upon the potato for the THE POTATO ROT. principal food of its people. No certain remedy is yet developed; indeed, it is not positively known what causes the rot. One variety of rot, says the Scientific American, has been found by ALEXANDER HeENpDeERSON, of Buffalo, New York, to originate in the depredations of a bug. “Tf a tuber be examined with a microscope just before planting, on it may be seen a small, yel- lowish, translucent, oval object, secured, as is common with insects’ eggs, by a gummy sub- stance, to the potato. This will produce un- sound potatoes, and the egg is that of the Phy- tocoris. When the tuber is planted at the ordi- nary depth, this egg hatches, but if the potato is planted deep, the egg is killed, and therefore, deep planting is one remedy, because air and light are prevented from coming to the delicate egg. After a sufficient amount of warmth.and moisture has been obtained by the egg, the shortest time that has yet been observed being six days, the shell opens along its greater axis, and out comes the small insect, without wings, from about the twentieth to a twelfth of an inch long. It has six perfect legs, two antenne, a proboscis, and a pair of brilliant black eyes. The proboscis is about two-thirds of its body in length, and one-third of its length from the head is thick, seen coiled upon itself, and the remainder is flexible and needle-like. It con- tains three tubes, through one of which it sucks up the juice of the plant for its nutriment; through another it probably ejects a poison into the plant, and through the other it may perform part of its respiration.” Mr. Henprr- son’s remedies for this rot, which he declares to be the most prevalent kind, are: 1, Killing the egg by sprinkling quicklime on the seed- potatoes; and, 2, preventing its development by deep planting. The effects of all rot will generally be reduced by observing the following simple rules: 1, Select dry ground, or drain thoroughly; 2, plow deep; 3, do not apply barn-yard or any unfer- mented manure; 4, secure new or other vigor- ous varieties; 5, plant early and cover well; 6, keep the ground clean; 7, dig as soon as ripe; and 8, sprinkle air-slaked lime over them in the bin or heap. The Agriculturist gives as ‘‘an infallible rem- edy :” “When you drop the seed, put one pint of slaked lime on it, in each hill, and then cover.” All antiputrescents, such as lime, wood ashes, pulverized charcoal, piaster, salt, nitrogen, ete., are believed to contribute di- rectly to the health of the potato, as well as to 125 |add to its richness and flavor, and of course to prevent putrefaction and disease. Renewing the seed from the ball of healthy vigorous plants every few years, even resorting to the native place in South America, and taking the seed from the wild potato, is considered important. Planting on old sod has also some- times been a complete preventive. In an essay read before the New York Farm- ers’ Club, by JAMES WARREN, of Monroe, Towa, potato rot is largely attributed to care- lessness in farmers in selecting their seed, it being claimed that seed-potatoes should only be selected from such hills as produce fully ripened potato-balls. This will check the tendency to rot; whereas vitiated seed will naturally be followed by immature and diseased progeny. Cutting potatoes to plant, is thought by many to promote disease, by impairing the vitality of the seed. Dr. Kuiorzscu, a distinguished botanist of Berlin, proposed to strengthen the roots by pinching off the extreme points of the tops for half an inch, after they have attained a height of six to nine inches. ‘‘The consequences of this check to the development of the stems and branches, is a stimulus to the nutrient center in the plant in the direction of the resource both of roots and the multiplication of the branches of the stem above ground, which not only favors the power of the root, but also strengthens the leaves and stalks to such a degree that the mat- ters prepared by the physiological action of these parts are increased and applied to the formation of tubers, while at the same time the direct action of thesun’s rays on the soil is pre- vented by the thick foliage, and thus the drying up of the soil and its injurious consequences are avoided.” The doctor made experiments on his theory, and the pruned plants were readily distinguished in their subsequent growth from the plants beside them, by more numerous branches, larger and darker foliage, and by a greater and better yield. “Tn the end of August, the difference be- tween the rows treated by me, and those not treated, became so striking that it astonished all the work people of the neighborhood, who were never tired of inquiring the cause. The stocks of the rows left to themselves were all now partly dried, partly dead, On the contra- ry, the rows treated as above were luxuriant and in full vigor, the plants bushy, the foliage thick, the leaves large and green, so that most people supposed that they had been later planted.” 126 FIELD The Legislature of Massachusetts, a few years since, offered a prize of ten thousand dollars to any one who should satisfy the governor and council that, by a test of at least five successive years, he had discovered 4 sure remedy for the potato rot. Many communications were re- ceived, but none fulfilled the conditions of the offer. There is, probably, no specific infallible remedy. Hon. AmAsA WALKER, Secretary of State of Massachusetts, published an abstract of the rec- ommendations, which we have already fur- nished to the reader in these pages. Mr. WALKER closed with the following deductions: “The general conclusions to which the facts presented in these various communications seem to lead us, are: “J. That the disease has a striking resem- blance to the cholera, and probably exists in the atmosphere. “2. That it is doubtful whether any specific cure has been, or ever will be discovered; but, “3. As in cholera, certain preventives are well ascertained, by the application of which, the liabilities to disease may be greatly less- ened. “4. That by obtaining the soundest seed, planting in the most favorable soils, and by using the most suitable manures, we may have a good degree of confidence in the successful cultivation of this useful vegetable. “5. That we may expect, that like the cholera, the potato rot will become less and less formidable from year to year, and event- ually subside into a mild and manageable epi- demic, if that term may be used in such a con- nection.” The Sweet Potato.—Is grown very largely. as the principal esculent throughout the Southern States. Two hundred and fifty. bushels to the acre is a large yield, under favor- able conditions. Its culture is somewhat pros- ecuted in the Central States, but when raised north of thirty-nine degrees, its growth must be much forced, and it generally lacks the peculiar flavor of the root in its native soil. Still, it will continue to be somewhat grown as an exotic. We will designate the method of its general culture : Sprouting—In March or April, in the Mid- dle States, and earlier at the South, put the potatoes in a hot-bed. If they are large, split them lengthwise, laying the flat side down. They may be placed so near as almost to touch each other; then cover about two inches deep CROPS: with a light, rich compost made of fine sand, manure, and good soil, or leaf-mold from the woods. When the sprouts push above the ground add an inch or so of the compost, Water occasionally with warm water; keep the bed warm at night, and on warm days give them air and sunshine to render them hardy. When ready to set, the sprouts may be pulled off, or the potato may be lifted out and the best plants selected and the potato returned to the hot-bed. A bushel of seed will produce from three to five thousand plants, and every thou- sand. plants which are set should produce forty bushels of potatoes. Planting. — A warm, sandy loam is_ best adapted to the culture. Mark spaces three feet apart, merely scratching the ground for the rows, which should run north and south. On the marks spread barn-yard manure with a fork; then turn up the earth with a plow, from each side, toward the manure, and form a ridge about ten inches high, and finish the ridge with a rake. The base of the ridge, which should be a foot in width, should not be disturbed by the plow. The top. of the ridge, when finished, should be flat and three or four inches in width. Plants should be set as soon as all danger from frost is passed. Planting on Sod.—Sweet potatoes will grow more chubby when planted on sod than when planted in any other way. Strips of sod eight or ten inches wide may be laid in line on the surface of the ground with the grass side up, manure strewed on them, and the earth turned up on each side so as to form a ridge, as di- rected above; or a piece of pasture or meadow may be selected, and the turf used as the base of the ridge to be formed by the plow. In either case, manure, or rich compost should be used; for, unlike Irish potatoes, these are not injured, but greatly benefited by manure. Setting the Plants——A marker should be used to prick off the spaces for the plants, sixteen inches apart. A boy is then able to drop the plants in the right places, and the hole is made for setting them. The plants should then be put in the ground, down to the first leaf. Let one boy drop the plants, another pour from a water-pot, with the rose off, sufficient water to float the rootlets, and immediately fill up with mellow earth. One can water for three to set. Care should be taken to set the plants when the ground is moist, and, if possible, on a cloudy day. After-Treatment.—Keep the weeds subdued. Use a hoe or rake, raking upward toward the SWEET POTATOES—PUMPKINS AND SQUASHES. plants. Where the plants run down the ridges, lift, and lay them on the top. Do this several times during the season, in order to permit the sun to act upon the ground. The sweet potato is not afraid of heat. After every rain, break up the crust of soil in contact with the plants; do this rapidly with both hands—clasping, raising, and pressing the earth on the tips of the hills. It answers all the purposes of a reg- ular hoeing, breaking up the ant holes and giving health to the young plant. Gathering and Preserving.—For early use, feel in the ridges and nip from the stem those that are fit for use, leaving the others to grow. For Winter use, after the first frost, select a dry, clear day. Cut the vines with a scythe, leaving the stem to which the potatoes are attached three or four inches long, to lift them by. The vines are readily eaten by cattle. Use a fork for raising the potatoes; lift them by the stem and lay them on the ridge to dry. Ina few hours they will be ready to pack. Prepare plenty of dry, cut straw (old straw is prefer- able), and take straw and barrels, or boxes to the field. Select the best potatoes, handling them carefully, without bruising them. Put a layer of straw at the bottom of the barrel, and then alternate layers of potatoes and straw until it is filled. The potatoes should be placed close to each other, one at a time, and handled as carefully as eggs. The barrels are then to be moved to a dry room or cellar, where there will be no frost. If they are placed in a cellar they must be raised from the floor, and must not touch the wall. Keeping cool and dry is the secret of their preservation. They will keep six or eight months, and improve in quality if subjected to a low equable temperature; but the difficulty of keeping them over Winter, much discourages their cultivation in the Northern States. A very good plan is practised by Dr. PHILLIPS, of Mississippi, first, by laying down a bed of cornstalks several inches thick, which serves as an underdrain and ventilator, leading from the sides to the one in the center. The outside, he also covers with cornstalks and a very little earth, and the whole protected with _atemporary roof. It isa very cheap, and with him, an effective way of preserving this most valuable edible root for all the southern por- tion of the United States. Mr. DeELAIGur, of Augusta, Georgia, raises from 3,000 to 5,000 bushels of sweet potatoes every year. A com- mon crop with him is 300 bushels per acre. His method of preserving them is in an im- 9 - 127 mense root-house, made of bricks, partly below the surface, in which the roots are stored with pine straw, which is one of the best absorbents of moisture he could use, and serves to keep the potatoes free from the dampness so natural to them. Pumpkins and Squashes.—Species of the genus gourd, and indigenous to both hemispheres. ‘There varying in the shape and color of their fruit, as are numerous varieties, the globular, oval, pear-shaped, crooknecked, green, striped, yellow, marbled, ete. Within the memory of the middle-aged, the number of sorts has greatly multiplied. Many of us can remember the time when there were but two or three varieties; when the kitchens of our |grandmothers and great grandmothers were ornamented with long rows of pumpkin, cut spirally, in narrow strips, and hung on harness rods of the old family loom, which found a place, if not in the front room, at least in some room, at times, in nearly all comfortable farmers’ families, overhead to dry for domes- tic use, in making pies, brewing, etc.; then from the well-ripened fruit the old-fashioned pump- kin pie was made, to be passed around with good apple cider, at husking frolics, annually. In those times no known sort of this vegeta- ble equaled the nice yellow pumpkin, and every family provided for a Winter’s supply by storing away some of the nicest and most perfect. The others were boiled with potatoes, and with atmixed provender of oats, corn, buckweat, and bran of rye, fed to the hogs; which not only increased their growth rapidly, | but also rapidly developed their fattening quali- ties. The cows also came in for a liberal share, which greatly helped in prolonging the milk- ing season. Later the crookneck squash began to take the place of the pumpkin in domestic use; then | other sorts followed, until now we seldom see the pumpkin, and its growth as a field crop is greatly curtailed. Instead thereof we have many varieties of squash, which are an ad- mirable substitute, and some of them much superior to the pumpkin for either domestic or feeding purposes. As a field crop, squashes are generally as profitable as corn or potatoes, while the direct expense of production is much less, and the soil is not so much exhausted. The value of the produce of an acre in squashes, like all other crops, varies greatly; in favorable sea- sons, and with fair culture, $100 or more. As | 1 FIELD 28 the hills are wide apart, the amount of manure required is not very large; not over four or five hundred bushels, for fertilizing, to the acre. Frequently white beans may be grown between the vines advantageously, requiring very little extra cost in production, yielding sufficient to | cover the cost of the whole culture. Squashes will grow in almost any soil, but compost manure in the hill is quite acceptable. The culture is simple, and needs little deserip- tion. Plant six or eight seeds in a hill, at such distances as the variety requires—six to ten feet—when well up, dress out with corn har- row or cultivator; thin to three or four strong plants; keep the ground clean. To increase the squash crop pinch off the leaders a few inches from the hill, until the laterals grow. Different sorts, planted adjacent, are liable to mix. Preserve squashes in a dry place. The following rank among the best: Summer Crookneck.—Bushy in habit, rather undersize, bright yellow, warty, sweet; to be used when young. Scolloped. — (patty pan)—Early, hemispheri- cal in form, deeply scolloped; to be used when half-grown. Boston Marrow. — An Autumn and Winter squash; very nutritious, thin skin, salmon color- ed, flesh thick, rich, dry, fine-grained, and of un- surpassed flavor. Introduced by J. M. Ives, of Salem, Massachusetts; an accidental hybrid. Hubbard.—We are indebted for this surpass- ing variety to a woman—Mrs. HusBsBarp, of Marblehead, Massachusetts. Fruit an irregu- lar ovoid, pointed at the ends, sometimes rib- bed; pure, it grows to the weight of eight or ten pounds, and eight or ten inches in length; of a bluish green color, occasionally marked with yellow, or brownish orange; fine-grained, deep yellow flesh, sweet, dry, and of most ex- cellent flavor. Can be used eight to ten months in the year. Custard—Of vigorous habit, fruit oblong, gathered in deep folds lengthwise, abruptly shortened at the ends, flesh not very solid or fine, but well flavored. This squash, under careful culture, is one of the most productive. Bork refers to harvests of fourteen tons to the acre. It is receiving much attention as food for stock. Is very hardy. Yokohama.—Sent from Japan in 1860, by Mr. THomas Hoacc. The fruit is about eight inches across, roundish, very much flattened at the extremities, and deeply ribbed, weighing from six to eight pounds; stem not as fleshy as the Hubbard, more resembling the pumpkin; CROPS: color dark green to orange salmon, skin warty, flesh thick, dry, sweet, and excellent. Earlier than the Hubbard, and not as good for Winter. Turban or Turk’s Cap.—A superior late grow- ing variety, weighing eight to ten pounds, Color greenish, striped with white; flesh or- ange-yellow, very heavy, fine-grained, dry, and sweet, of good flavor; in perfection when first taken from the vine. There are a few other good kinds; but the above are representative. Some of these vari- eties, as the turban and the crookneck, lose their fine texture and delicate flavor in the ranker growth of the West. For Cattle—Squashes are much and very profitably used as cattle-food; but it is believed that the seeds should be removed when fed to milch cows, as they have a strong diuretic (urine-producing) effect, and this tends to re- duce the flow of milk. The large, “mam- moth” squashes are generally the coarsest, and smaller kinds, like the Hubbard, are more profitable food for man or beast. Saving Ground—Pumpkins may be planted among corn, The roots of the pumpkin and the corn do not feed on the same nutriment in the earth, hence there will be just as many ears and just as well filled though the pumpkins are thick enough to let a boy walk on them from one side of the field to the other. The culture of pumpkins in grass lands is spoken of asa very advantageous mode, Holes are dug and filled with manure proper for vines, and the seeds planted. The vines do not begin to run till after the grass is mowed for hay. An acre planted in this way, allowing about ninety hills to the acre, will produce about eighteen tons of pumpkins or squashes. “ Pufing-’—Some genius makes the follow- ing suggestion, which we give for what it is worth: “If you want big pumpkins and squashes, just bore a little gimlet hole in their rind when the fruit is afew weeks old, and push ina long piece of cotton-wick, with the loose end in a pan of water. The cotton will suck the water, the pumpkin will suck the cotton, and by the time your fruit is ripe, you will have the hugest pumpkin that was ever seen,” Ramie or China Grass.—The South has been blackened and impoverished by a des- olating civil war; may it not be that Provi- dence will bring to the hands of its people new sources of wealth, better adapted to their new system of labor, so that a blessing shall ulti- mately be found at the bottom of the cup of RAMIE OR CHINA GRASS, defeat? The ramie plant promises to recon- struct the prosperity of the South, and it is now attracting wide attention among progress- ive planters. It produces a fiber, “coming between silk and linen,” says the United States Agricultural Report of 1867, ‘partaking to some extent of the characteristics of both. Of this fiber, the Chinese have made, from time immemorial, their unique and cool sum- mer dresses, equaling, in many instances, the finest linen productions.” This plant, a native of Java (and said to be indigenous to Mexico, also), was introduced into France in 1844, and was finally brought RogzeEL. This fiber is of pure white, of a silken appear- ance, finer than cotton, or flax linen, and strong- erthan either. It can be used separately in the manufacture of cloth, or can be.combined with silk or wool. Ina warm latitude, the plant is hardy and yigorous; it grows with great pro- ductiveness in Louisiana and Mississippi; it is not affected by long periods of rain, and stands dry weather as well as cotton. It thrives even in Mexico, where the rainy seasons are so long. The crops are taken, like those of cane, by cutting at the ground. From the ratoons spring new growths, more vigorous than the old. It is believed that in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Missis- sippil, Louisiana, and Texas, the ramie will succeed admirably ; have rampant growth, and yield three or four crops a year. It takes two years to become established; but once stocked, it remains productive for a number of years. It is said to yield eight hundred pounds of lint to the acre, from each cutting, or, in a good season, twenty-four hundred pounds per year. The following are some of its remarkable qualities, as summed up by a Mississippi paper : “1. The ramie is stronger than European hemp. “2. It is fifty per cent. stronger than the best Belgian flaxen or linen fiber. “3. The fiber may be spun as fine as that of flax, and will prove twice as durable. “4, It is a vigorous grower, and will produce the greatest amount of textile fiber of any plant known. “5. It will produce, in the belt in which it flourishes, from three to five annual crops, each equal tothe best gathered from hemp. “6, It promises eventually to supersede, in 9 * 129 some countries, the general use of cotton and linen fabrics.” The-head of a prominent commercial house in Liverpool, speaks of its value in glowing terms. He refers to the plant as “yielding a fiber so textile, yet so beautiful withal, that it can be treated to rival silk and to supersede the finest of cotton.” In a warm latitude the plant is perrennial. It is propagated, not only by root divisions, but with perfect ease by cuttings, by layering, and by planting the seed. From one root, planted in March 1867, Mr. F. J. Knapp reports an jinerease of a hundred; and from layers and to the United States, in 1867, by Don Benito, It belongs to the nettle family, and, | like hemp, carries its valuable fiber in its stalk. | cuttings of the same more than a thousand. It is stated that in one instance a hundred roots in nine months produced forty thousand plants. During 1867 and 1868, the plants sold at one dollar each in the South. - Ramie likes a rich sandy soil, but flourishes almost anywhere. “The culture,” says the New Orleans Picayune, ‘‘is similar to that of cane; and as the plant, when once set, is hard to eradicate, grows vigorously, and defies the influence of grass or rival plants, cultivation is only needed to promote its growth.” The St. Louis Journal. of Agriculture gives the following suggestions for the culture of the ramie: “It can not be too much recom- mended to have the piece of land intended for the ramie deeply cultivated ; subsoiled to four- teen inches would not be too deep, and this is the most laborious work in the whole cultiva- tion. The field ought to be laid off in pieces of about twenty rows in width, and a passage left for a cart or wagon. The rows ought to be about four feet apart, and the plants in the rows half that distance. When the figld is ready for planting, a furrow is made every four feet, about three to four inches deep, and in these furrows the plants are placed, with little more care than negroes plant sweet pota- toes. The furrows ought to be made so that the rain will not stand too long, yet all heavy washing ought to be prevented, Rooted plants as well as layers ought to be covered with earth nearly to the top; roots ought to be covered with earth two or three inches deep. In case some plants or roots should not grow, the va- cancies should be filled as soon as possible, and always the best plants taken for this purpose, so as to get an even-growing field. “ As soon as the plants have reached seven to eight inches in height, they should be topped (as in the nursery), to force out side shoots. When these latter are grown to about five or six 130 inches in length, the plant has a kind of bushy appearance; then it is hilled nearly to the top. It is now left to grow until it has reached nearly to the height of three feet, when it is cut down even with the ground, or better, one inch be- low. The fiber of this first growth can be used, but is not perfect -yet, because the roots and bulbs are not large enough, and there are as yet too many side-shoots. A few days after this cutting, a great many ratoons will make their appearance on the surface. The whole work now consists in keeping out the weeds. This second growth will be, under similar cir- cumstances, a great deal more rapid than the first was, and can be cut when about four feet high; each growth will have fewer side-shoots, and soon they will disappear altogether. “The planting in the field ought to be done in the Spring, but can be continued until the beginning of September. Those which are planted late ought to be covered in Winter with straw or leaves, because they are too young and tender to resist severe frosts. Those planted early in Spring and Summer do not need any protection, as they will make roots eighteen or twenty-four inches deep. “The first year, weeds have to be cut out, but this will give but little trouble. The sec- ond year the plant will have so many ratoons that other plants will have no room to vegetate. From this time the cultivation will give very little trouble, except one plowing between the rows early in the Spring, and after each cut- ting, and manure over the fields during the Winter season. “All refuse matter falling off in cleaning the fiber, eught to be fed, or cured, and put in the barn for Winter use. Allthe manure coming from the plant ought to be carefully gathered and put back on the field. In this way, such a field will give a rich re- FIELD CROPS: dies, where it is highly cultivated, eight feet is the height mentioned it now makes, from which fiber six feet long is obtained.” The Southern Ruralist says: ‘Suppose this plant to have none of this useful fiber, its cul- tivation would be of immense value as food fcr stock, in a great many portions of the South Another most important point in introducing the ramie here, is its easy cultivation. The first year it requires no more work than sweet potatoes, and then the main work is in harvest- ing. In case a field should be plowed up after a series of years for some other purpose, then the roots and bulbs will make excellent food for hogs, or can be manufactured into a dura- ble dye. “The fences have to be kept in good order, because if cows and hogs are once accustomed to it, they will break down a poor fence to get toit. During the Winter cows can be turned into ramie fields, but hogs and horses should be kept out. So far this plant has no destructive enemies. The so-called nettle worm makes its appearance some seasons, but never hurts the fiber; it is satisfied with the lower leaves of the plant, and is in this way harmless. Besides, if they were as destructive as the cotton worm they could not injure the crop very much, as each cutting is matured in a yery short period - of time.” The United States Agricultural Report fox 1867, thus sums up: “The beauty, durability, and value of the fabrics made from this fiber are unquestioned; the desirability of its sue- cess as un important accession to the products of American agriculture is conceded; the only point to be made clear at the present time is the profit of the production. Will it pay? That is a more difficult question, and one that shonld be answered; all present experiments turn for many years, without need of beingyshould he directed to its solution. Then how replanted. The plant can be grown as far North as the earth does not freeze more than four inches deep in Winter.” Asa general rule, it may be said, as soon as the stems have reached a little more than four feet, the fiber will be of good quality, but does not get hurt if left uncut until it reaches eight to ten feet in length. P. L. Suwmonps, editor of the Technologist, says of it: “So rapidis the growth of this plant, that, by careful observation, the Colonial Botanist of Jamaica found one of its shoots attain the height of six and a half feet in fourteen days, and ultimately eight and a half feet ;,but in good land it would exceed this by two feet. while in China and the East In- can it be most successfully and economically grown? The plant will grow; it may yield a large product per acre. How, especially, shall it be most cheaply and most efficiently prepared for the market? and, finally, what modifications and improvements in its manufacture can be made to insure a large demand for the raw material? “The drawback to its more general use is its brittleness, which prevents weaving it by ma- chinery, while the Chinese hand-loom is inad- missible in these days of steam and water pow- er. Therefore, it is not used alone, but always in combination with other material, the warp generally being cotton, the weft ramie. A chemical process of treating the fiber has re ‘vation among American farmers, because of GRAPE—CULTURE OF, 131 sulted in producing, in combination with cot-|gle frost, and the seed is so tender that it can, ton, an article resembling the best mohair, a| stiff, strong, and cool texture, silky and beauti- ful. It is possible, perhaps probable, that fur- ther discoveries in this direction may give a’ tenfold impetus to the manufacturers’ demand.” We do not wish to close without a word of caution. Difficulty has been experienced in work- ing up the jiber, and little use has as yet been made of it, either in Europe or America, except to aid the New Orleans speculators in root-cut- tings. These men falsely state that the plant will not grow from the seed. Hon. Horace) Capron, United States Commissioner of Agri- culture, in his report for April, 1869, thus sums up the present sfatus of the ramie: ‘“ The eco- nomical utilization of the fiber by improved processes and skilled labor is a great desidera- tum; but the plunder of hopeful experiment- ers by extortionate prices (for a plant that will grow like willows) obtained thtough misrepre- sentation and gross exaggeration, will not be abetted by the Department of Agriculture. It has been plated throughout the extreme South, and everywhere grows luxuriantly, and gives assurance that unlimited quantities of material for fiber could be produced. I am not disposed further to encourage its growth until manufac- turers perfect processes, and invent or adapt machinery for preparing and manufacturing the fiber so economically that a great demand shall spring up for the raw material. All de- pends upon the successful attainment of such an end. The farmer of this country can an- swer any demand for it, but will wait till the draught is made upon him.” . Rape.—This is a vegetable of the cabbage tribe, cultivated extensively in Europe, and to some extent in this country, for its seed, which is used for the manufacture of oil, and also as food for cattle and sheep in Winter and Spring. General C. 8. Hamitton, of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, recommends its more general culti- “the uniform success that has attended its growth, the ease with which the crop is put in and harvested, and above all the quick re- turn and high remunerative price which it brings.” We quote further from the same au- thority: “Much prejudice has existed against the crop in the minds of American farmers, through fear, that, like mustard, the rape is hard to eradicate from the soil. No greater error can exist. The plant is exceedingly ten- der when young, is completely killed by a sin- not be made to preserve its vitality in the ground over Winter, by any possible means, It is as harmless for self-propagation as a crop of corn or beans. “The advantages to the farmer over other crops, may be summed up as follows: Ist. Time of Seeding —The best time is from the 10th to the 25th of June, in the northern section of the Union—a season in which the farmer has comparatively little to do with his other crops. If the crop is to be put on old land, it should not be plowed until just before seeding. By this means, all weeds and grass are turned under, and the rape seed germinates at once, completely covers the ground with its broad leaves, and gives little chance for any other plant. “9d. Cost of Seed.—Two quarts sown broad- cast, and lightly harrowed in, are sufficient for an acre, the cost of which does not exceed fif- teen to twenty cents. “The crop sown during the last half of June, is ready to be cut during the first half of Sep- tember, after wheat and other cereals are out of the way. It can be cut with cradle, scythe, or mower; must be cut before it is ripe enough to shell; should lie upon the ground until dry enough to thresh, when it may be handled with pitchforks, drawn to the barn-floor, and trodden out with horses, or threshed with flail as fast as hauled in. It shells with such ease, that a pair of horses will tread it out as rapidly as two teams can haul itin. If hauled any con- siderable distance, an old canvas or sheet should It is readily and is be spread on the* wagon-rack. cleaned in an ordinary fanning-mill; ready for market before any other crop. “3d. Yield per Acre and Price-——During the seven years past, the crop has averaged fully as much as wheat per acre. In the town of New Holstein, Wisconsin, where more seed is proba- bly raised than in any other single township, the average yield this past season has exceeded nine- teen bushels per acre, of fifty-six pounds per bushel. “The price of seed is governed in a great measure by the price of oils, and ranged during the past season (1865) $2 25 to $2 75 per bush- el, and this with less expense and labor in seed- ing, harvesting, and threshing, than is bestowed on any other crop.” It is admirably adapted to prairie and clay soils, and is excellent to pre- pare ground for Winter wheat. CrAus Orsau, of New Holstein, Wisconsin, has done much to introduce rape culture in the Northwest. 132 FIELD Rice.—Rice has long been known and cul- tivated in India, and all Southern Asia, where- ever the land would admit of being flooded. Jt is an amphibious plant, thriving best in wet land; indeed, scarcely thriving at all where the soil is not much of the time submerged, as in Louisiana, and along the Carolina sea-board. In the hilly part of Jaya the mountain rice is planted on hill-sides, where no water but rain can come; but it is planted in the beginning of the rainy reason, and reaped in the beginning of the dry season. The best rice is that raised in our Southern States; it is larger and sweeter than that of India, which is small, meager, and much less nutritious. Rice has some excellent qualities as an article of diet, but it contains only four per cent. of gluten and fat, to eighty-five per cent. of starch, and therefore, naturally enough, most persons use it as an auxiliary, rather than the chief food. There are various methods of cultivating and dressing rice practiced in different countries: The following is the mode which Captain Basti HAxu observed in Carolina: “he grain is sown in rows in the bottom of trenches made by slow labor. These ridges lie about seventeen inches apart, from center to center. The rice is put in by hand, about the 17th of March, generally by women, and is never scattered, but cast so as to fall in a line. By means of flood-gates the water is then per- -mitted to flow over the fields, and to remain on the ground fifteen days, at the depth of several inches. The object of this drenching is to sprout the seeds, as it is technically called. The water is next drawn off, and the ground allowed to dry, until the rice has risen three or four inches. This requires about a month. The fields are then again overflowed, and they remain submerged for upward of a fortnight, to destroy the grass and weeds. These pro- cesses finish about the 17th of May, after which the ground is allowed to remain dry till the 15th of July, during which interval it is re- peatedly hoed, to remove such weeds as have not been effectually drowned, and also to loosen the soil. The water is then for the last time introduced, in order that the rice may be brought to maturity; and it actually ripens while standing in the water. The harvest com- mences about the end of August, and extends into October. It is all cut by the male slaves, * who use a sickle, while the women niake it up in bundles. “From the pedicles the rice must be sepa- CROPS: rated by a hand-flail, as no machinery has yet been devised for effecting this purpose. The next process is to detach the outer husk, which clings to the grain with great pertinacity. This is done by passing the rice between a pair of millstones removed to a considerable dis- tance from each other. The inner coat, or film, which envelops the grain, is removed by tritura- tion in mortars, under pestles weighing from two hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds. These pestles consist of upright bars shod with irons, which, being raised up by the machinery to the height of several feet, are allowed to fall down upon the rice, the particles of which are thus rubbed against one another till the film is removed. Itis now thoroughly winnowed, and being packed in casks holding about six hundred pounds each, is ready for distribution over all parts of the world. Each plantation has amill. Though rice is now so largely cul- tivated in Carolina that it constitutes the chief produce, the swampy land being well suited to it, it is not used so much for food in America as maize and wheat, and it is mostly raised for exportation, the Carolina rice being found supe- rior to every other. The cultivation of it is the most unhealthy work in which the negroes of Carolina are employed. They are obliged frequently to stand ankle-deep in the mud, with their bare heads exposed to the fierce rays of the sun. The consequence is, that numbers sink under it and die. At the unhealthy sea- son, when the harvest commences, all the white proprietors leave the spot, and go to higher ground or to the North.” A profitable rice plantation can not be estab- lished without a large capital and much hard labor, but under favorable conditions it be- comes a remunerative crop. Rice was formerly exported after being cleansed and prepared for commerce and use, but most of the export of late years has been in the form of paddy—un- hulled rice—this condition being deemed most favorable to its preservation. The export of the present century has averaged two million and a half to three million dollars a year, Rye.—Rye is not a favorite cereal; it be- longs among the plebians and is expected to do much of the agricultural drudgery, It is very patient under neglect, and will bear more abuse than any other crop; yet there are few crops that will pay better, proportionately, for care and good culture. “With the application of a small quantity of fertilizers,” writes WILLIAM H. Waiter, “it may be grown year after year SUGAR onthe same ground, with better results than any other crop. Owing to this quality it has been grown on much good land at the North so often, without manure, successively, that it has proyed nearly fatal to the fertility of the’ soil. “Often when wheat could no longer be grown at a profit, rye has been made to take its place, and remunerating crops have been | realized without manure, the only rotation bring grass or weeds, occupying the place of a fallow. It has been, and still is, practiced to 5 me extent—although new ideas and improved agriculture have in a measure done away with the practice—to turn up an old field which has been in pasture, and sow it to rye without manure. An old sand plain which has lain dormant for a year or two, is often used for a rye field, and in return ten to fifteen bushels of rye is often realized, which usually satisfies the expectations of the producer; this, with the straw, will be a fair paying crop for such land.” But with the application of four or five cords of rich compost to the acre—more might be too strong for the good of the grain— a heavier crop may be anticipated. The best soil for rye is a rich sandy loam, naturally dry —a rather loose subsoil, capable of passing off the water when an excess has by any means accumulated on the surface. On such a soil the yield is usually satisfactory ; the grain is heavy, and makes,an excellent article of flour for family use. New cleared forest land pro- duces luxuriant crops, showing that rye de- lights in a soil well stocked with pabulum. This grain may be sown earlier or later than Winter wheat, but the best crops are realized when sown in September, in the North, as then it becomes well rooted to stand a hard Winter ; if it gets up large, it may be fed off, without detriment, by calves, cows, or young stock. Where wheat is uncertain, it is often made to follow corn, tobacco, ete. Sometimes, from the press of work or other causes, it is not sown till just as the ground is freezing up for Winter, when the seed lies till Spring before it starts into growth. In such case it has every quality of Winter rye sowed earlier, although matur- ing later in the season. The culture and harvesting of rye are so neurly like those of wheat, elsewhere treated, that little room need be given to their considera- tion here. The whiteness and sweetness of rye flour depend on the soil in which the grain is grown, as much as on the skill of the miller. A ciose, heavy, or hard soil, will not produce. | | CROPS. grain that will make as light sweet flour as one of a different description. In England rye is little raised except as a green crop, and when fed off early in Spring the land is invigorated and will bear an excel- lent harvest of roots the same year. Many sheep raisers in this country profitably grow rye, for pasture in the Fall, after other crops are gone. It will never be much grown except for soiling or the distillery, in regions where ‘wheat flourishes. Number of bushels annually produced in the United States amount to about twenty mill- ‘ion—of which one-half grows on the soil of New York and Pennsylvania. Sugar Crops.—Sugar is one of the most important articles which commerce has brought into general use. As a condiment and nutri- ment it is extensively employed in a great variety of articles of food; it forms the basis of all kinds of confectionary; it is largely used in the preservation of fruits, and also, in con- nection with other articles, in the preservation of fish and meats; for medicinal purposes, sugar is among the most valuable of demul- cents, and is also a gentle aperient; aside from being of value for its direct medicinal qualities, it is universally used as a medium for admin- istering many active remedies, for disguising the disagreeable taste of others and preserving mixtures from change. Important as sugar is now regarded, it was mostly unknown to antiquity. Sweet calamus and cane are alluded to by the Old Testament writers, but in language that indicates little knowledge of their use, and honey seems to have been their chief saccharine reliance. The first mention of the boiling of the sugar-cane comes to us from the fifth century, and the Saracens introduced it to Europe, via the Levant. The cane is regarded as a native of America, an in- ference from the fact that it grows very readily and productively, under favorable conditions, in our Southernmost States. Sugar is one of the ordinary products of vegetation, and different varieties are extracted from common sugar-cane, sorghum, beets, In- dian corn, maple trees, grapes, and other fruits, chestnuts, pumpkins, potatoes, and a large num- ber of tropical plants. The sugar product of the world, as it was known to commerce in 1861, was as follows: Cane sugar . 1,950,000 tons. Beet sug: 480,000 °° Palm sug 1K),000 Maple sugar 20,00) ** 2,550,000 tons. 13+ FIELD Beet Sugar.—The exhorbitant price of sugar that prevailed during the late civil war, induced some enterprising manufacturers of Illinois to begin on a large scale the extraction of sugar from the beet. Considering that we pay nearly $100,000,000 annually for foreign eugar, and that this may be made from the beet at less than half the present price of sugar from the cane, it would seem to be the part of wisdom to cultivate it more largely. Hon. Horacr Carron, United States Com- missioner of Agriculture, wrote, in 1868, an interesting letter on this subject, from which we extract: “ A manufactory of beet sugar was in successful operation in Silesia as early as 1805; and in France repeated experiments were undertaken a few years later. Up to 1818, no very marked or rapid progress was made, though the business was constantly ex- tending. In 4839, the manufacture, already established upon a solid footing, embraced the operation of two hundred and sixty-eight fac- tories in France, Germany, Sweden, and Russia. “Tn 1848, France had 294, Prussia 346, and Russia 425. The present number of factories in France, according to DENEUMANN, is 499; many of them are more extensive than those of former days, and fourteen of the number have been established during the past year. On the first of January, 1868, 3,173 refineries of beet-root sugar were reported as in opera- tion in Europe. The total product, in 1828, is stated to have been 7,000 tons; in 1851, 180,000 tons; and in 1867, the enormous quantity of 663,000 tons, or 1,485,120,000 pounds, worth 6100,000,000 or about seven cents per pound. “Sixteen years ago, France was able to manufacture half of her total consumption of sugar, or 60,000 tons; Belgium, consuming 14,000 tons, imported in 1851 but 4,000 tons. Germany, on the same date, produced 43,000 tons; Austria, 15,000, and Russia, 35,000 tons ; the latter country also importing, at the same time, 50,000 tons of sugar in addition to the home product. The total manufacture of Eu- rope as stated above, has been almost quadru- pled since that date, and cane sugar in several of those States is now scarcely known. The amount manufactured in France during the three months ending Noyember 30, 1857, was 120,553 tons—18,613 more than was made in the same period of the previous year, “As an illustration of the extent of such a business, a record may be cited of an estab- lishment for obtaining sugar by infusion of CROPS: dried beet, at Waghausel, near Carlsruhe, in the duchy of Baden, in which 3,000 people were employed, a capital of eighty millions of franes ($16,000,000) used, and twelve acres of land covered with buildings. “The product of the beets per acre is from fourteen to fifteen tons in France and Belgium. Enormous crops have occasionally been. re- ported. The English Gardener’s Chronicle con- tains the statement of M. DeGasParin, of twenty-seven tons seven hundred weight grown upon thirty-nine perches sixteen square yards, or nearly one hundred and ten tons per acre. He sowed the seed under glass, transplanted the plants in April, hoed repeatedly, and irri- gated every two weeks. : “A ton of beets yield about one hundred pounds of raw sugar. At first the proportion of sugar obtained was about three per cent. It was increased to six, and even seven and a half per cent. “The beet cake for feeding purposes, the molasses, alcohol, and other products obtained, greatly inerease the aggregate which makes the total value of this branch of industry. Beet- sugar districts become so enriched that far greater amounts of the cereals and other pro- ducts of agriculture are obtained than before beet factories were known. “The growing of the beet requires rotation, as well as thorough culture, and careful weed- ing. It would therefore be a boon of untold value to our wheat-producing districts of the West, which are decreasing year by year in re- turns for labor expended from these causes, and the additional neglect of stock-growing. “The large and increasing quantities of sugar and molasses required for consumption in this country, and the amount of money paid for for- eign labor in its production, can be appreciated by a glance at the following statement of im- ports for five years, which is in addition toa small domestic product of cane, maple, and others, and large quantities of sorghum syrups; a small amount,!also, by indirect trade, is not included, on account of incompleteness in the official statement of imports: Syrup.anp Mo- SUGAR. LASSESB. Pounds. "| Dollars. | Gallons. | Dollars. 1862 557,137,529 | 30,357,090 : 3 1863 hi 17,082,017 1Sh4 29,1561 1865 25,24 T ATL OST 1366... 39/595,677 | 47,348,438 "| 7,227)351 “ Here is a total of $133,943,150, gold value, BEET SUGAR—CANE SUGAR. paid for foreign sugar in five years, and $30,- 115,073 for molasses, an average of about $33,- 000,000 per year, and more than $50,000,000 in currency, the most cf which, if not all, should be retained at home. In view of the great success of the business in Europe, the Ameri- can people owe to the world’s estimate of Ameri- can enterprise a determined and persistent ef- fort for its establishment here.” Mr. Carron further elaborated these views in the Agricultural Report for 1867: “Our present annual consumption amounts to $60,- 000,000, of which» we produce only a moiety. The domestie production in 1859, as returned by the census, was, of cane sugar, 230,982,000 pounds; of maple, 40,120,205 pounds. The cane- sugar interest, though advancing slowly from its depressed condition during the war, yielded in 1867 not exceeding 40,000,000 pounds. Of beet sugar there was produced, during the last season, by the establishment at Cliatsworth, I]- linois, 1,000,000 pounds. Other companies have been formed in Illinois, in California, and in Wisconsin. “When we consider the enormous outlays upon a cane-sugar piantation, for the necessary buildings and machinery for its manufacture, reaching, in some cases, $100,000, and that this is only required to be in operation two months of the twelve, it becomes an important inquiry how the manufacture of sngar from the two substances may be combined to advantage. Chemical analysis of sugar-beet, at different periods of its growth, by Professor ANTISELL, the chemist of the department, shows that it is most productive of saccharine matter, in this latitude, in the months of July and August, or during the prevalence of alternate showers and warm sunshine. In Louisiana the beet-seed may be sown in January; the beet would at- tain its greatest perfection in April and May, a time most propitious for that climate. The ma- chinery, with slight additions for rasping and preparing the root, may then be put into opera- tion and continued upon the beet until the cane is ready for use, and again, when the cane is exhausted, placed upon the dried beet for the remainder of the year.” Dr. Toomas ANTISELL, chemist, made an interesting report to the Department in 1867, the result of a variety of experiments with the beet for sugar purposes. From this we quote: “The Castelnaudry Yellow, White Magdeburg, Vilmorin’s Improved White, and the Improved White Imperial are the varieties which yielded the largest amounts of sugar. The sudden fall- 2 135 ing of the sugar per centage at the close of September in all the varieties is remarkable; and as toward November, although the per cent- age of sugar increases, it never attains what it was in the middle of September, it is evident that there is no advantage in delaying the press- ing of the roots beyond the 10th of September, and that nothing is gained by allowing the beets to remain in the ground after the 1st of October. “The greatest yield of juice in the majority of the varieties was obtained within one month of the plant growth, from about the middle of August to the middle of September. Thus the maximum volume of juice at different periods in growth of the several varieties were as fol- White Silesian Red Top, August 17 to 27; Improved White Imperial, August 17 to 27; Vilmorin’s Improved White, August 21 to September 6; White Silesian Green Top, Sep- tember 9 to 30; Beta Imperialis, No. 1, Sep- tember 17 to October 3; Beta Imperialis, No. 2, September 17 to October 3; White Magdel- burg, September 23 to October 7; Castelnaudry Yellow, October 10 to 17.” It is not probably practicable for farmers to manufacture their own beets into sugar for do- mesticuse. The result on sosmalla scale could not be commensurate with the expense. The better way would be, as in the case of the cider- mill, to make one manufactory suffice for the wants of a considerable section of country. To this the beets, either in a green or dried state, lows: could be transferred at the proper time and sold at a given rate per ton, or be manufactured at so much per pound, as might be agreed upon by the parties to the arrangement. If the beets are to be transferred to a factory and the dis- tance is considerable, the best way would be to cut the roots into small pieces—first washing them—and then drying by artificial heat. This will evolve eighty odd per cent. of their weight, correspondingly diminish their bulk, leaving a residuum containing about fifty-five per cent. of sugar, which is-extracted by infusion after months of delay, if this becomes necessary. Came Sugar.—By this, reference is had to sugar made from the common cane. This cane is very sensitive to frost, and can only be grown sonth of 82°—the latitude of Vicksburg, Mississippi, and Savannah, Georgia. The crop is sometimes destroyed, even in Lousiana. Of the 230,000,000 pounds cane sugar annually raised in the United States, Louisiana had pro- duced, up to 1860, 221,000,000 pounds. The 136 importations of sugar into the United States in the same year (1860) were as follows: Brown sugar, pounds... Loaf and refined, pounds Molasses, pounds... White clayed powdered sug These figures show how small a proportion of the sugar consumed in this country has been raised within its limits; this, too, in a year during which there was no unusual interfer- ence with the industry. It will be seen that we produce less than one-third of the sugar which we consume. Sugar-cane is indigenous to both the East and the West Indies, and was transplanted to Lou- isiana about 1750. The first sugar-mill in the United States was erected in 1758, by M. Du- BREUIL, on his plantation, just below the pres- ent site of New Orleans. From this beginning the cultivation of sugar prospered to such a de- gree that in 1770 it formed the staple export of the colony, and, after our revolutionary war, was prosecuted so vigorously by emigrants from the United States, that, upon the delta of the Mississippi river alone, there were eighty-one sugar plantations in 1803, at the date of the cession to the United States of the territory of Louisiana. The principal variety of the cane grown in Louisiana is the Striped Ribbon or Java, the hardiest that has been found. An average crop is one and a half hogsheads of sugar and one hundred and fifteen gallons of molasses to the acre. Soil and Seed—The sugar-cane thrives best ina rich sandy loam, plentifully supplied with lime and phosphates. The plant is grown from cuttings, and these ought to be carefully se- lected from the ripest and strongest cane of the previous year, and preserved ina “bed” two feet deep in the ficld, to protect it from frost and sun. Cultivation.—The plant grows in a succession of joints, from four to twenty feet high, the stem being from one to two inches in diameter; long, slender leaves shoot out from the opposite sides of alternate joints, and fall off when the plant comes to maturity. When from eleven to twelve months old, asprout without joints, called the “arrow,” grows seven or eight feet above the top of the cane, terminating in an ample panicle with numerous white flowers. Seeds, however, are rarely ripened by the cul- tivated cane. The method of planting varies in different countries. The general practice, however, is, after breaking up the land deeply, to run FIELD CROPS: straight, parallel furrows, at a distance of from four to six feet apart in the West Indies, or eight feet apart in Louisiana. Slips of cane, each having several joints, are placed in these furrows and lightly covered. Some planters lay from two to four canes in each furrow, lap- ping them the whole distance. ‘The cane sprouts at the joints, usually throwing up but a single shoot to the slip, although there may be several joints. In the West Indies the cane is planted from August to November, and in Louisiana from January to Mareh. When the young plants make their appearance, the rows are plowed and hoed, the process being repeated often enough to keep the ground free from weeds, When the cane is large enough to shade the ground—which should be early in June— the last deep furrows are run, and left to drain off the surplus water. Harvesting —The first erop of cane is removed in Louisiana in October following the planting, care being taken to cut the cane two or three joints above the ground. From one of these joints—the “‘ratoon ”’—a new shoot springs up, which is the cane of the following year. The “yatoon” is not so strong and yigorous as the “plant canes,” but yet affords better juice, and is more readily converted intosugar. In Louis- iana a succession of three crops can be de- pended on from one planting, or, in other words, the cane needs to be planted only once in three years. In the West Indies the “ra- toons” continue to renew themselves, sometimes for more than twenty crops. As it takes the entire cane growing upon an acre of ground to replant itself and three acres adjoining, or one- fourth the cane every third year, the planting of the cane has been a serious drawback upon the sugar interest. Planters were loth to part with so considerablea portion of their product, sought to make the burden lighter by devo- ting the smaller and inferior canes to planting, and crushing the sounder ones. This led to a serious deterioration in the quality of cane, and resulted in a gradual decrease each year of the yield of sugar. To remedy this evil the United States government, but a short time before the breaking out of the rebellion,-collected a new supply of fresh and vigorous canes from the northern portion of South America, and dis- tributed them among the planters. The war prevented the collection of statistics to show how much the crops were improved by the in- troduction of new canes. The juice is expressed and reduced to sugar by the use of heavy and expensive machinery CORN SUGAR—EXPERIMENTS. 137 The present product of a hundred pounds] facturing at our doors an article of universal weight of sugar-cane does not exceed nine pounds weight of sugar, whereas the natural contents are about eighteen. A new method is adyertised, whereby nearly the whole of the natural contents can be extracted. Corn Sugar.—tThis is produced either from the grains or from the stalks of Indian corn. We copy from an essay by WILLIAM Wess, of Delaware. “The results of my ex- periments have been encouraging. The manu- facture of sugar from Indian corn, compared with its extraction from the beet, offers many advantages. It is more simple, and less liable to failure; the machinery is less expensive, and the amount of fuel required is less by one-half. The quantity of the sugar produced on a given space of ground, is greater, besides being of better quality. The raw juice of maize, when cultivated for sugar, marks 10° on the saccha- rometer, while the average of cane juice (as I am informed) is not higher than 8°, and beet juice not over 3°. Hon. H. L. Etusworrs, in one of his pub- lications, states, as the result of actual weighing and measuring, “that corn, sown broadcast, yielded five pounds of green stalks per square foot; this is at the rate of 108} tons to the acre. In the first place, it has been satisfactorily proved that sugar of an excellent quality, suit- able for common use without refining, may be made from the stalks of maize, and that the juice of this plant, when cultivated in a certain manner, contains saccharine matter remarkably free from foreign substances. “A conclusion from my observations is, that if the ears were taken off in their embryo state, the whole quantity of saccharine matter pro- duced by the process of vegetation would be preserved in the stalk, from which it might be extracted when the plant was matured. “Grain is produced in the West in such over- flowing abundance that the markets become glutted, and inducements are offered to employ the surplus produce in distillation, This busi- ness is now becoming disreputable. The happy conviction is spreading rapidly, that the use of alcohol, as a beverage, instead of conducing to ‘health and strength, is the surest means of de- stroying both. Some other production, there- fore, will be required, in which the powers of our soil ‘may be profitably employed. This, it is hoped, will be found in the business now pro- posed. Instead of distilleries converting food into poison, we may haye sugar-houses, manu- demand, not merely useful, but necessary, fur- nishing, as it does, one of the most simple, nat- ural, and nutritious varieties of human suste- nance found in the whole range of vegetable production.” Mr. Evtsworts details the method of plant- ing—broadeast or with a drill—and a'ter culti- vation, when he continues: “The next opera- tion is taking off the ears. Many stalks will not produce any; but whenever they appear, they must be removed. It is not best to under- take this work too early, as, when the ears first appear, they are tender, and can not be taken off without breaking, which trouble. Any time before the formation of grain upon them will be soon enough. “ Nothing further is necessary to be done until increases the In our latitude, the cutting may commence with the earlier varieties about the middle of August. The later kinds will be ripe in September, and the crop is ready to cut for grinding. continue in season until cut off by the frost. The stalks should be topped and bladed while standing in*the field. They are then cut, tied in bundles, and taken to the mill. The top and blades, when properly cured, make an excellent fodder, rather better, it is believed, than any hitherto used; and the residuum, after passing the rollers, may easily be dried and used in the same way; another advantage over the cane, which, after the juice is expressed, is usually burned. “The mills should be made on the same gen- eral principle employed in constructing those intended for grinding cane. An important dif- ference, however, will be found both in the original cost and in the expense of working them, Judging from the comparative hard- ness of the cane and cornstalk, it is believed that one-fourth part of the strength necessary in the construction of a cane-mill will be amply sufficient for corn, and less than one-fourth part of the power will move it with the same ye- locity.” The process of manufacture and erystaliza- tion is described as somewhat similar to that of the syrup of sugar-cane, but the novice will probably need to experiment with some patience before thoroughly mastering the conjury. The Dubuque Times says: “Mr. THomas RANDOLPH, « farmer of this county, residing between Worthington and Cascade, informs us that he has tried the experiment of making molasses from sweet corn [stalks]. He says it is superior to that made from sorghum or 138 FIELD imphee. The cornstalk yields as much mo- lasses as the sorghum. He promises to send us a sample, when we shall have the quality tested by judges and report their decision. If it sus- tains Mr. RanDoLPH’s opinion, it will be of no small consideration to our farmers, as the sweet cornstalk will mature in this latitude when the sorghum and imphee will not. Mr, RAn- DOLPH used his cornstalks immediately after he had removed the crop of ears for table use.” Sugar from Indian Meal.—The discovery of obtaining “glucose,” a liquid or gummy sac- charine substance, from starch, was made in. 1811 by a Russian chemist, Emin KircHorr. It has since been largely manufactured in all the countries of Central Europe, and is much used as the basis of champagne. The granu- lation of starch sugar was accomplished in 1854, by JosrpuH Hrrsu, a Munich chemist, now resident in Chicago. Cane sugar is understood to be two and a half times as sweet as corn-starch sugar. The syrup made from corn starch and sugar-cane contains, in one hundred parts, the following constituents : Corn. Cane. Sugar.. 41.46 43.15 Dextri 22.17 Wate 36.25 33,49 Salts 1,12 2.17 Caramel. ore 21.19 100.00 100.00 “The yield of sugar,” says the Chicago Times, “is about sixty pounds to one hundred pounds of corn meal—the yield of syrup, of the proper density and sweetness for table use, being about seventy pounds. The crystals of the sugar are much smaller than those of cane sugar. The sugar is not liable to change back into syrup, or even to become soft or moist from absorp- tion of moisture from the atmosphere, and, when the syrup is properly made, it is not lia- ble to become hard or congealed into cakes. It can be made as clear and transparent as water, and possesses a flavor peculiarly its own, and pronounced superior to that of maple mo- lasses, though by no means similar to it. It is by far the most pleasant to the taste of any sweet so far discovered.” Extracting the Starch—The Times gives the process of Mr. Hirsu, by which the manufac- ture of corn sugar was begun in Chicago: ‘‘ The first thing to be done is to manufacture the corn into starch. Less care and attention are bestowed upon its manufacture than where the starch itself is to be made an article of com- CROPS: merce, the object being simply to extract all the starchy portion of the grain, The corn is first ground into very fine flour or meal; the finer it is ground, the more easy and satisfac- tory the future process. It is then mixed with water to about the consistency of thin cream, and kept thoroughly agitated for some time, and is then run slowly‘into a cylinder made of fine wire gauze, révoiving very rapidly. As the cylinder revolves, the water flies off through the gauze, carrying with it the starchy portion of the grain, and leaving behind it in the eyl- inder the glutinous portions. The cylinder is stopped every few moments, and the gluten, which adheres closely to the sides, removed with scrapers. “The starch water is conveyed to a vat, and allowed to settle, which it does in a few hours, the starch going to the bottom, and the water, which is quite yellow, collecting at the top. The water is drawn off, and clean water introduced, and the starch stirred thoroughly into it, and again allowed to settle. This ope- ration is continued several times, and has the effect to wash out from the starch much of the coloring matter, which would be much more difficnlt to remove at a later stage in the pro- cess. When the starch has been sufficiently washed, no new water is let in, and the starch soon thickens and hardens at the bottom to about the consistency of stiff clay, in which condition it is used. “The corn contains from thirteen to seven- teen per cent. of gluten, and from sixty-five to seventy-five per cent. of starch, the remainder being water, husks, salts, etc. The gluten is used in large quanties in dyeing establishments and in cotton mills, as a medium for fixing or setting colors. It is said that the beautiful color of ultramarine blue can not be imparted to cotton fabrics save by the use of this sub- stance, or animal albumen made from the white of eggs. Mixed with sugar, large quantities of gluten are manufactured into macaroni; and, mixed with other ingredients, as potatoes, it can be made of use as an article of food to much advantage, From Starch to Sugar—“‘ In transforming the starch into sugar, it is first changed into dex- trine, then into syrup, and then into sugar. | Dextrine is the same as British gum, and is used for making mucilage, fixing dye-stuffs, and applied to all purposes to which gum ara- bic is applied. “The starch, about the consistency of stiff clay, is shoveled from the settling tub into a SUGAR FROM large boiler, which will hold many tons. A few inches of water is let in on the top, filling the boiler about two-thirds full, when sulphuric acid or oil of vitriol isadded, and the lid closed and fastened. Entering the top of the boiler, and running down to within an inch or two of the bottom, is a steam pipe, which terminates in pipes branching off from the center to all points of the boiler, and only an inch from the bottom. These branching pipes are perforated with small holes, and, when the lid has been closed, steam is let on, and, forcing its way through these small apertures, in about five minutes penetrates and softens the whole mass above it. Inashort time, the contents of the boiler resembles starch as used for laundry purposes, and soon after it is changed to a sub- | stance resembling mucilage. In a few minutes more the contents become as thin and transpa- rent as water, which is an indication that the starch has become thoroughly dissolved. Ifsome | * of it be now placed in a proof glass, and a little iodine added, it will assume a dark blue color. | “Continuing the boiling, the starch is turned into dextrine. When this change is perfect, iodine produces a purple or red color. If the} boiling is still continued, the dextrine changes rapidly to syrup, and then to sugar. Iodine will not indicate, by producing different colors, the changes as they occur, and alcohol is there- fore employed. If any considerable quantity of dextrine is present in the contents of the’ proof glass, a few drops of alcohol will cause a ‘flock’ to be precipitated to the bottom imme-| diately. If only a small quantity of dextrine | is present, as in syrup and molasses, alcohol | simply renders the contents of the boiler! slightly turbid. When the dextrine is all changed, the work is completed, and the intro- duction of aleohol will produce no change in color or transparency. “The temperature of the contents of the kettle is raised to three hundred degrees, and over, Fahrenheit, and the boiling requires very close attention and care. If the contents are boiled after all the dextrine has been changed, the most injurtous results will follow. The first is perhaps a more complete change to cane sugar, but with such a combination with the sulphuric - acid as will baffle all attempts at separation, even with the strongest of chemicals; it will be dark in color, salty and acrid to the taste, and comparatively worthless, Thenext change is to acetic and formic acid, and humus, At this stage, by the presence of the acetic acid, the compound can be made into vinegar by INDIAN MEAL. 139 simply adding water, though not in large enough quantities to render it practicable for \the manufacture of vinegar. The formic acid, | which is a mere chemical curiosity, having the power to neutralize alkalies, but devoid of ef- fect otherwise, and distinguishable by its pe- culiar odor, which resembles freshly-baked bread, will not act injuriously in transforming it into vinegar. If the boiling is continued still farther, the product is transformed into humus or mold. But boiling too long with the acid is not the only danger; there is great It is necessary to raise the temperature over three hundred degrees Fahrenheit; but, if it is raised three hundred and sixty-five degrees, the syrup danger of raising the temperature too high. becomes changed to an amorphous sugar, known as barley sugar, which it is impossible to erys- talize.. If raised to four hundred or four hun- dred and twenty degrees, caramel, or burnt sugar, is the result, which can be boiled down until thick enough to run into cakes, and then dried and pulverized into powder, but not erys- talizing, it will settle back into vakes again, ab- sorbing moisture enough from the air for that purpose. “Presuming the temperature not to have been too high, or the boiling continued too long, the |steam is shut off from the boiler as soon as the transparency of the contents, when tested with aleohol, show that the desired stage has been reached. The liqnid, as soon as possible, is drawn into a cooling tub, or settler, where the acid is saturated by the addition of slaked lime, which must be used with much care, because, if the liquid is too hot, and a trifle more than necessary is used, the lime will impart to it a bitter taste. Chalk and marble dust, being, when pure, the carbonates of lime, are used for the same purpose. Immediately upon the in- troduction of the lime, the sulphuric acid com- bines with it, forming sulphate of lime, or gyp- sum, the natural form of plaster Paris, which is precipitated to the bottom. In forming this union, provided the carbonates are used, large quantities of carbonic acid are thrown off, caus- ing an effervescence similar to a glass of cham- pagne or Seidlitz powder; and, to prevent the liquor from being thrown from the tub, it must be filled only partially, and the carbonates of lime introduced in small quantities. When effervescence ceases, it is proof that the sul- phuric acid has all been neutralized. “The liquor is now allowed to settle from six to eighteen hours, when, as clear and transpa- rent as water, and of a fine, sweet taste, but | 140 FIELD CROPS: containing so much water—from 85 to 90 per cent.—as to prevent crystalization, it is drawn off into a fresh tub. “The sulphate of lime is easily soluble in sugar, and, in neutralizing the sulphurie acid, the liquid takes up more or gless of this com- pound, which it still holds in solution. As its presence would render the syrup black, or nearly so, and also prevent perhaps twenty-five per cent. of the sugar from crystalizing, it must be removed. Mr. Hirsx claims, among other things, the use of carbonie acid gas, in connection with the phosphate of ammonia, or the hyperphosphate of lime, for this purpose. The carbonic acid gas is made by forcing a strong current of air over burning charcoal, the acid passing off through a pipe. This pipe, after passing through a trough of water, which cools the gas, terminates at the bottom of a vessel filled with water. The gas forced out from this pipe passes up through the water, and all ashes, soot, or dust of any kind con- tained in it, of course is left behind. The top of the vessel is closed, and a pipe leads from it to the bottom of the tub into which the syrup has now been drawn. From this pipe the gas passes up through the syrup, and off into the air, causing a slight effervescence. Every par- ticle of Jime encountered by the carbonic acid gas, in its passage through the syrup, is sepa- rated from the sugar and rendered insoluble, and of course settles to the bottom. Where phosphate of ammonia is used, the phosphoric acid unites with the lime, separating it from the sugar, and rendering it insoluble, in which condition it falls to the bottom; the ammonia set free by the withdrawal of the acid with) which it was united passes off into the air. Where hyperphosphate of lime is employed, containing two parts of phosphoric acid to one of lime, the superfluous acid unites with the lime in the syrup, rendering it, and by its with- drawal, the hyperphosphate also, a neutral in- soluble phosphate, which is also precipitated. “The syrup, after having remained some hours undisturbed, is drawn into a vacuum pan for evaporation, for, even after having received ‘the treatment already described, its erystaliza- tion does not follow as a matter of course, but depends to a great extent upon the treatment to which it is still to be subjected, and the care it receives in its later stages. “The vacuum pan is used because it is ne- cessary to bring the syrup to its proper consist- eney by quick evaporation, and at the same time not heat it to too high a temperature, The vacnum pan is closed at the top, and pro- vided either with a steam coil or steam pipes, running up and down, with a stop-cock near the bottom, by which the contents can be re- moved, or additional syrup pumped in. An air pump, to exhaust the steam and air, is also provided, together with a thermometer, and, in the more complete ones, a vapor condenser, by which all the sugar carried off by the steam is caught and returned. By the use of the vacuum pan, assuming it to work perfectly, of course, water can be made to boil at just one remove above the freezing point, thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit, whereas two hundred and twelve degrees is the boiling point in the open air. Kighty degrees is the usual boiling point of the syrup, when first put into the pan, although as it becomes thicker, it retains more heat, and of course attains a higher temperature, about one hundred and forty-five degrees being the lowest boiling point when of proper con- sistency for erystalization. ‘The syrup isdrawn into the vacuum pan until about two-thirds fall. All apertures are closed, and the steam let into the pipes, applying, in fact, two hundred and twelve degrees of heat. The air pump ex- hausts the air, and at about eighty degrees, although not hot enough to burn the hand, the syrup commences to boil and give off steam, which is also removed by the air pump as fast as generated, and in this manner the syrup is boiled down quickly. When the syrup has been boiled part way down, more is pumped in, and thé same operation continued many times until the pan is over two-thirds full of syrup of sufficient density to erystalize, when it is drawn off, and passed through a Dumont filterer, of which mention has already been made as a cylinder, some forty feet in length, filled with pulverized animal charcoal. The charcoal is first heated by the introduction of steam, to prevent the syrup from crystalizing while passing through it. From the filter the syrup passes over a coil of steam pipes, con- taining the waste steam from the vacuum pan, and consequently not heated to a very high temperature. This completes such little evap- oration as may still be necessary, and the syrup is run into molds, or boxes, similar to cane syrup for ecrystalization, receiving after it the same treatment.” Maple Sugar.—The maple-sugar crop of the United States is reported at forty mill- ion pounds annualky—no less than twenty thousand tons! Of this, Vermont produces MAPLE one-half. The hard maple yields the true cane sugar; when properly refined it resembles pre- cisely the sugar yielded by the cane. In its brown, commercial condition, it holds the pe- culiar maple flavor which makes it one of the most delicious of confections. Crude maple sugar is never worth so much for family uses as good cane sugar; but the maple syrup is more highly esteemed than any similar extract. In those regions where the rock maple flourishes, which includes a broad belt stretch- ing from New England to the far West, from the sugar camps of, Maine, beyond the natural sugar orchards of Wisconsin, maple sugaring is practiced. There is no branch of farming carried on with so little outlay for fixtures. Farms in Vermont will not average over $40 in investment for all their sugar-making con- veniences. Comparatively little improvement has been made in the maple-sugar business for two generations. The ax has given way to the auger; the old troughs for catching sap have been generally displaced by tin, or wooden buckets, and hemispherical cast-iron kettles by sheet-iron pans, for boiling, and the stone arch or straddle-pole, by a brick arch. Drawing Sap—The early spring is the sap season, when the ground freezes by night and thaws by day. Never box your trees with an ax to gather the sap, but use an auger on the sunny side. Never bore witha downward slant into the tree, for this will catch and retain water, and greatly promote decay. Bore up- ward, about two feet from the ground, and never more than an inch or an inch and a half deep—the Cultivator says but three-fourths of an inch. If the auger penetrates beyond the bark and sap-wood, the vitality of the tree is injured. Most of the sap courses near the bark. There are various opinions about the size of bit to be used; but this depends somewhat on the size of the tree. The Ohio Farmer says: “an auger one and a fourth inches in size;”’ the New England Farmer says that ‘“‘a half-inch bore is as good for sap asa larger one;” the Country Gentleman thinks “seven-eighths is large enough;” and SoLton RosINson says: “not over an inch.” We believe a three-fourth inch auger is as large as should ever be used, if a tree bears two spouts. Mr. Rosrnson gives the following excellent directions for making cheap spouts from an iron hoop, which may be from two to three inches wide: “Cut into lengths of two to four inches with a small cold-chisel, using the end SUGAR. 141 of a hard-wood block for an anvil. Now grind one end sharp before making them into troughs, which you can do almost as fast as you can count, as follows: Bore an inch hole through a hard log, and saw it asunder soas to leave half of the hole exposed; drive two nails upon its side for a gauge; lay the flat piece of iron over this hollow and a round bolt on it, and hit that with a stout hammer or an old ax. You need not go to the blacksmith’s, and you can not make wooden spouts half so fast, and they will not last half so long.” Tin spouts are somewhat used ; and in many localities wooden spouts are still preferred to either. It is de- sirable to have the hole nearly closed, so that the flow of sap may not be checked by dryness of wood. When freshing over, an auger is used each time one-eighth of an inch larger than the one before it, and the incision made but a shaving deeper. The spile will not have to be removed to do this. It is also recom- mended that the holes be carefully plugged with short plugs when the season is over, that the bark may grow over the wound. One spiggot to a tree is generally enough. Very nearly as much sap will run from one spout as from two, and the life of the tree will thus be preserved to benefit those who follow in our footsteps. Let us remember the maxim to leave the world as good as when we found it. The buckets for collecting the sap are gener- ally made of tin; wooden ones are still used by some persons. These are propped up to the mouth of the spout, or suspended from a spike or hook driven into the tree. The holes from which the sap runs should be cleaned out and slightly deepened several times during the season, for the purpose of clearing away the mold which collects in the taps, and keeping them open and clean. Sugar Making—Improyements have been made in the manner of evaporating the sap. Large sheet-iron evaporating pans are now used. Some of them are set up with brick and mortar, and protected from rain or snow by a shingle or boarded roof. Cross bars of iron are laid on the brick, and on these the pans rest. The latter are generally made of Russian iron, and are five or six inches in depth, and of sutficient size to suit the quantity of sap to be evaporated. Two pans, two feet wide by four long, set in a brick arch, one forward of the other, will be sufficient for a “bush” of three hundred trees, and will boil the sap to syrup in twelve hours. The rims of the pans should be turned over very strong wire, and handles for moving them at- 9 142 tached. When several pans areused, they should be set on the same frames, but not at the same height, and each should be as much as its own depth higher than the other, as by this means the sap can be drawn with faucets from the highest to the lowest. Never pour hot sugar into wooden vessels. It is impossible to make good maple sugar unless the sap is boiled soon after it runs. If it be allowed to sour‘in the least, the iron ves- sel in which it is boiled will darken the color of the sugar, giving it a disagreeable taste, and making it very injurious to the health of those} who use it. When the sap is boiled down to a syrup, it should be strained through a flannel strainer, and then boiled again until it granulates. When an extra quality of sugar is desired, the syrup is sometimes clarified by using milk, saleratus, or the whites of eggs. Half a tea-cup of new milk to every pailful of syrup is the proportion found most effective. The syrup and milk should be boiled slowly together, and the scum which rises to the surface carefully removed. When the syrup becomes thick enough, it should be poured into tin molds, and when solid, the cakes should be turned upside down, to keep them from draining too much. They will soon become hard. When the tapping and boiling are going on, the bush should be fenced, to keep all kinds of stock from upsetting the buckets, or damaging the works in any way. If sugar-makers would economize time and wood, by all means let them have a tight sugar- house over their furnace, for a cold gust of wind, blowing on the surface, will stop the boiling, as the vapor is thrown back into the syrup. Try it for a moment with a lid, then raise your lid and see the water dripping back. The faster the evaporation, the more and better the sugar. JouN Bocovs, received a patent for an evap- orator, which he used two years. It is very simple, consisting of the usual boiling pan, a reservoir for sap, a conducting pipe, and a pe- culiar float which rests in the pan, and admits the sap from the reservoir only at the same rate as it is evaporated. By this arrangement a man can fill the reservoir, build a big fire, go home to bed, and in the morning find his sap all boiled down: Mr. Boeur counts it better than a man at twenty dollars per month in su- gar-time. High flavor in maple sugar is produced and retained by making it from the purest sap and richest syrup, and in the cleanest buckets, and FIELD CROPS: boiling in stirring off till it breaks brittle on snow or cold iron, and packing the cakes in air-tight chests or boxes. Thesyrup should be sealed up while hot. Yield of Trees—Sap is concentrated about fifty times to make sugar. An ayerage yield of the maple, is from three to five pounds per tree, each season, old trees yielding most. A New Hampshire farmer suggests the planting and enlture of sugar-maple orchards, and tells of one remarkable tree on his farm that started from the root of a small tree which was cut down for fence about sixty-two years ago. It is now some two feet in diameter. Three times the sap of this tree has been made into sugar _ by itself. The first trial, when the tree was smaller than it now is, it gave twenty pounds of dry sugar; at another time twenty-five pounds, and at the last trial, twenty-seven pounds. The tree was tapped with nothing larger than a half-inch augur, and only in one place., It has afforded at least twenty pounds of sugar annually for the last twenty years. Large orchards sometimes average ten pounds to a tree; and forty pounds have been made in one season from a tree in Ohio. Sorghum.—Sorghum is a name now gen- erally applied to the varieties of Chinese and African sugar-cane, which have been intro- duced so largely to the United States within fifteen years. Under the name of Sorgo, these congenerous plants have been known from re- mote antiquity; it is the Holeus saccharatus of Liynzus. About 1850, a variety of this plant was brought to France from China, by Count DeMontiGny; and from there, after successful experiment, it was soon transplanted to Amer- Imphee was brought about the same time from Kaffir-land, in Africa, and still another distinct species, from Otaheite. The new sugar-cane, being found well adapt- ed to our climate and soil, North as well as South, made quite an agricultural sensation for some years, and in 1860, there were 6,698,181 gallons of sorghum molasses produced in this country, and in 1862, the product of the West- ern States was more than 15,000,000 gallons, as much as there was of cane-molasses in 1860. Extensive areas in differant sections of the Northern States were planted, machinery was procured for crushing the cane and boiling down the juice; conventions of sorghum plant- ers and sugar manufacturers were held, and newspapers devoted to the specialty of the new canes, were established. In the West, the in- ica. SORGHUM—PLANTING, ETC. terest taken in the sorghum question has been especially great. In this section of our country the demand for molasses has always been large, and the farmers, observing in the new cane a means of supplying this demand by their indi- vidual labor, did not hesitate to plant largely. In many parts of the West, wholesale dealers purchased no sugar-cane molasses whatever, during the continuance of the war. The new plant appeared to fulfill its promise. But the official report of the national statistician for 1867, says: “Sorghum has suffered a material decline for several years, which is continued, causing despondency to producers.” And the national chemist’s report said: “The attempt to separate and crystalize the cane sugar of sor- ghum on a large scale has been wholly unsuc- cessful, and as a sacchariferous plant it is only valuable for its molasses.”’ It must be admitted that sorghum has not, thus far, seemed to justify the extravagant hopes of the most sanguine; but it has proved itself a very useful plant, and doubtless will henceforth form one of: the common crops in American culture. In the rotation of soiling for cattle, sorghum already holds a high place, and even if sugar could not profitably be made from it, it will continue to be largely grown by farmers for its product of domestic syrup. The soil and geo- graphical range of the Chinese sugar-cane cor- responds nearly with that of Indian corn. It produces the best crop on dry uplands, but the most luxuriantly on rich bottoms of the moist loams. It endures cold much better than corn, and experiences no injury from Autumnal frosts. It will also withstand excessive drought. It takes five to ten gallons of juice to make a gallon of syrup. The Chinese cane seems more closely related to broom corn than the African, and manifests a greater tendency to “crossing” and deterio- ration from contiguous crops of the broom; it is also very liable to be thrown down by the winds, and to the production of large, gummy joints, which exercise a detrimental influence on the production of either syrup or sugar. The plant, too, when thrown down by winds or rain, in its efforts to regain the upright posi- tion becomes so crooked as to give great trouble to the workmen employed in handling the stalks. The African variety, or Imphee, on the contrary, is much more vigorous in the stalk, and seldom falls before the wind; its joints are much smaller relatively to the size of the stalk, and its juices are more limpid and rich, gener- 143 erally showing about one degree richer in sugar, by the saccharometer, than the juice of the Chinese cane. The Washington Sorghum convention said : “By accounts from all parts of the country, this plant is universally admitted to be a wholesome, nutritious, and economical food for animals; all parts of it are greedily de- voured ina green or dry state by the horses, eattle, sheep, and swine, without injurious ef- fects, the latter especially, fattening on it as well as upon corn.” Soil.—Select either a lime soil, or supply it Lime neu- A sunny ex- Sorghum likes a strong, with a moderate amount of lime. tralizes the acids in the canes. posure is preferred. warm, and rich soil, such as will generally ripen common corn early, free from foul seeds, and one which will stand wet seasons well. A sandy soil is preferred, but it should be rich; a clover lay is capital. This cane is much more likely to suffer from wet Springs than from dry Summers, and hence the above prefer- ence for a loose and porous soil. The ground can not be plowed too deep, as its roots pene- trate to a great depth, even as far as three and a half feet. Planting—As soon as the ground is sufli-. ciently warm and dry in the Spring put in the seed, from one-fourth to one-half an inch in depth, drilling it in rows about three and a half feet apart, and secure a good stand of cane every twenty inches. Many think time is gained by sprouting the seed, which may be done by pouring hot water upon the seed in a basket, and allowing it to stand by the stove a few hours. The object of “sprouting” is to ferack the hull, and care must be taken not to let the sprout shoot forth too far before plant- ing, as it is easily broken off, and the seed lost. Cultivation.— The young cane plant is ex- ceedingly diminutive, and is hardly distinguish- able from the fox-tail or Summer grass; hence the importance of having clean ground. Stir the ground freely from the time you can see the cane until it is about three feet high. Let no weeds be tolerated. In some soils the cane is liable to ‘‘tiller,” or, as it is sometimes called, “sucker.” It will, therefore, be advisable to remove the young suckers, in order to permit the main plants to mature uniformly and vigorous- ly, and also to facilitate thestripping and gather- ing. Wherethe suckers are permitted to grow up they detract greatly from thestrength of the main plant, and impede the workmen in gather- ing the crop, as they are often in doubt as to 144 FIELD which to select and cut; besides, if gathered along with the main stalks, and sent to the mill, they impart to the syrup a wild grassy flavor, together with an excess of acid, which is difficult to remove, and which proves a posi- tive barrier to the manufacture of sugar. It is well to know that this cane will bear transplant- ing. In this way missing hills may be sup- plied, or early crops grown, by starting in hot beds, and transplanting in May or June. Harvesting.—“ Just previous to cutting,” says Isaac A. Henpaes, in-the United States Agri- cultural Report for 1861, “the leaves should be stripped off by hand, if desired for fodder, or, if they are designed to be left on the ground, by a smart stroke of a stick about four feet long. The seed heads, together with about four feet of the cane, should be cut off and tied into small bundles with the leaves; they are far better as food for every kind of stock than sheaf-oats, and are richly worth saving. I am aware of a rumor which has gone abroad to the effect that they are injurious; and, although the statement has a thousand times been re- futed, I am still asked whether the seed will not kill cattle and horses. I once lost a valua- ble horse by feeding to him imprudently a mess of oats, and so, but only so, it may be with this seed. “The dismantled canes should then be cut off near to the ground, and tied in bundles of twenty or thirty stalks, with the wilted leaves. Each bundle should be tied in two places, which will greatly facilitate the subsequent handling. In this condition the cane may be set up in ricks in the open air, or, preferably, under shelter, and kept for some weeks. Such keeping improves the juice not only in flavor, but also in saccharine richness, from one to three degrees. This improvement takes place upon the same principle and from similar causes which determine the sweetening of acid fruit after pulling, viz., the change of the gum and starch into sugar. If, at any time while the cane is standing, a sharp freeze should occur, the whole crop should be slashed down and thrown into windrows, with the tops up- permost. If much difficulty should then arise in stripping off the leaves, the canes may be ground with the leayes adhering, but the tops should be freely cut off. All possible despatch should be used after freezing in getting the canes through the mill, lest a warm sun should come out, and fermentation and souring com- mence.” In securing this culmination of the juice and vreventing re-acidulation lies one of CROPS: the great fundamental means of success in the manufacture of sugar from any variety of cane, being rather difficult of attainment, more par- ticularly in the African cane, owing to the dis- position in the canes not to mature at the same time. Manufacturing into Sugar.—Whatever may be the answer to the question raised by the chemist before referred to, whether the syrup can profitably be crystalized ‘‘on a large scale,” there is no doubt that sugar is being made from it on a moderate scale, for home consumption, to great advantage. D. M. Coor, of Mans- field, Ohio, thus describes the method : “‘ Having secured the cane at its best stage, the next question is the best mode of manufac- turing. An iron mill, with at least three rollers, should be used, as the wooden mills (which answered well for our primitive ex- periments) lose one-half of their juice. The cane should be stripped, topped, and, for very nice experiments, should be cut in the middle, the butts pressed and evaporated by themselves for sugar, and the tops for syrup. In my ex- periments in 1861 I used the whole stalk with complete success.” “Of the most vital importance is the mode of defecation and evaporation. To boil the juice in the ordinary kettles or pans is to waste both your time and your crop, as has been fully demonstrated by the thousands of experiments heretofore made. Defecation and evaporation must be combined in one action; that is, during evaporation there must bea constant defecation. The albuminous matter will not coagulate except upon the application of an active heat, and, as this matter, and other impurities rising in the seum, can not rest upon a boiling surface without being again plunged by the currents into the juice, and, finally, so incorporated with the syrup as to prevent gran- ulation, it is clear that the evaporator must af- ford a means of retiring this scum from the boil- ing surface as rapidly asitarises. Hence there must be a cool surface within the pan, outside the line of ebullition, where it may rest. This cooling surface is indispensable, and no one has succeeded in making sorgo sugar who did not use it. I therefore made a pan with the sides projecting over the surface several inches. “Tn my first experiments I used lime in def- ecation, but finding that a simple active heat was the best defecator, I abandoned it. To se- cure the best effect in defecating by heat, and also the most rapid evaporation possible, which is another great requisite to success, the juice _ iron has been very extensively used through the SORGHUM—METHODS OF MANUFACTURING. should be boiled in shallow bodies. In doing so I found great danger of burning, and, there- | fore, introduced a running stream of juice into) my pan; but, as the scum collecting at the cool sides of my pan would pass down the whole | length of it and mingle with the syrup as it flowed out into my coolers, I constructed ledges starting out from each side alternately, and reaching nearly across the pan, thus giving me a zigzag current from one end to the other. These ledges held the’ scum at the cool sides until removed by the skimmer. They also ac- complished another important and very unex- pected result, which I will endeavor to explain: “Different degrees of heat cause different kinds of impurities to rise to the surface. At the front end of my pan one kind came up, while further down, being hotter, another kind, and so on, until about half way down my pan I found all the green impurities removed, and nothing left but the “cane gum,” as it is fre- quently termed; this is precipitated, and forms a white coat upon the pan for the space of about three or four channels. This coat must be re- moved from the pan, while soft, with a stiff broom, as it becomes almost as hard as steel, and is then difficult to remove. After this “eum” is removed the syrup is free to crys- talize, and to this principally I attribute my success. “Another thing I found essential. The syrup must be hurried to the point of crystal- ization as rapidly as possible, and, when it is attained, be instantly removed from the evapo- rator. That point is about two hundred and twenty-eight degrees Fahrenheit, and testing the syrup by weight it should weigh from eleven to twelve pounds to the gallon. Eleven pounds does very well, but crystalization is) rather slow. The bubbles afford a good index of the proper stage, the same signs used in boil- ing maple being applicable to sorghum. “Tn order to cause my running stream al- ways to reach the outlet of the pan just at the point of crystalization, I placed it upon rock- ers, and could thus hasten or retard the stream as my fire might require. Iam thus enabled to have a constant stream of juice flowing into the pan, and a stream of syrup as constantly from it. This device secured for me the grand requisites, thorough defecation and rapid evap- oration. A patent for it has been granted me. “Tt has been a question what kind of metal should be used in evaporators, Galvanized West, and is highly yalued by many. The! 10 ‘saltish taste. |least afford to stop your work. 145 objection to it is, the galvanized coating is liable to scale off. It is also affected by the acids in the juice, so that syrups made upon it have a Russia iron is highly esteemed, and, for a cheap article, is, perhaps, as good |material as can be used, but the best yet tried is good heavy sheet copper. True, this is ex- pensive; but this is more than balanced by its durability and the ease with which it is cleansed. “Tf any object to the use of sheet metal on account of its lightness, I would say that it is more durable and economical than east iron. The latter often cracks just at the time you can It ‘also rusts out very rapidly—more so than Russia—and galvanized iron is cumbersome, difficult to han- dle, and, morever, is very expensive. “Tn addition to a mill and an evaporator, which will accomplish the above results, there are needed several shallow wooden coolers and a V-shaped draining box with slide-covered openings in the bottom. The mill may be set upon a bank and a pipe lead from it to the evaporator below. “The syrup should not be raised above two hundred and twenty-eight or two hundred and thirty degrees Fahrenheit. If made too thick, the atoms of sugar are not freeto move about and assume the crystaline form. Neither should the syrup be allowed to get cold. The coolers should be set away in a warm room, at a tem- perature of about ninety degrees, and that tem- perature should be maintained day and night until ecrystalization is perfected. In our cli- mate artificial heat is, of course, required, and our farmers can not expect success unless they are willing to go to this trouble. My syrup crystal- ized in twenty-four hours, and in a very few days crystalization and drainage was com- plete.” Mr. Henpaes, in the article before quoted from, says: “Two main objects should be borne in mind in the construction and placing of pans, or evaporators, viz.: to use up all the heat of the furnace, and to give full employment to the attendant. I made one pan, for experi- ment, twelve feet in length and three feet in width, thus exposing a superficies of thirty square feet to the fire; yet I found that the flame from the furnace passed ten feet beyond the pan, and then entering the flue of a steam boiler twenty-six feet long, soon raised steam therein, and in its mate, to four pounds press- ure. In this panI could make fifty-four gallons of syrup in six hours by burning a half cord 146 FIELD of inferior wood; now, had my pan been con-' structed of a length of twenty-five or thirty feet, I should have been enabled, with the same fuel, to make from seventy-five to one hundred gallons of syrup in the same time. The fur-, nace in the above case was twenty-four inches. in vertical height, and deep enough from front. to back to receive four-foot wood; larger fur-| naces, with large doors and corresponding ca- pacious ash-pits, good gratings, and so forth, will be found still more economical. The in- side of the furnace and flue should be con-| structed of fire-bricks, and be \well supported | by outside work, anchored together, and made firm; the door frames should be secured to the brick work by iron anchors.” In an able paper on Sorghum Culture, in the United States Agricultural Report for 1865, by WILLIAM CLouGH, editor of Lhe Sorgo Jour- nal, we find the following: “The production of sugar from sorghum has been much retarded by a false notion on the part of many that it is to be accomplished by some sovereign specific, which is to make the syrup crystalize. This has led producers away after pretentious patent processes, to the neglect of a careful attention to every step in the ope- ration, which is the only certain means of suc- cess, and without which nothing else is of any avail. It should be understood that syrup fre- quently contains no erystalizable sugar what- ever, and to produce a single grain of true sugar from such syrup transcends all arts of man’s device. Carbon has been made to crys- talize and afford artificial diamonds, but no man has ever yet succeeded in making a grain of artificial cane sugar. It is developed alone in the great laboratory of nature, and all that art or science can do is to preserve it unim- paired, and separate it from excess of water and the impurities which obstruct granulation. It will then crystalize, when reduced to the proper temperature, withont the employment of any ‘process’ or extraneous aids whatever. Syrup often contains so small a portion of erystalizable sugar—that is, the minute atoms of sugar are so far separated, that they are not attracted to each other; in which case crystali-| zation can not occur. Sorghum syrup gener- ally contains a dense, viscid substance which obstructs granulation. This can be removed; but the only effectual means of removing it is by filtering it through a liberal quantity of freshly burned bone coal—a means which can not be considered practicable ‘with the mass of the farmers, But it can be, in a great CROPS; measure, ayoided or prevented from occurring ; and this, together with the means to be em- ployed for promoting the development of cane sugar in the plant, and preserving it un- impaired, constitutes the whole art of ‘mak- ing sugar from sorghum.’ It all consists in strict compliance with the conditions imposed at each step in the operation, from the selec- tion of the seed to the final act of purging or draining the erystalized product. It is not to be accomplished by any magical or sleight-of- hand process. There is absolutely no ‘royal road’ to sugar.” Mr. Hep@es concludes his essay as follows: Hybridization —* Great care should be taken in the selection of seed. Our sorghum has been grown indiscriminately with broom corn and other members of the millet family, that it has become to a great extent hybridized. Know the history of your seed before you plant it. “ The Sorghum taste will not be found in well- grained sugar, as it all drains out wiih the mo- lasses. The sugar is of fine flavor, surpassing the New Orleans and nearly equal to maple. In the syrup the ‘sorghum taste’ may be re- moved by treating the juice with milk of lime or whitewash before boiling. The proper quantity may be known by testing with litinus paper. With too little lime the blue litmus is changed to a red, and with too much that red is changed back again. Value of the Crop—The expense of culti- vating and manufacturing an acre of sor- ghum is about $37. It may run, possibly, to $45 or $50. My cane yielded about two hun- dred and twenty-five gallons to the acre, and of this about seven pounds to the gallon were erystalizable sugar, giving one thousand five hundred and seventy-five pounds to the acre. “Mr. J. H. Smirx, of Quincy, Illinois, made one thousand five hundred pounds to the acre from the crop of 1861, and had one hun- dred and fifteen gallons of good syrup beside. Brown sugar is now retailing throughout the West at 124 cents, and wholesale at 10 cents per pound. Molasses sells readily at whole- sale at 40 cents. The profits may therefore be stated as follows: 1,500 pounds of sugar, 10 cents per pound.... 115 gallons molasses, 40 cents per gallon... Deduct expenses, 68y.. Balance, net profit.. “T look upon the day as near at hand when the North will raise sugar for export. All thai is wanted is for the farmers to give the sorgo crop the same care and attention they would TEA—TOBACCO, any other. So long, however, as they are sat- isfied to make syrups in the most negligent man- ner, and in common pans and kettles, and so long as they take less care of it after it is made than they would of vinegar, they must be con- tent with miserable wild-tasting sorghum mo- lasses, leaving the sugar for their more enter- prising neighbors.” D. J. Powers, of Chicago, thus writes: “I know from actual experience, that an acre of sorghum can be raised, and got ready for the mill as easily as an acre of corn, and an aver- age crop will yield one hundred and sixty gallons of good, thick, clean syrup, worth at wholesale, in any Western market, at least fifty cents per gallon, and seventy-five cents at re- tail, making the net product, when manufac- tured on equal terms, $40 per acre. Now, an average crop of corn would yield from thirty to thirty-five bushels to the acre, which at the ordinary price of twenty-three to twenty-five cents per bushel, would be just about one-third of the net amount of the acre of sorghum, say- ing nothing about the cane-seed, which, when mature, is worth nearly, or quite one-half as much as corn.” Method of Planting.—A Connecticut sorghum grower made an interesting experiment in grow- ing cane in 1864. He planted nine rows with the hills four feet apart each way, and nine other rows nine feet apart and the hills two feet asunder in the row—thus giving a less number of hills by the latter than the former planting; and yet he got fifteen gallons of mo- lasses from the former, and forty gallons from the latter; and, in addition, he raised a row of potatoes between the rows in the latter case. The sorghum needs light, and hence the great gain in the wide rows. Tea.—Tea can scarcely be regarded as a . “field crop” in this country, but it grows readily in our Southern States, and an effort has been made to introduce its culture on a large scale. That tea can be grown successfully in Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, is certain, because the experiment has been fairly tried. The ther- mometer at Shanghai indicates a cold more severe by thirteen degrees than in Charleston. _ As early as 1851, Junius SmirH raised the tea plant in South Carolina; and called public at- tention to the fact that, at the Chinese average of five hundred pounds per acre, it would require the cultivation of only 20,000 acres to supply the United States. “In 1860, W. Jones, of Liberty county, Georgia, set out fifty plants, 147 and has supplied his family from them ever since.” The tea plant is an evergreen shrub, leaves from three to four inches long, one in width; flowers white, one inch or more in diam- eter ; center filled with large number of stamens, with yellow anthers; capsule usually three seeded; seeds the size of a chinquapin, abun- dant; blooms in October. and November; it seeds the next September; grows from cuttings or layers. In 1866, Mr. Jones’ plants were six to seven feet high, and as great in diameter across, the branches interlocking. The vigorous growth of leaves takes place in April. As soon as, they appear, they are piucked, gathered in a basket, and spread on tables in the sun for one day. They are then rolled together in little moist balls; dried again; then rolled again in very small parcels. The curing is finished by putting them in heated pans, warm enough to admit of stirring them rapidly with the fingers, This should be continued about five minutes, or until they are perfectly dry. The plants pro- duce good crops for eighteen or twenty years. The growth of tea is not affected by dry or wet weather, or by storms, and insects will not mo- lest the plants. Capt. JAMEs CAMPBELL, near Knoxville, Tennessee, obtained a few Hyson Tea plants from the Agricultural Department in 1858, and they have attained a height of five to eight feet, and furnished small quantities oftea. All the dif- ferent varieties of green and black tea are obtain- ed from one kind of plant; the difference result- ing from time of picking and manner of curing. The chief obstacle to tea-raising in America seems to be the expense of curing it. “A journal said recently: “The culture of tea in South Carolina has proved a failure. It grows well enough, but wages are too high in this country. It is profitable in China, but a fellow is hired there for a dollar a month, and boards himself.” Tobacco.—America is responsible for to- bacco. ‘Some sailors having been sent ashore in Cuba by Columbus, were surprised to see the natives of the island puffing smoke from their mouths and nostrils. They afterward learned that this was the smoke of the dried leaves of tobacco.” Its botanical name is Nicotiana, from JEAN Nicort, who carried it from Central America to Spain in 1560. Its specific name, tobacco, is supposed to be derived from Tobago, a West Indian Island; or from Tabac, a province of Yucatan; or, as Humsoupr in- sists, from tobacum, the pipe in which the JTay- 148 tiens smoke it. It was carried from Virginia to England in 1586, by Ratpn Lang, and Sir WALrTeR RALEIGH was the first on the island to smoke it. Smoking soon became fashionable in street and palace, but it called from the fas- tidious monarch, James I, the famous “ Coun- terblast.” “It is,” said he in his tract, “a custom loathsome to the Eye, hateful to the Nose, harmful to the Brain, dangerous to the Lungs, and in the black, stinking fumes thereof, nearest resemble the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless !” Tobacco has had its martyrs. AsxBas I, seventh Shah of Persia, had the lips eut off those who smoked, and the noses off those who took snuff. Mrcnen FreprrRowirTz, Czar of Russia, executed without trial his subjects who were guilty of its use in any form. Mauomer TV had a hole bored in the noses of his cul- prits, and a pipe introduced across the face. The Parliament of Paris proscribed tobacco. Urpan VII and Ursan VIII excommunicated those who gratified a taste for the “filthy vege- table.” Queen ExizApetn, of Spain, author- ized the confiscation of all snuff-boxes for the benefit of the church; but Rrcuexrev did bet- ter than that—he taxedthem. Indeed, tobacco seems always to have borne heavy burdens in Europe. The English have sometimes paid eight hundred to a thousand per cent. for it, and the present British duty on tobacco is seventy-two cents a pound. Tit France it has yielded to the throne an annual revenue of fif- teen million dollars, and in Holland, of more than twenty million dollars. The St. Louis Gazette goes into a calculation to show the amount of tobacco a man chews in a life-time. The editor says: “Suppose a to- bacco chewer is addicted to the habit of chew- ing, filty years of his life; each day of that time he consumes two inches of solid plug, which amounts to six thousand three hundred and seventy-five feet, making nearly one and one-fourth miles in length of solid tobacco, half an inch thick and two inches broad!” He inquires what a young beginner would think if he had the whole amount stretched out before him, and he was told that to chew it up would be one of the exercises of his life, and also that it would tax his income to the amount of one thousand and sixty-five dollars. Another GRADGRIND shows that indulgence in the habit causes the waste of an incredible amount of valuable time. But man is willful and weak, governed more by appetite than arithmetic; and the tobacco fields are still FIELD CROPS: green, and presses are doggedly at. work, and meerschaums are hopefully coloring, as we go to press. In fact, the culture seems to be increasing. The tobacco raised in the United States in 1850, was 199,752,655 pounds; and in 1860, it was 434,209,461 pounds, an increase of nearly 220 per cent.! Of this crop, Virginia and Ken- tucky produced more than half. Next came, in order, Tennessee, Maryland, North Caro- lina, Ohio, and Missouri. Connecticut pro- duced more than New York, and double the quantity raised by all the rest of New England. The war reduced the tobacco crop one-fourth, which loss had not been recovered in 1868. The principal variety grown in the Northern States is the Connecticut seed-leaf. It is ordi- narily used for cigar wrappers, and the larger and the more perfect the leaf, the more profita~ ble is the crop. For smoking or chewing, it is an inferior variety. In fact, it seems very dil- ficult to grow a good quality of chewing to- bacco in the Northern States. It is found much more profitable to grow a large, tough leaf, suitable for cigar wrappers, than to at- tempt to grow a smaller crop of choicer variety. Soil.—A warm, sheltered location, deep, rich, sandy loam, free from weeds or grass, is the best. Plow or spade, in the Fall, ten to twelve inches deep; make level by harrow or rake, and cover closely with tobacco stalks laid on straight. In Spring, as soon as the ground will work well, remove the stalks and plow three or four inches deep, making a very narrow furrow slice, and into each furrow, as turned, strew guano or hen manure quite freely; work in on the surface three pecks to a bushels of poudrette or well-pulverized compost, to the square rod, and make the soil as fine, and the surface as smooth and level as possible. Use a table- spoonful of seed to each square rod of bed; mix it with sand, and sow broadeast very evenly; finish by rolling with a heavy roll. Make the beds ten to twelve feet wide, that being a con- venient width in working; cover with brush to keep fowls off, and to prevent radiation. To weed the bed, remove the brush and stretch a plank across the bed, using blocks under the ends to prevent the middle from setting on to the plants when you sit on it to weed. The bed should be kept carefully clean of all weeds. W. W. Bowrs, writing for the latitude of Baltimore, says the soil should be well pulver- ized with two or three thorough diggings, “Af- ter the first digging sow Peruvian guano, at the rate of four hundred pounds per acre, and work TOBACCO—CULTURE OF, it in. For every one hundred square yards mix one gill of seed with half a gallon of plas- ter or sifted ashes, and sow evenly, in the same manner as gardeners sow small seeds, only with a heavier hand; roll with a hand-roller, or tread down the bed with the feet. If the seed be sown before the middle of March the bed should be covered with bushes, free from leaves, unless they be pine brush, which is the best covering. Sow any time during Winter when the land isin order. The best time is from the 10th to the 20th of March, although it is safest to sow at intervals, whenever the land is in fine working order.” Manures—Tobacco is one of the most ex- hausting of crops. This paltry weed requires more mineral manures (salts) to supply itself, than any other grown. The proportion ab- stracted is enormous, and shows conclusively, the necessity of constant and heavy manuring with special manures, to sustain the highest fer- tility of the land. By special manures, we mean such as are designed by their composi- tion, to supply the appropriate food of plants, in tle requisite proportions. We have, for instance, in eight hundred pounds of tobacco leaves taken from a field, one hundred and sixty pounds of mineral in- gredients (ash), of which the soil is absolutely robbed, and which it has no means of again acquiring, but by direct application. This amounts to twenty per cent., or one-fifth of the entire crop, and is composed, according to the analysis of Professor JOHNSTON, of Magr 13.09 Chloride 2.49 Chloride of potassium: 3.98 Phosphate of iron.. 5AS Phosphate of lime.. 1.49 Sulphate of lime... 6.35 Silicia 8.01 100.00 To supply these materials, ordinary farm- yard manure is insufficient ; so, too, is lime, or plaster, or salt, or any one article. It needs a combination of several, which are in a great me:sure to be found in ashes, combined with the ordinary manure of the farm-yard. But if an application of special manures is sought, they will be appropriately found in the follow- ing proportions of the subjoined inaterials: Bone dust, sulphuric acid... Carbonate of potash, (dry).. ss ** soda, (dry).. * magnesia..... ae “ lime, (chalk). ‘4 Ibs. If the farm-yard must be the main reliance, 149 there should be twenty to twenty-five cords per acre, well fined, spread broadcast after the sec- ond plowing, and harrowed so as thoroughly to incorporate it with the soil—this with four hun- dred pounds of mixed guano and plaster will do the work. Ashes is an admirable fertilizer for tobacco land. Transplanting.—It is essential to get the plants set as early as possible; from the Ist to the 15th of June is best. A moist or wet time is desirable for transplanting, but by watering the ground and the plants after setting, it may be successfully done, even in a dry time, if done thoroughly. Good-sized strong plants grow more readily than weaker ones. One who can set cabbage or lettuce plants, can set tobacco, using care in pressing the soil up to the roots, and not pinching or covering the buds; set them as near as they stood in the bed, leaving the soil a little dishing around them. Cultivation—As soon as the plants take root begin to use the cultivator and hoe. Stir the ground slightly close to the plant at first ; af- terward more thoroughly; let the cultivation be repeated as often as once in ten days, till the tobacco gets too large to go with the cultivator and horse; keep the weeds down with the hoe, and stir the soil as much as possible without injury to the plants. Topping.—To throw the growth of the plant into that portion of the leaves which will give the best returns in profits, etc., the plants need topping when the blossom is fairly formed; just where, is a point demanding good judgment, and what is of importance, experience. The nearest we can come at it on paper is to say, top where the leaves are about six inches wide when the plant has run up to blossom, leaving the plant about two and one-half feet high. Suckering.—This consists in breaking off the shoots which start from the stalk at the axils of the leaves; these should be kept broken off as fast as they make their appearance; the last suckering to be done immediately before cut- ting. Harvesting.—Tobacco should be cut as soon as ripe, which is known by a spotted appear- ance of the leaves; they also assume a harsh and brittle appearance and are easily broken when folded. A hay knife or backed saw is the best to cut with; lean the plant a little and cut underneath the leaves close to the ground ; lay in regular rows to wilt so that it may be handled without breaking; then haul to the barn ona platform wagon. It should be looked to not to let it sunburn; five minutes in a clear 1 150 FIELD hot sun will sometimes injure it irreparably. Turn and cart it under cover or shade when in danger. Curing Barn.—A separate building, arranged expressly for the purpose, is the best; but stables and sheds can be used for want of bet- ter. A building thirty by thirty-two, with fifteen foot posts, will hang an acre of good tobacco, by hanging three full tier and a part tier on the purlin beams. A basement room under a part, or all of the building is conven- ient for stripping, packing, ete. One-half of the siding should be hung on hinges, and there should be a ventilator in the roof to admit of free ventilation, etc. The girts should be ar- ranged equidistant, for resting the poles for hanging on. For poles get straight poles, five or six inches in diameter, or sawed scantling, two by five; these are arranged ten inches apart when filled with plants. Carting and Housing.—A platform wagon is best to cart on; lay the plants on crossways, but uniformly one way. To save handling, two teams or Wagons are necessary, with suflicient help to hand it from the load to the one who hangs. These directions are from WILLIAM H. Wuirs, of Connecticut: “Twining on poles is the most expeditious; other ways are peg- ging, spearing, and hanging on laths; procure sawed or rived laths from straight-grained timber; taper them at one end to fit an iron socket which is pointed at the other end; the socket end is made to fit a lath one-half by one and one-fourth inches. ‘The laths are four feet long; scantling are arranged in the building four feet apart from centers for the lath to rest on after being filled. A one and one-half inch hole, bored a little slanting, three and one-half feet from the foot of a barn post, will serve to hold the lath while being filled. Commence by tying your twine to a plant, and place it by the side of the pole; on the opposite side, about six inches along, place the next, and secure it by a single turn of the twine from left to right, thus placing them alternately till the pole is filled, when the twine is secured, Good strong hemp twine is used.” The above method is that most practiced in Connecticut. Mr. Bowts, in the article before referred to, gives the following: “There are various modes of securing it in the house—by pegging, splitting, tying with twine, and spearing, the latter now being considered the best and most expeditious method. Tobacco sticks are small, round, and straight, four and one-half to five and one- hali feet long. They may be rived out like CROPS: lath, or narrow paling, one to one and one-half inches square, smaller at one end than the other. One end is sharpened to admit the spear. The spear is round, or like the Indian dart in form, It is made of iron or steel, bright and sharp. ‘These sticks are carried to the field, and dropped, one at each heap of newly cut tobacco. The spearing is done by punching one end of the stick into the soft ground, the spear being on the other end, and with both hands running the plant over the spear, and down the stick, thus stringing the eight or ten plants in the heap on the stick.” The tobacco all hung, give it all the ventila- tion possible in fair weather, without allowing the sun to shine on it directly ; rainy or foggy weather, close it in, The sweat, or pole burn, happens in about two weeks after hanging, if the weather be sultry and damp. Clear, dry- ing weather, or tight buildings are desirable at this time as a prevention. Stripping —W hen the sap is all dried out of the leaf-stem, the tobacco is cured; and when a mild damp time comes, open the barn that it may dampen; when it can be handled without rustling, take it down, carry it to the basement and bulk it free from the ground, butts out, tips lapping about one-third. No more should be bulked than can be stripped out in three or four days, or it may hurt. It is assorted into two or three sorts, according as it is more or less per- fect; each sort is kept separate, and done up in hanks of about three to the pound; the butts of the leaves are kept even, and bound neatly with a leaf wound around and tucked into the hank ; neatness in this part often adds several cents per pound to the value. The tobacco, after being stripped, should be bulked soon, to keep from drying out. Casing—Most of our large successful growers case their own tobacco, after leaving it a short time in bulk; a mild time is chosen, when it is pressed into boxes two feet four inches square, by two and a-half feet long, inside measure; three hundred and seventy-five pounds are pressed in each case, with a lever or screw for the purpose. The hanks are Jaid in, butts to the end of the box, away one inch, to prevent crowding against the end; the leaves are straightened out smooth, to keep from pressing in wrinkles. The following season the tobacco undergoes a fermentation, or sweat, which makes it tobacco, ready for manufacture. We recapitulate several points upon which experienced growers strongly insist, because TURNIPS—FOR they express conditions of success in cultivat- | ing tobacco. 1. The land must be in good condition—well enriched with manure. It must be plowed in| the Fall, and again in the Spring, and thor-) oughly pulverized. 2. Tke plants in the seed-bed must be thor-| oughly weeded and guarded against the fly, and | so thinned out as to acquire a hardy growth be-| fore being transplanted. | 3. During the season for the ravages of the) worm the plants must be examined twice each day for the purpose of destroying them. 4. Incuring, the leaf-stalk must be perfectly free from moisture. 5. We add: farmers who are commencing the eulture of tobacco should avail themselves of the services of an experienced man who can supply that knowledge which can not be learned from books. Profit as a Crop.—Tobacco is one of the most | profitable crops grown. Cultivators in the States of Maryland, Kentucky, and Ohio, re- port as an average, under the system of culti- vation practiced, and without much manuring in the latter States, from one to two thousand pounds per acre, according to quality of soil} and yariety of tobacco, sold at from ten to fif- | teen cents a pound. In Connecticut the tobacco for years yielded a net profit of $200 to $400 an. acre. It requires considerable expense to begin with, but after the preparations are made, it will, with proper care, realize at least $100 an acre. One farmer in Massachusetts raised two thousand four hundred pounds to the acre, and sold it at forty cents a pound. « Turnips.—tThe turnip is far less nutritious than other edible roots; but its adaptability to soils, its acceptableness to stock of all kinds, and the fact that it can be raised later in the season than almost any other vegetable, gives it a prominent place among farm crops. CuTHBERT JOHNSON, says: “No other vege- table has had such influence in advancing the! husbandry of Great Britain as the turnip. Not only does it enable the farmer to supply the consumer with fresh meat during the Winter, instead of the salted food upon which our an- cestors had almost exclusively to depend, but also partially supplies the place of a fallow; it imparts to the land a degree of fertility which ensures, under proper management, a succes- sion of crops for the following years of the’ rotation. It is indeed the sheet-anchor of light | soil cultivation, and the basis of the alternate FEEDING, ETC. 451 system of husbandry, to whica every class of the community is so much indebted.” The turnip has been known in Great Britain for three hundred years, as narrated in its agri- cultural history, and its connection with civil- ization is, doubtless, much more remote. Cul- ture has brought it to its present perfection. One of the most distinguished men of England has declared that the failure of the turnip crop of the realm would be a greater calamity than the failure of the Bank of England. Scarcely any other crop can be raised with so little expense and trouble as turnips, and no other plant will produce so great a quantity of food when sown after the first of July. An advantage in turnip culture arises from the fact that the erop may follow wheat, rye, barley, or other crops taken from the land; it may also be grown in connection with corn, tobacco, ete., and be used to fill out wherever these or other crops fail. The ruta baga is raised with greater ease than the mangels, in fact, the chief value of the turnip as a field crop, consists in its accom- modation to late planting, and its yielding good returns on comparatively poor soil. For Feeding.—As will be seen by a table, previously given, even the Swedish, or ruta baga, the best of the turnip tribe, is far inferior in value to the mangel wurzels, and other roots, while the white turnip is the least nutri- tive of all edible roots, being more than nine- tenths water. Yet cattle may be rapidly fat- tened on Swedish turnips and good hay alone, making rich, juicy meat, and when fed fora few of the last weeks, before slaughter, on corn meal, the meat is equal to, if not preferable, to that fed entirely on corn. Ruta bagas are valuable as food for stock, chiefly as an appetizer rather than for their nutritive properties; and for this purpose, they are much more important than their analysis would indicate. Stock will be healthier in the Spring when they have had a regular ration of turnips during the winter, than when confined to hay and grain altogether. It is against na- ture to be fed on succulent food for six months of the year, and the next six wholly on dvy feed. ‘The ruta baga is the only root that in- creases in nutritious qualities as it increases in size. Soil—Turnips will grow and make a fair crop in almost any soil, if it be mellow, in good heart, and free from standing water; the deeper the soil the better, as with all other root crops. The soil best adapted to the crop 152 FIELD is the deep, black, moist soil of the bottom lands, whether in timber, openings, or prairie. While the ruta baga grows almost entirely above ground, there is nothing which delights more ina deep, mellow bed. The cleaner from weeds and grass the better for the crop. A light, sandy or gravelly loam, in good heart, produces the best flavored turnips for the table. Manures.—Superphosphate of lime is a spe- cific for turnips, and on any tolerably good soil, five hundred pounds will insure a fine crop. Lime, ashes, plaster, guano, bone dust, are each excellent in moderate quantities, harrowed in before sowing, or scattered broadcast when the crop is hoed. On sward land it is best to turn under some fresh manure to insure fermenta- tion and quicker rotting of the sod. Varieties.—There are three classes of turnips, viz., Swedes or Ruta Baga, Yellow, and White. The white or common turnips are sown last, but used first, followed by the yellow, and lastly the Swede, which is the kind generally grown tostore for Winteruse. There are several vari- eties of Swedes—SKIRVING’s improved purple top being most generally sown, Latn@’s pur- ple top is also a good kind—does not grow so large as SKIRVING’s, but is of a better quality ; top very small. Some farmers sow the com- nion red top or white stone for first con- sumption; Scotch yellow for second, and ruta bagas to consume last. But in sowing, this order wants reversing; ruta bagas may be sown from June lst to July Ist, the others may go in later. Sowing.—There are three ways: 1, broadcast; 2, on the flat, in rows 18 to 22 inches apart; 3, on ridges 26 inches apart. Each plan has its advocates, though drill sowing is gaining ground. Wrt~1am ANDERSON, of Rockford, Illinois, in a prize essay on the turnip, says: “In putting the turnip-seed in ridges, I have generally used a drill covering three ridges, either with or without artificial manure. To do this properly, of course the ridges must be made true and straight; otherwise the drill would not keep the center of the ridge, and they would be difficult to cultivate, and it is quite as easy for a good plowman to make a ridge straight as crooked—in fact rather more so. With a drill taking only two ridges, hay- ing concave rollers and those made to vary ac- cording to the width of the ridge, there is not the necessity for such particular work. I have occasionally useda drill taking only one ridge, which is slow work, Probably some of our Western farmers will say this is altogether too! CROPS: much expense. So it may be on new land that does not require any manure to grow admirable turnips, such as we have had this year, but even here a little artificial manure with the seed is highly important to give the plants a vigorous start, to get out of the way of the fly, and other numerous enemies of the turnip crop, and on old land, such as a considerable portion of New York State, and some others, the ex- pense is trifling compared with the beneficial result.” Seed to the Acre.—Sow a pound to the acre is the English rule; this should be varied accord- ing to soil and cireumstances—sometimes more, sometimes less. “Sow thick enough, so that if the fly does attack them there will be plenty left for a crop; besides, the thicker they are sown, the quicker they will be out of danger, the plants drawing each other up.” Ajter Cultivation— WILLIAM BEEBE, in a prize essay in the Country Gentleman, says: “The young plants will make their appearance in about six or seven days. As soon as they can be distintly seen, they should have the horse- hoe run through them, and when the plants are about three inches high they will be ready for hand-hoeing; and this is one of the most par- ticular operations of the whole. If the horse- hoe has been properly used, it will have left a ridge from three to four inches wide, and two to three inches above the general level, with a row of plants in the center; these are singled out with the hand-hoe, by alternately pushing and pulling, which will give the ridge the proper form, being careful to leave but one plant at intervals of twelve inches, and if the land is very rich, they may be left still further apart. I have had the greatest difficulty in getting men to hoe properly; they will leave them too close. If your land has been properly cleaned before sowing, it will require very little attention— now running the horse-hoe through a couple or three times, and it may require going over again with hand-hoes. But if the weeds make their appearance, keep up the battle. You can’t grow both, Whenever they show them- selves keep the horse-hoe moving; let them get once well ahead, and you are beaten. A man should horse-hoe from four to five acres a day, and single hoe one-third. When sown on the flat he won’t be able to do so much, and the plants may be left still further apart. When singling, save some of the finest plants to fill up blanks with, if there are any. Swedes will do very well transplanted; white or com- mon turnips won’t bear it.” Most farmers | WHEAT. think that six or eight inches apart are thin enough. Harvesting.— Among the large stock-growers of our Western States, ruta bagas are seldom harvested at all, but are eaten from the soil where they grow. As soon as they begin to mature, the cattle or sheep are turned into the field for an hour in the morning and an hour at night, from day to day, and allowed to feed upon the roots which stand mainly above the ground. In this way, the labor of harvesting is saved, and the soil gets the manurial benefit of such bits of roots as the stock may leave. Mr. ANDERSON, above quoted, says of har- vesting: “This I have done by topping the turnips with a hoe as they stand in the rows. A quick hand will top two acres in a day; after this we run the skeleton plow, with a flat share, simply to cut the tap-root, leaving the turnip in the same position. The man holding the plow can very easily tell when he is cutting the the root in the right place, by the feeling of it. In speaking of this plan it will be understood to refer to ridge or drill work.” If the turnips are sown broadcast, they are best gathered thus: Take a sharp hoe, and with one motion clip off the top, then strike the corner of the hoe under the root and turn it out. Take a swath about four or five feet wide, and as you jerk them out, throw them into rows. Then go through with your cart, and with pitchforks pick them up and throw them on—not by striking the fork into them, but by slipping the tines under them. Storing.—Turnips should not be kept in cel- lars in large quantites, but should be stored in pits, as already described for potatoes. Profit as a Crop.—The cost of production can hardly reach fifty dollars an acre, in the very worst soil. The expense will not generally ex- ceed five cents per bushel. With good care six hundred to eight hundred bushels to an acre can easily be grown, and some farmers have raised as many as fifteen hundred bushels to an acre. Ata shilling a bushel, an average crop would show a good profit. Conclusion.—Mr. Grpson closes his essay as follows: “In summing up, the main things to be attended to are thorough pulverization of the soil; the crop to be kept well clean; you may as well expect figs from thistles as to ex- pect turnips to grow with weeds. Give plenty of manure; the turnip is grateful and will pay you good interest for what it uses, and what re- mains will not be lost, the next crop receiving the benefit. Keep the horse-hoe moving, even _ if there are no weeds. Give plenty of room; 153 let there be not less than twelve inches from plant to plant. Do everything required in its proper season. What is it that has brought the land in some parts of England to the pres- ent high state of cultivation? Sheep and tur- nips. I know large tracts of land in Lincoln- shire, which thirty years ago, were let at two shillings sixpence, merely as rabbit warrens, being thought too poor to grow anything—light blow-away sands—which are now being let at fifty shillings, equal to ten dollars, per acre per year; by growing white clover and turnips, and eating all on the Jand with sheep, it soon be- came capable of growing barley, and now as fine crops of wheat are grown as can be found. And you may depend upon it, that in whatever district in this country turnips are grown to any extent, there you will begin to see the land increasing in fertility. It is a crop that de- mands such cultivation to be grown successfully, that the land and other crops will feel the bene- fit of it throughout the rotation, and then the farmers’ motto will be the same as mine, viz.: ‘More roots, more stock; more stock, more manure; more manure, better crops.’ ” Turnips among Corn—A snug little crop of turnips may be raised among corn without in- jury, if sown very thinly at the time of second cultivating. The turnips will take the place of late weeds and grow a month afterthe corn is cut. They should, however, be sown thin, and a little earlier than in open ground. Wheat.—tThis is the most important and the most widely cultivated of the grains, be- cause it is the most nutritious and palatable. EZEKIEL speaks of it as being an article of commerce in the land of Judah. Isis was an Egyptian goddess, worshiped as the greatest benefactor of the country, because she taught the cultivation of wheat and barley. CERES fills a similar place in Grecian mythology; she gave to TRIPTOLEMUS the first grains of wheat, and he gave them to the world. Whether the wheat plant has always been as we now find it, or had its origin in an inferior plant, is a question not well settled. A French gardener, M. Faprn, sowed the seeds of a coarse grass, named by botanists egilops, in the Fall of 1839, which ripened in July following. Its seeds he sowed in the Fall of 1840, and contin- ued sowing the seeds every year until in 1845, when the plants then raised were regarded by all who examined them as genuine wheat plants. Its changes from the coarse grass were gradual, at first producing few seeds, but increasing in 154 FIELD number as its resemblance to a wheat plant be- came stronger. This experiment would indi- cate that the wheat plant is the result of culti- vation, and that the ancient wheat of Egypt was originally much inferior to that at present cultivated. Brought to America.—When America was dis- covered, wheat was not found on this continent. It was, however, soon brought here, and a slave of Cortez finding a few grains in some rice, sent from Spain, carefully preserved and planted them, and from these, it is believed, the wheats of Mexico and the Northern Pacific have been derived. It was introduced into the Elizabeth islands of Massachusetts, by BARTHOLOMEW GosNoLp, when his colony made a temporary settlement there, in 1602, and found its way in 1611 into Virginia. In 1718 it was brought in- to the Valley of the Mississippi, and in 1746 flour was first shipped from the Wabash river to New Orleans. This was the commencement of a trade that has become a part of the history of the West, and rendered the free navigation of the Mississippi so essential to its prosperity that no political changes or necessities will ever be permitted to close or obstruct it. The true and infallible symbol of civilization and refinement is the wheat plant. No unen- lightened nation ever cultivates it; no enlight- ened nation ever neglects it. Our Aborigines fully appreciated the influence of the wheat plant on society, if the following anecdote, rela- ted by CREVECa@:UR, the old French traveler, has any foundation in fact: The chief of the tribe of the Mississais said to his people, “Do you not see the whites living upon seeds, while we eat flesh ?—that flesh requires more than thirty moons to grow up, and is then often scarce ?— that each of the wonderful seeds they sow in the earth returns them an hundredfold? The flesh on which we subsist has four legs to es- cape from us, while we have but two to pursue and capture it. The grain remains where the white men sow it, and grows. With them Win- ter is a period of rest, while with us it is the time of laborious hunting. For these reasons they have so many children, and live longer than we do. I say, therefore, unto every one that will hear me, that before the cedars of our village shall have died down with age, and the maple trees of the valley shall have ceased to give us sugar, the race of the little corn (wheat) sowers will have exterminated the race of the flesh-eaters, provided our huutgmen do not re- solve to become sowers,”” Production.—In 1850, the United States pro- CROPS: duced 100,485,944 bushels ; in 1860, 173,104,924 bushels—a gain of seventy per cent., and an in- crease, in proportion to population, of more than twenty-five per cent. In 1850, Pennsy|- vania ranked first as a wheat-growing State, Ohio second, and New York third; in 1860, Illinois stepped forward from the fifth to the first rank, Indiana to the second rank, and Wisconsin, from the ninth to the third rank. In New England, the production of wheat, lit- tle as it was in 1850, was even less in 1860, only enough being grown to feed the people for two months. The same is true of the Middle States, where the population during the decade had increased two millions, In 1867, the estimate of the United States Agricultural Department of the year’s crop, was 212,000,000 bushels, and Wisconsin had risen to the second rank in the amount of production. A Look Ahead.—The question is forced upon us, Will the West continue to furnish wheat for export, after feeding the increasing population of the States east of the Alleghanies? The belt of country adapted to wheat-raising is certainly broad enough. Some theorists have tried to limit its natural range to ten degrees of latitude—between 33° and 43° north. But experience definitely refutes this, as is shown by the following, from the Census Report for 1860: 1850. 1860. STATES. Buxhels Bushels of Wheat, of Wheat. Minnesota Z | 1,401 2,195,812 Texas 1,464,273 2 | 41,729 The growth of vegetation in Minnesota is ex- ceedingly rapid, for the Summers are warm. The isothermal and isotheral lines passing from New York westward bend gradually to the north, round Lake Michigan, and reach the Pacific by passing through Minnesota and Dakota. Minnesota is now perhaps the best wheat-grow- ing State in the Union, excepting California, which still maintains the high average of six- teen bushels to the acre. The damaging fact, in this connection, is that the average amount of wheat grown per acre in the United States is constantly diminishing. Hard cropping and thriftless culture are respon- sible for the degeneracy. Joun H. Kuippart, Secretary of the Ohio Agricultural Society, in an admirable volume* on the growth of the wheat ***The Wheat Plant, its Culture and Diseuses,’’ 700 ages, 12mo,; by Jon H. Kurppanr. Published by | Moone, Witstacu & Moore, Cincinuati, Ohio. WHEAT—DECLINE IN PRODUCTION OF plant, says: ‘Virginia, Maryland, and Dela- ware, as well as New York, were formerly great wheat-producing sections. But many parts of New York, that formerly produced twenty-five bushels to the acre, do not now average over five bushels, and many parts of Maryland, Vir- ginia, and Delaware, that formerly produced abundantly, will not now pay the cost of culti- vation, Hxhaustion is written all over them in language too plain to be misunderstood.” Mr. Kirppart, in his report for 1867, re- veals the unwelcome fact that Ohio is following in the same road-—there being, in that year, only two-thirds as many acres sown, and only one- half as much wheat grown asin 1850. Hesays: “Estimating that the population of the State, during the years 1864-5-6, was 2,500,000, and that each individual consumes five bushels of wheat per annum, then 12,500,000 bushels were required for bread within the State during each one of these three years—but the product, after deducting seed, was, at most, 9,500,000 bushels per annum—leaying an absolute deficit of three million of bushels per annum for each one of the years just named.” The average per acre was also lower than ever before. It is a melancholy truth, says Kirppart, and one that reflects much on the skill and foresight of American farmers, that, while the wheat crop of England has increased at least fifty per cent. in the last century, that of the United States has fallen off in nearly the same | proportion He claims that little of the West is really well adapted to permanent wheat growing, because a large mixture of clay in the soil is necessary to the perfect growth of wheat, whereas the prairies are a rich friable mold, lacking the proper proportion of clay. To show that our wheat region is not eapable of producing so great a surplus as we imagine, we have only to look at facts instead of fancies. We may take, perhaps, as the average crop of wheat produced, that of 1848—which was 126,- 000,000 bushels—and our population 22,000,000, which gives a trifle over five anda half bushels to each inhabitant. Now the consumption of wheat in England is 166,000,000 bushels annu- ally, which gives six bushels to each inhabit- ant—about half a bushel more to each person than we should have if we consumed our whole crop. Itis true we have a surplus that will av- erage ten or twelve million bushels a year for export, but that is produced by the substitution of corn for wheat as an article of bread. Cut off this substitute and we should be our own 155 consumers of all our own wheat, and there would bea scarcity besides. Our resource now, continues KiIprart, is to preserve our wheat lands where they are not exhausted, and to restore them where they are. Under judicious and scientific tillage, the lands of England, that have been under cultivation for hundreds of years, now ayer- age twenty-five bushels to the acre. This is done by a liberal use of lime, plaster, clover and a judicious rotation of crops. In wheat-raising, this rotation is clover and corn. Peas, beans, turnips, beets, and carrots all furnish a desirable rotation, and furnish excellent food for sheep, which are good on wheat land. In fact, the culture of wheat and raising of sheep should go together. The rotating crops furnish food for the sheep, and the sheep furnish the best of manure for wheat land. All the manure de- rived from the sheep should be carefully pre- served for enriching the land. It is highly concentrated, and prepares the land for a gen- erous crop of wheat at a small expense. The manurial agent consumes the crop that gives the land rest from wheat culture, and prepares the soil for another crop of wheat. It may be laid down as an axiom that, climate and local circumstances being the same, what one soil will produce, another by scientific cul- tivation may be made to produce; and that the farmer, from a like amount of skill and labor in the cultivation of the soil, may anticipate the same results that have attended like efforts in other countries. If they pursue the exhaust- ing process that has impoverished Virginia and some other States, they will reap an abund- ant crop of poverty and exhaustion. The work is going on rapidly. ‘he estimated loss, by exhaustion, in the United States, is, annu- ally, $30,000,000. This is equivalent to a loss of $500,000,000 capital, at six per cent. If, by scientific cultivation and manuring, our farmers will arrest this system of exhaustion, they will restore this capital; and these lands, that now produce from five to thirteen bushels of wheat to an acre, can be made to produce as they do in England—twenty, forty, and eighty bushels. Mr. J. R. Doves, of the United States Agri- cultural Department, visited the Northwest in 1868, and, on his return to Washington, painted the following humiliating, but truthful, pic- ture: ‘Western wheat culture is ruinous in impoverishment of the soil, in deterioration of the seed, in overrunning the country with weeds, in promoting a false and wasting sys- 156 tem of economy. The prevalent mode of oper- ating involves first a partial breaking of the soil, rendering sowing irregular in position and depth, and drilling difficult and imperfect, giv- ing weeds quite as good a chance as wheat. The next year a superficial, hasty plowing par- tially covers the stubble, and very slightly the tangle of weeds, and wheat is again put in. Year after year wheat follows wheat, and weeds increase, while the yield of grain diminishes, partly from loss of certain elements of the soil, and partly because weeds have usurped a large area of the fields. In the meantime, as if to increase the loss from the wheat necessarily carried away, the straw by millions of tons, worth almost as much per ton for feeding, as the marsh or prairie hay of the country, is burned nightly in harvest time ,till the sky is bright with a holocaust of greenbacks in straw; and the excuse for thus dissipating in thin air, not only elements of nutrition, but valuable elements of fertilization, is that the way may be clear for the plow to scratch over again the inaltreated soil. This picture may not be verified in every wheat field of the West, but who will deny its striking likeness in most eases. Is proof of impoverishment wanted? One witness only is needed—the soil itself. First, thirty bushels per acre is the boast of the farmer; then the yield drops to twenty-five, to twenty, to fifteen, and finally to ten and eight. Minnesota claimed twenty-two bushels average a few years ago (some of her enthusiastic friends made it twenty-seven), but she will scarcely average this year twelve, and will never again make twenty-two under her present mode of farming. To be sure, there are excuses. The seasons do not suit as formerly, blight or rust comes, or the fly invades, but all these things are evi- dences of exhaustion, and prey upon the soil in proportion to its deterioration.” Agriculture in the Middle and the older Western States is in a transition between the savage method of skinning and the civilized method of culture. The Annual Register of Rural Affairs says: “There is no question that the common belief that the wheat crop is not adapted to certain places, has been, at least, partly owing to bad management. When the country was new and the soil fresh and productive, good crops were obtained with but little difficulty. General success led to carelessnesr ; grain was sown after grain, without regard toa proper rotation, and the soil became gradually exhausted and filled FIELD CROPS: with weeds. This pernicious course was much practiced in the best wheat regions of western New York, and the crops became so reduced that some went so far as to predict the entire failure of wheat raising. But by the adoption of underdraining, cleansing rotation, and en- riching by clover, and a judicious application of manure, many have succeeded in obtaining a gradual increase in successive years, until the original yield of the fresh rich soil, has been exceeded.” Farmers are proverbially slow to adopt new ideas. They abstract from the soil the accu- mulated organic matter, and do not realize the necessity of replenishing it. They exhaust the salts and the humus, and return nothing but more seed. This, with shallow plowing and no irrigation or draining, and little rotation is working the mischief. We invite thoughtful attention to the follow- ing words of Mr. Capron: “ With the preva- lent mode of culture, in very compact soils, wheat roots are so near the surface as to be thrown out by the mechanical displacement of freezing and thawing, and, if not utterly de- stroyed, they struggle fruitlessly to pierce the unbroken subsoil, packed, perhaps, by the tread of cattle for a century, and finally yield to the blasting power of an early drought, blighted, shriveled, light, worthless for seed, and of little value for bread. The drill, planting the seed firmly in the earth instead of scattering it on the surface, already saves half the Winter kill- ing in the fields where it is used; and deep culture, with proper drainage, would procure exemption from most of the remaining liabili- ties, and, ordinarily, from all danger of loss from drought. The advantage of additional depth of pulverization, therefore, would often be far greater than the proportionate increase of depth, and the profit of the improvement would be increased in corresponding ratio. In this country the average yield per acre of one of the principal staples, wheat, under our sys- tem of shallow cultivation, has been gradually lessened, until at the present time it does not exceed twelve bushels per acre, while England, with her deep tillage and rotation system, has raised her average to twenty-eight bushels. Estimating our wheat area at 18,000,000 of acres, and allowing an increase of sixteen bush- els per acre under a system of thorough and judicious cultivation, the increased production would amount, annually, 1o 288,000,000 bushels ; and wheat is but one of the staples to be bene- fited by such improvement. a WHEAT—ROTATION OF CROPS. “Deep cultivation is a prime necessity of root- culture, which forms the basis of English agri- culture, and enables the English farmer to pay annual rents equivalent to the fee-simple value of our farms. The growing of these ‘green crops’ results in a more thorough admixture of the food-producing elements of the soil, ana its prompt permeation by water and the gases, which areso necessary to plant-growth. France, following in our footsteps, or we in hers, in at least one particular—the want of a proper rota- tion system—has reduced the average yield of wheat to fifteen bushels. The single fact that, while England has two acres in ‘green crops’ for every acre in wheat, France has three acres in wheat for every acre in green crops, and that with us roots are scarcely raised as a farm crop, explains the cause of the great discrepancy in the yield of that valuable cereal in these countries.” Hon. J. C. G. Kennepy, Superintendent of the Census, says in the same vein: “ English farmers, guided by close observation and ex- perience, have slowly worked out an admirable system of rotation, and now scientific investiga- tions have elucidated the principles upon which it is founded. We may not be able at present to pursue generally the same system of rotation in this country, but the principles are as appli- cable here as there, and, if adopted, will pro- duce the same beneficial results. The applica- tion of plaster, ashes, superphospate of lime, and other mineral manures, has rarely any great effect on the growth of the cereals; but super- phosphate of lime has an almost magical effect on turnips, and plaster usually increases the growth of clover, so that these mineral ma- nures, when applied to these crops, may be rendered, indirectly, of great benefit to the cereals. “An English farmer once said to the writer, ‘insure me a good crop of turnips, and I will insure you a good crop of barley, and of every other crop in the rotation.’ Of so much value do British farmers consider the turnip crop as ameans of enriching the soil for the growth of the cereal grains, that they spend more money in preparing the soil for turnips than for any other crop, frequently fifty dollars per acre. The turnip crop enables the farmer to keep an immense stock of sheep and cattle, and thus enrich the soil; the ammonia which tur- nips obtain from the soil, the rain, and the atmosphere being retained and left on the farm for the use of the following cereal crops. In the Norfolk or four-course system of rotation, tt 157 one-fourth of the arable land is sown to turnips, followed by barley, seeded with clover. It then lies one or two years in clover, followed by wheat at one furrow. After the wheat, turnips again follow, and so on as before. Latterly, by the use of superphosphate and guano for turnips, and by feeding large quantities of oil-cake and other purchased cattle-food, the land in Eng- land has become so rich that many farmers have thought it necessary to introduce an extra grain crop into the rotation, in order to reduce the soil, But hitherto the rule has been never to take two grain crops in succession. “ How different from this is the practice of some of our American farmers! Corn, barley, and wheat often follow each other in sneces- sion; then seed down with timothy, red-top, or some other exhausting grass; take off all the hay and then renew the process. To call this a ‘rotation of crops’ is absurd. We might as well grow a crop of Indian corn every year. We must alternate the cereals with crops of clover, peas, beans, tares, and other leguminous plants, or turnips ; feed them out on the farm, and carefully save and return the manure to the soil.” Every plant uncared for shows a tendency to degenerate. As culture has much to do in developing new varieties, so the neglect of it will do much to destroy them, and there is no doubt that our best fruits, if removed from our orchards and gardens to their habitats in the forests, and reproduced from their seeds for a series of years, would be no better than the original species in a wild state. The delicious Newtown Pippin or the Pearmain would be no more agreeable in flavor than the little Eu- ropean crab apple (Pyrusmalus), from which they probably originated. Professor A. GRAY, in his Botanical Text Book, says: “The races of corn, wheat, ete., which now preserve their character unchanged, have become fixed by cen- turies of domestication. Even these at times manifest an unequivocal disposition to return to their aboriginal stock. Were cultivation to cease they would all speedily disappear; the greater part, perhaps, would perish outright ; the remainder would revert, in a few genera- tions of spontaneous growth, to the form of the primitive stock.” There is, perhaps, no one fact which gives a clearer idea of the great growth of the West, and the increase of its products, than the amount of grain which is shipped each year from Chicago. In 1838 seventy-eight bushels of wheat comprised the total exports from what has since become the greatest grain mar- 158 FIELD ket inthe world. In 1839 it was 3,678 bushels; in 1840, 10,000 bushels; in 1841, 40,000 bushels; in 1842, 586,907 bushels; in 1845 it first reached a million bushels; in 1847 over 2,000,000 bushels. In 1851 and 1852 it again fell off to less than a million bushels; but, in 1853 again rose to 1,680,998 bushels. In 1854 it was 2,744,860 bushels. In 1855, 7,110,270 bushels; in 1856, 9,419,365 bushels; in 1857, 10,783,292 bushels ; in 1858, 10,759,359 bushels; in 1860, 16,054,379 bushels; in 1861, 22,913,830 bushels; in 1862, 22,902,765 bushels; in 1863, 17,925,336 bushels of wheat. Russia is our only conspicuous competitor in supplying the English demand for bread- stuffs; and in this rivalry we have every ad- vantage. Russia is wanting in sea-coast; while her distance from the markets of Great Britain and France, and the lack of a large commer- cial intercourse with those nations tend to limit her exports to the contiguous continental na- tions. This will permanently leave every sur- plus bushel of American wheat in demand. We have everything essential to success—a vast wheat region, the best means of transpor- tation, and a great and increasing home and foreign market. Shall indolence and slovenly culture prevent our vigorous West from win- ning the prize, and holding it? There must be a radical revolution in tillage, or we have arrived at the maximum of pro- duction. “Our population doubles in about twenty years, yet the relative diminution in our wheat crop is so great that, unless our mode of agriculture is improved, and the ratio per acre increased, the export will entirely cease, and we shall not produce enough for ourselves.” Soil.—Soils of a medium quality should be selected, says Kirppart. Those which are too rich, such as the black mold, or black sandy soils of the river and creek banks, or low places, should never be selected for wheat. They are unquestionably better adapted for corn and po- tatoes. The soils on “bottom lands” as they are generally termed, consist in too great a de- gree of organie matter—of humus, and decay- ing or decayed vegetable matter, to grow wheat to any advantage to the grower. They lack the proper earthy materials, or if they pos- sess them, they are not in a proper chemical condition for the purposes of the plant. It is a generally admitted fact, that on such soils the wheat grows very rank, producing straw of enormous.growth, but the heads are invariably small, even of the best varieties, and produce very few and indifferent grains of wheat. CROPS: Aside from this, wheat grown on low places is more liable to suffer from frost, mildew, rust, and insects, than that grown upon higher grounds; it is also as a general thing much more liable to fall or lodge. The best lands for wheat are those in which the principal ingredient is clay—either red, yellow, or white, of which the white, however, is always the poorest. There is no doubt that more labor must be expended on a pure clay soil than on almost any other; yet when prop- erly managed it yields more uniformly, and gives larger crops of wheat than any other soil. The first thing to be done after clearing a piece of clay soil, is, to have it thoroughly drained, before it is ‘‘ broke up.” Clay retains more moisture than any other kind of soil; but when it loses its moisture, it becomes drier and harder than any other. or contract fully one-sixth in sun-drying or “baking ;” it is easy to imagine what effect this shrinkage will have upon the tender rootlets of the plants. Lime in considerable quantities should be applied on new clay lands, to neu- tralize the excess of acidity with which they are almost universally impregnated. Where deep snows protect the crop, as north of the southern margin of our northern lakes, a light, carbonaceous soil is productive, which in more southern latitudes would be unsuitable. Where the snow is not an adequate protection, the substitution of Spring wheat obviates the natural difficulties to which the Winter varie- ties are there subject. In the southern and middle portions of the wheat region the tena- cious clay soils are made more productive by manures, deep plowing, drainage, and drill planting. And where clay subsoil underlies « light carbonaceous top soil, the mixture of them by deep plowing is highly beneficial. Preparation of Soil—Al|most all clay soils of the West will bring good wheat for three or four years without manure, but it is better not to take off more than two or three crops with- out manuring. Barn-yard manure made on the farm is the best general fertilizer for wheat. When the land is much worn, two bushels of lime, and three of salt to the acre, is probably the best and cheapest fertilizer that can be used. Fall plowing often brings from five to seven bushels of wheat to the acre more than Spring plowing. Deep plowing is the best, as it lets the frost deep into the soil, preparing it for a crop the coming season, and destroying many seeds and insects. Various Aids.—All] old soils—by which we A new clay will shrink ° * = WHEAT—MANURES FOR. mean not only the exhausted wheat farms of the East, but also much of the wheat land of the West, where the crop has deteriorated— ought to have thorough preparation for wheat; by underdraining if the land is worth thirty dol- lars an acre; by a rotation with clover; by sub- soiling and thorough pulverization ; by the liber- al application of general and special manures. Clover.—Elsewhere, under proper heads, we haye treated of each of these auxiliaries. In regard to clover, Prof. VoELCKER, in a valua- ble report recently published in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, England, ar- rives at the following conclusions: 1. That clover removes from the soil more potash, phosphoric acid, lime, and other mat- ters which enter into the ashes of wheat than any other crop, and that there is fully three times as much nitrogen in a crop of clover, as in the average produce of the grain and straw of wheat per acre; yet that clover is the best preparatory crop for wheat, because during its growth, a large amount of nitrogenous matter accumulates in the soil from decaying leaves and roots, which contain from one and one-half to two per cent. of nitrogen. 2. That more nitrogen is left after clover grown for seed than after clover grown for hay, and so a seed crop is better to precede wheat. 8. That clover roots return less nitrogen to the soil, if nibbled at before they mature, and therefore that wheat is generally stronger, and yields better, after clover mown for hay, than when the clover is fed off green by sheep. 4. That there is strong presumptive evidence that the nitrogen which exists in the air in the shape of ammonia and nitric acid, and descends in these combinations with the rain which falls on the ground, satisfies, under ordinary cir- cumstances, the requirements of the clover crop. This causes a large accumulation of nitrogen- ous matters, which are gradually changed in the soil into nitrates. The atmosphere thus furnishes nitrogenous food to the succeeding wheat indirectly, and so to say, gratis. As to the special advantage of underdrain- ing, Joun JOHNSTON, one of the best farmers of the country, placed it at the very head of the agencies to restore the former productive- ness of wheat. He declared, at the close of the year 1856, after all the unusual disasters which had happened to the harvest for several pre- vious years, ‘‘ My own wheat crops for the last eight years have averaged more than they ever did before for thirty-five years. I have sown no wheat on undrained land.” 159 Barn-yard Manure—In regard to general ma- nures, we have already said that barn-yard com- post is the best. No other crop shows so quick- ly and so greatly its benefits. The effects of the lightest application are readily seen. It gives a strong full growth to the roots of Win- ter wheat, enabling it the better to endure freez- ing, while its pulverizing agency renders the soil friable—a condition essential to vigorous growth. Its Summer influence is not less strik- ing. The vigorous growth of the Fall is early resumed in the Spring, better enabling the plants to overcome the attacks of the fly, and it hurries them through the ripening stage, lessening the danger trom rust. Professor JoHNsTON, in his Agricultural Chemistry, calls attention to the belief that “the employment of manures which are rich in nitrogen not only causes a larger crop, but also produces a grain which is much richer in gluten. The experiments which have hitherto been chiefly relied upon in proof of this result are those of HeRMBsTADT. On ten patches, each one hundred square feet, of the same soil (a sandy loam), manured with equal weights of different manures in the dry state, he sowed equal quantities (one-half pound) of the same wheat, and collected, weighed, and analyzed the produce. His results are represented in the following table: “nainiy yl coteeeeeteeees S| Seon -S-Fs EG pooja xO wl cihewicwons cS = ow Gal reteloncr ct ante Wea ieee [t0s SIN Nloh=aoariewts ““sunp s§doeqg © cS a) a8 ed heel ad ““Sunp 8.380%) ‘ottin uBUINnyy ““Sunp esioyy ““Sunp woostg 66 ft 0 I \¢ 1 é i z f eeeneee! sunp Mog eke aI NURUE - aqezoze A PIS § | PIS S| PLOY L| PIONG | PLOY OL) PLOS TL|PLOF ZL} Ploy ZI) PIOS PL) PLS ““pommnrmay | 160 FIELD “The large percentage of gluten obtained by the use of the first five manures is very strik- ing, if the determinations are really to be de- pended upon. They are certainly interesting in a theoretical point of view, and are desery- ing of careful repetition. In reference to their bearing upon practical farming, however, it must not be forgotten that the results of small experiments are neyer fully borne out when they are repeated on the large scale.” Looking at the extent of wheat cultivation in the West, it is obvious that barn-yard ma- nure can not be produced in quantities at all approaching the demands of that husbandry which should regard the fertility of the soil as one of the highest ends it can have in view. Special manures, such as guano, admissible near the sea-board, and for products bearing a high price, can not be much relied on in the West- ern States. The only means for general ma- nuring is applying all the product of the barn- yard, in turning under green clover crops, and in hogging down others, such as corn, rye, and oats. Western farmers need to be constantly and repeatedly impressed with the necessity of giving all their manure and all their wheat straw back to the soil. Some do this; but there are thousands of farmers along the frontier who never think of carting a load of manure, ex- cept perhaps, upon some choice garden corner ; whose barns lie smothered in filth, the undis- turbed accumulations of years! We have been into, or rather upon, barn-yards where manure was eight to ten feet thick; and we know of many other farmers—if we may abuse a re- spectable craft by applying their name to such wretched spendthrifts—who move their barns from year to year, that they may “havea clean spot,” and avoid the necessity of moving the heaps of rotted dung! And these are the same men who burn their straw, instead of cutting it and returning it, either through cattle or without cattle, to the compost heap and thence to the soil. They are not farmers; they are plunderers, and they deserve nothing better than crop-degeneracy and personal bankruptcy, unless they can learn more rational habits. Mineral Manures.—There are but two mineral manures for wheat that can very profitably be used by the Western farmer, gypsum or plas- ter, and lime. In connection with clover crops both are valuable, but especially the gypsum, called by chemists sulphate of lime, being com- posed of sulphuric acid and lime. The ash analysis of clover shows that these constitute a CROPS: large portion of its mineral elements, and hence the cause of its heavy growth when gyp- sum is sown on the young clover. Effect of Plaster—General Orr, of Laporte county, Indiana, an enterprising farmer, tried a series of experiments with plaster, which seemed to justify the following conclusions: 1. That three-fourths to one bushel of plaster per acre on Jands which have produced grain for a num- ber of years in succession, applied on a well- set, growing clover crop, at some six inches high, and plowed under when the seed balls have all turned brown, will add fifteen to thirty per cent. to a succeeding wheat crop over the same clover turned under without plaster. 2. That the vigor imparted to the growing grain by the use of plaster, will, in a great degree, prevent the ravages of the fly on such varieties as the fly works most upon. 3. That clover and plas- ter, on most soils, are the cheapest manures that the farmer can use, yet he should not ne- glect the use of any others within his reach. He adds that the cost of the plaster used and of putting it on was about fourteen dollars, or fifty cents per acre. Effects of Lime—Says Lrwis BotiMan, of Bloomington, Indiana, in an exhaustive essay on wheat culture to which we are much indebt- ed: ‘Lime acts as a manure in three ways: by what it gives directly to a plant requiring it as one of its constituent elements; by decom- posing vegetable matter, thus fitting it for the immediate support of the growing crop; and by making soluble the silica and other miner- ais of the soil. The importance of this last- named action may be seen from the analysis. To every ten bushels of wheat raised there are about twelve hundred pounds of straw, and this straw contains seventy-two pounds of minerals, of which forty-seven is silica. Where the straw is removed from the field it will be read- ily seen how great is the need of this solvent action of lime to render the flint in our soils capable of supplying their large amount of si- lica, for the silica is dissolved flint. But an immediate and visible effect of lime depends upon the amount of vegetable matter in the soil. A neighbor who limed several of his worn-out fields remarked to me that he would not give leaves of trees for any amount of lime; for alongside one of the fields the leaves had blown on it from an adjoining woodland, and on this portion he had raised excellent wheat. Here the lime found vegetable matter to act up- on; in the other portions of the field it did not. Hence the liming should be on a full clover < WHEAT—SELECTION OF crop, and both turned under together, or on a heavy blue-grass sod.” Lime is not properly appreciated in the West, to add to rich prairie lands asa support for wheat straw. In England, where they raise larger crops of wheat than we think of getting, lime has long been the main dependence. More ought to be used in the Western States; and in many localities it can be made for fifteen cents a bushel. E ' Varieties —Lixnxus comprehended all’ the different varieties of wheat known in his day under six species} but modern botanists enu- merate about thirty species, and some hundreds of subvarieties brought into existence by con- tinued cultivation. For mere practical pur- poses it is sutlicient to have two general classes, namely, white and red, and the varieties dis- tinguished by their spikelets, as the smooth or bearded, the woody-chaffed or the hairy-chaffed. “ Before the appearaace of the wheat midge,” says the Annual Register, “the Soule wheat was one of the most popular and valuable sorts throughout the Northern and Western Siates. The wide destruction produced by this insect led to the general introduction of the Mediter- ranean, Which was found commonly to escape. This sort has now been cultivated many years, and from the success which has attended its crops, it has no doubt proved in the aggregate worth hundreds of millions to the country at large. The Blue Stem, a smooth, red variety, is an old well known sort, largely cultivated in the South. There is also a white variety of the same name, considerably resembling the old White Flint, The straw having a bluish cast below the head has given it this name. The Lambert is a newer sort, more lately introduced, and much cultivated in portions of the West. It is a red chaff, bald wheat, of good, but not of the highest quality, ripening a little earlier than the Mediterranean, and remarkable for its entire freedom from the attacks of the midge. The Early Virginia May has been a very popu- lar sort at the Southwest; but, although prom- ising well for a time in some places, on its in- troduction into the North it has not generally succeeded, and has now nearly passed out of eul- tivation. It is a white, bald variety, but not quite so white as the Soule. The Diehl wheat is a new sort not yet sufficiently tested to prove its standing, but recommended by some for its earliness, freedom from the midge, and gene- ral value. It is a bald, white wheat, with a short straw and short head.” The Rural New Yorker speaks well of the Diehl wheat, and 11 . SEED. 161 |says that a farmer of the vicinity raised three hundred bushels from ten acres. Isaac DiLion wrote from Zanesville, Ohio: “The best varieties of wheat are red. The old Red Chaff Beardy stands at the head decided- ly, it more uniformly yields a fair crop; the berry is not equalled by any other red wheat; the flour is much finer. This wheat, of good quality, is not excelled by any other whatever, except where fancy pastry flour is wanted. For /sweet, tough bread, absorbing the greatest quan- jtity of water, it is ahead of white wheat; and \take it all in all, the Red Chaff Beardy is the best wheat for all purposes we have in the Uni- ted States.” General Harmon, of New York, to whom the country is indebted for several of its best varieties of wheat, said on this question: ‘In selecting the best Winter variety, I will name the ones that I believe will do best on the dif- ferent soils where wheat is sown. There are some varieties that succeed better on.some soils than others. If the soil is rich clay loam, it is important to sow a small and early variety: the Kentucky White, better known as Hutchinson wheat; Mediterranean, or Wheatland Red. If sandy, gravelly loam, the improved White Ftint, old Genesee Red, Chaff Bald, Saul’s Wheat, and Flint. In selecting the variety that will do best on all soils, I am confident the im- proved White Flint stands first for the quantity and superior quality, producing more flour of superior quality than any other of nearly forty different varieties that I have had under culti- vation.” Selection of Seed—The tendency of our wheat to degenerate already referred to, is attributa- ble partly to the careless manner of selecting seed—if that method can be called “selecting” which carts the seed promiscuously from the granary to the field, year after year, with little or no thought that its quality will affect the quality and quantity of the harvest. Almost every good farmer now selects, and saves with the greatest care, his best Indian corn for seed, and as a result corn deteriorates less than any other cereal that grows. No man expects a superior colt from an inferior dam or sire, and the sheep-breeder rigidly culls his flock. This simple ruie neglected, the finest stud, herd, or flock rapidly degenerates. The vegetable king- dom is subject to the same law. Like begets like; dnd the best crop, other things equal, comes from the best seed. Wheat for sowing should be chosen and pre- ‘served with the greatest attention. A variety 162 FIELD should he selected by comparison, which yields well, is hardy, commands a good market, and makes a good article of flour. When such is found, secure it, even at a liberal outlay of money. Having once obtained it, endeavor to improve upon it by selection and cultivation. Select the earliest and longest heads from the field, or that part of the field containing them, and let it get fully ripe; keep it separate from the general crop, thresh it with the flail, clean it; then separate it with a sieve which will pass all the small, shrunken grains. A further improvement is by throwing it across a long floor, rejecting all that falls short as light, and retaining for seed the heaviest and best, which goes beyond. ‘This process will effectually clear the grain of cheat and other foul seed. Mr. CHartes Darwin, in “ Variations of An- imals and Plants,” says that “Colonel Lr Covu- TEUR, in his persevering and successful at- tempts to raise new varieties by selection, began by choosing the largest ears, but soon found that the grains in the same ear differed so that he was compelled to select them separately, and each grain generally transmitted its own char- acter.” Careful selection will prove an im- portant auxiliary in the systematic effort that ought to be made to restore the wheat crop of America. The best farmers of Germany have adopted a system of seed exchanges, whereby new seed is introduced to each farm every few years, some eyen obtaining seed from distant countries for this purpose. The plan is believed to be beneficial. The exchanges are conducted by the local agricultural societies. Undoubtedly a change of seed is occasionally a good, or evena necessary thing; just as the Shorthorn or Devon breeder purchases from a distant herd to min- gle through his own stock a different strain of blood. But care in selection is more important than exchange. The well-known pedigree wheat, about which so much has been said in the English agricultural journals, was pro- duced, like the “barrel wheat,” simply by following this rule of the transmission of qualities—selecting the best heads from the field, and then the best grains from the head, and continuing the process for a series of years. Pickling of Seed—It is now generally ad- mitted that pickling seed-wheat acts as a pre- ventive of smut. Having cleaned your seed as above, prepsre a pickle of salt dissolved in water sufficiently strong to bear up a potato, and for half a barrel of such pickle add half a CROPS: , pound of blue vitriol. When all is dissolved, put in the seed, stir it well, and skim off all that rises to the surface; throw the remainder into a basket to drain; let this be done ten or twelve hours previous to sowing. Just before sowing, spread it on a tight floor, and roll it in slaked lime, plaster, or ashes, reduced to a pow- der, stirring it well with rakes. Thick Sowing vs. Thin Sowing.—The report of the United States Department of Agriculture for February, 1868, says: ‘‘Too much seed is used in wheat culture. Scarcely less than twenty million of acres will suffice for the wheat area of the United States, requiring nearly thirty million bushels of seed, and little more than ten.bushels per acre are produced. Ten million of bushels of this seed, worth perhaps sixteen million of dollars, might be saved to the country, sold for bread, and the proceeds applied to the cultivation of growing wheat, with a fair probability of obtaining by such means, more than twenty additional million of bushels for the bread of the nation. So large a portion of this seed is now wasted by sowing at irregular intervals and at unequal depths, and so much is choked by weeds, that farmers say they can not use a less quantity; but with universal drilling, at a width sufficient to allow the tillering and growth which would result from hoeing or cultivating, two-thirds of the present supply would be more than ample. “Ts not a severe reflection upon the judg- ment and skill of wheat growers, furnished by the fact that ninety-nine out of a hundred of them ‘run ont’ their seed in a few years, and depend upon the special culture and superior judgment of the remaining one to furnish them with improved seed at four or five dollars per bushel ? ; “About one bushel in every seyen produced in the United States is saved for seed, when the requirement should be no more than one for every twenty. Thus millions of bushels are wasted, buried in the earth, with no prospect of resurrection, and sacrificed to ignorance and thriftlessness. It is taking the children’s bread, without the poor satisfaction of haying fed a dog with it. “Such waste may be avoided. Thin seeding is impracticable with poor culture, though the result varies little whether it is thick or thin; it is not only practicable, but necessary, in con- nection with deep plowing, thorough tillage, and cultivating for the purpose of killing weeds, admitting air, and retaining moisture about the roots of the plant.” ) . WHEAT—SOWING An article by an English farmer presents a large number of facts, obtained by an extensive correspondence with farmers in England who have tested the thick and the thin sowing of wheat during the previous years. The testi- mony is so strongly in favor of thin sowing that it appears wonderful that English farmers have not adopted the system generally. The requi- sitions are, that the land shall be in the best of tilth, the seed of the best character, and the variety pure; also, that it be planted so as to give each seed one foot square of soil. It ap- pears [rom the experiments mentioned that the more grain sown the fewer the number of ears to each grain per acre. By special culture of small spots, a crop at the rate of 108 bushels per acre has been produced, and another of 162 | ‘bushels per acre. The general yield is stated to be at least doubled by thin sowing. By thin sowing it must be understood that but one seed was dropped in a place. J. J. Mecut, of Tiptree, England, the well- known experimental farmer, says that the thick sowing of grain is a great national calamity; that more crops fail to yield well from too much seed sown than from too little manure. He adds: “ Liesie justly says that the greatest enemy to’a wheat plant is another wheat plant, for the very obvious reason that both require the same food; small heads and kernels, and weak, flabby, straw, are the natural conse- quences of this competition. For several years I tried one bushel of wheat per acre against two bushels per acre, both drilled. The difference in favor of the one bushel was equal to a rent of 30s. ($7 50) per acre. “A peck of seed-wheat per acre, which I dibbled at intervals of about four and a half inches, one kernel ina hole, produced fifty-eight bushels of heavy wheat per acre,and two and three-quarter tons of straw; in fact, the thickest and heaviest crop on my farm. During Win- ter, a single stem only having appeared from each kernel, the land, at a distance, appeared as if unsown; but in the Spring each stem radi- ated its shoots horizontally, to the extent, in some instances, of thirty to forty-eight stems, and became the best crop on the farm.” The Mark-Lane Express gives the following result of an interesting experiment by M. V11- MORIN, in France, the ground being divided into fiye equal portions of one hundred and twenty square yards each. It is stated that the soil.was of a sandy cliaracter, and of an average degree of fertility, and had received a light manuring of horse dung. ‘\ AND DRILLING. 163 No. of grains |Gross weight of)/Weisht of differ- apeaGh: suWn per square/grain harvested|ent lots of grain q yard. in pounds, {per quart, in ozs 1 2 25 a 2 33 24 3 50 23 4 100 5 200 These figures are significant; for they show that, in this instance at least, the quantity and quality of the harvest were in inverse propor- tion to the amount sown. Three or four pecks to the acre are probably enough, when applied with a drill. There are about seven hundred thousand kernels of average wheat in a bushel, which at four bushels to the acre would cast the seeds about one and a half inches apart—sixty-four to the square foot. The Ohio Agricultural Report for 1866 re- hearses the experience of Mr. Hatxert, the enterprising adyocate of thin seeding, to whom agriculture owesso much. By laying down one peck of wheat and one hundred and fifty pounds of guano to the acre, he produced a crop of four hundred and eighty bushels of wheat from ten acres of land so poor that it was not regarded as worth tilling. In 1860 he harvested at the rate of one hundred and eight bushels to the acre, by planting grains of Pedigree wheat, singly, in holes nine inches apart.> Afterward, planting half a peck to the acre, the grains one foot apart every way, he reaped at the rate of one hundred and sixty-two bushels to the acre. Our farmers can not cultivate their hundred- acre fields on the garden principle; but they may carefully study the rationale of produc- tion. The conditions of thin sowing must not be lost sight of, for they are imperative, viz.: Early sowing, a well-pulverized soil, and the best of seed. Beyond the fact that these essen- tials can not always be complied with, the strongest objection to dibbling single grains, is, that it allows no excess or reserve of plants to make up for casualties from the attack of drought, bird, insect, or disease. Conclusions should not be hastily drawn from the above recorded experiments, but they should promote further similar experiments, that thus the true philosophy of seeding may be ascer- tained. Maryland farmers frequently sow but three pecks to the acre; and a single seed sometimes throws out a hundred stalks. Drilling Seed.—“The experience of the last few years,” says the Valley Farmer, “ has shown the great value of the grain drill to the farmer. Some years the wheat sowed by hand has 164 » FIELD nearly all been frozen out, while that which was drilled has withstood, in a great measure, the action of the frost. The drill saves from one to two pecks of seed to an acre, and in- creases the crop from fifteen to twenty-five per cent. It makes an equal distribution of any given quantity of seed, covering it a uniform depth, leaving a narrow furrow with a ridge on either side, which catches and holds the snow in Winter, and in the Spring, the earth washing from these ridges into the furrows, covers the roots. It economizes labor and time. A boy with a pair of horses will drill, with ease, ten to fifteen acres a day. The ac- companying cuts show the difference between broadcast and drilled wheat. In the one will Wueat Sown In DRILLs. be noticed the irregularity of its growth and height, while in the other its growth is uni- form, vigorous, and of the same height; and, standing in rows some eight inches apart, the sun has a chance to shine in and around, and the air to circulate through the grain, render- ing the straw clean, bright, and firm; and the depth to which the seed is covered—from two to four inches at the option of the operator, the drill being regulated to drop at any depth— gives it a strong, vigorous, and firm root, and it is consequently not so liable to lodge or fall down, besides making it easier to harvest.” A farmer who sows only ten acres of wheat can afford to buy a drill for it. CROPS: Depth of Sowing.—A well-known farmer favors drilling the seed at least three inches deep, be- cause “the grain of drilled wheat being de- posited as deeply as its germination will allow, its roots, both the primary or tap root, and the secondary, are beneath the influence of the sur- face droughts, and, receiving their moisture from the subsoil, they turn toward it,” thus making stronger roots, and resisting unfayor- able influences. The Annual Register says: “Asa general average, a depth of two inches is enough. “One inch would be better if the soil was sufficiently moist; but it is difficult to geta drill so as to deposit the seed uniformly so shallow. Some years ago the writer of this article performed a number of experiments with the following results—the depth being carefully measured, and the soil laid on the seed-wheat in an even stratum: Planted ee inch deep, the plants came up in 5 days. “ 2 “ “ “ 7 “ “ 3 “ oe “ 8 “ “ 4 “ “ ry w “ “ 6 “ “ “ 12 “ “As the crop approaches maturity, the dif- ference between the shallow and deep planting becomes less obvious—so that one inch and thre. inch planting are not greatly different in their results, although the latter is a little later in ripening, and is hardly so productive?” Time of Sowing Spring Wheat.—Spring wheat is not so widely cultivated as Winter wheat, though it is often profitably grown where Win- ter wheat will not thrive. It is not so produc- tive as Winter wheat; its straw is weaker; its grain less plump; its flour does not bear ship- ping so well, and so sells somewhat lower in market. The most popular varieties have been the Fife, Canada Club, and China Tea. Spring wheat should be sown as early as the ground can be well prepared—from March to May. The following estimate of the region adapted to Winter wheat is from Swery’s Journal of Agriculture, Chicago: ‘‘South of Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, and Michigan, the want of the snow coming to protect the young plants from the almost constant freezing and thawing of Winter, and drying winds of March, make it, in most seasons, a very uncertain crop. We have known good crops of Winter wheat on sod land, in the district indicated, but these are exceptions to the genera! rule ; nor do we be- lieve that Winter wheat, on an average, has ever paid the expense of its culture in the section now noticed. From the fact that its culture in that section is generally abandoned, and Spring wheat largely cultivated in its place, we think the question is fully settled.” WHEAT—SPRING HARROWING. © Time of Sowing Winter Wheat.—The time for sowing Winter wheat in the Northern States is from the 5th to the 20th of September. insufficiency of root; and if earlier, it nray be caught by a drought, or attacked by the Hes- sian fly. If there is no danger from the fly or drought, it may frequently be put in during the last of August, with advantage. Winter-Killing.—In some localities in the Northwest there is now no certain preventive of Winter-killing except to sow in the Spring. There are, howeyer, partial remedies, practiced in Illinois, Iowa, and southern Wisconsin. One of the most effective is thorough under- draining. Top-dressing with manure, or a thin coating of straw after the ground freezes, has also proved beneficial. The establishment of tree-belts—elsewhere treated—would, it is believed, protect the land from the fatal winds of February and March, and save the crop, The tree-belt system is sure to work an agri- cultural revolution in the Northwest, as soon as intelligent farmers shall appreciate its mani- fold advantages. Meantime, they must resort to temporary expedients. ‘The Chicago Tribune speaks of “a gentleman long and favorably known to the farmers of the Northwest,” who has adopted the following plan: “The ground is carefully plowed and prepared toward the last of August and the early days of September, and the wheat is then put in with a drill. A quantity of oats, equal to about half that would be put in on a like piece of ground for a crop, is then sown broad- cast on the wheat, and both wheat and oats come forward, and before the cold sets in cover the ground with a mass of green. The frost kills the oats, and the decayed leaves, if they may be so called, surrounding and partly covering the still growing wheat, effectually shield it from the fatal effects of the rapid freezings, thawings, and furious winds of the early Spring.” Spring Harrowing.—In English husbandry there are cultivators so constructed that a tooth passes between each of the drilled rows of wheat, there being as many teeth as those of the drill. There wheat is rather cultivated than harrowed. But in the United States, where the rigors of Winter and the dryness of Spring ‘eracking open the soil) render the use of the hurrow more imperative, it is almost wholly neglected. The reason of this is the pressing demand of Spring labor for the corn crops, and the eustom of sowing cloyer-seed on it in It | ‘sown later it is liable to Winter-kill from an | 165 March. Still, there are many who could har- row their wheat fields, but do not, simply be- cause it is not usual to do so. We quote THAeR to show its utility: “ Wheat requires more careful and continuous attention throughout the whole period of its vegetation than any other kind of cereal, and it amply repays all the labor and pains bestowed upon it. If it is only just beginning to vegetate ir the Spring, and the soil is tolerably dry, noth- ing will prove so beneficial as to pass a harrow, haying iron teeth, over it. By this means the crust will be broken up, which has been formed over the ground during the past Winter, and the superficial stratum of the soil brought into direct contact with the atmosphere; the coronal roots, which shoot about this time, there find around them a soil recently impregnated with atmos- pheric matter, which tends greatly to favor the growth of the plants, while those weeds which shoot up at this season will all then be destroyed by the action of the harrow. A fine day should be chosen for this operation, which must be boldly undertaken. If, after this, the field has every appearance of being newly sown, and no green leaf, or, indeed, anything but the bare ground, is perceptible, then there is every rea- son to hope that the operation will be attended with Should a few torn blades of wheat be perceptible, ic will not mat- success. leaves or ter, provided that the plants themselves are not tornup. After a lapse of eight or ten days, if the weather is favorable, the plants will be seen to shoot up afresh, and the field will present a much better and greener aspect than it did before the operation. The farmer may be pardoned for anything but the omission of performing this operation at the most favor- able and propitious moment. Everything else should be set aside for the time being, in order that all the teams may be brought to work in harrowing the wheat fields.” The best farmers concur in this. The Culti- vator says: “it has always been attended with good results, providing the ground was sufli- ciently dry at the time, and a light, fine-tooth harrow was used.” The young wheat plants will appear to be roughly treated, but few are torn out. Drilled plants defy the harrow. The “propitious moment” in this country for harrowing is in April, when the surface is dry and cracked open. Clover-seed should be sown immediately after the harrow, and be rolled in before any rain has fallen. When the growth is luxuriant, decided benefit has attended feeding off the whea- 166 on the field early in the Spring when the ground is firm. Time of Cutting.—Wheat is usually cut too late. It should be cut while the grain is in the dough and the tips of the chaff are green. THAER says: ‘‘ Wheat which is intended for sale should be cut before it comes to full ma- turity, otherwise it assumes a dusky appear- ance, ind does not yield such white flour. Be- sides, wheat is'always disposed to shed its seed; in dry, windy weather there will be some dan- ger of a great deal being wasted if the crop is allowed to get too ripe. The exact period at which the harvest should be commenced must, therefore, be carefully chosen, and that has arrived when the grain has formed its farina, ceases to be milky, and yet has not hardened.” A variety of experiments in England, with grain cut at the three different stages of ma- turity, “in the milk” (green straw), “in the dough” (lower half of staik yellow), and “ripe” (straw yellow), resulted as follows: No. 1. Cut when in milk, seventy-five pounds flour; seven pounds shorts; sixteen pounds bran, No. 2. Cut when in dough, eighty pounds flour; five pounds shorts; thirteen pounds bran. No. 3. Cut when fully ripe, seventy-two pounds flour; eleven pounds shorts; fifteen pounds bran. When cut foo green, grain is likely to shrink, but Jounston, in his Agricultural Chemistry insists judging from experiment, that ‘‘ when cut a fortnight before it is ripe, the entire produce of grain is greater, the vield of flour is larger, and of bran considerably less, while the propor- tion of gluten contained in the flour is larger.” A correspondent of the Western Farmer writes: “The last number of the Farmer con- tains an article, taken from the Farm and Fireside, in which an account is given of a farmer’s experience and loss, consequent upon cutting his wheat in the milky, or incipient dough state. All this may be quite true, yet if the facts were given, I apprehend it would be found that this unfavorable result grew out of the failure of the rakers and binders to keep up with the reapers. The stalks of green or unripe straw are filled with sap, vigorously tending upward to complete the growth of the kernel, and if allowed to remain in the swath cyen for a few minutes under a scorching sun, the flow is arrested, the stalk is dried, and for lack of sustenance the soft kernel shrinks; whereas if the grain had been immediately bound, put into round shocks and cross-capped, the operation might have proved successful.” C+ Sale FIELD CROPS: The Best Mode of Cutting—The statisties .e- lating to farming machinery, in the census report for 1860, furnish the experimental opinion of the American farmers. The yalue of such machinery, in 1850, was $6,842,611, and in 1860, $17,862,514, an increase of 160 per cent. A large part of this machinery was the reapers. In the last ten years they have been introduced into every portion of the wheat region, but especially in the Northwest- ern States, where the scarcity of labor and the increased wheat production rendered their aid indispensable. Even if they were no speedier than the cradle, the fact that it substitutes horse-power for human labor, is sufficient to insure their general use, for in this way har- vest labor is doubled, and therefore the harvest crop may be doubled. The reaper is one of the leading causes of the increased aggregate wheat product of the country. The subject of reapers, rakers, binders, ete., is elsewhere treated. It will be found safe never to purchase a reaper until you haye tried the identical machine you intend to buy, if this is practicable. Reapers of the same manufac- ture will not work equally well, therefore try different ones, until you get one that will do the work well and fast. When you have a reaper keep it in repair, and if you are not capable of doing it yourself, put it in charge of a man that is. The power and wealth of Great Britain con- sists in its vast machinery. With a population of 29,000,000, it uses steam-power equal to the labor of 600,000,000 of men. We have grown great by the use of labor-saving machinery in our manufactures and transportation, and the more it is applied to agricultural pursuits the cheaper production will become, and, as a con- sequence, the more will be raised and consumed. All that is needed now is a good binder-attach- ment, and we trust this may be soon realized. Putting in Shocks—Large fields of wheat are often seen thrown together, two and two, and then, in consequence of the hurry and scarcity of hands, the grain is allowed to remain for weeks, and unless a man is employed to go over the ground after every blow or rain, it must damage to a considerable extent, for the heads can not remain long lying on the ground without growing. By wetting and drying a number of times it becomes bleached, the head shrivels, and the grain loses its vitality—called among farmers being “ banged.” Grain) of all kinds, and more particularly Spring wheat, should be put in round shocke and capped witha WHEAT—STACKING double cap, Commence by setting four bundles in a square, and then four more, one in each corner, and then four more, setting the butts firm on the ground and pressing the heads together. Se- smallish, long, slim bundles, break [e) 990 Ne ie) lect two one across one arm by handfuls until the whole is broken. Then lay it on the shock, spreading the heads and butt as much as possible. Then take the other bundle and slip the band well towards the butt, and proceed as before, placing the heads in the opposite direction from the other, letting the heads cover the bands of the first one. Wheat shocked in this way will stand a long time, and any storm, except a hard blow, without damaging. Wheat cut very green will cure in this way as all the bands are left to the air. The oblong shocks, made by setting ten sheaves in a double row, are no adequate pro- tection in wet weather. Stacking.—Stacking is generally regarded in this country, especially in the Middle and East- ern States, as an unfortunate, because wasteful, expedient; but in England, even with its snug farming, and moist atmosphere, many of the wisest farmers prefer stacking grain to storing it in barns, contending that the former custom is attended with less loss. In our Western States stacking out is the rule with all large farmers, because crops are heavy, barns expen- sive, and the huge iron thrasher must have room according to its strength. In England, stacking is done on scientific principles. Instead of throwing up the grain loosely, in an awkward pile, on the frozen ground, exposed to rains and rats, they build on a shapely platform of stone, iron, or wood, elevating the grain a foot or two from the ground, and then the’whole stack is so firmly constructed and so completely thatched, that the grain will keep dry and sound for years. The accompanying cut represents the octagonal stathel or “corn-stand” much used in Great Britain. A Wooven STATHEL For STACKS. The engraying explains itself. ‘The general 167 introduction of this platform into this country may not be at present practicable, because grain is thrashed so soon after harvesting; but in a few years something like it will, in particular cases, be demanded, We also append, with the same confident anticipation of its future useful- ness, a picture of an English grain stack, show- ing the lozenge mode of roping on the thatch. a An ENGLIsH STACK. It requires about as much ingenuity, care, and skill to build a good stack, as to do well any other piece of farm-work. The best way is to learn the theory, and then take a lesson from an adept. The following is the theory, as practiced by English farmers; it can not be much improved upon. It is from the pen of Hon. Jonn Y. Smiru, long editor of the Wis- consin Farmer : “First: as to the foundation. It is the best plan to raise it about a foot from the ground by setting short posts in the earth, or sawed blocks or stones upon the surface, sufficiently large to make it firm, and laying a floor of strong rails. It will give a circulation of air under thestack and the cats a chance to keep it free from mice, rats, gophers, ete. At any rate, there must be a foundation of wood sufficient to keep it from acquiring moisture from the earth. -This done, commence in the center by setting up sheaves as for a round shock, adding course upon course, setting the butts of each succeeding course a little more out so as to have the outside course at about the angle of a quarter-pitch roof, being careful to force the butts down between the rails so they will not slip and flatten down as weight is added. “Let this last course in working from the 168 FIELD center, serve as the first course in the layer which you make back to the center, laying the butts of the next course about even with the bands of the course under it, and thrusting the byjts of each bundle, as you lay it, into the bundle under it, to prevent its slipping out- ward by pressure. Go round with a single course, keeping your work before yon and press- ing down the bundles with your knees. Then lay another course in the same manner, lapping at the same place, and so on till you get to the center. Then commence again at the outside, laying the butts of the first course even with those of the lower course, or projecting a little over, being careful as before to catch the butts of the new course into the lower one, and work inward as before. “The outside should be as little pressed as convenient, in building, and the inside packed as close as possible, so that the pitch of the bun- dles outward will be increased rather than di- minished as the stack settles. If the heads of the bundles do not keep up the pitch of the sheaves equal to that of an ordinary roof, put in extra sheaves enough to do it, in any way which will keep the surface regular in form. The butts of each outside course should project a little over the course below it until you are ready to draw in, so that the stack, when done, will have the shape of a hen’s egg, a little flattened at the large end. A little marsh hay makes a good cap, which should be secured against the winds by ropes made of the same, placed over the top and held by weights at the sides.” A stack may be ventilated as shown under the head of stacking hay. . Thrashing and Cleaning—Hardly any work is so much dreaded by the large farmer as thrashing; partly, perhaps, because there are so many slovenly, lawless thrashers. One ex- perienced thrasher who has the faculty of keep- ing his machine in repair, is worth more to a farming community than six of the opposite stripe. A correspondent says in the Prairie Farmer : “Thrashing should never be done until the stacks are through sweating. Stacks after standing one week, commence sweating and continue to sweat about two weeks, so that it is not safe to thrash until the stacks have stood for about four weeks. Wheat thrashed while sweating is sure to be damp and liable to must in the bins; but thrashed after the sweating process is over, it is better for milling than when thrashed before, from the fact that the bran is softer, and the flour is easier separated CROPS. from it, thus giving a better yield, and whiter flour. Should your wheat be damp, and it be necessary to put it in bins without drying, avoid the foolish practice of putting in lime to absorb the moisture. Throw in a few stones or bricks, which will draw the moisture from the wheat, having the same effect as the lime, and leave the grain clean and smooth; which will please the miller much better than lime and rough dirty wheat. To clean it of smut for seed, roll in lime for twenty-four hours, which will burst the smut-balls; then you can blow them out with a good mill.” Another point is to be considered : whether it is better to employ an eight-horse-power thrasher, or the smaller two-horse-power—for the flail is generally obsolete. The eight-horse- power machines are now mostly used, but there are many considerations favoring the smaller in localities where the wheat crop is not very large. The time between the hay harvest and wheat sowing is generally employed in thrash- ing, and a number of neighbors associate to- gether sufficient to attend the larger thrasher. This is in the most oppressive part of the year on account of heat, and the strength of the farmer is exhausted by the labor of the har- vest. It interferes with plowing for the wheat crop, and the August rains can not be taken ad- vantage of for this purpose. If farmers gener- ally had a two-horse-power the thrashing could be done alter the wheat crop was put in. It can not be necessary to say anything about the folly of sending grain to market in a half- clean condition; if any farmer has not yet learned its unprofitableness, experience is a cheap enoug}teacher for him. Marketing.—An_ intelligent correspondent says, ‘‘ Marketing wheat successfully depends very much on the locality in which the farmer is situated, and the facilities for getting to mar- ket. Obstacles ure often thrown in the produ- cer’s way by the grain speculator, such as rais- ing the bids fora day or two, so as to get alarge quantity coming into their place of buying, and then bidding down below all reason. In towns where that practice prevails, watch all their moyes, and when your suspicions are strong enough to warrant it, call on the sealer of weights and measures. Still, that is of but lit- tle use, for as soon as he is gone the scales are out of balance or the measures are exchanged for others to suit the trade. Many ways are resorted to, to pilfer from the honest unsus- pecting farmer. Some of these I have detected in my experience, and will mention, Every OTE SM TY a Sel =" WHEAT, farmer that goes to market should know his own weight, and before his wheat is weighed step on the scales, see that they are balanced and weigh rightly, for scales are so constructed that a slight move will throw them in the buy- er’s favor—that is one practice. Again a set of false weights is sometimes kept and slipped A sixty pound weight is sometimes The grain dealer on slyly. placed under the large ones. will spill a small quantity and forget to put it back. If measured, fik your eye on some mark on the half bushel so as to know it, and see that it is not changed. Farmers that raise wheat enough to do so should send by the ecar- load, or cargo, to some commission merchant in a large commercial town, say Chicago, Milwau- kee, or Buffalo, and consign their wheat to him as long as he is doing a large business, for be assured, that when a large number of his cus- tomers have left him, there is something wrong, and the less business he does the less he ean af- ford to be strictly honest.” How to Measure a Ripening Crop.—This is the English mode; A day or two before cutting, adjust four fine sticks in a light square frame, like a slate frame, enclosing exactly one foot; go with thisto your field, and lower it carefully over us many heads of grain as it will cover; ‘then cut and shell the grain enclosed, and weigh it. Multiply the weight by 43,560, and it will give you, approximately, the weight of the acre’s yield. Repeat the experiment half a dozen times to confirm the result. To Measure Grain in the Granary.—Divide the cubic feet by 56, and multiply by 45, and the result will be bushels, struck measure. The Average Price of Wheat.—Wheat started in Albany, New York, at seventy-five cents a bushel in 17938, but it has never touched that low figure since, though in 1821 it stood at sev- enty-seyen, and in+ 1845 at ninety-three cents, Six times in the sixty years following 1793, it rose to two dollars a bushel in that city. The average price for the whole period was one dol- lar and thirty-eight cents; and for the last twenty-five years it has been one dollar and twenty-five cents. The price in Chicago for twenty years has ranged from forty cents to one dollar. Rust.—Rust, or mildew, is a most destructive enemy of the wheat crop. It seems to be al- ways lurking in the field, waiting for favorable circumstances to outspread and devour the har- vest. It flourishes in close, hot, damp weather. It consists of a breaking of sap from the straw, and the formation of a rusty crust. The dis- ETC—WILLOW. 169 ease is produced by a minute fungus, whose roots penetrate the vessels of the plant. There is no remedy known; -partial preveniives are believed to be the selection of hardy varieties; sowing on high lands; early sowing; and the free use of lime, salt, charcoal, and plaster, instead of barn-yard manure. JOMNSON’S Farmers’ Encyclopedia says: “Salt, if not a a complete preventive, is an effectual cure of the mildew.” This statement is to be proved before being completely credited; in the mean- time, farmers will probably go on and harvest their grain at once, whenever rust makes a vig- orous attack. A correspondent of the Country Gentleman maintains that “sowing timothy or clover with wheat causes rust and blight, by keeping the straw moist near the ground till the hot sun comes upon it. If grass is to succeed wheat, he is very decided that it should be sowed in the Fall, after the wheat is removed. Smut is a blackish parasitic plant, akin to the rust fungus. It attacks the head of grain. The cause is unknown, Wet seasons, fogs, an- imaleule, exposure to intense sunshine when moist, deficiency in the organs of generation, and other conditions, have been assigned as pri- mary causes, but they are probably merely con- tingencies which aggravate the symptoms. The only known remedy for this is to wash the seed before sowing, in two or three strong brines, and then roll it in quicklime. A Wisconsin correspondent of the American Agriculturist recommends the following: “Take one pound of. blue oil of vitriol—dissolve it in two or three quarts of boiling hot water, in some earthen vessel. Then put it in a pail and fill with cold water. Now take ten bushels of seed- wheat on the barn floor, and sprinkle this solu- tion all over it, and shovel it thoroughly, so that every kernel is wet, and in two or three hours it is ready to sow.” Willow.—The osier or basket willow can hardly be made a géneral field crop in Ameri- ca, but it ought to be raised more than it is, as it grows on low lands, where little else will grow, needs no culture, and nets fifty to one hundred dollars per acre. In England and Scotland it produces an annual crop worth one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars an acre, with a small outlay of capital or labor. It is worth in the New York market from one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars a ton, and yields more than a ton to the acre; the supply is derived mainly from France and Ger- 170 many, and amounts to five million dollars an- nually, with an increasing demand, which the importations, large as they are, fail to fully sup- ply. Itis just as easy, and equally profitable, to grow this, or any other variety in the United States, as in Europe; besides we have here millions of acres lying idle, which might be appropriated to this purpose. There is not the least doubt that basket willow enough to supply the world can be produced in this coun- try at filty dollars a ton, and paya better profit to the cultivator than he can get from wheat, corn, or hay. An American farmer thus describes a crop grown by him in swamp land: “We had beds thrown up with the spade, about four feet wide, running across the enclosure—the ditches being about two feet wide and two deep, between the beds—each bed having two rows of osiers, planted, one near each outside. The weeds were kept down with the hoe till the young plants got strong, after which they fully occu- pied the ground, smothering everything else. These were sold at auction, and made from $25 up to $75 per acre, according to the crop, the purchasers taking them away at their own ex- pense—the best beds selling for the latter sum. I have seen osiers on a twenty-acre piece of low clay land (which could not be devoted to any other purpose), planted in beds as stated—the ditches between the beds having water in them nine months out of the twelve—and these have been sold at a much higher rate. On the piece alluded to all that was done was the shoveling out of the ditches after every cutting, and lay- ing the sediment and any soil worked down in the getting off of the osiers, on the beds among the stumps from which the crop had been cut. FIELD CROPS. Manure, or any application besides, would be thrown away, and any cultivation alter the first year would do no good, because in a well- planted osier bed nothing else can possibly grow.” The osier willow is worthy a place on every farm, because it takes up very little ground, requires very little care, and furnishes the best materials for baskets, which are indispensable to the farmer. This, like all the willows, is readily propagated by cuttings. Where it has taken good root, its shoots, in good ground, grow from four to eight feet ina season. These shoots should all be taken off every winter, unless very large willows are wanted, and the number is thereby annually increased. The art of fabricating baskets from them is easily acquired, and may be practiced in evenings and stormy days in the Winter without cost. For ordinary baskets the osier is used with the bark on; but for neat house baskets they are peeled. The best way to divest them of the bark by hand is to cut, sort, and tie the osiers in small bundles, say early in March, and place the bundles in a pool of stagnant water; and at the season the leaf buds are bursting, the bark will readily strip off. The osiers may then be laid up to be used when leisure will permit. The most serious drawback to the raising of the osier is the peeling. It now costs forty dollars a ton to peel it, when it ought to cost but ten dollars. A large amount of this willow is raised upon the estate of the late Colonel Cou, of Hartford, Connecticut, where the Swiss arti- zans have a picturesque little village of Swiss houses, and a manufactory that furnishes faney baskets to the New York market. ——— THE GARDEN: VEGETABLES, FLoWERs, SHUBBERY, AND LAWN. Snyce the time when our first parents planted and dressed the Garden of Eden, the culture of vegetables has received a large share of the attention, and contributed a large portion of the sustenance and happiness of every family of the civilized world. The origin of some of the principal vegeta- bles, fruits, and cereals deserves a brief notice. Beans blossomed first within sight of embryo mummies, in the land of the Sphinx; and the egg-plant first laid its glossy treasures under the African sun, and Southern Europe gave us the artichoke and the beet. To Arabia we owe the cultivation of spinach; and to Southern Europe we must bow in tearful gratitude for the horse-radish. What fair school-girl, of the pickle-eating tribe, dreams of thanking the East Indies for her cucumbers ? Parsley, that prettiest of all pretty greens, taking so naturally to our American soil that it seems quite to the manor born, is only sojourner among us. _dinia, or, rather, there it first secured an ac- quaintance with civilized man. Onions, too, are only naturalized foreigners in America. Perhaps this pathetic bulb ought to have sprung from the land of Nrosx, but no; Egypt stretches forth her withered hand and claims the onion as her own! The garlic came from Sicily. Who ever dreams, while enjoying his Berga- motte, his Flemish Beauty, or his Jargonelle, that the first pear-blossoms opened within sight of the Pyramids? To Persia we stand indebted for peachés, walnuts, mulberries, and a score of every-day luxuries and necessities—the lus- cious peach having had its origin in the bitter almond. The chestnut, dear to squirrels and young America, first dropped its burrs on Ital- ian soil. Wheat had its origin in Asia. At Siberia, the victims of modern intemperance may shake their gory locks forever—for from that cold, unsocial land came rye, the father of that great ' Its native home is Sar- fire-water river which has floated so many jolly souls on its treacherous tides, and en- gulfed so much of humanity’s treasure. Maize and potatoes, thank heaven! can mock us with no foreign pedigree.) They are ours—ours to command, to have, and to hold, from time’s be- ginning, to its ending, though England and Ire- land bluster over “‘corn” and ‘“praties” till they are hoarse. It has been well said, by a cultivator of large experience, that, as a part of rural and domes- tic economy, the garden should claim a share of the farmer’s attention. Whether the num- ber of his acres be few or many, it is policy to devote a choice corner to the cultivation of such roots, herbs, plants, and fruits as please the taste and add to the delicious stores of the kitchen. The care of a garden need not neces- sarily tax the time of the farmer; for much of the labor can be performed by the younger members of the fumily, while the odds and ends of time, that every one will have more or less of, will be quite enough for the remainder, To remunerate cultivation, however, it must be kept in order and free from weeds, for it never refuses to honor all drafts properly made upon it. We expect more than ordinary re- sults, but unless we give it more than the care ordinarily bestowed on the crops of the farm we must be disappointed. And here it is, one may see high cultivation epitomized, and learn that if we will extend equal care toallthe land we cultivate, we shall be equally rewarded with high crops. All soils are not alike adapted to gardening purposes. By carefully noticing their faults, and pursuing a judicious course to correct them, there are none but may, in very few years, be brought to the highest state of gardening tilth. Who, having once realized the comfort and benefit arising to the health of the family, to say nothing of the gratified taste, would forego the well-filled and well-cared-for garden? As (171) » 172 it greatly economizes the staple products of the farm, it is really, aside from all the other in- ducements, a matter of pecuniary profit. Let those who have not yet done it, get a garden, bring it to the highest state of tilth that time and circumstances will permit; secure it from all encroachments of vicious pigs and other unruly creatures, and they will find it just the place for currants, gooseberries, rasp- berries, strawberries, ete.—for every one with a trifle of pains, can have an ample supply of all these delicious fruits. And then at the proper time, let them put in the early and late peas and beans, the sweet corn, the beets, pars- nips, salsify, onions, radishes, lettuce. cucum- bers, melons, squashes, tomatoes, pie plants, ete. The garden is a school. The educition gained there is never forgotten. It is a nur- sery of health, of happiness, and of good and simple and natural tastes. An enthusiast, but none the less an excellent judge, the PRINCE DeLitene has said: “It seems to me that there is not a virtue could not attribute to him who loves to speak of and to make gardens. Fath- ers of families inspire your children with the love of gardening.” Much of the attractiveness of the garden de- pends on the taste displayed in laying out the ground, as well as in its general culture. Land- scape gardening is caleulated to combine beauty with profit. RrcHarp Davres, a landscape gardener of twenty-eight years’ experience in a communication to the Western Horticultural Review, makes these practical suggestions: Im- provements may consist in laying out a new place, or in making alterations in the arrange- ments of old grounds, such as altering the di- rection and form of roads and walks, and the making of new shrubberies and plantations, or changes in those which already exist; the ad- dition to, or contraction of, the pleasure-grounds, the removal of trees and shrubs, and the alter- ation and re-arrangement of the flower garden, Varying the curve of a walk, removing or al- tering the shape of a flower-bed or clump of trees or shrubs, or any similar change, can only be an improvement when made in conformity to taste. In the laying out and alteration of grounds, there is ample scope for variety within the wide boundary of acknowledged and consistent taste, In many places, much improvement could be effected by giving carriage-roads and walks more easy and graceful curves, as well as in keeping them in better order. Where walks from long use and frequent rolling have be- THE GARDEN: come too low, and where the introduction of gravel to raise them is expensive, a great im- provement may be made, if the ground will admit of it, by cutting and rolling up the sod for one, two, or more yards from the side, and removing as much soil as will bring the sod, when replaced, not more than an inch anda half above the gravel. Few things are more insipid in garden scenery than perfectly straight walks and roads, unless when they assume character and dignity from contiguity to, and connection with, the straight line of a house, veranda, greenhouse, avenue, etc. In forming a carriage-road or walk, the great object is to make a means of communication between two different places; and the chief rule to be ad- hered to, where a straight line would not be desirable, is to render the curves graceful and easy, never introducing a bold, abrupt curve, unless there is a seen and felt reason for doing so, in the presence of an obstruction, either ex- isting previously, or placed there by you, to convey that impression, and thus alone, in such circumstances, to call forth feelings of pleasure, and the perceptions of the beautiful, because as- sociated with the stern demands of necessity. We must have some standard to judge of the beauty and deformity of objects. If geometrical gardens are distinguished for undisturbed re- pose, those of an apparently irregular outline require something exciting. This effect can be produced by planting in clumps, trees and shrubs of different forms. There are of trees, as of every thing else, some absolutely beauti- ful, others relatively so; some are adapted to make a figure of themselves, while others ap- pear to advantage only in contrast, and are consequently best seen mixed in clumps. A definite purpose should characterize all that we do in pleasure-ground arrangements; whether it be limiting the growth of the tree or shrub to the size of the figure, or allowing it to extend beyond the regular line first marked out in picturesque scenery, it matters not. In plant- ing clumps, we should select trees of different forms, choosing the round-headed for definite turns, but taking care that irregular-shaped ones are placed not in the center exactly— though there occasionally they may be wanted— but nearer the outside of the clump, and just by the regular trees, so as to contrast with the latter, and break up the monotony that would otherwise prevail. But this may be advan- tageously relieved by planting separate and peculiar trees near the clumps, so arranged as to mass with them in certain directions, but TRENCHING AND appearing distinct from them when viewed from other points, whence they may show to advan- tage by way of contrast. The following cut, from the Country Gentle- man, represents a good plan for a kitchen gar- den, spaded or entirely worked by hand; it may be enlarged, or reduced in size, according to circumstances : pcs ooh GaAce COSNES oo ce SCE Se ccc ec ooo ecrccec Seowece pcascus Trenching Gardems.—One of the most important operations for the good gar- dener to perform bevore the Winter [rosts set in, is to trench-plow, or spade in his garden. This ought to be done at least eighteen inches deep— two feet would be still better. Such parts of the garden as are enclosed by gravel walks, or small plats, or encumbered by shrubbery or plants, must be spaded—a long-bladed trench- ing spade, in connection with the common spade, will be essential for the purpose. First with the common spade trench or dig the ground, from one end of the plat to the other, about ten or twelve inces deep; and then fol- low with the trenching spade, about ten inches deeper. Be careful to leave this undersoil in its rough state on the top, to be pulverized by the Winter’s frost, and enriched by the snows and rain. Coarse manure should always be dropped on the bottom of each trench, also on the top of the plat, as fast as three or four feet in width are spaded. Thus the top and bottom will be undergoing an enriching process at the same time, and by Spring will form a first-rate gar- den soil of twenty to twenty-two inches deep. By adding bone-dust, ashes, guano, or anything else needed by the soil, and re-spading about twelve inches deep in the Spring, the gardener will seldom fail to produce the best of vegeta- bles, fruits, and flowers, By thus applying the manure in the Fall, it will become by Spring the proper food for plants, and will not burn up the crops, as freshly applied manures in MANURING. 173 Spring often do, when the heat of Summer comes on. Some gardens are adapted to the use of the trench plow. Some plows of this construction have a share and mold-board narrower than those of the surface plow, with a high standard and arching beam—with over twenty inches from the beam to the point of the share. By the trench plow following the common plow, soil to the depth of twenty inches can be turned up well, Without deep trenching or plowing some gardens will suffer greatly during every dry Summer; but when the earth is turned up to the depth of eighteen to twenty inches, a severe drought will scarcely affect, it. Something is doubtless due to the amelioration of the soil, but still more to the deep stirring the ground has received. This extra labor is well repaid by the increased product, as well as by enhane- ing the certainty of the crop. As the subject of manures and composts has been specifically treated elsewhere in this work, a single suggestion only on this head, and its relation to the garden, need here be noted—and that simply with the view of adding line upon line, and precept upon precept: need be bought for the garden, and every place can have a full supply of the best in the world No manure by observing the following rules: Have asink, or large water-tight box under the privy, and into this, throw muck, charcoal bottoms, or any kind of absorbent; having running into it a conducting pipe, or gutter from the kitchen, that all waste-water, chamber-ley, and soap- suds, may be run into this sink, saturating the dirt and coal bottoms completely, and dissem- inating among it the privy manure; then emp- ty it out once or twice a weck. If a portable box is made for the sink upon wheels, it will be found to add much to convenience and save handling. It should be large enough to hold one or two cart-loads, This process makes ihe best manure in the world and the cheapest. Any ordinary family can make seventy-five to one hundred and fifty loads of this manure per annum, by attending to this simple process. The gardeners around New York and Philadel- phia have found privy manure by far the best; in some instances spreading it over the surface of the ground from buckets, for which they buy thousands of loads, and it invariably produces the largest vegetables, and the greatest growth of plants. An ordinary family, and the waste from an ordinary house, can make as much ma- nure under this process as can be made by five 174 horses. To get a great growth of plants, wa- tering with liquid manure produces the largest results. In order to obtain this conveniently, bore holes in the sides of a barrel, and set it in the corner of your sink, or have a drain from one corner of your sink into a barrel. The Mot-Bed.—No garden is complete without a hot-bed, in which to raise early to- mato, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, squash, melon, and egg-plants, together with early lettuce and radishes. It should be made in the latter part of March, or beginning of April, varying, however, a week or two—or even more—according to the difference in cli- mate and latitude. The following figure of a hot-bed, on a small scale, may aid those who have had no experience in constructing one: The first thing to be provided will be a quan- tity of manure sufficient for the bed—one four by eight feet in size would be of very moderate dimensions; and forsuch a bed, three two-horse loads of horse manure would be requisite. Deposit this in a loose heap convenient to the selected spot, permitting it to remain a few days for fermentation before it will be ready for use— if composted with leaves, or spent hops all the better. Horse manure has been indicated as preferable to any other on account of its heat- ing properties—that which has not been burned out, nor that which has had too much bedding mixed with it. Make the frame-work of your hot-bed with inch boards, or inch and a half plank—pine answers Bic as it does not warp readily ; and put them together in. box form, the size of your contemplated bed—and placed facing the south, six or eight inches high in front, and about twice as much in the rear. This slope will carry off the rains from the sash-glass; the sash should have no cross-bars, or if common sash is used, cut down the cross-bars so as to let the panes lap over like shingles; and provide grooves on the upper side of the frame, to allow THE GARDEN: the sash to slide freely, for opening in warm weather, and closing at night, or when the weather is cold, Coat the frame with crude petroleum, using gas tar, if convenient, for the inside where it comes in contact with the earth, or a coat or two of paint, if petroleum ean not be had. It is time to make the bed when the steam begins to rise from the manure heap. Some prefer to dig a pit, the size of the designed bed, where there is thorough natural drainage to the subsoil, and fill it with the manure; while others prefer to make the natural surface the basis on which to build their beds—placing the manure in eyen layers over the whole surface, till they reach a height of two and a half or three feet. Keep the interior of the bed well beaten down with the manure-fork when spread in each successive layer, and tread the ontside with the feet to render it sufficiently compact— otherwise the outside will settle most, and the bed will crack open in the middle. When the whole is completed, put the frame in its place, as shown in the figure, and close the sash till the heat begins to rise, which can readily be ascertained by thrusting the finger*down into the manure. Then fill in about six or eight inches of the best, cleanest, richest mold—that taken from an old rich pasture is better than from the garden, inasmuch as the latter, if a long time in use, is #pt to contain eggs of de- structive insects which are hatched by the heat of the bed—and if this contain a small per- centage of clay, and be composted with one- third of well-rotted leaf mold from the forest, it will be all the better. When this bed becomes warm, in a day or two, which the steam condensing on the glass will indicate, the seed may be sown in rows north and south. Of cucumbers, it has been suggested, if planted on pieces of decayed in- verted turf, the plants may be removed with the turf, to the open ground; or, if planted in the corners or middle of the bed, they may be permitted to remain and grow without removal, Radishes do best in nearly clean sand, which should be provided for that part of the bed set apart for them. As soon as the young plants are up, care must be taken to give them plenty of air, but not to chill or freeze them. Open the sash more or less, according to the condition of the weather. Be particularly careful not to leave the sash closed when the morning sun comes out upon the glass, as the air within is heated with great rapidity while thus confined, and ine PURITY the plants are easily scalded or killed. Ifa very cold snap occurs, throw a blanket or mat over the glass. plants while growing in the bed—rain water is the best. Another mode of making a hot-bed has been recommended by one who has tried it: Take quick, or unslaked lime, reduced to small lumps or as fineas you please. It should be well burnt. Then prepare a place for your bed, by spad- ing or excayating the soil to the depth of four inches; or shallower or deeper, as you may wish to continue the effects, shorter or longer. Fill this nearly full with the lime; and cover it over sufficiently deep with soii or loam, of the ordinary moisture. In this, plant what you design for your bed. The value of this kind of hot-bed consists in the evolving of heat by the gradual slaking of the lime. The moist- ure necessary for the plants will be sufficient for this. The degree of heat, too, will be much greater than what can be procured by the decomposition of fresh manure, or any other means with which the writer is acquainted. Be careful in watering not to put on too much at a time; as this may increase the heat too much, so as to be injurious, and by the rapid slaking of the lime exhaust the supply too soon. Sweet potatoes have been bedded in this manner, and very early slips or plantings produced; but they require a deeper layer of soil over the lime, and a thicker covering, than smaller plants. It may be well to give the manner of con- structing hot-beds in Germany: Take white cotton cloth, of a close texture, stretch and nail on frames of any size you wish ; take two ounces of lime water, four ounces of linseed oil, one ounce of white of eggs, two ounces yolk of eggs, mix the lime and oil with very gentle heat, beat the eggs well separately and mix them with the former; spread the mixture with a paint brush over the surface of the cotton, allowing each coat to dry before applying another, until they become water-proof. The following are the advantages this shade possesses over a glass one: 1. The cost being hardly one-fourth; 2, repairs are easily made; 3, they are light. They do not require watering; no matter how intense the heat of the sun the plants are never struck down or burnt, faded or checked in growth—neither do they grow up so long, sick, and weakly as they do under glass, and still there is abundance of light; 4, the heat arising AND VITALITY OF GARDEN SEEDS. A liberal supply of water of a} moderate temperature must be given to the| 175 Jentirely from below is more equable and tem- perate, which is a great object. The vapor ris- ing from the manure and earth is condensed by the cool air passing over the shade, and stands in drops on the inside, and therefore the plants do not require so frequent watering. If the frames are large, they should be intersected by |cross-bars about a foot square, to support the cloth. These articles are just the thing for bringing forward seeds in season for trans- planting Purity and Vitality of Garden |Seeds.—As success in gardening depends much on good seeds, a few hints on raising, gathering, and preserving them, may be of im- portance, Plants intended for seed should be carefully cultivated during their whole exist- |ence, and especially while their seeds are ripen- ing. They should be located in such a manner, as that those of the same species can not inter- mix and produce deteriorated varieties. To prevent mixing, they must be set at considerable distances apart, as even Indian corn has been known to mix at the distance of three hundred yards. It is utterly impossible to preserve va- |rieties of cucumbers, melons, squashes, pump- kins, ete., in their purity, if they are permitted to flower and ripen their seeds in the same garden—the seeds of two varieties of the same species of plants should not, therefore, be raised in the same garden at the same time. It is this disposition to mix and degenerate that renders it difficult for seedsmen to raise a com- plete assortment of seeds on their own grounds, unless they are very extensive. The most luxuriant and perfect plants, and such as arrive at maturity the earliest in the season, should be selected for seed. They should be permitted to remain in the garden until the seed is perfectly ripe; and should then be gathered and cleaned in clear weather. If any moisture remain, they should be exposed to the rays of the sun until they are perfectly dry, and then be put up in bags or boxes, and secured from the depredations of rats, mice, and insects, and the action of severe cold. As a general rule, new seed is to be preferred to old, on account of its germinating quicker and producing a more vigorous growth; but good seeds, gathered and preserved in the foregoing manner, will retain their vitality about as fol- lows, and even much longer, in many instances, if kept in strong paper bags of fine texture, and well pasted, so as to exclude the air: 176 SEEDs. Years. | Sreps. YEars Anise.. 3 to 4] Mangel Wurzel Asparagus. 3 to 6] Marjoram 4 Artichok 5 to | Melons. 10 Bali 2to 3 4 Basil 2to 3 4 Beans 2to 3 6 Beets 5 to 10 3 Broccoli 4to 4 Cabbage 4to 5 3 Caray 2to 3 5 Carrot 2to 4 4 Cauliflower 4to 6 10 Celery - 4to 5 5 Coriand lto 2 4 Corn 3 to 5 3 Cress 2to 3 5 Cucu 5 to 10 3 Dill.. 2to 3 4 Egg-Plant. 2to 4 4 Endive 3 to 5 4 3to 4 0 5 2to 3] Squash. 10 5 to 10 | Sweet Marjorvam.. 3 38to 4} Thym 3 2to 3| Tom: 5 2to 4| Turni 5 Lettuce.. .3to 4| Wormwoo 3 Some gardeners prefer old seeds of cucum- bers, melons, squashes, ete, to new, on account of their running less to vines, and producing Jarger crops of fruit; but on this point we can not speak with certainty. The vitality of seeds is easily tested, and they ought never to be sown in any considerable quantity without it. When divested of their covering, such as will germinate will sink in lukewarm water, while such as have lost their vitality will float on the surface. Time Required for Seeds to Ger- minate.—According to Loopoy, the length of time necessary for the following seeds to germinate, may be thus stated—subject, of course, to many variations by different degrees of heat, moisture, and general condition of the soil: Wheat, one day; beans, mustard, and spinach, three days; lettuce, four; beets, cress, cucumber, melon, and radish, five; barley, seven; pursline, nine; cabbage, ten; parsley, forty; almond, chestnut, peach, one year; fil- bert, hawthorn, and rose, two years. Quantity of Garden Seeds to) Plant.—The following table may be found useful for reference: Asparagus.—One ounce produces one thou- sand plants; requires a seed-bed of about twelve feet. Asparagus Roots—One thousand plants, bed four feet wide and two hundred and twenty- five feet long. ; Beans.—One quart plants, from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet of row, or one hundred and fifty to two hundred hills. THE GARDEN: Beets.—One ounce plants, one hundred and fifty feet of row. Broceoli.—One ounce gives two thousand five ‘hundred or three thousand plants, requiring forty square feet of ground. Brussels Sprouts—Same as broccoli. Cabbage—Early sorts same as broccoli; the later sorts require sixty feet of ground. Cauliflower.—The same as late cabbage. Carrot.—One ounce to one hundred and fifty feet of row. Celery—One ounce gives six thousand or seven thousand plants, requiring eighty feet of / ground. Cress—One ounce sows a bed sixteen feet | square. Cucumber.—One ounce for one hundred and fifty hills. Egg-Plant.—One ounce gives two thousand plants. Endive-—One ounce gives three thousand five hundred plants, requiring eighty feet of ground. Kale.—Same as broccoli. Leek.—One ounce gives two thousand plants, requiring sixty feet of ground. Lettuce-—One ounce gives seven thousand plants, requiring seed-bed of one hundred and twenty feet. Melon.—One ounce for one hundred and twenty hills. Nasturtium.—One ounce sows twenty-five feet of row. Onion.—One ounce of seed sows two hundred feet of row. Okra.—One ounce sows two hundred feet of row. Parsley—One ounce sews two hundred feet of row. Parsnip —One ounce sows two hundred and fifty feet of row. Peppers.—One ounce gives two thousand five hundred plants. Peas—One quart of smaller sorts sows one hundred and twenty feet of row; of larger, two hundred feet of row. Radish—One ounce to one hundred feet. Salsify—One ounce to one hundred and fifty feet of row. Spinach. —One ounce to two hundred feet of row. Squash.—One ounce to seventy-five hills. Tomato—One ounce gives twenty-five hun- dred plants, requiring seed-bed of eighty feet. Turnip.—One ounce to two thousand feet. Water-Melon.—One ounce to fifty hills. | bd = Pe ee — os _ varieties. QUALITIES OF FINE VEGETABLES—ARTICHOKE. 177 Qualities of Fine Vegetables.—In| early in May, in rows three feet apart, and the the blood-beet we always look for a deep color, smooth, handsome form, small top, and sweet, tender flesh. In the orange carrot, small top> smooth root, and deep orange color. In the eabbage, short stump, large, compact head, with but few loose leaves. In the cucumber, straight, handsome form, and dark green color. In the lettuce,.large close head, pleasant flavor, with the quality of standing the heat, withont soon running to seed. In sweet corn, long ears, yery shriveled grains, filled over the end of the cob. In the cantelope melon, rough skin, thick, firm flesh, and high flavor, In the water- melon, thin rind, abundant and well-flavored juice, and bright-red core. In the onion, thick round shape, small neck, deep color, mild fla- yor, and good-keeping quality. In the parsnip, small top, long, smooth root, rich flavor. In the pea, low growth, full pods, large and tender peas, rich flavor, In the scarlet radish, deep color, small top, clear root, and quick, free} growth. In the squash, medium size, dry, fine- grained, deep-colored flesh. In turnips, hand- some form, small tops and tap root, sweet, crisp flesh. In describing the vegetables and herbs of the garden, preferable kinds, and their proper modes of culture, botanical terms and mere theorizing will be deemed out of place, and will be omitted, as far as possible; and practi- cal facts and suggestions will be considered alone worthy of attention. Artichoke.—This is a hardy perennial. There are two kinds, and each kind has several The Jerusalem artichoke, the kind best known in this country, has a stem six or eight feet high, growing and flowering very much like the common sunflower—of which it is really a species. It is cultivated for its roots or tubers, The other artichoke, having some- thing of the appearance of a gigantic thistle, grows four or five feet high, with numerous branches, and leayes of remarkable size, fre- quently measuring three or four feet in length, and producing heads on the stalk which, are used as an article of food among the English, French, and Italians, The Jerusalem artichoke thrives best in a rich, mellow soil—if the soil be trenched fifteen or eighteen inches deep, it will much improve the roots. It is propagated by planting small tubers or offsets—large tubers may be cut into several pieces,*giving an eye to each, as with the potato; and plant ordinarily in April, or 12 tubers dropped a foot apart in the rows, and covered three or four inches deep. They will need hoeing, from time to time. Some garden- ers, toward the close of Summer, cut the stems off about their middle, to admit more freely the air and light, and in other respects it may be beneficial to the tubers. These stems make good fodder. They may be dug early in the Fall, as wanted; but for Winter’s use, not until the stems are withered, and preserved in sand in the cellar, or buried ina dry spot. It is fre- quently left in the ground undug till Spring. Pains should be taken, in digging, to cut or break the tubers as little as possible; for the smallest piece will vegetate, and appear in the next season. The roots or tubers are the parts used for food—as pickles, and also cooked, mashed, and dressed as turnips, and after a little use they are generally well relished. They make good food for cattle, sheep, and hogs; the latter be- ing often permitted to dig for themselves, and they thus pulverize the soil, which destroys grubs, and fits it for the ensuing crop, as enough seed is always left in the ground for the next crop; and thus a succession of arti- choke crops on the same land is produced with- out further seeding. There are four varieties of the Jerusalem artichoke—the common white, not fit for cooking, except for baking or roast- ing, but making a very crisp, well-flavored pickle; the yellow skinned, the purple skinned, and the red-skinned varieties—which are finer flavored and more agreeable for cooking pur- poses. They are suited to persons in delicate health, when debarred from the use of most other vegetables. This vegetable has about the same amount of water in its organic composi- tion as the potato; but instead of the large amount of starch, there is nearly the same quantity of sugar and nitrogen. As a field crop, for stock food, its yield is very large, and very profitable—an Ohio farmer has placed its production as high as seventeen hundred bush- els per acre, which is perhaps overestimated. The head-producing artichoke requires a light, rich, and rather moist soil, well trenched and well composted. It is propagated either by seed, or slips, or suckers: If by slips or suckers, they should be taken from well-estab- lished plants, in May, when they have grown five or six inches in height, and transplanted four or five inches deep, in rows four feet apart, separated two feet in the rows. If the weather is dry, water freely until the young plants are 178 well established ; hoe frequently ; in August or THE GARDEN: To Raise Plants from the Seed—Get your September the heads will be fit for use. The|seed, the giant or colossal variety if you can; plants need a Winter protection of straw,. or stable-litter. but few heads. The first year’s growth produces If raised from seed, of which there are eight hundred and fifty in an ounce, they should be sown an inch deep, in drills a foot apart, in April, and transplanted when the plants are three inches high, in rows as above directed. By great care, they may be made to bear for three or four years. The heads should be eut as fast as they are fit for use, whether wanted or not, as permitting them to flower greatly weakens the plants, and the} stems on which they grow should also be re- moved. For pickling purposes, the heads should be cut when about two inches in diam- eter; for other uses, when they have nearly at- tained their full size, but before the scales of the calyx begin to open. For what is called “bottoms,” they should be cut at the largest size, and just as the scales begin to show signs of opening—an indication that the flower is about forming—for after blossoming, the head is com- paratively useless. For cooking and table uses, the lowest parts of the leaves, or scales of the calyx, are used; and also the fleshy receptacles of the flower, freed from the bristles and seed-down, which are unfit for use. The French blanch the cen- tral leaf-stock, and eat it like cardoons. The flower-head is boiled, and served with butter. The bottoms, which are the top of the recep- tacles, are fried in paste, and enter largely into fricassees and ragouts. They are sometimes pickled, and often used as a salad, dipped in What is called leaf-stalks oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. artichoke chard, is the tender blanched, and cooked like cardoons. There are several varieties of the head-pro- ducing artichoke—dark-red spined, early pur- ple, green globe, green proyence, laon, iarge flat Brittany, purplish red, and green or com- mon; the latter being both hardy and prolific, is esteemed one of the best sorts for cultivation. Asparagus.—This delicious vegetable is one of the earliest products of the garden, and every fumily should have a bed, which should be made as soon as the soil and season are fa- vorable. The giant asparagus is an excellent variety; but Conover’s colossal asparagus is represented as a great improvement, both in size and quality, upon any variety known. It comes into bearing earlier, and its sprouts aver- age from two to four inches in circumference, | early in the Spring, soak it in quite warm water, for a few hours; then mixing a few radish seed, sow in a properly prepared bed, about as deep as you would onion-seed. As the asparagus-seed germinate slowly, and the radish quickly, you can tell by the latter where the rows are so as to keep the ground free from weeds. You need have no fears of pulling up the asparagus for grass or weeds, for when it sprouts it is easily detected, as it looks “just like asparagus.” The first season the roots will make a growth as large as a fair-sized straw- berry plant. The Asparagus Bed.—This can not be made too rich. The method usually pursued in mak- ing an asparagus bed has been to throw out the soil the size of the bed desired, to the depth of eighteen inches or two feet, and then fill up with all manner of composts and strong ma- nures, with alternating layers of good natural soil; but unless the soil is sandy, there is dan- ger of the bed holding water, and eventually drowning out the plants. To avoid this, have a tile or covered drain from the bottom of your bed to carry off the surplus water, with a good outfall—then the more manure and rich com- posts, the stronger the plants will grow. Another mode of preparing the bed: Dig a trench fifteen inches deep on one side—a light, sandy soil is best—throwing the dirt all to the outside; place a liberal quantity of any kind of strong manure in the bottom. Com- mence another trench immediately along side; throw the top soil from this on the manure in the first, then the subsoil on that, and repeat until all is trenched. Fill up the last trench with the dirt from the first, and the whole is level. Mark off the plat for rows two feet apart, and at each mark dig a trench one spade wide and six inches deep, and place the roots—those a year old are preferable—fifteen inches apart in the bottom, and cover with two inches of dirt. This will leave a ridge between the rows which is to be leveled down around the plants as they grow up, and as often as weeds begin to show. This may be done with a hoe, a little at a time, orall leveled at one or two operations— when the whole is done and the ground well settled, the plants will be but little more than four inches below the surface; they should never be less than that. ; After the tops are killed by frost—never be- fore—cut them off, and cover the bed with ma- ASPARAGUS—BEANS. ° 179 nure, eight to twelve inches deep. Put on in the Fall quite a heavy sowing of salt, and fork it in; and in the Spring scatter brine between the rows. In the Spring fork it over, using care not to hit the crowns, and rake smooth. Cut for three weeks the next year after plant- ing, and each succeeding year cut six weeks, A mistake is often made by leaving it with- out cutting for a year or two for fear of exhausting the young roots; the heavy seed- ing which is the consequence, injures them much more. Another experienced cultivator recommends the choice of a dry, well-drained spot for the permanent bed, opened to the sun, and if shel- tered on the north side, all the better. Suppose the plat is to be four feet wide and sixteen long— a good size for « small family—mark it off with stakes at the corners. Remove the top earth to the depth of a spade, and lay it at one side of the bed. Wheel in coarse manure, to cover the bottom, and spade it in. Having trodden this down moderately, to prevent much settling afterward, throw back the top soil, and spade three inches more of fine old manure into this. Work the whole intimately together. If con- venient, two or three inches more of rich, sandy Joam may be spread over the plat, to receive the roots, though this is not essential. The hed, when finished, should be several inches higher than the walk. Three rows of plants, lengthwise of the bed, and eighteen inches asunder, each way, is a suitable distance. The common mistake is to set the roots too near to- gether, making them crowd one another, and speedily exhausting the soil. Cover the crowns about four inches deep with good soil, No cuttings should be taken the first year, and neyer until the plants are three years old from the seed. Keep the beds clear of weeds throughout the Summer, and in the Fall re- move the tops, spreading over the crowns about from three to six inches of manure. The coarse parts are to be raked off in the Spring, and the finer carefully forkedin. Many deem asparagus beds benefited by annual coats of salt, just enough to cover the ground like white frost; while others stoutly contend that salt toughens the as- paragus. Soap-suds, and other kitchen slops, may be applied occasionally with profit. A bed properly made and cared for, will produce well for many years—some say thirty ; and if four feet wide by twenty-five feet long, should furnish three or four good dishes per week for an ordinary family during its season. Before Winter sets in, cover the ped with about five or six inches of manure. The Gardener’s Monthly strongly recommends the planting of asparagus beds in August. The bed is prepared the same as for any other sea- son, and, after cutting off the green tops of the young seedlings, the roots are set precisely as in Spring planting. They push new roots at once, and make eyes so strong, that even from one year old seedlings, some asparagus—but not, of course, very strong—has been cut the following Spring; and where two year old roots have been used, a full crop has been cut in the same time—a result no one expects from Spring planting. It will be best, in such eases, to cover the beds, after they have once become frozen, with some kind of litter, not to keep out frost, but to prevent thawing and freezing until the natural Spring season comes—otherwise the plants may be thrown out by the frost, and killed. After the tops are dead in the Fall, it is advisable to burn a quantity of straw over the bed, to destroy the seeds of the asparagus and foul weeds. How to Cut it—Some people very much in- jure their plants by the manner of cutting. The proper method of cutting is to scrape a little of the earth away from each shoot, and then run a sharp-pointed, long-bladed knife so as to cut off slantingly below the surface of the ground, taking care not to wound the younger buds, in the different stages of their growth. The cutting should never extend beyond the middle of June, or first of July. How to Grow it Tender—A French gardener cuts off the bottom of a wine bottle and places the bottle over a shoot of asparagus, which grows quite up to the cork, and though blanched, it is as tender as the short, green ends we find upon the white, uneatable stalks in common use. The bottles are given a strong coating of whitewash, which excludes most of the light. It would also keep off the asparagus beetles. Asparagus plants of enormous size, exhibited in the windows of eating houses in Paris, are produced by placing an inverted bottle over the plant as soon as it rises a short height from the ground, under which it speedily attains its gigantic proportions. Beans.—Of the many kinds of beans enu- merated for garden culture, a very few are all that are really needed. All kinds do best on rather alight, warm, dry soil, and should not be planted till the ground is well-warmed in the 180 Spring—the last of April to the middle, of May, in northern latitudes, and earlier in the south—the slightest frost after they are up is pretty sure death to them. Of the dwarf or bush beans, the Early Ra- chel, the Early Mohawk, Dwarf Wax or But- ter Bean, Early Six Weeks, Early Valentine, Early China, Yellow Six Weeks, Union, Rob Roy, Late Valentine or Refugee, Royal White Kidney, Black Valentine, and a Thousand to One, are all excellent varieties, and worthy of cultivation. The Mohawk and Early Chi- na are probably the hardiest—the Valentine sorts the tenderest. Plant in rows two feet apart, in hills fifteen inches apart—or in drills, dropping the beans three or four inch- es apart, and covering them with an inch of fine soil. When planted in hills, they should be thinned to four stalks in a hill; the dirt frequently stirred, and the weeds kept down. A few rows of each sort planted every two weeks into July, will furnish a succession for the table from June till the middle of Octo- ber. As beans do not occupy much ground, they can frequently be planted between rows of corn. The best pole or running beans are the Large White Lima, the Large Green Lima, the Small Lima of Carolina, the London Horticultural, the Mottled Cranberry, and the Dutch Case Knife. Running beans are generally less hardy than the dwarf varieties. Plant in rich soil, in hills three and a half or four feet apart each way, and a little later than the bush bean, to avoid the danger of the seed rotting, cover- ing from one to two inches deep. The Limas and Case Knife especially should be stuck in the ground, eyes down, as the broad lobes can not well turn in the soil to reach the surface. The common method is to train them on poles rising eight or nine feet above the surface. But training them upon strings or a trellis has been very successfully adopted, as represented in the cut: a ere a The wire is stretched from post to post, two cords extending from each hill up to the wire. This gives more exposure, and adds to the at- tractiveness of the garden. When the plants reach the top of the brush, poles, or: trellis, pinch off the ends, which will cause greater fruitfulness below. ” THE GARDEN: Another mode of avoiding the use of poles, suggested by the Horticulturist, is, to place ap- ple tree or other brush along the ground, where the beans are planted, for the vines to run upon-—producing as large a yield as if poled, with less inconvenience, and with these advan- tages; shading the ground, thus keeping the earth moist, and at an even temperature, and avoiding the injurious effects of strong winds. Selecting Seed Beans.—One thing in preserving seed beans should be more generally attended to than it is—saving the earliest. Among those beans which run or climb, there are many found at the bottom of the stalk which ripen long before those at the top. These should be selected and saved for seed. It is astonishing what a difference a little care in this respect will make in the course of a few years in the ripening of the crop, To Increase their Size.—A solution of the sul- phate of iron—copperas water—applied to the young plants, will cause them to grow nearly double their size, and impart to them a much more savory taste. A similar result may be produced by using water in which old nails have been permitted to rust. ; Beets.—The proper soil for the beet isa deeply cultivated, light, well-enriched, sandy loam. Where such a soil is wanting, more pains must be taken to trench thoroughly, and compost and manure liberally. For early use the seed should be sown as early as the frost is out of the ground, and the soil can be worked; for Autumn use, about the middle or 20th of May ; and for the Winter supply, from the Ist to the middle of June. For the early supply, it is best to soak the seed in warm water, or in rich decayed vegetable matter, well dampened, and kept near the fire for a day or two before sowing; when two inches in height they should be thinned to five or six inches apart, extract- ing the weaker, and transplanting to supply vacant places. The drills should be fourteen inches apart across the bed. The Early Plat Bassano is generally considered the earliest variety, being from seven to ten days ahead of the Early Blood Turnip-rooted Beet. The Early Blood or Turnip-rooted is a good vari- ety of excellent quality. The London Blood is a new. kind, highly commended for deli- cate flavor and brilliant color. The White Beet is esteemed mainly for its stalks, or the midrib of its leaves, which being divested of the leafy part improves the flavor of soups; or if peeled and stewed, it can be served like BROCCOLI—BRUSSELS SPROUTS—CABBAGE—CARROTS. asparagus. The Long Blood is the best for general Winter and Spring use, often growing, under favorable conditions, four or five inches thick, and twelve or fourteen long. These re- quire more space—drills eighteen inches apart ; and the plants should be thinned to eight or nine inches. To preserve the roots in fine con- dition for Winter, take them up carefully be- fore hard frosts, and coyer them with earth in a cool cellar. Broccoli.—This is of the cabbage tribe, and over eighty yarieties of it are enumerated. The Purple Cape being the best adapted to our climate, is the variety generally cultivated. The Walchieren variety, comparatively new and much resembling the cauliflower, is creamy- white and delicious. The seed should be sown about the middle of May, and the plants put out the latter part of July, to flower in Octo- ber. If put out earlier, and the heads form during hot weather, they soon shoot up and blossom, thus rendering them unfit for the table. When a small quantiy only is required for private use, it is best to raise the plants in pots. They can then be put out without retarding their growth, and the gardener is not subjected to the inconvenience of covering to protect them from the sun while taking root, or delay while Waiting for cloudy weather; and by putting them out at proper intervals, a supply in an ordinary season, can be obtained during Octo- ber and November. Being an excellent substi- tute for cauliflower, and more likely to succeed, it can be grown more freely, and rarely fails of producing an abundant supply. In this climate, the Flowering Broccoli is more uncertain; and though it may be well to attempt a few for variety, it is not safe to depend upon it for the main supply. Like cauliflowers, the varieties of this species of brassica require rich soil, and in other respects, similar treatment. Broccoli and onions can be raised on the same ground, by putting out the plants as if the ground was unoccupied, and before they spread to any great extent, the onions are ready to be taken off. | Brussels Sprouts, or Thousand Headed Cabbage.— There are but two varieties of this vegetable, which much resem- bles the Kale. They are the Dwarf, and the Tall or Giant Brussels sprouts—the former, which is somewhat earlier, and more tender and succulent, attains a height of eighteen inches or two feet; and the latter which is more hardy, and on acccount of its greater 181 length of stalk, producing many more heads, reaches nearly four feet in height. The stem is clustered around with minature heads of cabbage, very tender and delicate, which are boiled and served like cabbages or flowers. It is raised from seed, in hot-beds, and transplanted or sown in open ground-beds cauli- in April or May, and cultivated the same as the cabbage tribe—though it should not be grown near any other sort of cabbage. In September the early plantings will be fit for use; while the later ones will afford a succes- sion for Autumn, or to be kept in the cellar for Winter use. This vegetable is quite hardy, and deserves more general cultivation. Cabbage.—As the culture of this plant has been fully described as a field product, lit- tle need be added in relation to its garden cul- tivation. The Early Sugar Loaf, the Early Dwarf York, Little Pixie, and Winningstadt, are recommended for early use; the Large Ber- gen, Green Globe Savoy, Drumhead, and Mar- blehead varieties, for the Winter supply. The early kinds should be sown in a hot-bed in March or the first part of April, in the North- ern States; though some sow in September, and transplant to a cold frame the last of October, covering with boards during severe weather. Some varieties, like those of Marblehead, do best when sown in hills where they are to re- main. As cabbages do not head as well during the heat of Summer, the first crop is got in early, while the main or later crop is not sown until the middle of June. The late, large growing sorts should be two by two and a half feet apart. The Red cabbage is desirable for pickling. Carrots. —like cabbages—have been treated asa field crop. “ The carrot,” says an eminent physician, “is a most wholesome culinary root; it strengthens and nourishes the body, and is very beneticial for consumptive persons.” Two kinds are enough for family use; the Barly French Short Horn, a sweet, tender, early sort, of small size, and the Long Orange for the main Winter crop. The Early Horn will frequently give a good yield sown in July, after early peas or onions; but for early use, should be sown in a warm, rich, deeply-worked fine loamy soil, the first to the middle of April. Let the rows be one foot apart, scatter plenty of seed, cover one-half inch deep with fine soil, and thin to four inches at the second hoeing. The Long Orange grows largest and does best in rows fil- 182 teen inches apart, thinned to five inches. There is little danger of making the soil too rich, or working it too deep for this tap-rooted erop. Keep well hoed, especially while small. The main crop may be sown from the middle of April to the first of June—better early in May. Cardoon.—tThis vegetable in general ap- pearance and character, resembles the head- producing artichoke, attaining its full size the second year in a height of five or six feet. It is raised from seed; and as the plant is used the first year of its growth, and is liable to Winter injury, it should be sown annually, al- though really a perennial. It should be sown as early in the Spring as the weather becomes warm and settled, in drills three feet apart, an inch anda half in depth, and afterward thinned to twelve inches apart in the drills. It does not bear transplanting. Keep it free from weeds; and as it requires much moisture, it should be frequently watered, if the weather is very dry. In September, the plants having attained their growth, are ready for use. Thestems and midribs are thoroughly blanched, which is done in a dry day, when the plants are free from dampness. The leaves of each plant, says Burr, are carefully and lightly tied together with strong matting; keeping the whole upright and the ribs of the leaves closely together. The plant is then bound with twisted hay-bands, or bands of straw, about an inch and a half in diameter, beginning at the root and continuing the winding until two-thirds or three-fourths of the height is covered. If there is no heavy frost, the leaves will blanch quickly and finely without further pains; but, if frosty weather occurs, it will be necessary to earth up about the plants, as is practiced with celery, but care should be taken not to raise the earth higher than the hay-bands. Another method of blanching is simply to tie the leaves together with matting, and then to earth up the plants like celery, beginning early in September, and adding gradually from week to week till suf- ficiently covered. The banding process, how- ever, is the superior one. Still another mode, convenient and economical, is to earth up a little about the base of the plant, tie the leaves together with thread or matting, and then en- velop the whole quite to the top with a quan- tity of long, clean wheat or rye straw, placed up and down the plant, and tied together with strong cord orstrong matting. The leaves will THE GARDEN: thus blanch without being earthed up, and speedily become white. _Until the occurrence of severe weather, the table may be supplied directly from the garden; but, before the approach of Winter, the plunts should be transferred, roots and leaves, to the cellar, where laying them down in rows, they should be packed in sand, in layers. They thus keep well, and become more perfectly blanched. In France, the flowers are gathered, and dried in the shade; and, when so preserved, are used as a substitute for rennet, to coagulate milk. Caulifiower.—There are several varie- ties of this delicious vegetable generally culti- vated in this country —the Erfurt Dwarf, the ear- liest variety grown, Early Paris, Large Early White, the late White, Large Asiatic, and the Purple. Burr enumerates fifteen different kinds. The cauliflower is somewhat diflicult to grow; and the chief impediment in producing early heads is, that the plants are not sufficiently forward before the approach of hot weather, which stints their growth, and prevents their flowering or heading. In order to avoid failure, they should be sown in September, ina rich bed; pot and protect the plants carefully through the Winter, and set them out in May, Or, sow the seed in a hot-bed in Mareh, the same as early cabbages, and transplant them at the proper season. Some sow early beds in the open ground, and have very fair success. For the late crop, sow the seed in a cool, moist place, on the north side of a building or tight fence, and the plants will not be troubled with the little black beetle, so destructive to every variety of the cabbage tribe when young. Seed may be sown as late as the first to the tenth of May, for the Fall crop, setting out the plants the last of June. They need the same culture as the cabbage; frequent waterings will facili- tate the heading. Cauliflowers raised by open culture are gen- erally fit for use in October. Such as have not fully perfected their heads, may, just as the ground is closing, be transplanted closely to- gether in a box of earth, and put into a light cellar, where they will usually form good heads before Spring; or they may be taken up by the roots, and suspended, with their heads down- ward, in a light cellar, or other place secure from frost, where the heads will increase in size, and in a few weeks become suitable for use. The Dutch are famous for the size and deli- cacy of their cauliflowers. Their mode of cul- CELERY—CULTURE OF, ETC. ture is as follows: In the Autumn they dig deep some ground that has not been manured ; at the beginning of May they sow the large English cauliflower upon a bed of manure, and cover it with straw mats at night. When the young plants are three or four inches high, they harrow the ground that had been prepared the Autumn before, and with a wooden dibble eighteen inches long, they make holes about ten inches deep, at proper distance apart, and enlarge them by working the dibble round until the hole at the top is about three inches in di- ameter. They immediately fill these holes with water, and repeat this three times the same day. In the evening they fill them with sheep’s dung, leaving only room enough for the young plant, which they carefully remove from the bed of manure and place in the hole with a little earth. Directly afterward they give them a good watering, and as soon as the sun begins to dry them, they water them again. When the head is forming, they pluck off some of the lower leaves of the plant, and use them to cover the head. Celery.—This very agreeable esculent is yearly growing moreand morein favor. BuRR enumerates thirty-seven varieties—the White Solid, and the Red Solid, or Manchester Red, as it is sometimes called, are those more generally cultivated. Turner’s Incomparable Dwarf White, is commended as one of the very best va- rieties, growing stout, crisp, and of exceedingly fine nutty flavor; and Seaey's Leviathan, white, very large and solid, is unsurpassed in flavor; while Larye’s Mammoth Red is also large, possesses a fine flavor, and an excellent keeper. Seed should besown for an early crop as early as may bein March ina gentle hot-bed, and the plants transplanted, during a wet day if possible, in rich, light soil, four inches apart, in the latter part of April or early in May. This is simply for temporary growth, and they will need care and watering. For the later supply, seed sown in the last half of June will furnish plants for setting out the last of July. These earlier plants will require transferring to the trenches about the first or the middle of July. The trenches, or rows, should be from three to five feet apart, to afford earth to bank up with. Fifteen to twenty inches in depth and one foot wide, forms a good trench, throw- ing the earth out between the rows. Fill in eight or ten inches of well-rotted manure—hog manure is highly commended—and the thrown out earth, equal portions, and in this set the 183 plants, six or eight inches apart, watering and shading if in hot, dry weather. Keep well hoed, and work in a little of the surface soil oceasionally, leaving most of it to be returned early in October, when the stalks are carefully gathered up in the hand and tied with soft strings, or straw, and the finely-pulverized soil returned carefully about them, avoiding bruises, and not allowing the earth to get in the center of the plants, or be washed into them by rains. Some persons wrap each plant with a newspa- per to prevent the earth from getting into the center. Leave banked earth in a cone form to turn water. A second earthing may be given late in October, and they will be finely blanched in a few weeks. Earthing up is sometimes, but improperly, done each fortnight during the growing season. Stalks should be grown in the air, and then blanched. To keep celery good all Winter, select a dry piece of ground, and open a trench a foot wide, and deep enough to take the celery standing upright, leaving the tops standing a foot below the surface. Shovel ont clean, and put in the celery, roots and all, as thick as it will conyeni- ently stand together without crowding, press- ing the soil close up to the heads at the side. Get some short pieces of board to lay across the trench to’ rest other boards on lengthwise, which will entirely close them in. Then cover with plenty of leaves and straw; or soil alone may answer, and without any other covering it will keep perfectly fresh till Spring. In get- ting out a portion at any time, cover the dirt Enough should be taken out each time to last a month, and it may be kept in sand, in boxes, standing upright, in the cellar. The new plan of sowing celery by JoHN Roserts, of London, with socket tiles—half cylinders joined—is attracting much attention, and is represented by the following cut: when replaced with long manure. A, represents two rows of celery in the trench before the sockets are used, with the horizontal tube placed between them for the purpose of watering. 184 B, shows two similar rows with the sockets placed round each head of celery prior to earth- ing against them. C, shows the celery earthed up, as it appears in Autumn, previous to harvesting, or covering up for Winter use. Corn.—There are several varieties of gar- den corn, and at least one good kind of sweet corn should find a place in every vegetable _ garden, Among the desirable varieties of garden corn, we may mention the Early Min- nesota, Adams’ Early White, Black Sweet, Burr’s Improved Sweet, Darling’s Early, Early Jefferson, Golden Sweet, Old Colony, and Stow- ell’s Evergreen Sweet, together with some of the good pop-corn varieties. In northern lati- tudes, plant early sorts the last of April, or very near the first of May, and Jater sorts the middle of May, first and middle of June, to keep up a succession, covering one inch in rows three feetapart. It will come to maturity planted up to the tenth of July. In its season, the kitchen may properly make large and fre- quent drafts upon the green corn, boiling the ears, making puddings and succotash, and dry- ing a goodly quantity for’ Winter. Cive, or Chive.—tThis variety of the onion family is a hardy perennial bulb, which once planted, grows in any soil, and for a num- ber of years, being quite frost proof. Plant a few inches apart and two inches deep. The fine young leaves come out very early and con- stitute one of the best of salads, Chufa, or Earth Almond.—This perennial plant is sometimes called the Edible Cypress, or Nut Rush. It is propagated by planting tubers in April or May, two inches deep, in drills two feet asunder, and six inches apart in the drills. At the extremities of the long and fibrous roots are numerous oblong, jointed, pale-brown tubers, of the size of a fil- bert ; the flesh of which is of a yellowish color, tender, of a pleasant sweet flavor, somewhat similar to that of the almond, They keep a long period, and are eaten either raw or roasted. In Spain, Cuba, and other hot countries, they are employed in preparing orgeat, a species of drink, made by mashing the chufa to a flour, and mixing it with water, imparting to it the color and richness of milk. Citron.—The citron-melon is almost solid and tasteless, and is much used for preserves. THE GARDEN: It ts little more than a vehicle for the exhibi- tion of sugar and various flavorings, but the result is a favorite confection for the table. Its culture is the same as that of the water-melon and cucumber. i Cress and Water-Cress.—Cress, or pepper-grass, is a very early, delicate, and pun- gent salad. It may be grown fit for use in a Sow thickly and broadeast on rich, light ground, covering very lightly, and press in smooth with a spade. If very dry, give occasional but light watering. Ready for use when one inch high, and best when once cut, but may be grown to several inches, and cut repeatedly, Water-cress is also a very early and healthful salad, found growing in springs or streams of pure water. It may be propagated by throwing a few plants upon any such stream or spring. It may also be culti- vated in low, wet soils, where it will be sure of plenty of water. Dig deep, set the plants six inches apart, and water them well. hot-bed in forty-eight hours. Cucumbers.—There are many varieties of this running plant, but the Early Russian, Early Cluster, Early Frame, Early Short White Prickly, Long English Frame, Long Prickly Green, and the Manchester Prize, are all good and sufficient for ordinary gardens. They do best on a rich soil. A few early plants raised in the hot-bed, and transplanted, would be de- sirable. Dig large, broad holes, and fill them with hog manure, stamping it down closely, and making it as compact as possible. Draw on one inch of soil, drop your seeds early in May, or even later, and cover one-half of an inch deep. Over this covering spread half an inch of the finest old black manure, mixed with a liberal quantity of charcoal and house ashes, For later uses, and for pickles, plant as may be desirable, not later than the middle of July. The hills should be about six feet apart. After going through with the attacks of bugs, and sometimes the cut-worm, thin to two or three strong plants a hill; and it is advisable to clip from the vines, with the shears, many of the surplus leaves, which interfere with each other. No cucumbers should be permitted to ripen so long as a fresh supply for the table is desirable. While the ordinary mode is to plant in hills, the same ground will yield much better, by having the vines at equal distances from each other, than if two or three are left together in the same hill, since the roots haye more room . EGG-PLANT—FLAVORING AND MEDICINAL HERBS. 185 to grow, and they find a greater amount of nourishment when thus isolated. The fruit will also be more solid and of better quality. It should be remembered that air and light are essential to the growth and maturity of the fruit; and it is better to occasionally cut out a thrifty plant, than that the ground be too densely covered. Just vines enough to thinly cover the ground will produce better than double this number. Cucumbers are often finely grown by plant- ing in a tub or half barrel, partly filled with manure, putting six inches of dirt on top, in which to plant the seed, and setting it near the) The barrel should have several augur holes in the bottom, to allow the water to pass out. For Pickle Cultwre—Plow and prepare the ground with as much care as for a premiu crop of corn, the latter part of June—enrich- ing each hill with a shovelful of well-decom- posed manure. In about six weeks planting, provided the vines do middling well, kitchen to receive the slops thrown out. from you may begin to pick your pickles; they will require picking every other day during the season, which often lasts till frost. ‘None but careful persons should be employed in picking, for treading on and tearing the vines is very destructive; use a sharp knife or scissors to sever the pickle from the vines; leave the stems one-fourth to one-half an inch in length. From two to four persons will be required for each acre, as the picking is slow, back-aching work, and requires care. All sizes are picked clean together, and afterward assorted into two or three sorts or sizes, rejecting as worthless all) nubbins, yellow bellies, ete. The smaller ones are suitable for bottling, the larger for putting down in tubs or barrels, and the largest as en- cumbers for market, ete. The produce of an acre to pickles varies, like all other crops, reaching sometimes as high as twenty-five thousand dozen. Egg-Plant.—This plant, quite generally cultivated, is allied to the tomato, and is simi- larly used. It possesses less flavor, but the fruit grows to a much larger size. For early use, plants should be raised in the hot-house, or in pots in the kitchen, and not transplanted to the garden till the weather is sufficiently warm, as the young plants are tender and liable.to get chilled, from which they recover but slowly. In favorable seasons the egg-plant may be raised from seed sown in the open ground in May, and transplanted into good soil in a warm and sheltered situation, in rows, two feet apart either way. There are several varieties culti- vated, the principal of which are—the Ameri can Large Purple, producing fruit often measur- ing seven inches in diameter, and weighing four or five pounds, Long Purple, Large Round Purple, New York Improved Purple, by many esteemed the best, White egg-plant, Chinese Long White, Gaudaloupe Striped, and Searlet- fruited egg plant. Endive.—This is a hardy annual, attaining a height of from four to six feet, the leaves only used, when blanched to diminish their natural bitterness, for Autumn, Winter, and Spring salads. It is raised from the seed, in any good, mellow-garden soil, and may be sown where the plants are to remain, or in drills for transplanting. There are several two general varieties—one the Batavian va- riety with broad leaves, the other the curled- leaf variety. The curled-leaf kinds should be in drills, twelve or fifteen inches apart; sorts of and the others require three or four inches more space. There are several modes of blanching the endive. It is sometimes done by earthing, as practiced with celery, or cardoons; and some- times common flower-pots are inverted over the plants, rendering them white, crisp, and mild-flavored. But the more common method is, when the roots have nearly attained their full size, they are taken when entirely dry, gathered together into a conical form or point at the top. and tied together with matting, or any other soft, fibrous material; by which means the large outer leaves are made to blanch the more tender ones toward the heart of the plant. For Winter use, after having been tied up in the conical form as directed, and stripped of all their dead or yellow leaves, take them up with the soil adhering to each, and put only their roots into light earth in a cellar, not suf- fering them to touch each other, but pouring a little water aronnd the roots after they are placed in the earth, ; Flavoring and Medicinal EFferbs. The following embrace the more common and important of the flavoring and medicinal herbs, which are found to be more or less needed in all families, A light, dry soil is the most ap- propriate for growing the greater part of them, but if such as lavender, rosemary, rue, sage, wormwood, and a few others, are planted in a rich, moist soil, much of their aromatic 186 qualities evaporates, and they are rendered less fitted for withstanding the severities of Winter. A Angelica.—A biennial, propagated from the seed, sown in a moist soil, and when trans- planted to a similar situation, the plants should be about three feet apart. If not allowed to run to seed, they will thrive many years. The stalks are used’as a sweetmeat, when candied by confectioners, and the seeds and roots are greatly extolled by the Laplanders for coughs _and chest disorders. Anise-Seed.—An annual, propagated by sow- ing the seed in light, dry soil, thinning the plants to six inches apart. The seeds, which ripen in August or September, have a warm, ar- omatic flavor, and are especially useful in flatu- lent colics, and obstructions of the breast, in- creasing the secretion of milk, and for strength- ening the tone of the stomach. Asparagus.—The green root excites the secre- tion and discharge of urine, in a decoction of one or two ounces of root to a quart of water; and the unripe berries, made into a syrup, have been used advantageously for heart disease. The seeds have been found a very good substi- tute for coffee, Balm.—A perennial, propagated by separa- ting the roots in Spring or Autumn, and plant- ing in beds eight or ten inches apart. Balm was formerly much used for nervous diseases; and an infusion of the herb, or “balm tea,” is still a popular domestic medicine, forming a harmless and efficacious warm drink in pro- ducing perspiration, and a grateful drink in fevers, either by itself or acidulated with lemons. Benne Plant.—An annual, cultivated in the Southern States, and raised in gardens as far north as Philadelphia, though it does not usually ripen its seeds there. The leaves abound in mucilage, which they readily im- part to water. Given as a drink, it is con- sidered very serviceable in bowel complaints of children, also for catarrh. and urinary dis- eases. Caraway.—This biennial aromatic plant is cultivated chiefly for its seed. Sow in Spring or in Autumn, soon after the seed is ripe, and ' thin to the distance of a foot apart each way ; in July it is fit for cutting; thrash it upon a cloth. The seed is used in cakes, confection- ery, and medicine; the tender leaves in Spring are sometimes boiled in soups. Caraway is a pleasant stomachic and carminative, and is occasionally used in flatulent colic. An infu- THE GARDEN: . sion may be formed by adding two drachms of the seeds to a pint of boiling water. Camomile—A hardy perennial plant, and easily propagated by parting the roots, and setting them, eariy in the Spring, in rows a foot apart. It produces an abundance of flow- ers from June to September, which are gath- ered and dried. The flowers possess tonic properties—used in powders of half a drachm to a drachm a dose, three or four times a day, and a watery infusion of them is frequently used for the purpose of exciting vomiting, or aiding the operation of emetics. A decoction is often used to assuage pain, and the flowers are applied externally as a fomentation in cases of inflammation or irritation. Chervil.—An annual plant, with leaves re- sembling those of the double parsley; and sown in rows, like parsley from April to Sep- tember. It is used for salads and in soups. Comfrey.—A useful perennial plant, the root only of which is used, possessing mucilage in great abundance. It was formerly much used for internal wounds, and is still employed for throat, lung, catarrh, and intestinal diseases, and for emollient poultices and salves. As an inward medicine, it is best taken in a decoction or syrup. Coriander.—This hardy annual is usually sown in the Spring, thinning the plants to six or eight inches, and maturing in August, when the seed is gathered. The seed is much used in cakes and confectioneries, as well as in com- bination with other medicines to disguise their taste, or to correct their griping qualities. Dill —The seed of this hardy perennial should be sown in beds, or drills, or broadcast, thinning the plants to six inches apart. The seeds have a moderately warm, pungent taste, and aromatic but not very pleasant smell. The seeds and leaves are used for imparting a flavor to pickles, and occasionally in soups and sauces, Elecampane.—This very useful perennial de- It can be propagated by dividing the root in the Au- tumn, The roots are thick, carrot-shaped, and aromatic; and when dried, ground, and made into a tea, it is considered excellent for a cold; and sweetened with honey, is a hooping-cough remedy; it is both a tonic and an expectorant, and is externally applied tor disorders of the skin, Fennel—This perennial plant is generally propagated trom the seed, sometimes from off- sets. They should be thinned, or transplanted to fifteen inches asunder. The tender stalks lights in a moist, shady situation, - FLAVORING AND MEDICINAL HERBS. are used in salads; the seeds have a pleasant anise-like taste and odor, and are used as an aromatic; the leaves, boiled, enter into many fish sauces; and, raw, are garnishers for sev- eral dishes. The finochio variety, grown in rows, may be earthed up to the height of five or six inches, which blanches the stalks in ten days to a fortnight, when they are eaten with oil, vinegar, and pepper, as a cold salad, and they are likewise sometimes put into soups. It is frequently employed in an infusion as an in- jection for the expulsion of wind from infants. Garlic.—This bulbous plant of the onion tribe, is propagated by planting the cloves or bulbs in drills six or eight inches apart, and four inches from plant to plant. If put out in Oetober or November, the roots will be much larger than if deferred till Spring. About the end of July the bulbs become full grown, and should be gathered, dried, and tied up in bun- dles, and hung up in a shed or room for future use. The French employ it in sauces and salads, Medicinally, it is a powerful stimu- lant, quickening the circulation, exciting the neryous system, promoting expectoration in debility of the lungs, causing perspiration and urine; bruised and applied to the feet, it acts very beneficially in disorders of the head; a clove of the garlic, or a few drops of the juice, introduced into the ear, often prove efficacious in atonie deafness. It is also used in cases of chronic catarrh; moderately employed, it is beneficial in enfeebled digestion and flatulence. It is frequently used, bruised and steeped in spirits, as a liniment in infantile convulsions, and other spasmodic or nervous affections in children, and in eruptions of the skin. It is among the most valuable medicinal productions of the garden. A dose is from half a drachm to a drachm, or even two drachms, of the fresh bulb; that of the juice is half a fluid drachm. It may be taken raw, cut up; or formed into a pill; or the juice may be administered mixed With sugar; or made into a syrup. Hoarhound.—Is readily grown from seed, or by division of the roots; its roots being peren- nial, producing numercus annual stems. It is a valuable tonic, and in large doses, laxative, and may be so given as to increase the secre- tions of the skin, and occasionally those of the kidneys. It is employed chiefly in catarrh, and often chronic affections of the lungs, at- tended with cough and copious expectoration. It has been also employed in humoral asthma, consumption and liver affections. The juice of this herb, with sugar, is esteemed good for 187 colds. The strength of hoarhound is dimin- ished by drying, and eventually lost by keep- ing. It may be given in an infusion of an ounce of the herb to a pint of boiling water, in wine-glassful doses; or in powdered doses of thirty grains to the drachm. Hops.—As the hop as a field crop has al- ready been fully treated, it only need be added, that a few roots of this hardy and valuable perennial shonld generally find a place in the garden, or over some trellis or arbor. They require to be gathered before the frost touches them. Besides their use in making yeast and beer, they are scalded and applied in flannel as a poultice or fomentation, constituting an ex- cellent anodyne; and in the form of hop tea they are one of the best of tonics. Horse-Radish—This warm, pungent plant is easily grown from cuttings or roots, in any deep, rich soil. It is best after standing out all Winter. It is a very agreeable condiment with meats, and is regarded as a healthy excitant of appetite Medicinally, it promotes the secre- tions, especially those of the urine, and invig- orates the digestion; it is used in cases of the dropsy, attended with enfeebled digestion and general debility, and internally and externally in palsy and chronic rheumatism. It is much esteemed in cases of scurvy, and applied exter- nally it produces an outward irritation. In cases of hoarseness, a syrup of horse-radish and sugar, slowly swallowed, one or two tea- spoonfuls at a time, is very useful. Hyssop —This perennial plant is easily pro- pagated by sowing the seeds in a light mold, or by slips and root-partings. Its use is reeom- mended in asthmas, conghs, and lung dis- orders; and an infusion of it has long been a popular febrifuge. Lavender—TVhis hardy perennial plant is raised from seed or cuttings—thinned in rows two feet apart. The flowers are a stimulant and tonic, often employed as a perfume, and some times used as a conserve. Leek.—A hardy biennial bulbous plant, pro- pagated from the seed, sown in drills sixteen inehes apart. ‘The whole plant is used in soups and stews, but the blanched stem is most es- teemed. It is gently stimulant as a medicine, with a peculiar direction to the kidneys; the ex- pressed juice, mixed with syrup, may be given in a fluid drachm to a dose. Lemon Balm.—This plant is raised like sum- mer savory, and is used for making tea for coughs and colds, as a sudorific. Marigold.—-The leaves of this well-known 188 THE GARDEN: gardén plant, which is raised like sage or sum- mer savory, are gathered and dried for use in soups; made into tea for measles, and an ex- tract is sometimes used in cancerous and other ulcers. Mustard.—The White or Yellow Mustard is raised, by frequent sowing, and is used as a small salad and for greens, It is, medicinally, a tonie and an aperient, cleansing the stomach and bowels, and bracing the system at the same time. Nasturtium —Sow in good soil in drills, an inch deep, and three feet apart, and brush them like peas; or raise them beside a fence or trellis upon which they may climb; or, they will do very well, if planted in’ hills four feet asunder each way, even without brushing. The plant is esteemed useful in scrobutie affections, and visceral obstructions—giving the expressed juice in doses of one or two ounces. But the herb is more frequently used in the form of a salad; while the flower-buds and the green seeds, with their tendril-like stem, make pickles which are often preferred to capers. Okra.—This annual plant, abounding in a ropy mucus, is readily cultivated, and the pods give a delicious flavor to soup, and are good stewed as a vegetable, and served with butter. The green pods also make a good pickle. Plucked when perfectly tender, they can be dried for Winter use. It is said that the ripe seeds, which are as large as a small pea, when roasted and prepared like coffee, are a good substitute for it; though it is doubtful if they are as good for that purpose as the seeds of asparagus. It is said on high authority, that there is no plant grown in the garden that affords cheaper food than okra. It should not be planted till the ground becomes warm in the Spring, and should be treated like Indian corn in all its cultivation, as it grows well in soil suitable for corn. It is sometimes sown in drills three feet apart, and improvea by manure and tillage. The large kind grows five or six feet high; but the dwarf variety, which does not grow more than two or three feet high, is very prolific of branches and pods, and is, preferable ty the larger kind. It is highly reeommendeded for more extensive cultivation by those who know and appreciate its value. Parsley—Sow in drills twelve inches apart, in rich, light soil, thinning the plants to three inches. There are the curled and plain varie- ties—the former, the more beautiful, but less vigorous in its growth. The roots may be taken up, and stored in the cellar for Winter; and sometimes it very well withstands the Winter if left where it grew, and covered with litter or evergreen brush. It is said to be aperient and and diuretic, and is used, in connection with other medicines, in dropsy, and kidney aflec- tions; but it is chiefly grown-for garnishing, and soups. Pennyroyal—Is grown by dividing the roots in thé Spring, and planting in rows or drills in astreng, moist soil. It is a gently stimulant aromatic, and may be given in flatulent coli¢ and sick stomach; when administered as a warm effusion, it promotes perspiration, It is much used in exciting the menstrual flax when the system is predisposed to the effort; a light draught of the tea is given at bed-time, in cases of recent suppression of the menses, the feet having been previously bathed in warm water. Peppermint.—The cultivated variety, not the wild native plant, is propagated by dividing the roots in the Spring, preferring a soft, rich, moist soil. The stalks are gathered when in full flower; in some regions it is profitably cul- tivated for the manufacture of the oil of pep- permint, so largely used by confectioners. It is also extensively used for medicinal purposes, in flatulent colics, hysteric affections, and retchings, in which it acts as a cordial, An- other variety, usnally denominated mint, is raised by dividing the roots and planting them in drills, the tender young stems and leaves being used in convivial drinks, of the julep family. ; Peppers.—The seed should be sown first in a hot-bed, or in pots, and transplanted in May or June, in good soil, twelve inches apart, and eighteen inches from row to row. They should be grown plentifully, for seasoning all soups and stews, for pickles, and for medicinal pur- poses. They are far healthier than imported pepper. The Long Cayenne, and Cherry Pep- per, are dwarf sorts—the former very pungent. The Squash Pepper is rather mild and very productive, and its tomato-shaped pods are nice to pickle green, The Sweet Mountain va- riety. is much larger; and the Sweet Spanish is. the mildest of all for eating green asa salad, and for pickling purposes. It is a powerful stimulant, used in cases of enfeebled and lan- guid stomach, sometimes in dyspepsia and gout, in palsy and lethargic affections; in malignant sore throat and scarlet fever, as a gargle; and, ina more diluted state, for milder cases of scarlatina, with inflamed or ulcerated throat. Cayenne pepper is also applied externally for KOHL RABI, OR TURNIP CABBAGE, local rheumatism, and in other cases where a surface stimulant is necessary. Rosemary.—Propagate by cuttings or rooted slips, in poor, light, limy soil, in rows eight or ten inches apart; or sow seed early in the Spring, in drills, an inch deep and six inches apart. This is a fragrant, woody plant, used as domestic perfume, and is reckoned one of the most powerful of those herbs which stimulate the nervous system, and for various affections proceeding from debility. It is generally given in the form of an infusion. Rue.—This hardy shrub is grown in a man- ner similar to rosemary. Its properties are stimulant, astringent, and narcotic, and it is) used in colic, hysterics, or weak constitutions suffering from retarded or obstructed secre- tions; but it is a plant that should never he _used unadvisedly. An infusion of the tops, given in liquor, in the morning, after fasting, is a most effectual remedy in expelling worms. Saffron.—Plant the bulbs in rows, six or eight inches apart, and three inches asunder in the rows. The flowers are gathered in September, and dried. In small doses, it mildly excites the different functions, and exhilarates; in large doses, it produces headache, delirium, and other alarming symptoms, and might prove fatal. In domestic practice, saffron tea is used in eruptive diseases, to promote the eruption. Sage—This useful perennial is propagated by seed, or slips, or cuttings; it is deemed best to sow seed every year, and not keep the roots over two years. Asa tea it is used to produce perspiration; and is employed in cookery of various descriptions. Scurvy Grass.—This hardy biennial plant is propagated from seed, or by parting the roots in a light, moist soil. It has been considered one of the most effectual of all seurvy remedies when eaten with water-cress or other salads. Sorrel.—This plant indicates a poor, sour soil ; but the plant itself is sometimes used in salads, oceasionally boiled as a sauce, and it may be cooked similarly to spinach. It is also re- garded as an effectual remedy against scurvy. Summer Savory.—The Summer variety, an annual, is sown early in Spring, in drills a foot apart; the Winter variety, a perennial, is prop- agated by seed, cuttings, ordivisions. Both are much used for culinary and medicinal pur- poses; to lessen viscid humors, dispel flatu- leney, and increase the appetite. It should be cut for drying soon after it begins to blos- som. The dry leaves are said to be offensive to fleas, 189 | Sweet Basil.—This fragrant little garden plant is cultivated for culinary purposes. The seeds are sometimes used in the form of an infusion, in kidney and urinal affections. Sweet Marjoram.—This being a somewhat tender plant, should be started in the hot-bed, ‘and transplanted; or sown somewhat late in the open garden. It is a tonic and gently ex- |citant; but is used more as a condiment in cookery than as a medicine. In domestic prac- tice, its infusion is often employed to hasten the tardy eruption in measles, and other erup- tive diseases. Tansy.—This perennial is easily propagated from the seed, or by parting the roots. | It is tonic and stomachic, and its seeds are said to be most effectual as a vermifuge. Thyme.---Propagated by seeds, cuttings, or divisions, and is more employed in cooking than in medicine. An oil is distilled from it, often used as a mild irritant in chronic rheumatism, sprains, ete. and is an ingredient under the name of oil of origanum, in opo- deldoc. Wormwood.—This is a hardy perennial, raised frem seeds or slips. It is valuable as a tonic and as a vermifuge, and very powerfully resists putrefaction. Its leaves, bruised, and wet with | vinegar, are esteemed a valuable application for sprains and bruises. j To Preserve Herbs—All kinds of herbs should be gathered on a dry day, about the time of blossoming. Tie them in bundles and suspend them in a dry, airy place, with the blossoms downward. When perfectly dry, wrap the medicinal ones closely in strong paper and keep them from the air. Pick off the leaves of those which are to be used in cook- ing, pound and sift them fine, and keep the powder in labeled bottles, corked up tight. Kohl Rabi, or Turnip Cabbage. This is a garden vegetable, intermediate be- tween the cabbage and the turnip, producing on the stalk a large turnip-shaped fleshly bulb. Like the cabbage and the turnip, it seeds the second year. The young plants are raised and transplantings are made very much as in the ease of cabbages, only they will bear being nearer together; or fora general crop they may be sown in drills, in May or June. The bulbs are fit for use when they attain the size of an early Dutch turnip; and, when cooked, are eaten with sauce or with meat, as turnips usu- jally are. They are, while young and tender, sweeter and more nutritious than the cabbage 190 or white turnip, and are thought to keep better than the turnip. Lettuce.—This is one of the best of all the salad plants, and always raised from the seed. They are generally divided into two clusses—the cabbage and Cos lettuces—the former of which are found to be much supe- rios to the latter in size, crispness, and flavor. The smaller variety may be earliest produced ; and, by starting them in a hot-bed, it will be fit, for the table two weeks earlier than if raised in the open garden. It may be sown in Sep- tember, and covered during the Winter. the cabbage varieties, may be enumerated the Malta Drumhead or Ice cabbage, Brown Duteh, Brown Milesian or Marseilles cabbage, Brown Winter cabbage, Early or Summer Cape, Early Simpson, Early White Spring or Black-seeded Gotte, Green Curled, White Silesia, and Ver- sailles. There are several of the Cos varieties, among which are CartER’s Giant White Cos, the Paris Cos, the Green Paris Cos, Essex Champion, the Brown Cos, the Artichoke- leaved, and the Red Winter Cos. For Sum- mer use sow the cabbage varieties in a cool, moist place, as the north side of a fence. The large kinds should be eight or ten inches apart. Lettuce in its raw state is emollient, soporific, cooling, and, to some extent, laxaiive and aperient. Melons.—These require a rich soil and good culture, very similar to that of the eucum- ber, save that the water-melon, which runs a greater distance, should have the hills six or eight feet apart. Good manure—hog manure is excellent—worked deeply and thoroughly into the ground before planting, will greatly facilitate their growth. Take a barrel with both heads out, set on the surface of the ground, and fill in as much manure as you please—it will do no harm to fill it full, or nearly full; then raise a mound of earth around it, and plant the seeds on the side of the mound. If too much rain falls, cover the barrel, but in dry weather turn water upon the mound, and it will soak out among the roots without baking the surface. A little old hay or straw should be placed on the top of the barrel, to prevent the drying effects of the sun and air. These melon plants are liable to become hybridized by bees and insects, if grown together; hence it is best to plant each sort as much by itself as possible. Among the water-melons, the Black Spanish, Mountain Sweet, Mountain Sprout, and Long Of THE GARDEN: Green are desirable sorts. BAayarp TAYLOR says he has produced a hybrid melon by cross- ing the Persian with the Mountain Sweet. “The result,” “is a water-melon which, I think, can not be surpassed for size, delicious crispness of flesh, and sweetness of flavor. The largest three of these melons were in diameter 20 by 13, 17 by 14, and 18 by 14 inches ; the heaviest weighed forty pounds. I found them invariably solid and sweet, with a mass of crimson flesh, four or five inches in di- he says, ameter in the center, and the narrowest possi- ble rind, As they ripen in September—a fort- night to three weeks later than our American varieties—I think, if care is taken to prevent further hybridizing, they will become a valua- ble acquisition. I have never, in any part of the world, found a water-melon equal to the specimens of this new variety which I have raised this Summer. I have named it the Rus- sian-American melon.” The old yellow musk-melon has given place to the better green sorts, among which are the Early Christina, Netted Citron, Skillman’s and Allen’s Netted, Nutmeg, Prolific Nutmeg, Per- sian, Pine-apple, and Japanese—all good yarie- ties. The White Japanese musk-melon has been pronounced the sweetest thin-skinned mel- on yet introduced into our country. The method of raising musk-melons by Joun DinGwatt, of Albany, strongly com- mends itself to the good sense of all: Manure is the first consideration. I use none but horse manure; having had it laid up to ferment, I I turn it over several times until the strong heat has passed off. I then dig my holes twelve inches square, eight or ten inches deep, I then fill up with manure to the level of the surface of the ground. Onthis I put two inches of soil, I then take a fuur-inch flower-pot; set this in the center; then draw the remainder of the soil around the pot, pressing it rather firmly around it, until I have-the soil about four inches deep; then, giving the pot a_ twist round, withdraw it. This Jeaves a hole four inches deep by four wide. In this I drop five or six seeds, and cover to the depth of three- quarters of an inch, Over this I place a light of six-by-eight glass, pressing it lightly to fit close. I then give no more attention till the plants are touching the glass. I then go through them, taking a small lump of earth or small stone, raise up one end of the glass and place this under it; this admits of a circulation of | air over the plants and hardens them off. In about three days more I remove the glass en- ONIONS—OXALIS—PAK CHOI—PARSNIP. tirely. By this time they will be in the rough leaf. I thin out to three plants ina hill. I draw a little fine soil around them, up as high as the seed-leaf, and the work is done. advantages of this system are, the protection of the young tender plants from cold winds and rains, and last, though not least, it is the only effectual way of protection that I have found for that arch enemy of all this class of plants, the striped-yellow bug. Cucumbers, melons, and squashes can be raised in the same way.” To increase the melon crop, pinch off the leader a few inches from the hill, leaving only the laterals to grow. water- Onions.—Onions are raised from three kinds of seed or bulbs, viz.: the ordinary black seed, the top onion, where each small bulb grows to a large one, and the potato onion, where the bulb cracks or splits open as it grows and forms two to four bulbs ina cluster. The soil for onions should be made very fine and rich, worked deep, and if lime, ashes, or salt be freely incorporated with the soil, the mag- gots will be less troublesome, Rake the ground to remove stones, lumps of dirt, ete., and sow about the middie of April in drills one foot apart, covering one-half inch and thin to four inches. The Early Red and White Globe are among the best sorts; while the Dan- yers Yellow, Large Yellow, and Silver Skinned are excellent varieties. The potato and top onions may be set out at the same time in rows one foot apart and four inches distant, just cov- ering the crown. They will be fit for pulling in July, and may be entirely removed in Au- gust for late turnips or cabbages. In common with other vegetables, they should be kept free from weeds. The top and potato sorts may be grown where the maggot destroys those raised from the seed. Hot water poured along the row from the spout of a tea-kettle is the best remedy for the worms when at work. A gardener in central New York gives the following method of preparing onion-seeds for planting, to give them an early start: “About the first of April I put my seed into blood-warm water, set it where it will not freeze, and let it remain from twelve to fifteen days. I am care- ful to have the water always cover all the seed. In two or three days one can tell if the seed be good by the strong onion smell it will emit in case it is all right. I drain the water off from the seed, and stir among it some plaster, keep- ing it, however, a little moist and warm, At “ 191 |the end of three days the seed will have thrown out sprouts half an inch long. I then |plant it, covering about half an inch deep The with earth, and in six days-one can see the rows.” Oxalis, or Tuberous-Rooted Wood Sorrel.—There are two varieties, one the White-rooted, the tubers of which should be started in a hot-bed, and transplanted to the open ground in May, in a dry, fertile soil, in a warm situation; in hills two and a half feet apart; or in drills two and a half feet apart, and the plants or tubers at a distance of fifteen inches. The oxalis is cultivated in all respects like potatoes, producing small tubers which form late in the season. The yield is comparatively light. They are used the same as potatoes, the flesh, yellow, dry, and mealy, having the potato flavor, with a very slight acidity. The tender, succulent stalks and leaves are used as a salad. The other variety, Deppe’s oxalis, is a peren- nial plant, propagated from the seed or bulbs, six inches apart, in rows one foot asunder. As the frost approaches, they should be taken up, the roots divested of their numerous bulbs, and stored away in a cool, dry place, secure from frost. The bulbs should be kept dry, or in sand, till wanted for planting. The young leaves of the oxalis are dressed like sorrel in soup, or as a vegetable; having a fresh, agreeable acid, es- pecially in Spring. The flowers make an ex- cellent salad; while the roots are gently boiled, in salt and water, after cleansing and partly peeling; and eaten like asparagus inthe Flem- ish fashion, with melted butter and the yolk of eggs. Pak Choi, or Chinese Cab- bage.—This annual plant of the cabbage fam- ily, and a similar one, Pe-tsai, are raised from the seed, sown in rows, the former thinned to twelve, the latter to eighteen inches apart. Used like cabbage; the leaves of the former, when boiled, are much more tender, and of a more agreeable flavor; the latter is sweet, mild- flavored, and easy of digestion. Parsnips.—They require a deep, rich soil in which to perfect themselves. Grown ina muck swamp, they attain a length of two feet or more. Cover the seeds half an inch, sowing from the middle of April to the middle of May, in drills eighteen inches apart, and thin to six inch- esin the drill, They are improved by freezing in 192 the soil; hence after digging what are wanted for the Winter, leave the rest in the ground till Spring ‘hey contain a considerable portion of sugar; and as food they possess more nour- ishment than either carrots or turnips. An excellent marmalade is made from them, and wine also, to some extent. The Sugar or Hol- low Crown is the best sort for cultivation. Pea-Nut,—The African pea-nut, and the Wilmington, or Carolina pea-nut, are largely cultivated in the Carolinas, the Gulf States, and California, but do not succeed in the Northern States. They are sown in drills, in deeply- plowed well-cultivated ground; and earthed up from time to time until they blossom. The lower blossoms, which alone produce the nuts, after the decay of the petals, insinuate their | ovaries, into the earth several inches, where the nuts are perfected. Peas.—Peas are in such great variety, it is difficult to make a selection. Two, or at most, three sorts are sufficient for ordinary farmers. CARTER’s First Crop, the earliest and most productive, the DanteL O’RourkKgE, or Prince ALBERT, will answer a good purpose for the first early ones; after which we want nothing better, if indeed, better peas can be found, than the Champion of England and Tall Sugar. If not convenient to stake or bush, sow Bisuop’s Dwarf, Tom Thumb, Dwarf Sugar, or Straw- berry ; but the tall varieties well repay bushing. Enduring considerable cold, the early peas should be put in by the first of April—in some seasons by. the middle of March. It is a good plan to place a board edgewise on the north side of the rows. The late sorts may be sown the middle of April, May, and June to keep _up a continuous supply, though when covered deep in dry, light soil, or afterward banked up some inches, they will continue to yield pods for a long time. Some sow broadcast, but we want everything in rows or drills that they may the more readily be kept free from weeds. Sow on deeply-worked but not over-manured ground, scooping out the width of a hoesix inches deep, the rows three feet apart for dwarfish sorts, and four feet for tall kinds. Scatter in quite thickly the dwarfs about one inch apart in each direc- tion, and the Champions two inches. This is much thicker than usually advised, but a trial will show its advantage in an increased yield. Cover with two inches of the soil and insert the brush. Continue to return the earth as the peas grow until the ground is level or even THE GARDEN: ridged up against the vines. They will be less liable to mildew and bear longer for having the roots so far below the surface. Saving Seed.—Peas for seed should be picked as soon as they attain full size, before the pods begin to turn, and dried in the pod. Peas dried in this manner will bring peas the next season from ten days to two weeks earlier than if allowed to ripen on the stalk, and the same rule applies to beans, corn, and almost all garden vegetables. Potatoes.—A few early potatoes of the earlier and better sorts, should be planted in the garden, to be handy for the kitchen, Plant in rows two and a half feet apart, drilling in halves, or, if large potatoes, quarters, one foot apart, and cover with three inches of soil. Unless the ground is rich scatter some manure in the furrow, or otherwise opened drill. Plant from first to middle of April. Sweet Potatoes may be raised successfully by setting out the plants obtained from a grower. To prevent a long straggling growth spread rows of manure, three feet apart, and turn furrows or throw earth over it with a spade, forming ridges six inches high of fine soil. Set the plants fifteen inches apart along these ridges, and keep well hoed, earthing up in the early stages of their growth. Lift the vines a few times when they incline to root. Set the plants from the 10th to 20th of May. ‘The slips for setting out may readily be obtained by plant- ing the tubers in a hot-bed from the 10th to > the 15th of April. Dig down and carefully break off the shoots close to the potato, re- placing the earth fora second crop of sprouts. Transplant in wet weather if possible. Radishes.—A rich, light, dry, and sandy loam is the best soil for the early crop; a deep moist soil for the later crops. Sow them each fortnight from the earliest opportunity in the Spring until August. There are several kinds, the Early Black, Scarlet Short Top, Early Salmon, Olive Shaped, and the White and Turnip varieties. The Black Spanish is a Winter radish, in turnip form; sown in Au- gust or September, dug in October, and stored away in the cellar for Winter use. It will keep good until the ensuing April. Radishes may be grown in Winter by soak- ing the seed in water twenty-four hours and then hanging them in a bag in the sun a day or two until they germinate. Then sow in a half barrel filled with rich earth, place in the cn RHUBARB—SALSIFY—SKIRRET—SPINACH. cellar and place another half barrel over them, Water occasionally with lukewarm water. - Rhubarb or Pie-Plant.—All sorts may be raised either from the seed, or by dividing the roots, splitting them vertically, and giving to each piece from one to three eyes and a bud on the crown. Plant in deep, rich, light, moist soil, with plenty of well-rotted manure worked in; and in rows five feet by three, for the larger varieties, and three feet by two for the smaller ones. The ground around the roots ought to be carefully and deeply dug, without unduly mutilating them. After a few years, when the stalks begin to dwindle in size, they should be dug up, and replanted as at first. Some never allow the flower-stalks to produce flowers; and others cut them over as soon as they have done flowering, to prevent the plants from being exhausted by the produc- tion of seeds. The former seems the preferable method, as the flower-stalks of plants can not, like the leaves, be considered as preparing a reserve of nourishment for the roots. The mammoth varieties are deemed more coarse, and hence less desirable for cooking purposes, than the smaller kinds, though yield- ing more wine; but truth extorts the confession, that rhubarb wine, if not actually deleterious, is fur less palatable than the wines produced from currants, berries, and grapes. The To- bolsk is the earliest variety, small and excel- lent; the Washington, Myatt’s Victoria, and the Scotch, are among the best for productive- ness and flavor. A correspondent of the Indiana Farmer ex- presses the opinion, based upon experiment, that the use of ashes as the manure for the pie- plant, produces a more delicious plant than any other mode of culture; not being as sour, but containing just enough acidity to make it pleasant. The reason given for this is, that the acid peculiar to the rhubarb is neutralized, in part, by the alkali of the ashes. Taking the Stalks—Remove a little earth, and, bending down the leaf you would remove, slip it off from the crown without breaking, or using the knife. The stalks are fit to use, when the leaf is half expanded; but a larger produce is obtained by letting them remain till in full expansion, as is practiced by the market gar- deners. The stalks are tied in bundles of a dozen and upward, and thus exposed for sale. Salsify, or Oyster-Plant,— This hardy biennial vegetable, like pie-plant, is 13 193 more highly esteemed the better it is Known, and it certainly affords a very good yegetable substitute for the real bivalve. It succeeds best from early sowing, as the seeds best vege- tate when the earth is moist. Scw from the middle of April to the middle of May, in deeply-worked, rich soil, in rows a foot apart, cultivating them the same as parsnips or car- rots. About the beginning of October the roots will be ready for use; but they are best in the Spring, after standing in the ground during the Winter, with or without a covering; but a few should be buried in the earth, or covered with sand in the cellar, for use while The black variety is most prized by the Germans. The roots are prepared for the table by va- They are often stewed, and the ground is frozen. rious methods. made into soup; sometimes parboiled, sliced, and fried in batter; they also form an admira- ble garnish for boiled fowls or turkeys; and when simply boiled like beets or turnips, the flavor is sweet and delicate. The young flower- stalks, if cut in the Spring of the second year and dressed like asparagus, resemble it in taste and make an excellent dish. The roots sliced and served with vinegar, salt, and pepper, are For persons of consumptive highly recom- eaten as salad. tendency, this vegetable is mended. Skirret.—This hardy perennial, the Crum- mock of the Scotch, is cultivated for its groups or bunches of roots joined together at the crown or neck of the plant. These roots are oblong, fleshy, and very sugary, measuring six or eight inches in length, and nearly an inch in diameter. The plant is raised from seeds, in light, mellow soil, in drills a foot apart, thinned to five or six inches, or propagated by slips or suckers. The roots need to be dug and stored in the cellar, in sand, for Winter ; and when cooked and served as salsify, they are regarded as the sweetest and whitest of es- culent roots, affording a considerable portion of nourishment. Their cultivation in regions where the sweet potato can not be successlully grown, would prove exceedingly desirable. There is but one variety, and it is fit for use in the Autumn, Spinach.—This furnishes the very best, as well as earliest Spring greens. It endures the Winter with a slight covering of straw, or other litter, and on this account the early crop is sown from the first to the middle of Septem- 194 ber, in rows ten or twelve inches apart, half an inch deep, thinning to four inches in the row before Winter sets in. The surplus plants may be used late in the Fall, and the remainder may be uncovered and used during the Winter, if desirable. A thin covering of straw is better than a thick one, which smothers the plants. Uncover as soon as hard freezings are over in the Spring, and when of sufficient size pick off the leaves, and others will soon appear to keep up the supply. For Summer use, it may be sown at intervals of a fortnight, from the mid- dle of March until the middle of July. The round-seeded variety is best for Spring sow- ing; its thicker leaves are preferable; but the prickly kind is recommended for standing the Winter best. Squashes.— The Early Bush, or Patty Pan, from its dwarf habit and productiveness, is preferred for the early supply; while the Hubbard, the Autumnal or Boston Marrow, the Acorn or Turban, the Canada Crookneck, the Cocoa-nut, the Sweet Potato, the Vegeta- ble Marrow, and the Yokohama, are excellent Winter varieties. The early kinds require to be planted as early in the Spring as the weather will admit, in hills four feet each way, and the running kinds six to eight feet apart; and all kinds need a warm, rich soil, and the faster they grow the surer they are to outstrip their enemies. They do best on new land, and two or three plants are enough in a hill; all flat- shaped seeds should be planted in a vertical position, and to cover loosely, greatly facili- tates their coming up. The culture of Winter squashes is attracting more and more attention. They should be got _in as early as possible, and a rapid growth encouraged. The mealy, delicately-flavored Hubbard; the sweet, fine-grained, salmon-yel- low Sweet Potato; the rich, excellent Autumnal Marrow; the sweet, rich, orange-colored Yo- kohama, so excellent for pies, and other Winter varieties, furnish a superior table vegetable. Squashes occupy a great deal of ground when suffered to run and have their own way; they do better with their leaders clipped off, letting the laterals grow, and thus increasing their yield. Where a person has but little room, and wishes to economize, a trellis for them to run upon is recommended, and is said to ope- rate very successfully. Stakes or small posts are set up, two feet apart_each way, and the seed planted in the center. When the vines begin to run, they are trained upon slats nailed THE GARDEN: to the posts, and by throwing boards across the slats the fruit is supported, and will ripen much earlier than when allowed to lie on the ground half covered with leaves. Squashes trained in this way, can be confined to little space, and bear as profusely as when the vines run over the ground. Before the frost comes the squashes should be picked and removed to some dry, cool place; handling them tenderly, without bruis- ing, and not heaping them up in piles. They preserve best in a dry atmosphere, with a uni- form temperature but little above the freezing point. Tomatoes.—Too much pains can not be taken to get the best varieties, and secure the best cultivation of this invaluable vegetable. The Keyes’ Early Prolific, the ‘Early Smooth Red, Orangefield, and Alger, are highly com- mended for their early ripening and desirable qualities; they appear to be from two to three weeks eariier than the common varieties. - The Early York, Maupay’s Superior, Cedar Hill Early, Mammoth Chihuahua, Large Yellow, and Fejee are excellent kinds—the Fejee for a late variety. Mrs. E. D. Kenpaut, of Maryland, com- mends the following mode of securing early tomatoes: ‘A good large turnip is far better than any hot-bed for propagating early toma- toes. Cut off the top, and scoop out to a shell three-quarters of an inch thick. Fill the cavity with rich mold, plant half a dozen seeds, and place the turnip ina box of loam, Keep in a warm room, by asouth window, if possible, and sprinkle with tepid water every day until there is no longer any danger from frost, then remove the turnip to the out-door bed, and thin out all but one plant. Should the turnip shell put out shoots, pinch them off, and the shel] will soon rot, affording a fertilizer to the tomato plant that will send it ahead wonderfully. A dozen or two of turnips thus ¢omatoized will afford an ~ abundant supply of early tomatoes for an ordi-_ nary family. ’ Those who have green-houses or hot-beds will need no other facilities. But those who have only a stand of parlor plants, and keep up a constant fire, can start a few tomatoes with very little trouble. Take a half dozen four or five inch pots, and plant two or three seeds in each, in rich garden loam. The pots can stand with the other house plants, and receive the same watering and attention. When the planis are well started, pull up all but the most vigor- TOMATOES. ous one in each pot. Stir the earth frequently | around them, and they will grow rapidly, and fill the whole pot with a mass of fine roots, by the last of May, when they will probably be in blossom. If they have rich soil and a good ex- posure on the south side of a wall or fence, they will suffer little check in the transplant- ing, and you will get tomatoes much earlier than from seed planted in the open ground in April. They should be set in finely-worked soil, four or five feet apart, or in rows the same distance from each other. They should be trimmed from time to time, by pinching cutting out the secondary shoots above the fruit, leaving enough for fruiting, but the vine| should not be defoliated, as the leaves are the) life of the plant, as lungs are to animals. The tomato is impatient of wet, and if good and early fruit is expected, too much moisture must not be allowed. Indeed, they will flourish in the driest soil, when once established. The experience and suggestions of Hon. D. A. CompTon, communicated to the Southern Farmer, are worthy of attention. Farmers, says Mr. Compron, should start their plants in small squares of inverted sod in a slight hot- bed. Such plants are moved in perfect safety— are more stocky in habit, and in every way bet- -ter than plants grown thickly in soil. Early | tomatos are most readily grown on deep sandy soil; but as all farmer’s gardens are not sandy, the following method will be found highly ad- vantageous by those whose soil is a heavy loam, approaching clay: Make steep, conical hills, a foot or more in height, and two and one-half feet diameter at the base; in the tops of these set the plants. Water thoroughly and imme-| diately cover the surface of the hills slightly with dry earth, to prevent the ground from bak- ing. The roots will soon spread through every part of the mounds, and being so exposed to the rays of the sun will grow amazingly. Do not be afraid the heat will burn them up—the tomato came from a hot country and will en- dure heat and drought that would be fatal to northern plants. Should the drought be ex- cessive, and the vines droop somewhat, dust them with plaster. This will attract moisture enough at night to support them during the day, besides furnishing them with ammonia. Hoe and plaster frequently. When the toma- toes are the size of crab-apples, pull off the smallest, and also pinch off the tops of the or plants. Let the vines fall and remain directly on the ground, that the fruit may have the full benefit of the heat of the sun and ground. By | 195 this method ripe tomatoes may be had full three weeks earlier than by flat culture in the common Way. It does not pay to let the tomato vine trail on the ground. It delights in the sunshine and The fruit decays, and does not ripen upon the earth. A single tomato plant, in New Jer- sey, properly trailed, obtained a height of nine air. | feet four inches, covering a space of thirty-one feet in circumference, and producing from fi!- teen hundred to two thousand tomatoes. Brush, cut fine, and placed under the plants before they lop over, is a clean, cheap, and excellent sup- port. The vines may be tied to a single stake, if pains are taken to pinch off the side branches, and lead up a central shoot, which is the French method, and is said to be successful. Trellises of various forms will suggest themselves to Knock a flour barrel to pieces, take one of the hoops and two of the every tomato grower. staves, sharpen one end of them, and nail the other ends to the opposite side of the hoop, set in over the plants, and drive it into the ground. The vines will hang over the edge of the hoop, free from the ground. Set the staves in the next hill at right angles with those in the first, and let the hoops just come together, and tie them with a string in such a way as to support each other. A pile of stones laid around the plant would be excellent, for it would keep the fruit from rotting, would subserve many of the purposes of mulching, and also radiate a good deal of heat to the plant; the tomato is a na- tive of torrid climes and requires heat. The jstone pile would admit of the plant taking a natural growth. Grass, straw, or boards will answer—at any rate, put something under the vines to preserve the fruit. A small shrub, having many limbs, may be stuck into the ground by the side of a plant, and it will af- ford a good support. The utility of trimming tomato vines is thus strongly urged by an experienced gardener: Keep your vines trimmed to not more than three or four strands. A little attention will enable you to do this in a way that will throw the strength of the plant into the fruit. Fruit- bearing branches never put out immediately over a leaf. When the tomato is in blossom, this can be readily observed. The branches which put out directly over the leaf or strands of vines, should be pinched out with the thumb or finger, except three or four you wish to train up, you can have the fruit greatly improved in both quality and quantity. The French method of raising tomatoes is 196 worthy of a passing notice; As soon as a cluster of flowers is visible, the stem is topped down to the cluster, so that the flowers terminate the stem, The effect is, that the sap isimmediately impelled into the two buds next below the clus- ter, which soon push strongly and produce another cluster of flowers each. When these are visible, the branch to which they belong is also topped down to their level; and this is done five times successively. By this means, the plants become stout dwarf bushes not above eighieen inches high. In order to prevent their falling over, sticks or strings are stretched horizontally along the rows, so as to keep the plants erect. In addition to this, all the laterals that have no flowers, and after the fifth topping, all laterals whatsoever, are nipped off. In this way the ripe sapis directed into the fruit, which acquires a beauty, size, and excellence unattained by other means. The popular belief, in the language of Pro- fessor RAFINESQUE, of France, that the tomato “is everywhere deemed a very healthful vege- table, and an invaluable article of food,” is well sustained by factsand experience. The distin- guished Dr. RopLry DuNGLISON says; “ It may be looked upon as one of the most wholesome and yaluable esculents that belong to the vege- table kingdom.” Dr. Bennett ascribes to it many important medical properties, acting as a laxative upon the liver and other organs, proy- ing beneficial in cases of diarrhea, and an al- most sovereign remedy for dyspepsia and indi- gestion. The tomato, says Hauu’s Journal of FTealth, is one of the most healthful as well as the most universally liked of all vegetables; its healthful qualities do not depend on the mode of preparation for the table; it may be eaten thrice a day, cold or hot, cooked or raw, alone or with salt or pepper or vinegar, or all together, to a like advantage and to the utmost that can be taken with an appetite. Its health- ful quality arises from its slight acidity, in this, making it as yaluable perhaps as berries, cher- ries, currants, and similar articles; it is also highly nutritious, but its chief virtue consists in its tendency to keep the bowels free, owing to the seeds which it contains, they acting as mechanical irritants to the inner coating of the bowels, causing them to throw out a larger amount of fluid matter than would otherwise haye been done, to the effect of keeping the mucous surfaces lubricated and securing a greater solubility of the intestinal contents, precisely on the principle that figs and white mustard seeds are so frequently efficient in THE GARDEN: removing constipation in certain forms of disease. Saving Tomato Seed.—Lay the seeds and pulp upon a dry cloth, spread them with a knife, and then lay another cloth over, and roll all up tight, to free the water; then unroll and scrape off the seeds into a pan of water, and wash out with the hand all the pulp that is left after rolling, and lay the seeds in the dry cloth for afew minutes; then place them on a paper, and in the course of a day they are clean and dry. Another mode is tospread the pulp, con- taining the seed, thinly upon a newspaper, without washing, and allow it to dry there. Roll up the paper for preservation, and in the Spring cut it up into slips, and plant seeds, paper and all, in a hot-bed, seed-pots, or scooped turnips. Turnips.—The turnip is accounted a healthful vegetable, though in weak stomachs it is apt to produce flatulency and proye diffi- cult of digestion; while the syrup of turnip, after being extracted by baking and mixed with honey, is a favorite domestic medicine used in coughs, hoarseness, and other asthmatic disorders. The Eafly White Dutch or Strap- leafed, is a very early kind; and the Early Red Top Dutch or Strap-leafed Red Top, and the Early Yellow Dutch, are desirable varie- ties—the latter is quite firm, sweet, round in form, and a good keeper. Sow in drills two feet apart, covering one-fourth of an inch, from the middle of April to the middle of May for early, and from the middle of July to the mid- dle of August for late Fall crops. Thin to eight or ten inches, pulling out the surplus roots for use when half grown. The turnip delights in a light, rich soil. Watering Garden Plants.—Vines especially, in a season of drought, need water- ing. plied to moistening the earth around cucumber and other vines, has been practiced with much success. A vessel containing water is placed near the plants, from which is extended a piece of old cloth to the roots of the plant. Thus water is conveyed from the vessel to the plant slowly, keeping the ground constantly in a good degree of moisture. One vessel, with its differ- ent cloth tubes, thus answers for several hills. This method is preferable to pouring on water, which, to some extent, flows off and hardens the ground, sometimes injuring the vines more than if they had received no water at all. The principle of capillary attraction ap- ~ \ CULTURE OF FLOWERS. Another method, perhaps equally good, is highly commended by those who have practiced it. Set a barrel with both heads out in the ground half way, and partly filled with manure. Around the outside of the barrel, in properly prepared soil, the cucumber or other vine-seeds are planted. All watering is done through the barrel and the manure. The water thus reaches the roots from beneath, and keeps the soil moist and rich. By either method here mentioned, the vines are more thrifty than those treated in the ordinary way. THE FLOWER GARDEN. “T wish,” exclaimed the late Rey. Dr. J. O. Covers, “that we could create a general passion for gardening and horticulture. We want more beauty about our houses. The scenes of our childhood are the memories of our future years. Let our dwellings be beau- tified with plants and flowers. Flowers are, in the language of a late cultivator, “the play- things of childhood, and the ornaments of the grave; they raise smiling looks to man, and grateful ones to God.’” “A garden,” says DouGLAS JERROLD, “is a beautiful book, writ by the finger of God; every flower and every leaf is a letter. You lve only to read them—and he is a dunce who can not do that—and join them, and then go on reading and reading, and you will find yourself carried away from the earth to the skies by the beautiful story you are going through. You do not know what beautiful thoughts—for they are nothing short—grow out of the ground, and seem to talk to man. And then there are some flowers that always seem to me like over-dutifulchildren; tend them ever so little, and they ccme up and flourish, and show, as I may say, their bright and happy faces toward you.” A writer in the Farmers’ Magazine says that the pleasures arising from the culture of flow- ers are harmless and pure; a streak, a tint, a shade, becomes a triumph, which, though often attained by chance, is secured only by morning care, by evening caution, and the vigilance of days. It isan employment which, in its vari- ous grades, excludes neither the opulent nor the indigent; teems with boundless variety, and affords an unceasing excitement to emula- tion, without contention or ill-will. “Who can forget,” asks a thoughtful writer, 197 “the vine planted by his mother’s own hand when he was a little child? cling to the topmost branches of a tall tree in the front yard; and he never revisits the scene Tts tendrils now of his childhood without gratifying some of the holiest emotions of his nature, by sitting under its shelter, and recalling the earliest and hap- piest associations of his life. And there, too, clinging about the columns of the porch, is the coral honeysuckle, shading the evening window with its rich and delicate clusters of flowers; and at every footstep along the border are the many-hued flowers set there by a sister. “Tt has been said by travelers that they could distinguish a pure-minded and intelligent fam- ily from the appearance of the house and grounds in this particular. The difference was striking—the house of the more intelligent was surrounded with flowers—the windows dis- played them—vyines were twined with care and taste over the dwelling. Another presents a different spectacle; the weeds and briars are allowed to hold their dominion; in short, Sor- omon’s picture of the garden of the sluggard is exactly verified. “The cultivation and study of flowers ap- pears better suited to woman than to man. They resemble her in their fragility, beauty, and perishable nature. The mimosa may be likened to a pure-minded and delicate woman, who shrinks even from the breath of contami- nation ; and who, if assailed too rudely by the finger of scorn and reproach, will wither and die from the shock.” Flowers are, of course, extensively used at weddings, but, according to the florists, they are employed more liberally at funerals. Five hundred dollars are not unfrequently expended in crosses and wreaths for these solemn occa- sions. As weddings and funerals require white flowers chiefly, they cause these to be more rare and of higher price than colored ones. Some of our churches, of late years, have employed flowers extensively on occasions of religious festivals. Their culture is healthful recreation—healthful both to the body and mind. The maiden, the invalid, the child, the care-worn man, feel, as they bend over their flowers, that they have something to a engage their attention—something to protect— something to cherish. The delicate, sensitive plant, the gorgeous passion-flower, the pure lily, the brilliant rose, the beautiful tulip, all are objects of wonder, splendor, and loveliness. The heart is iniproved, and the coarser features of human charaeter softened It is innocent 198 and pleasant. The time thus spent will cause_ no sigh of sorrow—no tears of regret. If music has charms to soothe the savage, flowers have influence to subdue the ravings of | the maniac. Some of the severest cases of in- sanity in men brought to the Michigan Insane Asylum in irons, and manifesting the most vio- lent symptoms, have been suddenly calmed down to a condition bordering on sanity, by the simple presentation of a bouquet of flowers. The following plan of a flower-garden, taken from the Country Gentleman, evinces taste, and | is susceptible of such shanges as circumstances | may suggest: ‘ The best style for a flower garden, both for beauty and economy, is to extend a gravel walk, by a constant and varying curve around a small, closely-shaven piece of lawn, eutting the flower beds in circles, ellipses, or arabesque forms, as shown in the figure—a being the dwelling, and 6 the summer-house or seat; the white portion is the grass, which pheald be mowed at least once a week, and never allowed to grow more than two inches high. Such a flower garden as this may be kept in perfect order at one-fifth the expense of one with the) whole surface cultivated. The size may be} varied indefinitely. Preparation of Flower Beds—L. L. Farr- CHILD, of Wisconsin, an experienced cultiya-) tor of flowers, gives these directions: Mellow up the soil to the depth of the spade and throw it on one side: Then spade down again the depth of the blade, making it very fine and mellow. Return the surface soil. This gives a depth of eighteen inches or over. If the soil is not rich it should be made so by the addition of finely pulverized, well rotted manure. Leaf mold from the woods and fence corners answer a good purpose. If the soil is heavy it should _ be made light by the addition of sand and de-: THE GARDEN: cayed vegetable matter. Be sure and have your beds finely pulverized, and soil sufficiently lively so that it will not become hard baked. The after culture needed will be sufficient to keep the beds entirely free from weeds and the surface from hardening. On beds made as des- eribed, you may sow your seeds with the assur- ance of satisfactory results. Sowing the Seeds.—In order to be successful in raising flowers from seed, it will be necessary to bear in mind that the smaller the seed the less deeply it should be covered with earth. Some seeds are so small that they require only to be sprinkled over the ground and gently pressed into the soil, and should the weather prove very dry, a thin layer of damp moss ought to be placed over them till they germi- nate, when care must be taken to have it re- moved. There are few seeds that require such extreme attention. Small seeds, as Petunia, Portulaca, etc., sow about one-eighth of an inch in depth; fhose of larger size, as Mignonette, Sweet Alyssum, etc., about one-fourth of an inch in depth; still larger, as Balsam, Morning Glory, ete., three- fourths of an inch in depth; and seeds of the largest size, as Lupines, Nasturtium, ete., fully one inch in depth. They must be covered with finely pulverized soil, or leaf-mold, slightly pressed down, and should be kept moderately moist by shading or slight sprink- lings of water, until they make their appear- ance. When about one inch in height the plants must be thinned out from one to two inches apart, to preyent crowding. Tall va- rieties should be neatly staked to Pa in- jury from wind or rain, The time for sowing is regulated by latitude —April and early May for the Middle and Northern States, and some six weeks earlier for the latitude of South Carolina and the Gulf States. Transplanting and Watering.—In their trans- plantation, great care should be taken not to place the plants in a soil greatly different from that whence they were removed. Many are very negligent concerning this. They re- move a plant from a loose soil and sunny spot to a place where the ground is hard and damp, and then wonder why the plant droops and dies. Plants possess a wonderful power of ac- commodation, and, by proceeding gradually, almost their very nature may be changed; but one should no more expect that a plant trans- ferred from a sheltered nook to an exposed sit- uation should flourish, than that the animals CULTURE OF FLOWERS, ETC. of Africa should dwell in Lapland. Plants should seldom be showered by the watering- pot, bunt their supply should be afforded them by irrigation and damp under-soil. Drenching is decidedly hurtful, for though it may cool the earth, and apparently revive the plant, yet, the rapid evaporation that takes place from the leaves will generally cause the plant to lan- guish. Plants, moreover, should be watered very regularly, for nothing will sooner destroy them than to soak them for one day, and then neglect them for a week. Shaded Flowers Last Longest—The Gardener's Journal, an English periodical, recommends shading flowers while blooming, in order to continue them in blossom a much longer time than otherwise. “The practice of shading plants,” says this journal, “from the direct rays of the sun, receives an illustration on a broad scale, in the exhibition of American flowers in Regent’s Park, London, the result of which is that the plants, which, in the open air exposed to the sun, would last in perfection two or three days only, continue here, shut out as they are from the sun, and exposed to a damp, cool, and still atmosphere, no less than a month, and some of them still longer. This, then, is the result of shading plants while in flower. In all cases where it is possible, the shade ought to be movable, so as to be taken down at pleasure.” If shading in the cloudy and damp climate of England be of service in prolonging the blooming ‘season of, flowers, it must prove much more so in the bright and sunny region of America. The Coloring of Flowers—A. German bota- nist has given us these interesting facts, as ob- served in his own country: The number of flowers invariably increases from December to July. White flowers are the most numerous during the whole period of the year when plants are seen in blossom; after these come the yellow, then the orange, the blue, the vio- let, the green, and lastly, the indigo flowers, which are the most uncommon. The law, ac- cording to which the increase of flowering takes place, shows itself to be closely connected with the mean temperature; but from time to time anomalies are exhibited, which the change of temperature alone can not explain—such as the rapid decrease of the number of flowering plants from the end of July to that of August. From the month of January, when all the flowers are white, to the vernal equinox, the relative number of white flowers rapidly de- creases; after that period the proportion in- 4 199 creases till the middle of May, and then insensi- bly diminishes till the time when the frosts arrest all vegetation. If we set aside the very small number of yellow flowers which appear in February and March, we see that the pro- portion of flowers of that color increases from the beginning of April to the end of June; then it remains stationary till the middle of August, after which it increases again till the frosts come. The proportional number of red flowers gradually diminishes from February till the end of April; then recovers the ascend- ing scale till the end of August, after which it decreases till October; it then rises again till November, when most of the cultivated flowers are of that color. The green or greenish flow- ers diminish from March till the end of May, and after this the proportion is about uniformly maintained till Winter. Blue flowers increase to the middle of April; then decrease to the Summer solstice; then ascend to the number reached in April, after which they rapidly de- crease, and totally cease on the arrival of the frosts. The other colors are not regular enough to admit of the giving of a rule for.them. It is seen that each color rises twice and decreases twice. Whenever the white flowers increase, the yellow decrease, and vice versa. The red and green always correspond, as do the blue and violet flowers. These laws apply to spe- cies, not to individuals. The same botanist finds, that the number of plants opening their corolla during the night is yery small, com- pared with that of those blossoming during the day, being only about twelve per cent. Arrangement of Flowers.—The Cavendish So- ciety of England recommend that blue flowers be placed next to orange, and the violet next to the yellow; while red and pink flowers are never seen to greater advantage than when sur- rounded by verdure and by white flowers; and the latter may also be advantageously dispersed among groups of blue and orange, and violet and yellow flowers. Plants whose flowers are to produce a contrast should be of the same size, and in many eases the color of the sand or grayel walks, or beds of a garden, should be made to conduce to the general effect. To Change the Color of Flowers.—If the stem of a white rose be placed in a solution of yellow prussiate of potash for four or five hours, and then placed in a solution of sulphate of iron, the color will be changed to a delicate prim- rose, while the fragrance remains unchanged. Effect of Charcoal on Flowers.—“‘ About a year ago,” says a writer in the Paris Horticultural 200 Review, “I made a bargain for a rose-bush of magnificent growth and full of buds. I waited for them to blow, and expected roses worthy of such a plant, and of the great praise be- ‘ stowed on it by the vendor. At length, when it bloomed, all my hopes were blasted. The flowers were of a faded color, and I discovered that I had only a middling multiflora, stale- colored enough. I therefore resolved to sacri- fice it to some experiment which I had in view. My attention had been captivated. with the effects of charcoal, as stated in some English publication. I then covered the earth in a pot in which my rose-bush was, about half an inch deep with pulverized charcoal. Some days after, I was astonished to see the roses, which bloomed, of as fine and lively a rose color as I could wish. I determined to repeat the experiment, and therefore, when the rose- bush had done flowering, I took off the char- coal, and put fresh earth about the roots. You may conceive that I waited for the next Spring impatiently to see the result of this experi- ment. When it bloomed, the roses were at first pale and discolored; but by applying the charcoal as before, the roses resumed their rosy-red color. I tried the powdered charcoal likewise, in large quantities upon my petunias, and found that both the white and the violet flowers were equally sensible of its action. It always gave greater vigor to the red or violet colors of the flowers, and the white petunias became covered with irregular spots of a blue- ish or almost black tint. Many persons who admired them, thought they were new varieties from the seed. Yellow flowers are, as I have proved, insensible to the influence of charcoal.” Ammuals.—Annual flowers are such as either blossom and seed within the same year, or winter-kill by exposure; some of the hardy varieties of which, however, like the larkspur, candytuft, ete., may be made in a sense bien- nials, by sowing them late, and protecting and wintering the young plants for blossoming the following year; and some of them, as the mignonette, become perennial when propaga- ted from cuttings, and not permitted to ripen their seed. Very far from a complete list is herewith given of the annual or other varie- ties, as we prefer to notice such only as have been pretty well tested and accredited, and such as would give variety and beauty to the flower garden. The candytuft, dwarf morning glory, lupins, malope, poppies, and Venus’ looking-glass, never do well transplanted, and THE GARDEN: hence should always be sown in the bed where they are toremain. Many fail in their culture of annuals simply because they suffer them to crowd and choke each other. They require thinning. The larger kinds, as balsams, do best when standing separately, and never less than a foot apart. May-sown annuais of many kinds, with plenty of room, will continue to flower until frost comes, while if grown too thick, they soon exhaust the soil, cease flower- ing, and prematurely decay. Abronia Umbellata.—A beautiful annual, with long trailing stems, bearing clusters of elegant flowers, rosy lilac, with white center, highly and deliciously fragrant. Acroclinium.—One of the best of the everlast- ing flowers. Colors, white and rose. Ageratum, or Never-Growing-Old.—F lowers remarkable for their soft, rounded, fringe-like appearance, the plant hardy and ornamental, and suitable for beds or borders. Amaranthus Tricolor.—Its beautifully variega- ted foliage of red, green, and yellow, is much ad- mired, It isa tender annual. A new species, - the Globe Amaranth, with its reddish orange flowers, is an important addition to this class of “immortals.” Animated Oat.—Grown as an object of curi- osity; when they have shed their seeds, the strong heads are singularly sensitive to the changes of the atmosphere, and continually in motion; when wet, they seem to twist about and appear singularly animated, Aretotis—Produces a brilliant yellow flower, opening to the sun, and closing at night. It has a succession of blossoms through the sea- son, Which makes it a desirable border flower. Aster.—There are many varieties of this hardy annual, the China aster. The Peony- flowered aster, has a very full, double flower, nearly as large as a medium-sized dahlia, and much handsomer in the estimation of good judges of flowers; the German Globe Pyramid aster; the German Quilled aster; French Globe aster, similar, to the German, but differing in their growth; German Dwarf aster, eight or ten inches high, completely covered with flow- ers; Dwarf Bouquet aster, very beautiful, each plant forming a perfect bouquet. The aster is nearly as showy as the peony, and makes a fine Autumn flower. Plants should be eighteen inches apart. : Balsam, or Touch-me-not—This half-hardy family is divided into early, late, dwarf, tall, camellia-flowering, of which there are about a dozen beautiful varieties of the latter alone, —— ANNUALS. large, double, resembling roses, or medium-sized camellias—the colors very brilliant, scarlet, crimson, violet, purple, rose, white, and various spotted, striped, and mottled kinds. The plants should be set ten or twelve inches apart, in rows three feet asunder; and the side branches may all be pinched off, leaving only the center shoot, or three or four branches may be retained. It commences its flowering in July. Blue Pimpernel.—A dwarf trailing plant, with blue and pink flowers in July and August. It lias been termed the Poor Man’s Barometer, as it closes its flowers when exposed to damp air, as do the chickweed, and many other plants, upon the approach of rain. Calandrinia Grandiflora—A half-hardy an- nual, two feet high, with rosy-purple flowers, in vast profusion, from June to October. California Gold Flower, or Poppy.— Grows two feet high, blooming from June to September, of a brilliant shining yellow, producing a great degree of splendor when the full sun shines upon it, giving it a perfect blaze of color and attractiveness. * Calliopsis, or Coreop: and showy, and is known as the elegant coreop- sis. There are a number of beautiful varieties, and all highly ornamental, bearing a profusion of flowers of rich brilliant crimson, and other colors. Candytuft—There are several varieties of this beautiful, hardy, free-blooming annual—the so- called crimson ones are not really crimson, but of a purplish color; other varieties are of a pure white, flesh-color, lilac, and rose appear- ance. The Fall-sown seeds flower early; while those sown in April flower from July till frost appears. Thin out the plants in the bed to about four or five inches apart. Crysanthemum.—One of the handsomest of Autumnal flowers; the dwarf varieties are hardy, and the colors brilliant and varied. For Autumn blooming, there is nothing to sup- ply their place. Plants are easily obtained from cuttings, or by root divisions, set about ten inches apart; an old stool of the last year furnishing a large supply. If placed in the garden, they require a warm and sheltered sit- uation; in large-sized flower pots they produce a decorative effect in the drawing room or con- servatory. Clarkia Elegans—A hardy, showy annual, bearing a profusion of flowers of delicate colors; they do not stand the heat of our American Summers very well, but frequently flower mag- nifieently during the Autumn months, even s.—This annual is hardy 7; a 201 ‘ after pretty hard frosts. The plants should be set some ten inches apart ; they attain the height of a foot. Cleome—A very pretty, free-flowering, half- hardy annual, with curiously constructed flow- ers; easily raised from seed, in open ground, blooming from July to September; plants eight to ten inches apart; grows about eighteen inch- es high. Clintonia Elegans—A tender annual, of rich blue flowers, and delicate foliage, blooming freely in July and August; six inches high. Collinsia.—The two-colored, and large flower ing varieties, hardy, with white and light pur- ple flowers, numerous and pretty during Sum- mer, not very showy; one foot high. Cockscomb.—A tender annual, the scarlet and crimson varieties are very brilliant. The plants should be started in a hot-bed, or they can not be raised in perfection. The dwarf kinds are best, and all are suited for potting. Everlasting Flower—A family of beautiful plants, whose flowers, if gathered when first open, and carefully dried, preserve their color and shape, for mantel bouquets and ornaments, for a long time. The Rhodanthe, Gomphrena, Helichrysum, Helipterum Sanfordii, and Ze- ranthemum, are among the finest of the ever- lasting varieties—a single plant of the Rho- danthe having produced hundreds of flowers, remaining in blossom three months. Fading Beauty, or Morning Bride-—An an- nual plant, from Spring-sown seed, producing handsome flowers, which last but a few hours Gilia.—There are three hardy and pretty va- rieties, the blue, tri-color, and large blue. The flowers are delicate, some of them white; when single, not very showy; grows from one to two feet high. Ice Plant.—A well-known annual, to be sown early in pots; the plant has the appearance of being covered with ice. Is very ornamental in vases and gardens. **With pellucid studs the Ice-flower gems His rimy foliage, and his candied stems.” Jacobia, or Senecio Elegans.—Of several kinds and various colors, producing a beautiful ap- pearance, Job’s Tears.—A kind of ornamental grass, at- taining a height of two or three feet, producing a shining, pearly fruit, which, when suspended on its slender pedicles, is supposed to resemble a falling tear. The flowers are destitute of beauty. Larkspw.—A well known, beautiful and hardy flowering plant, of no fragrance, but 202 ’ - making a pretty appearance. lt 1s raised from the seed, or by dividing the roots; if from seed they should be sown in the Autumn, or very early in the Spring, where they are to remain. The prevailing colors are blue, white, and pink —the flowers borne on long spikes. The Rocket Larkspur varieties are superb, The dwarf sorts are admired for their beautiful and varied mass of flowers, and should stand some five or six inches apart; the larger varieties requiring three times as much space. Love-Lies-Bleeding—aA hardy variety of the Amaranth family, with blood-red flowers, which hang in pendant spikes, and, at a little dis-' tance, supposed to resemble streams of blood; flowering in July and August, and growing from three to four feet high. Inipins.—There are many varieties; should be planted an inch deep in April or early May, grow from one to three feet high, with their delicate foliage, large blue, yellow, and white flowers, from July to September—very con- spicuous and showy. Do not transplant well. Malope.—A very fine and showy half-hardy annual. Sow in hot-bed, or as early as may be in the open ground; plants grow two feet high, and should be about eighteen inches apart; flowers resemble those of the hollyhock. The Grandiflora variety has large purple flow- ers; the Alba, pure white. Marigold.—There are many varieties of this half-hardy and very showy annual, which flow- ers from early Summer until frost. The Afri- can is the tallest, generally reaching two feet; the Striped French is rich, and perfect beyond comparison; the Signata Pumila forms a dense mass, round as a ball, with flowers single, bright yellow, marked with orange. Mignonette—This fragrant, hardy little an- nual is everywhere a favorite, blooming and sending forth its sweetness from June till the close of the season. Deserves a place in every collection of flowers. Mimosa, or Sensitive Plant—Sow seed in open ground in May, in rich soil. This singular plant is most irritable in the greatest heat, and closes its leaves at the slightest touch. ** Weak with nice sense the chaste Mimosa stands, From each rude touch withdraws her tender hands.” Mourning Bride—This is a very showy half- hardy annual, the blossoms varying in their colors from almost black to white, and making fine table bouquets and ornaments. The Double Dwarf Scabious variety is new and attractive. Sow in May; it blooms in latter part of June. Nemesia.—A pretty, free blooming half-hardy THE GARDEN annual, producing numerous curious and deli- cate flowers. Should be planted in masses, four inches apart; grows about eight inches in height. Petunia.—A favorite and hardy annual, the improved varieties of which are splendid. Sow early, in hot-bed or open ground, One of the most effective flower beds is one made wholly of petunias. Make the bed, say six feet long and four feet wide, and oval in shape. — Let it be three inches higher in the center than at the edges. Sow seeds of the crimson and white equally mixed together. The plants should be thinned out to six inches apart. They will make a brilliant show all Summer. Phlox.—There are many varieties, and nearly as many tints and colors-—some of extremely delicate coloring, while others are brilliant, constant, dazzling. The Phlox Drummondii is the favorite variety. The plants require good rich soil, and to be set a foot apart—if too crowded, they will mildew; will grow fully eighteen inches in height, but have notstrength, without support, to stand entirely erect. Poppy.—A showy, hardy annual, single and double, with white, red, and mixed colors. Some of its varieties are perennial. The double varieties are extremely brilliant, and attain a height of about two feet. The single Opium Poppy is large, white, and very attractive. Portulaca.—Perfectly hardy, producing a profusion of salver-shaped, crimson, purple, yellow, white, and striped flowers. Sandy soil, and a warm situation, furnish the best condi- tions. Massed in beds on the lawn, or made to adorn mixed borders, the portulaca shows to great advantage. It bears transplanting well, and the plants should be six inches asunder. The Double Rose-flowered variety. ‘ Primrose.— There are several species and ya- rieties of this well-known hardy annual; all are easy of cultivation, producing rich purple flowers in July and August. Prince's Feather.—A hardy plant of the Am- aranthus family; attains a height of four or five feet, with numerous heads of purplish crimson flowers, well adapted for black or mixed borders. Scarlet Tassel Flower,—A pretty, half-hardy annual, sometimes called Venus, or Flora’s Paint Brush, with small, scarlet and orange tassel-shaped flowers, exceedingly useful for cutting. Plants should be six or eight inches apart. Sensitive Plant.—Same as Mimosa. is a charming BIENNIAL AND PERENNIAL FLOWERS. Sportia Cualifornicaa—A very showy, hardy, annual, with yellow flowers. Splendid Gazania.—One of the newly intro- duced, and one of the most showy bedding plants; the blossoms, with various tints, from three to four inches in diameter, resembling rich, golden orange chrysanthemums. Stock, Stockgilly, Gilliflower, or Ten - Weeks.— The annual variety, which is half-hardy, is usu- ally called Ten-Weeks, propagated from seed only, producing a showy and fragrant flower from June to November. The German sorts are much esteemed for the great variety of their color and size. plants twelve inches apart. Sweet Alyssum.—A hardy, free-flowering an- nual, blooming the whole Summer, suitable for beds, and edgings; plants should be set five or six inches apart. Very fragrant; flowers pure white. Venus’ Looking-glass, or Cumpanula.—There . . | are several varieties of neat, hardy, free-flower- ing annuals, producing a long succession of blue flowers of some beauty; massed in beds, or in borders a foot apart. corvlla resembles a little round, elegant mirror —hence the name. Some of the varieties are showy perennials. Verbena. — A hall-hardy annual, flowering fron: seed sown in May in the open ground, or propagated from cuttings of the young shoots, placed in sandy soil, which will root in a few weeks. There are many varieties of this lovely family of perpetual flowering plants, embrac- ing every shade of color, from the richest scar- let to the purest white—and several of them Mer Fane | are exquisitively scented. The brilliancy and | great variety of the colors of the verbena, and its adaptedness to our hot Summer sun, and its long continued season of bloom, render it the most valuable of all bedding plants; but to succeed well, in-doors or out, it must be fully exposed to the sun, and will not thrive without it. It requires but very little water in Winter, and should be kept in a dry airy place till time for repotting in the Spring; and started in pots, verbenas will bloom from May to No- vember, Sown in masses, they are very orna- mental in the lawn. If the aphis or green fly appears, tobacco fumigation is the remedy Whitlavia—A hardy and elegant new annual from California, producing very beautiful dark blue bells, in continued succession, from June to October. A light sandy loam; transplants well, and endures the driest season. Zinnia Elegans—The new double-flowered Soil deep and rich; The form of the| 203 | variety, as double as the Dahlia, thrives well ‘in our climate, and is easily transplanted from the hot-bed, which should be done early, ‘twenty inches apart each way; grow over two feet high. A very showy plant, with many- colored flowers. Biennial and Perennial Flow- /ers.—A few of the more important must suf- fice : Alyssum, Rock or Golden.—Raised from seeds jor slips; dwarf habit; flowers of a brilliant | golden yellow. Aster, or Star-Flower.—There are many vari- elies, mostly perennials, bearing a profusion of blue, purple, or white flowers; one of the best is the New England, growing three or four feet high, with large purple flowers, and the Multi- flora is also a very fine variety. They may be |remoyed, even when in blossom, provided the | plat is cut down to the ground, Candytujt, or Iberis.—This is the only species of perennial candytuft, yielding a profusion of pure white flowers in June and July. Propa- gated by layers or cuttiugs. Canterbury Bell.—A species of the Bell-flower, hardy, free-bloomer, and of great beauty, single and double vuarieties—white, blue, lilac, and Being a biennial, it will be ne- |cessary to sow seed every year. The plants should be set in August or September where |they are to bloom the following year. The Pyramidalis is a large variety, three feet high. Columbine.—A showy, beautiful, and hardy perennial, with curious, various-colored, and isuriking flowers, some quite double, blooming early in the Summer. Chrysanthemum, Chinese—A hardy perennial, very desirable for late bloom, and pretty withal, grown by dividing the roots; stands the Win- ter without covering, but best cultivated in pots where it can receive protection when.in bloom in severe weather in Autumn. There are two varieties—one scarcely a foot high, the other two feet, some double, and both of various colors. Daisy.—This smaall, delicate, perennial plant produees attractive flowers, even through the Winter, if potted and kept in the house. There are several varieties, all hardy, yet needing Winter protection. Propagated by dividing the roots, Dielytra, Showy.—This is regarded as one of the finest perennials in cultivation; grown by dividing the roots, and so hardy as to require no Winter protection. The stalks are literally }mixed colors. 204 gemmed with brignc, rose-pink, heart-shaped flowers. Dwarf- Fringed Agrostemma.—The name sig- nifies “the crown of the field,” indicating the striking and showy character of the flowers, somewhat resembling the pink, but usually growing on taller plants. Tardy, and should be set six inches apart. Foxglove. —A showy and hardy perennial, adapted to a border, with its beautiful spikes of purple thimble-shaped flowers. Raised from | the seed, or by dividing the roots. Gaillardia, Painted.—A handsome, half-hardy plant, naturally a perennial, but will produce its flowers the first year from the seed, if started early. Needs Winter protection. large, beautiful, crimson and orange flowers in August. Set eight or ten inches apart. Garden Angelica.— Raised from the seed; bold and showy when in flower. Gaura,—A fine perennial, blooming from the seed the second year; and the first year even, if sown early. Very handsome for bouquets, and has the merit of long continued flowering. Gentian.— A handsome, upright, barrel- shaped perennial, with an exceedingly fine pale blue flower, with delicately fringed edges. Propagated from seed; shady or moist situa- tion best. Geranium.—There are many varieties of this much admired plant; propagated by cuttings. The Scarlet Geraniums, with their brilliant colors, are highly ornamental This is one of the choice flowers of the American garden. Heliotrope.—There are several species of this plant, only the Peruvianum and Intermedia are universal fayorites, and particularly worthy of cultivation for their light and dark lilae flowers with their exquisite fragrance. Increased by cuttings. Hollyhock.—This fine biennial has been much improved of late years, and the double vari- eties present an attractive appearance in situa-! Obtained from tions suitable for tall flowers. seed, or by dividing the roots. Humea Elegans.—The young plants should be started under glass; a beautiful biennial, growing about four feet high. Indigo Plant.—This is one of the most beau- tiful of native herbaceous plants, taking care of itself when once planted; grows two feet high. Ipomopsis.— An elegant free-growing, half- hardy biennial, with long spikes of rich orange and scarlet flowers; grows three to four feet high ; difficult to Winter, doing best in a dry place, without too much protection. Has ‘called Turk’s Cap; with long spikes of showy |by cuttings or divisions of the root. THE GARDEN: | Iris, or Fleur-de-lis—Many of this extensive family are bulbous-rooted ; some otherwise, and all are more or less elegant, delicate, and vari- gated. Hardy; propagated by dividing the roots. Larkspur.—The perennial larkspur, with its dazzling blue flower, is one of the finest and most desirable of the hardy herbaceous plants. Lily.—The family of Lilies are all splen- did. The Lily of the Valley, an elegant, deli- cate, sweet-scented plant, has been for ages a favorite flower, succeeding best in the shade. The White Lily grows three or four feet high. Monkshood—There are several varieties of this hardy and handsome perennial, sometimes flowers, resembling in form an old cavalry hat. Propagated by dividing the roots; grows about two feet in height. Pansy, or Violet—This is properly a bien- nial, one of the earliest of Spring flowers, sin- gle and double, of dwarf habits; propagated It re- quires a shady situation and Winter protection, Its tri-colored flowers are rich and brilliant, | blooming early and long. * Phlox.—There are many perennial varieties, improved within the past few years, now very superb; among them the Beppo, the Speculum, Suaveolens, Grandiflora, and Virgilia, with their various colors often delicately blended in the same flower. Pinks—This spiendid genus of hardy per- ennials has many varieties; propagated from seed or division of roots; plants from six to twelve inches apart, according to size and kind, The Chinese has been greatly improved; the Japan, or Heddewigii, or Double Diadem, is among the richest—rose, purple, and marbled in color; the Flore-pleno, very large magnifi- cent double flowers; the Carnation, the most splendid, and delightfully fragrant of all the Pink family, rivaling the rose; the Picotee, more delicate in its coloring than the Carna- tion; and the Sweet William, with its double | varieties of exceedingly beautiful and various- colored flowers. It is safe to give pinks Win- ter protection north of forty degrees of latitude. Poppy-—A showy, hardy perennial, with large, bright single and double flowers. Seed may be sown in the open ground. Primrose.—A class of very early and pretty dwarf flowers, including the Cowslip and Poly- anthus; needing Winter protection; propagated” by dividing the plant when done flowering for the season. BULBOUS Rocket.—A fine, early Spring-flowering plant, very fragrant, excellent for bouquets; grows freely, about eighteen inches in height ; hardy; the double varieties, white and purple, are really superb Very fragrant, flowering in long spikes in May and June. Snap-Dragon.—There are many varieties, mostly biennials or perennials ; raised from seed or division of roots, with various colors, white, yellow, purple, rosy, red, crimson, mottled. ete. The flower bears a resemblance to the snout or nose of some animal; and by applying the thumb and finger to the side of the corolla it opens and shuts as with a snap or spring. Tritonia Uvarea.—A noble perennial, requir- ing Winter protection. Zauschneria Californica.—An elegant herba- ceous perennial; grows in bunches, producing a brilliant scarlet, trumpet-shaped flower; hardy, with a little protection, in light sandy soil. Bulbous Flowers.—Bulbous and tu- berous-rooted flowers, among the most magnifi- cent of all of Flora’s beauties, are generally easy of cultivation. A light loam, rather sandy, deeply and thoroughly worked and en- riched, is best adapted for their culture. Asa general rule, when the tops have quite died down, and before very hard frosts, the bulbs may be taken up and separated; they are easily preserved wrapped in paper, and covered in dry sand, or dry saw-dust, and kept in the cellar dur- ing Winter, and must not be planted till frost is over in the Spring. The really hardy vari- eties should be planted in the Fall. Amaryllis, or Jacobean Lily.—Of great beau- ty, bright, showy, crimson; plant in May, barely covering the bulbs. ach plant produces but two or three large flowers. - Anemone, or Wind Flower—Plant in early Fall six inches apart each way, placing the - roots the right side up, with two inches of rich soil over them; they need cold-frame or other Winter protection. A very pretty little flower. Canna.—A handsome half-hardy plant, pro- ‘ducing a showy effect the second year from the seed; plant in Spring. Crocus.—Very hardy, and yery early in flow ering, with its various colors of yellow, deep and light blue, white with stripes of variegated beauty. May remain in the ground all Winter if covered with litter. Dahlia.—Capricious but beautiful; propagated by seeds, cuttings, or divisions of the root, which is easily destroyed by frost. Plant first FLOWERS. 205 in pots, and transplant in open ground in May. A yellow loamy soil, with very little manure, seems best fitted for it. There are many yarie- ties, gorgeous in color, sporting into every tint except blue. Dicentra Spectabilis, or Bleeding Heart.—A hardy, beautiful, and graceful tuberous-rooted plant, with curious pinkish flowers. Propagate by dividing the roots; cover with litter during the Winter. Four O’ Clocks, or Marvel of Peru.—Tuber- ous-rooted like the Dahlia, and propagated similarly by seed or roots. It is a very attrac- tive flower, of white, purple, yellow, and red- striped colors, admirably adapted for borders. Gladiolus.—At the head of the list of beauti- ful Summer bulbs the Gladiolus takes undis- puted rank. There are over one hundred yari- eties, with tall spikes of flowers, brilliant scar- let, crimson, creamy white, striped, and spotted colors. Set in rows in the Spring, a foot apart, six or eight inches asunder, in tolerably dry soil; at different times till the middle of June, to keep up a long succession of flowers. Hyacinth—There are more than a thousand varieties of this gorgeous single and double flowering plant, cultivated in Holland, of al- most every shade of color. Plant the bulbs eight inches apart, and cover four inches deep ; they should be covered with litter in Winter. Tris, or Fleur-de-lis——Many of this plant are bulbous-rooted, among them the Persian, es- teemed for the beauty and fragrance of its flowers. Plant in October, about two and a half inches deep, and some eight inches apart. Will not stand Winter exposure without pro- tection. Lily.—There are many varieties of this splen- did genus of plants, double and single, white, purple, gold-striped, yellow, orange, and scar- let. The Japan lily, with its hardy roots and erimson-spotted flowers, is scarcely equaled for delicacy and beauty ; and though hardy it suc- ceeds best when the ground is well-covered with forest leaves during the Winter. The Tiger lily, the single Candidum, the Chalce- donicum, the Concolor, and the Martagon, are all hardy kinds, and very beautiful. They should be planted from three to four inches deep, according to the size of the bulb, and need not be taken up oftener than once in every three or four years. Narcissus, or Daffodil—The Two-flowered narcissus, or Primrose Peerless, and the Jon- quil, the Poet’s narcissus, are among the vari- eties, hardy and ornamental. Plant three 206 THE GARDEN: inches deep, and cover with litter for Winter| work in flower gardens, arbors, outhouses, protection. Peony.—Many varieties, and all beautiful, very hardy, and generally standing the Winter even if protection is neglected. The Chinese varieties are celebrated for their large size, del- | icate coloring, and fragrance. Propagate by | dividing the roots—if in the Spring, very early. Ranunculus—Our climate is not favorable to the culture of this splendid flowering plant. It needs green-house management in the Winter; yet it has been cultivated in the open air from tubers, well kept during the Winter, | planted six inches apart each way and an inch | and a half over the crown, in deep-trenched soil, in a cool, moist situation. Snow Drop, or Galanthus.—A hardy plant, with small bulbs, and the first to blossom in the Spring. Plant in clumps in the Fall, an inch and a half or two inches deep, single and double varieties. Sun Flower, Double Perennial.—Tuberous- rooted, with numerous large double yellow blossoms, of the size and form of Dahlias. Propagate by planting pieces of its thick, fleshly root in the Spring; grows four or five feet high. Litter for Winter protection. Tiger Flower, or Tigridia.—Plant the bulbs in May, about two inches deep. The flowers, va- riegated and gorgeous, are destitute of fra- grance, and display their glories but for a few hours, when the sun destroys all vestiges of their beauty ; but the plant continues to pro- duce its blossoms for a number of weeks, Tuberose.—-This beautiful wax-like, sweet- scented, double flower, has a tender tuberous root, and is naturally a green-house plant, but will grow and flower in warm situations in the open air, and especially if first started early in pots. The top of the tuber should be near the surface of the soil. The original bulb will not flower the second time; hence the small bulbs, or offshoots, must be saved for the next year’s planting. Tulip.—The varieties are endless, single and double, early and late. Propagate by bulbs, planted about three and a half inches below the surface, six or eight inches apart, in a deep rich mold. The sorts used for borders may be set in groups of from three to five bulbs, and and covered with litter in Winter. Climbing Plants and Shrubs.— As the list of this class is extended, a very brief notice only can be given. For trellis- porches, pillars, walls, fences, and for the lawn, climbing plants and vines are highly orna- mental, Balloon Vine-——A half-hardy creeping an- nual; seed sown early in May; flowers white and green, without any claim to beauty. Bitter Sweet—A hardy, beautiful, winding wild climber. Climbing Lophosper.—Properly a green-house perennial; flowers funnel-shaped, two inches or more long, with purple or crimson colors. Climbing Staff—aA strong native woody vine, growing vigorously in moist situations and by the side of stone walls; very ornamental when its deep scarlet fruit is ripened. Corydalis, or Fumitory.—An elegant, indige- nous, biennial climbing vine, propagated from seed sown in April, growing from fifteen to thirty feet in a season, with many pink-white flowers. Cypress Vine, or Ipomea.—A very tender an- nual; should be started in a hot-bed; unex- celled in elegance of foliage, gracefulness of habit, and loveliness of flowers. Everlasting Pea.—A large and beautiful per- ennial, propagated by sowing seeds, or dividing the roots, flowering profusely the second and succeeding years, with its light purple, pink, or white colors. Glycine, or Ground Nut.—A hardy, climbing shrub, with long, pendulous branches of blue flowers. Honeysuckle-—A well-known climbing shrub, growing from fifteen to twenty feet high, producing a succession of flowers during the Summer and Autumn. The Yellow Trumpet honeysuckle—with blossoms the most delicate straw color, all the seacon—is not half so often seen as it deserves; the Chinese honeysuckle, with deliciously scented, parti-ecolored blossoms and sub-evergreen foiliage, is particularly well suited to verandas with a northern aspect; the Dutchman’s Pipe, witha magnificently large dark green foliage, is perfectly hardy, and the most picturesque of climbers, for situations where a bold effect is desired. Ivy.— English, or Common Ivy, is easily propagated by layers, and is highly esteemed in England as an ornamental evergreen climber, for covering naked buildings or trees, or for training into fanciful shapes. This is a very different vine from our native poisonous ivy. Jasmine.—A pretty, half-hardy, fragrant run- her, requiring training, having no tendrils; | CLIMBING PLANTS AND SHRUBS. should be laid down for Winter, covered with litter, or banked over with earth. Loasa—A curious genus, mostly annuals, running fifteen or twenty feet during the grow- | ing season, and bleoming in profusion during the Summer and Autumn. Lycium.—A climbing ornamental shrub, eas- ily propagated from cuttings and suckers, pro- ducing handsome violet flowers from May to August. ; Madeira Vine-—And excellent climber, with small, sweet-scented flowers, making a fine window-screen, and useful in basket-making. Maurandia.—An elegant green-house climb- ing perennial, with rich, purple flowers; may be raised from seed started in the hot-house, and early transplanted to open ground, Mexican Climbing Cobe.—A green-house per- ennial plant, raised from cuttings, rather diffi- cult to keep through Winter, if started in hot- bed, flourishes very well in open air, and has been known to grow two hundred feet in one season, in a conservatory. Morning Glory.—A free-blooming and beau- tiful class of hardy annual climbers. Seed may be sown in the open ground early in the Spring. There are many varieties, white, dark blue, rose, violet-striped, and tri-colored. Myrtle —An evergreen running vine, includ- ing several species, bearing a pretty blue flower. Nasturtium.—A variety known as the Canary- Bird flower is a beautiful climber, with charm- ing little blossoms, when half expanded having a fanciful likeness to little birds. Passion Flower. — A tender perennial vine, producing a showy succession of flowers, with something resembling a cross in the middle, surrounded by appendages representing a glory. Raised from cuttings; will not endure exposure to a Northern Winter. Phlox.—The Drummondii variety, of many colors, and the finest of the phlox genus, is a creeping annual. Pipe Vine, or Birth- Wort.—A singular climb- ing plant, with brownish purple and somewhat pipe-shaped flowers, propagated from. layers and cuttings, and grows from fifteen to twenty feet high. Purple Hyacinth Bean.— A fine, annual climber, growing from eight to filteen feet in a season, flowering in clustered spikes, and treated like the common bean. : Scarlet Flowering Bean.—A popular climbing annual, with spikes of showy scarlet flowers, and one variety with white flowers. Plant the 207 middle of May, and cultivate tne same as the common bean. Schizanthus.—An exquisitively beautiful class of half-hardy annuals, bearing a profusion of singularly bright-colored purple and yellow flowers; a tender plant, liable to injury by the sun or severe rains. Sow the seed in a hot- bed; fine for green-house or out-door deco- ration. Sweet Pea.—A fragrant annual, attaining five or six feet in height, with white, rose, scarlet, purple, black, and variegated flowers ; each va- riety by itself in circles, about a foot in diam- eter, and three or four feet from any other plant. Thunbergia.—A handsome green-house per- ennial climber, with numerous buff-colored flowers, with dark throat; succeeds well sown in open ground the last of May. Trumpet Flower.—The scarlet variety isa magnificent climbing plant, producing large, trumpet-shaped, orange-scarlet flowers, of great beauty, from July to October. Propagate by layers, or root cuttings; should be laid down and well covered with mats or litter for Winter. Verbena.—It is a naturally prostrate creep- ing plant, a half-hardy annual; flowering from seed sown in the open ground in May, with dazzling scarlet and other tinted colors. If started in pots, it will bloom all Summer. Vinea, or Periwinkle—Some of the varieties are hardy evergreen trailing plants, flowering early and late, generally of blue colors, and flourishing under the shade and drip of trees. A little Winter protection is best. Virginia Creeper, or American Woodbine.—A beautiful and luxuriant hardy climber, easily propagated by layers and cuttings; often cover- ing walls of houses forty or fifty feet high; flowers a reddish-green, succeeded by clusters of dark blue or nearly black berries. A rich, moist soil is most suitable. Virgin’s Bower, or Clematis.—A hardy, climb- ing, perennial shrub, free-flowering, rapid growth, very ornamental, and some varieties are highly odoriferous. Siebold’s variety, pro- ducing flowers three or four inches in diameter, is magnificent. Propagate by layers; it needs to be laid down and covered for Winter. Wall Flower.—A fine biennial, with its sin- gle, semi-double, and double flowers, varying from light yellow to orange, and reddish brown to violet. It needs the green-house, or a light, dry cellar for Winter. Wistaria.—A very hardy, magnificent climb- ing shrubby, plant, with its superb masses of 208 « variously colored, richly perfumed, and deli-| THE GARDEN: Flowering Almond.—A favorite, early flower- cate flowers in May. Raised from cuttings or ing shrub, with large white and pink yarieties layers. One of the very finest of climbing, vines, and worthy of wide cultivation. Hardy Flowering Shrubs and. selection of some of the best! In order to grow of these beautiful and fragrant shrubs—the Red Trees.—A kinds is herewith given. rapidly, shrubs should be kept well cultivated in mellow soil, which may be effected by plac- ing them in large circular or elliptical beds cut in grass; and to prevent broken and confused | outlines, shrubs of nearly the same size should | be placed in proximity to each other; and those having some resemblance in general ap- | pearance or natural affinity, will group better together than those which are lar. The center of a large bed should be oc- cupied by the taller shrubs, and those of the darkest and heaviest foliage; and if there are any which are planted for their showy or red | berries, they will appear finest in Winter by placing them around the bed, with. evergreens in the center or rear. The half-hardy shrubs require, before the} quires to be kept in a green-house or light setting in of Winter, to be bent down, and covered three or four inches deep with stable| litter. African Tamariz.—An elegant and graceful | |quires a warm and sheltered situation; pro- | duces pendulous clusters of golden pea-shaped shrub with delicate pink blossoms. Flowers in May. To be protected in Winter. Althea.—Raised from seed or cuttings, single and double varieties; a warm and sheltered situation is best, particularly for the double white variety; and in a northern latitude re-| quire, during the Winter, to be kept in a box of dirt in the celtar. Barberry.—Small yellow blossoms in Sum- | mer, and brilliant berries in the Fall. Catalpa.—A_ beautiful tree, much admired for its foliage and showy flowers; it requires a warm and sheltered position. Cherry, Double Flowering.—Full of double, pure white flowers, like small white roses, covering the tree the early part of May. By proper training, it can be kept in the shrubby state. Corchorus, or Japan Globe Flower.—Very de-| sirable, as it blossoms profusely from Spring to Autumn. bright yellow color. To be protected in Winter. Deutzia.—An elegant shrub, sufficiently hardy to endure our Winter, producing a profusion | of highly fragrant white blossoms. Propa- gated by cuttings or layers) and protect in Winter. «+ entirely dissimi- | ‘two or three inches broad, as beautiful, Flowers are double, and of a, Raised |from offshoots or layers. Hardiest when bud- /ded on the plum—probably the wild plum is best. Flowering Currants.—There are seyeral kinds ‘of flowers, resembling small roses. Flowering, the Crimson Flowering, the Golden | Flavored, the Fragrant currant, and the Dou- ble Griccon currant, tection. Fringe Tree-—A deciduous shrub or small tree, beginning to flower when six or eight feet high; its flowers white, in long bunches, with a fringe-like appearance. It is hardy. Honeysuckle.—An upright ornamental shrub, growing eight or ten feet high, with a profu- They need Winter pro- {hee aoe : / sion of pink flowers in June, succeeded by red berries; another variety produces white flow- ers and yellow berries. Propagated by seeds, layers, or cuttings. Hydrangea--A small shrub, bearing a large flower, first green, then gradually becoming rose-colored, and then green again. It re- cellar in Winter. Laburnum, or Golden Chain.— An elegant shrub or low tree; raised from the seed; re- flowers. Lavender—A most desirable dwarf shrub, growing three feet high, delightfully fragrant, | particularly its spikes of blue flowers in July. | Propagated by cuttings or slips. Lilac, or Syringa—The common purple and white lilacs, grown together, are beautiful, and the Persian lilac, with its bunches of delicate ‘flowers frequently a foot long, white and purple yarieties are even more graceful in their ap- pearance. Propagated by suckers. Magnolia.—A remarkably handsome shrub, and when carefully trained, it forms a beautiful little tree. It produces a pure white flower, and almost as fragrant as the White Lily. Propa- gated by layers, which require two years to root sufficiently ; the shrub should be partially shaded from the sun. Oleander.-—A noble evergreen shrub, of easy culture, and flowering freely during the greater part of the year; growing well in any rich, light soil, and young cuttings root easily if kept moist. It needs green-house or cellar protec- tion in Winter. ’ ’ ROSE. Pink Mazereon.—A small and hardy, sweet- scented shrub, raised from the seed, whose flow- ers, in beautiful clusters, come out before the leaves in the Spring, followed by berries, one variety a brilliant scarlet, another yellow. When transplanted, it should be in Autumn, Red Bud.—A curious shrub, or low tree, coy- ered with bunches of rose-colored flowers be- fore the leaves begin to appear. Often seen in Canada, the Northern and New England States. Rose Acacia.—Produces a succession of large clusters*of purple flowers, Hardy. Rese.—Many persons, says the Western Rural, neglect the pruning of their rose-bushes until the leaves have begun to expand. This is @ very erroneous practice, for much of the strength of the plant is expended in fruitless endeavors to revive a half-withered branch, or to restore such as have been shattered, yet al- lowed to hang on. Hardy roses should be se- verely pruned in order to secure a profusion of bloom of the best quality, Hybrid perpetuals should be cut nearly to the ground, and mosses down at least one-half. The rose plant is a gross feeder, and reqnires abundance of manure to supply nourishment to its numerous branches, leaves, and flowers. Well-rotted cow manure is the best adapted to its wants. The soil which surrounds the stems should be removed in Spring before the leaves expand, in order that the pupe and larve of injurious insects be exposed before their time and destroyed. The excavation made by re- moving the soil should be filled with rich muck or well-rotted cow-manure. By this means a double advantage will be gained. The stems and branches should be washed with a solution of soda, a strong ley, or even Soap-suds, in order to remove the pupe or lar- ve of insects»which may be in clefts or creyi- ces of the bark. If this precaution was taken in proper time, we should not see so many fine Toses destroyed by the rose-slug and other pests. Bourbon and Bengal Roses, Monthly.—F lower- ing from June to October, These families con- tain some of our most valuable Autumn flower- ing roses, remarkable for their fine foliage, com- pact habit, brilliancy of color, and the profusion and long continuation of their flowering. They require protection during the Winter, or they may be taken up and placed in the cellar or cold frame yntil Spring, Acidalie, white, large, and fine; Animated, rosy blush; Appoline, cupped, carmine; Belle Isidore, crimson; Bourbon Queen, rich blush; Bosanquet, blush white ; Don 14 - 209 Carlos, dark rose; Douglas, rich violet ; Dutch- ess Thuringe, French white; Gloire de France, very fragrant crimson; Gloire de Rosamene, brilliant crinfson; Imperatrice Josephine, creamy white; Indica Alba, pure white; Mad- ame Lacharme, blush white; Paul Joseph, vel- vet crimson; Princess Clementine, deep rosy purple; Queen, delicate blush; Reine de Fon- tenay, brilliant rose; Sombreil, French white ; Souvenir de la Malmaison, creamy white, fine; Theresita, bright carmine; Vanilla, dark rose. Climbing Roses.— Among the hardy climbing roses, the Prairie varieties are well known and very desirable for their remarkable vigor, their habit of retaining the freshness of their foliage all the season, and their wealth of beau- tiful flowers; they are well adapted for train- ing to poles, planting in rows, and festooning from one to another, also for screens or trellises. Queen of the Prairies and Baltimore Belle are the best known; all the varieties are very ° showy. Banksia Lutea, double yellow; Bank- sia Alba, white; Bengalensis Scandens, large rosy white; Boursault Elegans, purple crim- son; Boursault Purpurea, purple; Boursault Blush, large blush; Boursault Gracalis, bright rose; Climbing Moss, rosy crimson; Cot- tage Cluster, crimson, changing to rose; Feli- cite Perpetuelle, blush white; Gem of the Prai- ries, light crimson, white blotched ; Grevillia, producing immense clusters of yarious colors and shades, from white to crimson; Laura Da- voust, white ; Multiflora, pink; Multiflora Al- ba, blush white; Prairie Queen, purple, veined white; Prairie, or Baltimore Belle, blush white; Prairie Superba, rich blush, Russelliana, crim- son cottage rose; Scarlet Greville, crimson scar- let; Seven Sisters, crimson, changing from all shades to white. Noisette, or Cluster-F lowering Monthly Roses.— A very beauti‘ul climbing variety, flowering in large clusters the whole Summer and Autumn; the flowers Jarge and fragrant. They must be kept in the house or cellar during the Winter. Alba, creamy white; Aimee Vibert, pure white; America, straw color, shaded purple; Bengal Lee, blush fragrant; Celestina Forrester, orange yellow; Conque de Venus, white rose; Cceur Jaune, white, yellow center ; Chromotelle, large yellow, fine; Fellenberg, crimson, superb; Glo- ire de Dijon, blush, white, buff center; Joan of Are, pure white, straw center; Lamarque, creamy white, fine; Madame Longchamps, large, pure white; Marshal Niel, large, deep canary yellow; Ophire, yellow, fragrant; Oteri, orange, salmon-shaded; Solfatare, superb, dark 210 yellow; Washington, white, immense clusters; Vitellina, white. Hardy Garden Roses —Austrian Brier or Har- risonii, deep yellow; Coronation, purple crim- son; Du Roi, perpetual, bright red; Hybride Blanche, white; Moss, single, crimson, very mossy; Moss, Common, rose; Moss, Luxem- bourg, crimson; Moss White, perpetual; Paint- ed Damask, white; Persian, double yellow; Village Maid or La Belle Villageoise, rose, striped with lilac; York and Lancaster, red and white. Hybrid Perpetual Roses.—To this class belong some of our most beautiful and splendid varie- ties, keeping up a succession of their elegantly formed and highly fragrant flowers, through the whole of the Summerand Autumn. Many of the varieties are suitable for planting against pillars or walls where they flower freely. They thrive best in a rich soil. Aubernon, clear red, very fine; Arthur deSansal, double, deep crim- son, purple; Black Prince, crimson maroon; Cardinal Patrizzi, brilliant crimson ; Countess de Cheabrilland, beautiful rose pink ; Countess d’ Orleans, double, delicate pale rose; Dutchess of Norfolk, double, deep rich crimson; Em- peror Napoleon, intense brilliant, shaded scar- let; General Castellane, large, double brilliant crimson; Jules Margottin, bright deep crim- son, Lady Alice Peel, rosy carmine; La Reine, satin rose, superb; Lord Raglan, double-cupped, brilliant crimson scarlet; Mad- ame Desire Giraud, pale flesh, crimson striped ; Madame de Willermots, cup-shaped, extra fine; Madame Laffay, light crimson, very fragrant, superior; Madame Masson, double, deep pur- plish crimson; Madame Plantier, pure white; Madame Vidot, delicate, wax pink; Naomi, delicate blush, double flowers; Oderic Vitalle, delicate Rose, silvery shading; Ornament des Jardins, double, vivid crimson; Preonia, double, reddish crimson, extra fine; Prince Albert, very dark crimson, fine; Pius IX, crimson violet; Queen Victoria, pale flesh, pink tinted ; Reine des Violets, dark violet; Sir John Franklin, double, brilliant crimson; Souvenir de Count Cavour, rich glossy crimson, Tea Roses, Monthly.—Perpetual; general fa- yorites with all lovers of the rose. To those who cultivate roses in pots they are indispensa- ble; celebrated for their peculiar fragrance. Rather more delicate than the Bourbon or Chi- na, and require more protection through the Winter. Alba, pure white; Apollo, carmine red; Archduchess Theresa, white; Camellia, pure white; Cels, blush, profuse bloomer: THE GARDEN: Charles Reyband, rosy salmon; Comtess Albe- martle, straw color; Cortas, blush, mottled pink ; Devoniensis, creamy yellow; Fleur de Cymes, globular white; Flon, buff; Isabella, Sprunt or Yellow Tea, canary yellow; Mad- ame Falcot, orange yellow; Madame Maurin, pure white; Nina, large, pinkish violet; Pac- tole, canary yellow; Safrano, orange yellow; Sortte, French White; White Tea, white. Grafting Roses—It should be remembered that all the hardy perpetual roses, which are somewhat difficult to propagate by cuttings, can be easily and rapidly increased by grafting on small pieces of roots. At any time when the ground is open, dig up the roots of the Manetti, or of the old Boursault roses; cut them in pieces of, say, four inches long. For grafts, use well- ripened shoots of the past year’s growth, cutting them into pieces, each having three to four buds; cut the lower end into a wedge or V form; then having cut a piece of root, square across the top end, split it, and while with the knife in the split holding it open, insert the wedge-shaped graft, fitting as perfectly as you can on one side, bark to bark; then withdraw the knife, and with narrow strips of cotton or linen cloth, dipped in melted grafting wax, wrap carefully all over and around graft and root, in such a manner that the graft can not be displaced, nor moisture get within or next to the wound or cut; pack away in moist, not wet,, sand, covering all the graft and root. In Spring, when the ground is in good working condition, set out the graft leaving the upper bud just level with the ground, and further care is needed only to keep the ground from baking on top, or to keep the weeds down. Snow Bull—Blooming very early and pro- fusely in Spring; flowers like snow balls. Snow Berry.—Small pink flowers, but it is chiefly prized on account of its beautiful clus- ters of white wax-like berries, which hang upon the shrub long into Winter. Spirar.—There are many varieties very hand- some, and flowering through Summer, Plant the Siberian or White and the Red Flowering. Strawberry Tree.—A handsome shrub, bearing in Autumn, an abundance of fruit, somewhat resembling the strawberry. The European is preferred to the American. Grown by seed and by suckers. Syringa, or Mock Orange.—White flowe:s, very fragrant in early Spring. Tree Peony.—A small but showy shrub, blos- soms very large with varying purple shades Protect it in Winter. EVERGREENS AND SHADE TREES. Weigelia Rosea.—One of the handsomest and must showy shrubs that we have. A profuse bearer of rose-colored flowers in early Summer. Evergreens and Shade Trees.— In selecting forest trees for transplanting, it is desirable to get those with short trunks and low spreading branches, or what are generally called round-topped trees, which can only be found on the outskirts of the woods, or in sec- ond growth timber. A gentleman of Wiscon- sin, of large experience in transplanting shade | trees, submits these practical suggestions on) the subject: In the month of June, after the first and most plentiful supply of sap has gone upward, and the foliage is well put on, I select my trees—hard maple preferred—not of less size than four inches through near the ground, straight and smooth, no matter how tall, and then saw off the body of the tree about ten feet from the ground. Then I cut off a few of the largest lateral roots that lie near the surface, with an ax bya slanting blow so as not to bruise or otherwise disturb the root, about two feet from the trunk, and then I go quietly away to another, leaving the tree in its natural bed until the next November or the next Spring, if Fall transplanting is not approved of, when the tree will be found to have sent out new branches, some two feet long in the few months it has been allowed to remain, and a new and desira- ble tup already begun, as nature is ever active in repairing damages when it has the power to doso, as the tree has whose roots are undisturbed. Then I take it up carefully with as much earth and as many of the small roots as practicable, which may be done the more easily by having previously prepared it as stated above. Then I make a good bed a little larger than the roots, 60 as not to cramp them; fill in closely around ' the roots well mixed and light earth, mulch it with some sort of litter, such as leaves, sawdust, rotted chips, or almost anything to prevent too rapid evaporation of the moisture, and stake well, but not too stiffly, as I would have the tree learn to sustain itself as quickly as possible by throwing down new roots, which it will do more readily than if wholly supported—then I have done my duty, and the tree is planted. Under this plan I can set out such trees as I like, form and fashion the tops to my liking, and can set trees six inches through, saving several years in their growth, and what is best, I will not lose one in fifty. It isno wonder that so many fail and get disgusted in tree planting when so many are lost, and when it 211 takes so long to realize the benefit or beauty of the tree, as in the usual practice of setting out mere whip sticks, losing at least half, and wait- ing half a life-time for them to amount to any- thing desirable for shade. I prefer in this climate to set out trees in the Fall. I know that large ones are much more likely to live, and I know the above plan has proved success- ful with me. Deep trenching, twenty inches to two feet, has an important influence on the transplanted tree, both as respects its living and its growth and thrift. Below the ordinary surface soil there is a pan or hard crust, impervious to roots or moisture from either above or below; in dry weather, particularly, this hard pan becomes still more compact, so much so that a few weeks of severe drought will frequently prove fatal to trees. By deep trenching, this difficulty is obviated, and the ground fitted for the recep- Ties . |tion and permanent prosperity of the tree, The top soil should be transferred to the bot- tom, if the subsoil is not naturally in good condition. Arbor Vite.—The American Arbor Vite is of slow growth, attaining a height of fifty feet, forming a handsome pyramidal evergreen, and thriving in almost any situation. It is hardy, bears clipping, and is well suited for wind The Chinese variety has proved hardy, having a more lively green foliage than the other. Balm of Gilead is a beautiful deciduous shade tree, of rapid growth, emitting from its young screens and ornamental hedges. leaves a resinous matter of great fragrance. Propagated from slips. Balsam Ftr.—A hardy, symmetrical eyver- green, of persistent color, and handsome in its youth. Box Tree.—A fine ornamental evergreen, with silver or golden striped varieties, much larger than the garden box. May be trimmed to any desired shape. Increased by layers. Cedar of Lebanon—A fine evergreen, but of slow growth; worthy of cultivation from its sacred associations. Its seeds are borne in fine large cones. Dogwood, the common variety and the Red Osier; both pretty, and easily obtained from the woods—the red for the beauty of its crim- son-colored wood in Winter. Black Walnut.—A fine tree, of rapid growth, wide-spreading top, and at eight or ten years of age begins to bear walnuts. It is valuable for timber. It is difficult to transplant black walnuts; but easy to raise them from the nuts, 212 by planting them soon after they fall from the trees. Butternut.—Pretty much the same may be said of this as of the Black Walnut, producing aricher nut, and both are perpetual bearers ; and it may be added that Shell-bark Hickories may be raised in the same way, bearing when abot sixteen years old. The Chestnut is more thrifty, and bears younger, but requires a warm loamy or sandy locality. Elm.—One of the noblest of American shade trees, especially for bordering walks and road- sides. Greatly distinguished for its grace and beauty. It grows slowly, but as a shade tree is unsurpassed. Golden Chain.—A small tree, of pretty foli- age, of rather a weeping habit, bearing large hanging bunches of golden yellow flowers. Hawthorn, Double Scarlet, a very delicate and pretty scarlet-flowering thorn; increased by grafting on the common hawthorn. Hemlock, or Hemlock Spruce Fir—One of the most beautiful of American evergreens, in the lawn or pleasure-ground, whether as a single pyramid of darkest green, or as a group. Very hardy. Holly—Both the European and American varieties form beautiful trees for ornamenting grounds, as single specimens or in evergreen hedges, with its bright green leaves and its at- tractive scarlet berries in Winter. Horse Chestnut.—A very fine ornamental tree, of beautiful symmetry, blooming freely. The celebrated Buckeye variety of Ohio and Kentucky is a rather smaller and more compact growing kind, Kalmia, or Lawrel.—The beautiful wild laurel of our woods should be transferred to our lawns; its unfading greenness and its blossom- tuft formed of union of the countless star-like flower-buds, render it a tree of peculiar beauty and interest. Larch—This European tree makes a fine shade, is a very rapid grower, and is valuable for the durability of its timber. Linden, or Basswood.—A beautiful but neg- lected shade tree, growing rapidly, producing large leaves, and a profusion of blossoms very grateful to bees. Locust—A common tree, of rapid growth, thin leaves, and fragrant blossoms. Mahonia, a showy, holly-leaved shrub, of three or four feet high, especially gay in its Au- tumnal appearance. Mople—A popular shade tree, of slow growth, late in putting out its leaves, but very THE GARDEN: graceful in its trunk and dense andsymmetrical top of green; its Autumn foliage deep orange and red. Mountain Ash—A hardy, graceful tree for the yard and lawn, bearing numerous white blossoms, from which large bunches of brilliant orange-scarlet berries are produced in Autumn, Norway Maple.—One of the finest of all de- ciduous shade trees; round-headed, with deep green foliage, changing by frost into variegated hues, and far superior to the popular Silver maple. Myrtle, an evergreen shrub, cultivated with success in the Southern States, but too tender for the Northern and Middle States. Paulownia.—A fine, rapid growing shade tree, with heart-shaped leaves sometimes measuring two feet across; producing, when not winter- killed, a fine light blue, and very fragrant flower. Increased by offshoots, layers, and root cuttings. Pepperidge. A common tree, ornamental in its Summer growth, and when the frost gives its leaves a vermillion tinge in the Fall. Pine—The Austrian pine being perfectly hardy, is a great acquisition to our climate; and the Scotch pine is hardy and beautiful, There aré several varieties of our native pines, gen- erally lofty and pyramidal, producing needle- like leaves; the White pine being universally hardy, and one of the most beautiful trees for ornamental planting. The Hemlock Spruce Fir hastalready been noticed. The European Silver Fir is much handsomer than our native species, tender when young, but hardy when well established. Pride of India.—A splendid flowering shade tree of the South, with clusters of fragrant lilac flowers. Unsuited to Northern latitudes. Red Cedar—One of the Juniper varieties, one of our most valuable evergreen trees, grow- ing from forty to fifty feet high, and valuable for purposes of shelter. In pruning the lowest branches should always be left the longest. Rhododendron.—A wild swamp shrub, usually evergreen, characterized, by the great beauty of its flowers; requiring a sandy, peaty soil, and some shade and moisture. The Rose Boy is one of this family. Increased by layers or seeds. Sassafras—A sweet and and aromatic tree, increased by offshoots, layers, or root cuttings, Shadberry, or Canadian Amelanchier.—This is a thrifty, tall, upright tree, quite ornamental; sometimes, in favorable situations, attaining a height of thirty or forty feet, with a diameter | THE LAWN, ETC. of ten or twelve inches. While it grows in the maritime parts of the Southern States, it is more particularly spread over the Northern portions of our continent up to Hudson’s Bay, and from New Foundland to Oregon, It does well in the Northwest, blooming earlier than other trees, bearing clusters of sweet, delicious fruit, ripening early in June. The birds love it as they do berries or cherries. Spruce—A mong the noblest of the evergreen trees. The beauty of the Hemlock spruce has been mentioned; the Black, Red, and Ameri- can White spruee are fine pyramidal ever- greens, but less attractive and desirable than the Norway spruce, which has succeeded ad- mirably in this country. Tulip Poplar.—Sometimes called White and Yellow poplar, and Whitewood tree, one of the .handsomest of trees when coyered with green and orange blossoms. The Aspen is a fine variety. ‘The Lombardy poplar, well known, is less esteemed, except, perhaps, for protective belts. Weeping Ash—A curious and pretty tree, readily increased by side grafting upon the common varieties, Weeping Cypress.— Has a large, expanded head; with pendulous branchlets, closely cov- ered with leaves. Beautiful and hardy. Weeping Willows.—There are several vari- eties, and quite ornamental, the Weeping wil- low, the Golden Twigged, and the Golden Flowering willow. Increased by cuttings or layers. Yew.—The English and Irish yews are small bushes or trees of great beauty, on account of their dark green foliage, and their bright sear- let berries. The Canada yew, or trailing shrub, possesses no desirable qualities. 4 The Lawn.—In town but little space can be appropriated to the lawn, but in the country at least from half an acre to an acre, or even more, should be set apart for the decoration of the homestead. Nothing can give greater satis- faction to a family of refined taste than to have their home surroundings decorated with the beauties and green glories which Nature so hountifully supplies us. The species and vari- eties of trees, shrubs, roses, and vines, are now so numerous, that a choice selection can: be made to suit every clime, soil, and exposure, and to bloom and fruit all the growing season. See them tastefully arranged and gorgeously dressed with foliage of various colors, and decked with blooms far transcending the most 213 costly jewelry in brillianey, and pe:iuming the air with their fragrance. In windy days they gracefully bow, prance, and whirl around like sprightly youth in the dance, and the melody of the breeze serves them How beautiful the picture and how great the enjoy- ment to those who can appreciate it. for music, It makes a cot a palace, and home a paradise; the owner a king, and his wifea queen; it impartsa dignity to the manly graces of sons, and luster to the beauties and virtues of daughters. The pass- ing wayfarer is delighted with the scene, and sets it down in his mind as the abode of the }great and good in heart, and the virtuous and wise in actions. After planting climbing vines to clothe the veranda, and a few deciduous trees around the house for shade in Summer, all the other trees, shrubs, and roses, should be so arranged oyer the lawn that all will be seen at one view. Set the more dwarf nearest the house, the taller farther off, and they will appear to rise in graceful folds as they recede from the eye, and the contrast of size, form, and @olor of the vari- ous individuals will show to greater advan- tage, and that will give additional graces to their charm. Evergreens form a prominent attraction scat- tered through the lawn. Nothing makes a more beautiful contrast, in Summer or Winter, with the rest of surrounding nature. The somber and dark-colored evergreens, standing erect and pyramidal, present a rich and pleas- ing picture in Winter’s landscape. Some of the dwarf varieties are pretty and attractive. Good lawns have more to do with the eulti- vation and enjoyment of substantial home hap- piness than many are apt to suppose. God’s sweet songsters love to linger there, and pour out their choicest notes and symphonies. The mul- tiplication of shade trees often proves a barrier to malarious atmosphere and malignant dis- eases, thus preserving health and prolonging human existence. Lawn Designs.—We take the following lawn designs chiefly from Kern’s Practical Land- scape Gardening,* a work of much merit. They will afford a general idea of the. lawn and its surroundings, subject, of course, to such modifi- tions as the nature and the extent of the grounds may suggest. In Figure 1, we have a city or town lot, with the dwelling situated in the center; in front, a lawn—which some might prefer to lessen one- * Published by Moorr, Winstacu & Moore, Cincinnati. 214 half, and add it to the garden and fruit plat— employing the rear of the lot for garden, fruit, stable, and back-build- ings. Both the kitchen and stable are concealed from view by groups of shrubbery planted be- A group of Figure 1, a __| nw fore them. evergreens at the front right-hand corner of the bnilding will appear to The lawn is represented by good advantage. stable by C. The car- riage drive from the front gate to the stable is represented on the de- A, House; B. Fountain, or Parterre of Flowers; C, Stable-yard; D, Kitchen-gar- den; E Carriage-entrance ; , Foot-entrance; G, Orchard. Figure 2 gives the design for the grounds of a farm, or suburban residence, where half an acre or more is devoted to ornamental planting. The honse is situated between groups of flowers and shrubbery. The ont-house is situated in a copse of shrubs inthe rear of the residence. Shade trees, flowering shrubs, and flower plats may be grouped and Riniiiuted so as to pro- duce the most pleasing effeet. Fruit trees may be planted in the lawn, generally bordering the walks, as they should also in the garden, inter- A, the garden by B, and}, THE GARDEN: fering less with the crops, while their roots largely fill the land beneath the walk. TUN \\ A, House; B, Grove of Forest Trees; C, Front-entrance; D, Back-entrance; E, Sta- ble; F, Front Lawn. In Figure 3, we have another design for the location of a country or suburban residence, with the Jawn and other surroundings. In this arrangement, a goodly number of eyer- greens find a place in the lawn, as well as to the left of the main carriage-way. The view across the lawn should be left nearly unob- structed toward the most distant points, by planting small shrubs, Arrangement of Trees and Shrubs —In a yal- uable article on Rural Improvements, in the Register of Rural Affairs, by RopERT Morris COPELAND, it is correctly suggested that there is a mistaken tendency to overplant small places with trees, making too dense a shade, and preventing a proper proportion of other improvements. No paths, lawn, flower beds, or other decorations, will make up for badly selected or badly grouped trees and shrubs. As there is a great variety of flowering shrubs, and as they blossom at different seasons, more beautiful groups may be made with them than with larger trees. In large places, shrubs and low trees should fringe the plantations, and fill the curves and bends of paths, and be used to bring out peints or continue outlines, much as a lady develops her patterns in worsted work by a filling of some uniform color. THE LAWN, ETC. Trees and shrubs, Mr. CopELAND also sug- gests, are too often planted in rows and formal lines. Nature abhors stiffness and regularity ; every group or woodland edge which we ad- mire, will be found upon examination to be made up of mixed trees and shrubs which grow at various distances from each other. There will often be in a space of ten feet square, twenty varieties of shrubs, or half a dozen trees, and in the next ten feet, only one or two. By this irregularity the best natural effects are produced, and while we can never hope to imi- tate Nature perfectly, we may approach her if we will follow her methods. Yet GEORGE HUSMANN says it is a dangerous rival to the Norton for a wine grape, making altogether the black, sour, and _ worthless.’ best-red wine we yet have, resembling, but far surpassing, the best Burgundy. Delaware.—Very hardy, productive, and gen- erally free from disease; bunches small and compact; berries small, translucent, with a pink tinge, and very sweet and delicious, It should be planted on a rich, dry soil to do well, and requires high feeding. It is a rich grower, and ripens in different localities from the first to the end of September. Succeeds moderately well in the Northwest, and is popular in all sections of the country. Diana.—A red grape, a seedling from the Catawba; bunches large and compact; the thick skin of the fruit makes it eminently a grape to keep well till Spring, with very little trouble, and its peculiar musky flavor disap- pears after itis kept awhile. It is very pro- ductive, and ripens with the Concord, about fhe 20th of September; and keeps improving for nearly « month, if permitted to hang so late. When fully ripe, it is luscious. It should be planted on alight, dry, warm soil or sandy loam ; does poorly on heavy soils, and will not bear ma- nuring. Experience has proven that it is not well suited to the Northwest, as it is apt to winter-kill, and does not ripen evenly; yet in some localities, in Wisconsin, it has succeeded very well. The Diana improves in bearing with increased age. Elsinburgh.—A small black grape, with large and somewhat loose bunches, berries small, thin skin, a sweet, vinous flavor—excellent for the table. Too small for vineyard planting; as hardy as the Isabella, and ripens a few days before it. ’ / Golden Champion.—This is a grape culti- vated in Great Britain, and as yet not much known in this country; it appears destined to 278 hold about the same rank in that country that the Concord does in this. It is » white grape, and is remarkable for its wonderful size and exquisite flavor. The met a figure of it, by which a single berry measures full an | inch and three-eighths in diameter one way, and an ineh and five-eighths ‘another, justily- ing what is said of it—a “ magnificent berry.” Golden Clinton. —This is a seedling from the common Clinton; perfectly hardy; tree grower; and a great bearer. Ripe 15th of September ; skin thin; flesh very sweet and juicy, with no pulp. A nice white grape, and considerably cultivated in the State of New York. Hartford Prolific—A very productive bearer, hardy, and requires severe pruning, and check- ing of the young bearing canes in Summer, or the bunches will be loose and the fruit sHake off quite early. Has not generally succeeded well in the Northwest, the quality of the fruit being regarded as insipid; while in a milder region it proves a valuable table grape on ac- count of its early ripening qualities, being fit for market, as raised on the hill-sides near Cin- cinnati, as early as the fifth of August, and elsewhere about the Ist of September, the fruit being sweet, juicy, somewhat foxy in flavor—in quality only passably good. Herbemont.—Very prolific, bunches large, ber- “ries small; color dark purple; a late bearer; but while best adapted to the South, it ripens in the Ohio Valley, where it was many years since introdneed from South Carolina. It is generally unsuited for the Northern States.’ It is a fair table grape, but chiefly valuable for its wine properties. The bunches require to be properly thinned. Jona.—A seedling of the Catawba; bunches large and compact; berries large, round, semi- transparent when they begin to ripen, but grow- ing opaque as the color deepens, becoming dark- red when fully ripe, about the middle of Sep- tember; sweet brisk flavor, excellent, but not quite equal to the Delaware. It is hardy, and will sueceed where the Concord and Delaware will. It requires a dry situation, and in any soil approaching wet, muck, or rich peat, its roots are invariably unhealthy. In some sea- sons it has defoliated badly in portions of the Fast and West Tsubella—This is an old, well-known variety, now largely superseded by earlier and better sorts. It bears well, and the fruit is good. It is still enltivated in portions of the Northwest. It is liable to mildew, except when permitted to run into trees. FRUIT AND FRUIT TREES: Israella,—This is pronounced the best flavored of the early grapes. It is a valuable acquisi- tion to our varieties, combining earliness with good quality and great productiveness. It can be kept till Spring with little trouble. Ripens about September first, or same time as Hartford Prolific. Bunches large, compact, shouldered. Quality good. Hardy, and its thick skin give it a superiority for distant shipping, which will no doubt cause it to rank as our best early market grape when it becomes better known. Very desirable where it succeeds well; but in portions of the West its foliage has not been found able to withstand the attacks of the mil- dew, Ives’ Seedling.—Bunches large, and very pro- lific; vine hardy and free from disease; suc- cends well in the Ohio Valley; Dr. WARDER attributes to it vigor, health, and productive- It ripens early in September, and is con- sequently never injured by early frosts, E. A. THompson, of Hillside Vineyard, near Cin- cinnati, who has over sixteen acres of this variety, considers it the most profitable grape in cultivation. It received the LonewortH prize as the best wine grape for the whole country. Janesville—This is a new hardy variety, pro- duced at Janesville, Wisconsin, adapted to many localities, in the Northwest—ripening its wood and fruit well in Wisconsin, standing the Winter where the Concord and Delaware have failed; and though in quality its fruit can not be placed at the head, yet its great hardiness, and ripening in August, will be likely to ren- der it a valuable acquisition for the northern borders of our country. Josephine-—A seedling, raised by Dr. Hos- BINS, President of the Wisconsin Horticultural Society. It is a hardy, strong, vigorous grower, and bearer of good fruit; berry and bunch fair size, rather Isabella-like in shape and color. It is healthy, and promises well for the North- west. King.—Jostau SLATER, of Rochester, New York, represents this variety as very hardy; a free grower, and an abundant bearer; bunch and berry small to medium; berry round and black, good, with rather thick skin, which makes it a good keeper. Ripens last week in August— Mr. SuaTeR preserved a bunch, picked 2d of September till 16th of March, when they had become “pretty fair raisins.” Lenoir, or Louisville Seedling.—A black grape, healthy and vigorous, much cultivated in the South, suitable for wine; fruit medium to large, ness. GRAPES—VARIETY OF. ° 279 juicy, with little pulp; second quality; ripens’ of all, and commends the Miles and the Mot- middle of September. ' : tled to the grape growers of the North and Logan.—Vine of moderate growth, healthy, | West as hardy and desirable. and very hardy; only moderately productive;| Mottled.—As a table grape it is not equal to bunches medium, generally loose; berries full the Delaware, but it is very hardy, the fruit medium, oval, black, with little bloom, early ; excellent, and regarded as good for wine. sprightly, vinous, good flavor. Northern Muscadine.— Dr. Hopstns says: Longworth.—Described and recommended by | ‘‘ My vine, eight years old, has never done so Dr. WARDER as a new, very fine, small juicy} well as this year (1867). Its crop, excellent grape. has never been surpassed by any other variety. Lydia —A new variety raised by Mr. Car-|I think more and more of it every year. I eat PENTER, of Kelley’s Island, Lake Erie; a large more and more of its fruit every year, and I _white grape that promises well; of excellent can not help thinking that this vine is greatly quality, although not a heavy bearer. Toler-| underrated. I know its history; it is a lowly ably hardy; a supposed seedling of the Tsa-_ one. I know the opinion concerning it enter- bella, and ripens early, about with the Concord. tained by men called the best judges. Lyman.—Described and recommended by Dr.| also about its proneness to drop—‘the ripest Warper as a healthy, hardy, productive, and_ fruit first falls’—and its peculiar flavor, but all late grape. The vine is remarkably thrifty; this des not prevent me from speaking of it as fruit medium size, dark blue or black, and full) I find it, and I could strongly and confidently of sweet juice. recommend the general planting of it in Wis- Main.—The Magazine of Horticulture de- consin. The Concord was the abused grape, scribes the Main grape as three weeks earlier the Ngrthern Muscadine is now the abused; I than the Concord, but of a different variety ; am not afraid nor ashamed to predict its in- I know while others express the belief that it is identi-) cal with the Concord. The original vine at Concord, New Hampshire, produces five or six hundred pounds, annually, of fruit of a supe-| rior quality, Martha.—A seedling of the Concord, ripen- ing from six to ten days before the Concord ; i hardiness for the Northwest not yet sufficiently | tested. Bunches medium; berries large, round, | pale yellow; sweet, juicy, slightly foxy; qual- ity very good, most of the berries containing, only a single small seed. Hardy, healthy, a ftrong grower, and promises to be quite pro- ductive. ‘Taking hardiness,” says Dr. WAR-| DER, ‘“healthiness and all other good qualities into consideration, I regard it as of more value) than all the rest of the white grapes put to- gether.” It is, suys GrorcE W. CAMPBELL, the most valuable white grape yet introduced, and is emphatically a grape for the people; and the vine is just as healthy and hardy as the Concord, and will grow any and evérywhere that any grape will succeed. It gives much promise as a white wine grape, yielding a must or juice of great richness. Miles —Cuarwes Down1xe has brought this Variety into notice as one of really early ma- turtiy of fruit—ripe and sweet a week before. the Hartford Prolific. The fruit is not of large size or bunch, but the vine is hardy and productive; berries black, sweet, rather buttery, and good. F, R. ELiiorr says it ripens earliest -" | size; ts|in Missouri as one of the best and hoa reli- creasing reputation in Wisconsin.” The Gar- _dener’s Monthly also commends it very highly. Norton’s Virginia.—This is one of the Clin- ton sort, hardy, and free from disease, with small, very compact bunches; fruit of good auitable to the Southern region ; esteemed able wine grapes. Rebecca.—A sweet, good, white grape; pro- bably a seedling of the Isabella, but ripens about a week earlier; rather a shy bearer until it gets well established; vine is rather tender, and liable to sun-seald, yet has succeeded quite well as far north as central Wisconsin, protected by strong growing vines on either side. Rogers’ Hybrids.—E. S. Rocrrs, of Salem, Massachusetts, has, at the request of the Lake Shore Grape Growers’ Association, and other horticulturists, given distinctive names to the most approved varieties of his hybrid grapes. He thus describes, in Tilton’s Journal of Horti- culture for May, 1869, the twelve varieties which have been selected as most worthy of names : “ Gathe, No. 1.—Though this variety is per- haps more unique, and shows more of the chiar- acter of the European species than any of the other sorts, the vine is one of the hardiest, and very free from mildew. It produces large crops of beautiful clusters and berries, free from ‘rot or imperfection of any kind. The bunch is large, shouldered; berry large; in shape 280 long, oval, resembling the Malaga; of a yel- lowish-green toward the sun; skin thin; flesh tender and melting throughout, very sweet and delicious, with a pleasant and peeuliar aroma. This variety is so late as seldom to ripen here, but, as far south as Washington and St. Louis, is considered one of the most valuable. “ Massasoit, No. 3.—Bunch of medium size, rather short, with shoulder; berry of medium size; color red; flesh tender and sweet, with a slight trace of the native flavor when fully ripe, though not so much as to be at all objection- able, but, on the contrary, rather pleasant. As it is very early, this is one of the most valu- able for cultivation at the North. “ Wilder, No. 4.—Bunch large and showy, so much. resembling Black Hamburg as to be hardly distinguishable in appearance; berry globular, large; color black; flesh tender, with a slight pulp. The fruit ripens as early as, and frequently earlier, than the Concord, and can be kept a long time. It has become the most popular of all, and is one of the,most profitable for market purposes, its size and beauty being equalled by its vigor, hardiness, and productiveness. “Tindley, No. 9.—This, together with all those numbered from 5 to 14 inclusive, was hybrid- ized from the Chasselas; while the remaining numbers were fertilized with Black Hamburg. Vine of very vigorous growth, making rather long-jointed wood, but sometimes very fruitful. The foliage when young is of a reddish color. The bunch is long, compact; berries globular, reddish ; flavor sweet. It resembles the Grizzly Frontignac in appearance of bunch and flavor, and has scarcely a trace of pulp. It ripens| among the earliest. “ Gertner, No. 14.—Bunch above medium size; berry from medium to large; skin thin; color light red, with a pleasant aromatic flavor. The vine is productive, and the fruit ripens early. * Agawam, No. 15,—This variety has been here considered the highest flavored of the series. Bunch large, somewhat loose, should- ered; berry large, globular; skin thick, of a brownish-red color, like the Catawba; flesh tender and juicy, free from tough pulp; flavor very rich and pleasant, having a peculiar aro- ma, thought by some to resemble the Black Hamburg. The vine is the most vigorous of all, and very productive; but in unfavorable seasons and soils the fruit is somewhat inclined to rol. “ Merrimack, No. 19.—The bunch is gener- FRUIT AND FRUIT TREES: ally not as large as the majority of the black varieties; berry Jarge, globular; skin black; flavor sweet and rich. Ripens early, and is of uniformly good quality, even in unfavorable seasons, vine very vigorous, and a good bear- er. This may be classed among our best early grapes. “ Requa, No. 28.—Bunch large, shouldered ; berry of medium size, roundish; skin thinner than most of the collection; color red; flesh tender and sweet, having in some seasons a trace of the native flavor. “ Essex, No. 41.—Bunch of medium size, shouldered; berry somewhat flattened, in this respect resembling the native parent; flesh tender and sweet, with a high aromatie flavor, excelling on this point most of the black vari- eties. Ripens early. “ Barry, No. 43.—Bunch rather short, broad and compact; berries roundish to oval, much like Black Hamburg, in general appearance; flesh delicate, sweet, and tender; skin thin; colom black. Ripens as early as the Concord, and is one of the best black grapes. Vine very vigorous and productive. “ Herbert, No. 44.—Bunch rather long and loose; berry of medium size, round, or some- times oblate; flesh tender, sweet and rich. Early and productive. The Salem, or No. 53.—We append Mr. Rocers’ description of his Salem grape, named, as he says, from the place of its origin: ‘‘ This is a variety considered not only superior to any of the former well known numbers, but also to any hardy grape at present before the public, combining as nearly as possible every quality desired in an out-door grape, being one of the hardiest, healthiest, and most vigorous of vines, and producing enormous crops of beautiful and high-flavored fruit. “Like other well-known kinds, Nos. 4 and 15, this is a hybrid between a native and the Black Hamburg, bunch large and compact; berry large as Hamburg, of a light chestnut or Catawba color, thin skinned, perfectly free from hard pulp, very sweet and sprightly, with a most exquisite aromatic flavor ; not equalled by any other out-door grape for wine or table; as early and hardy as Delaware or Hartford, hay- ing never failed to ripen its fruit in the most unfavorable season, for the past six years: Taking all its qualities into consideration, ear- liness, hardiness, and great vigor of vine, size and quality of fruit, it is pronounced by the best judges who have tried it, to have no equal among all the numerous varieties now before GRAPES—BEST VARIETIES FOR DIFFERENT oTATES. 281 the public; and I can with confidence recom- mend it as the best of all my collection.” Mr. Rogers has never been considered by those who know him, as extravagant in his stulements, and this, after thorough testing, was his careful description of the Salem grape. It was said of these grapes, at the meeting of the Wisconsin Horticultural Society, in Febru- ary, 1869, that several of them are almost as sweet as the Delaware, and sweeter than the Concord, and begin to color about August 1dth; and that they keep beiter than any other grapes in that latitude—and that the Agawam, No. 15, | could be kept, it was believed, till April, as good as when gathered. It ripens ten days before the Concord. Scuppernong.—lIt was first brought into notice at Scuppernong, North Carolina, and is pecu- liarly adapted to Southern culture. Dr. War- DER has seen it grow vigorously as far north as Washington City, but rarely producing fruit. It is long-lived, never fails to bear, never mil- dews, never rots, and matures early in southern latitudes. It needs no pruning, nor training. The fruit is sweet. and refreshing, and is re- garded throughout the South as the Poor Mav's Friend. There are three varieties—white, black, and golden-hued. The vines at matur- ity yield from twelve to fitty bushels of grapes each, and from thirty-five to one hundred and fifty gallons of wine—a bushel of grapes ordi- narily making three gallous of wine. It has been estimated by Mr. VAN Buren, a Southern vine grower of experience, that one hundred vines, planted on three acres, will yield every year five thousand two hundred and fifty gal- Jons of wine, or one thousand seven hundred and fifty gallons per acre; while M. I. Srr- PHENSON says this estimate is entirely too low, that one hundred vines will yield twice as many gallons at ten years of age, and three or four times as much as they grow older. The celebrated chemist, Dr. Jackson, of Boston, analyzed thirty-eight of the best wine grapes of America, and says: ‘“Scuppernong wine may be made so fine as to excel all others made on this continent.” The White Scuppernong variety, says I. M. D. M1.uEr, makes a beautiful pale amber-col- ored wine; sweet, rich, luscious, fragrant, very pleasant, and everywhere the ladies’ favorite— so says the President of the Memphis and Little Rock Railroad, who has been familiar with it for many years. Mr. Bunrner, of North Car- olina, a celebrated vinist, says its eflervescing quality will render it the champagne grape of | heavier than the white variety. this continent. The Black Scuppernong makes a darker colored wine, somewhat stronger and A mixture of the two makes a wine superior to either. Colonel Rose took the premium in Georgia for this mixed wine. The third variety, ripen- ing much later, makes an exceedingly strong drink, which readily induces intoxication. Taylor's Bullitt—Originated in Kentucky; a rampant grower; productive in that latitude; fruit, medium size, pale, greenish-white, vinous, and of good quality. TYo-Ialon.—The To-Kualon is one of the finest grapes. When well ripened it is perfectly sweet and luscious, with a very agreeable aro- Flesh very delicate and tender, the seeds leaving it as freely as from any foreign variety. ma. Berries an inch in diameter; bunch large; color, dark amber, inclining to black; quite hardy ; strong grower; with peculiar beautiful The fruit subject to rot, yet succeeds in some localities. foliage, and moderate bearer. is Ungon Village—A splendid grape, as large as the Black Hamburg, showy and beautiful, resembling the Isabella, probably a seedling of that variety, and scarcely better in quality, though of nearly double the size, Bunches very large and compact; berries large, thin skin, covered with bloom, quite sweet, but not vich, very little pulp. Ripens early in Octo- ber. Vine a vigorous and coarse grower. Best Varieties for Different States.—The American Pomological Soci- ety, in 1868, proclaimed that, of the hardy varieties of grapes the Concord, the Delaware, Hartford Prolific, and Diana, are widely dif ‘used and approved. New Enyland.—Concord, Hartford Prolific, Delaware, Diana, Rogers’ Hybrids, Allen’s Hy- bridy Rebeeea, and others. In 1867, the Mar- tha, the Black Hawk, and the Clinton suffered least from mildew in Massachusetts, of all the grape varieties. New York.—A vote taken at a Fruit Grow- ers’ Society, recently, at Rochester, for the twelve best varieties—twelve varieties being voted for on one ballot, and thirty-eight votes being cast, resulted as follows, viz.: Diana, 38; Delaware, 37; Concord, 33; Iona, 31; Crevel- ing, 80; Adirondae, 26; Israella, 26; Rogers’ No. 4, 22; Isabella, 23; Rebecca, 26; Hartford Prolific, 27; Catawba, 13; Rogers’ No. 19, 15; Union Village, 7; Clinton, 7; Allen’s Hybrid, 6; Ives’ Seedling, 2; To-Kalon, Rogers’ No. 44, Rogers’ No. 39, Perkins, Maxatawney, Nor- 282 ton’s Seedling, Corielle, and Cuyahoga, one each. F. C. Brexm, the well-known Vineyardist of Waterloo, New York, furnishes the Rural New Yorker with the following dates of the full ripening of different varieties in 1868: Hartford Prolific and Israella, September 10th ; Creveling and Rogers’ Hybrid, No. 4, Septem- ber 16th to 20th; Delaware, Alien’s Hybrid, and Rebecca, September 20th to October Ist; Tona, about the same time; Concord, barely got ripe; Union Village, Diana, Catawba, Anna, and other late varieties failed to get ripe in consequence of the heavy frost of Oc- tober Ist. He adds that the Israella, Rogers’ Hybrid No. 4, and Creveling are varieties more particularly worthy of public favor, be- ing early, productive, and good shipping grapes, standing carriage well, and not drop- ping off, like the Hartford Prolific, or bursting open like the Concord. They are good in qual- ity and good keepers. They are hardy, except the Israella, which should be covered during Winter. Rogers No. 4 proves to be as hardy as the Concord, and as productive, while it is ear- lier and of much better quality. The lateness of the past season prevented the Diana from ripening fully—were it ten days earlier, it would be preferred to any other. New Jersey and Pennsylvania.—Concord, Dela- ware, Diana, Hartford Prolific, Rogers’ Hy- brids, Martha, Creveling, Elsingburgh, Maxa- tawney, and others, Ohio.—Concord, Delaware, Creveling, Cataw- ba, Iona, Black Hawk, Hartford Prolific, Ives’ Seedling, Diana, Rogers’ Hybrids, Martha, Isa- bella, Mottled, and others, Indiana —The Hartford Prolific, as every- where in the West, appears to be conspicuous as an early, hardy, and reliable grape. Ives’ Seedling is reported to be rather a slow grower, but a great bearer. Rogers’ No. 9, and fona, are said to be aboutof equal value. . The Con- cord and Delaware both succeed finely. Iilinois.—Concord, Delaware, Hartford Pro- lifie, Creveling, Diana, Catawba, Isabella, Clin- ton Improved, Perkins, Blood’s Black, Ives’ Christine, Dracut, Amber, Martha, and Ives’ Seedling. Grapes sold in Chicago, during 1868, at from fifteen to twenty-five cents a pound. Missouri.—Concord, Hartford Prolific, Nor- ton’s Virginia, Ives’ Seedling, Delaware, Clin- ton, Taylor, Northern Muscadine, Arkansas, Herbemont, Catawba, and others. Kansas.—A correspondent of the Prairie FRUIT AND FRUIT TREES: Farmer, residing at Fort Scott, Kansas, says that most kinds of fruit succeed well in that region. The Concord, Iona, Delaware, Isabella, Rebecca, Catawba, Allen’s Hybrid, and others, all remained through the Winter of 1867-8, on the trellis where they grew, without any pro- tection, They occupied three-fourths of an acre, and not one vine was injured by frost, norin any other way—no mildew—and all bore good crops and ripened well. The owner, after keeping what he wanted for his own use, sold over seven hundred dollars’ worth, The soil is underlaid with limestone. Kentueky.— Delaware, Clinton, Hartford Pro- litic, Logan, Venango, Concord, Diana, Elsing- burgh, Catawba, Lyman, Taylor’s Bullitt, Golden Clinton, Marion Port, Anna, Alexan- der, and others. The Northwest.—Concord, Delaware, Hart- ford Protific, Northern Muscadine, Creveling, some of Rogers’ Hybrids, Isabella, Josephine, Janesville, and others; require to be laid down in October or November with a covering of two or three inches of dirt, by which fine crops of luscious grapes will be secured. They require a warm exposure, moderately deep preparation of soil, no manure, good underdrainage, and protection from southwest winds. Mr. GREENMAN, in an able Essay on Grape Culture, read before the Wisconsin Horticult- ural Society, in February, 1869, observed: “The selection of varieties, especially in the North- west, is an important matter, This will depend more upon the location than the soil, as the ag- gregate amount of heat differs materially in the same latitude, and their adaptability, ean only be approximated by a close observation of the amount of heat required by the different varieties, to bring them to pertection, From observations taken at Waterloo, New York, in 1862, and reported in the Horticulturist, I find that it requires an average of 53° of Fahren- heit to bring the Delaware to leafting, which oecurs about the middle of May, and an aver- age temperature of 59° for a period of jorty- five days, or a total of 2678° Fahrenheit trom the breaking of the leaves to the se ting of the fruit; and requires a period o1 122 days, with an average of 68°, or an aggregate temperaiure of 7927° jrom leating to the ripening of its fruit; while the Concord requires about 500° more than the Delaware, to bring it to periection; and the Isabella needs 10,000°, while the Ca- tawba can not do with less than 11,000°, and requires about 142 days from leafing to ripen- ing. At Janesville, Wisconsin, for a period of GRAPES—GRAPE WINE six years, the Summer mean temperature ay- eraged 71° Fahrenheit, and at Prairie du Chien, for nineteen years, the Summer mean corres- ponds to 72° Fahrenheit, while at Green Bay, for four years, the Summer average was 68°. From this I conclude that the Delaware and Coneord may be safely planted in southern Wisconsin, and that the Delaware will ripen at Green Bay; while near large bodies of water, or on high altitudes, where the September mean temperature extends into October, without in- tervening frosts, the Isabella, Catawba, Tona, and some of Rogers’ Hybrids, with other late ripening’ varieties, will succeed. I therefore further conelude, that no varieties should be extensively planted, that requires an aggregate Summer temperature of over 8,000° Fahrenheit, while near lakes, as at Madison, Wisconsin, or on the bluffs along the Mississippi, or near Baraboo, Wisconsin, the late ripening varieties may be planted with expectations of success.” The South and Southwest.—Dr. P. J. BERCK- MANS, of Augusta, Georgia, the highest au- thority in the South on grape culture, speaks highly in favor of the Scuppernong, indigen- ots to the country, which thrives healthily on hill or bottom, requiring no experienced hand to trim it. Its capacity of production is fabu- lous, when compared with other vineyard va- rieties. Instances of a single vine covering one acre of ground are numerous, and sixty barrels of wine its product in a single season. These are exceptions which vine growers must not all expect to realize. But they are merely given as an evidence of wonderful fertility. The next best wine grape for the South is the Clinton, which though of Northern origin, improves as it is carried southward—it is prolific, and makes a heavy-bodied claret. Other wine varieties are coming into notice, among them the “Tres Seedling.” Our good table grapes, says Mr. BeRcKMANS, are becoming numerous. “First comes the Delaware, which seems to thrive everywhere South. The Isarella bids fair to excel the Delaware; its quality is superior to any of its class; so far it has not decayed, although, from the short time since its introduction South, we can not decide, but we have decided in opinion as to its ultimate behavior; still, two years’ fruiting, during which it bore perfectly sound crops, and this during a period when many other varieties, of like recent introduction, de- cayed, is a fair beginning, and likely to end well. The Hartford Prolific is as yet our best _very early grape. Asa profitable market fruit, 283 The bunches and ber- ries are large, of fine appearance, fair quality, and stand carrying to market better than any other variety. It is not so liable to drop its ber- ries as in Northern States. Its earliness will always make it command a high price. The Miles is better in quality, fully as early, but not so fine in appearance.” it stands first in order. Grape Wine.—JEFFERSON recorded his opinion, that ‘ is drunken where wine is cheap; and none sober where the dear- ness of wine substitutes ardent spirits as the common beverage.” ‘no nation For its excessive use, or for the excessive use of tea and coffee, and their consequent deleterious effects, there can be no justification, Pure wines, and similar diffusive stimulants, are frequently employed for medi- cinal purposes, and it is wiser to have them produced by well-known wine growers in our own country, than to have the villainous com- pounded poisons which so often find their way to the bedside of the sick. Says F. R. Evuiorr: “In the-older portions of the Union, North and South, East and West, the grape is destined to play an important part in contributing to the food of man and promot- ing his general health, and in forming a mod- erately stimulating drfik as a tonic beverage, for let us say what we will, man ever has and ever will have some stimulus to replace the ex- hausted energies of the system caused by a se- vere practice of physical labor. I have no disposition to take up a discussion on the ad- vantage or evils of the practice, I only speak of it as one of early origin and continued use, and with no probability of being abandoned. So viewing it, and looking to its continuance, I prefer wine of the grape to whisky of the corn, and therefore would advise the planting of such varieties, as, while contributing ef their fruits for eating, to the pleasure and health of all men, may furnish a surplus to be made into a wine which shall stimulate but not easily intoxicate.” Atthe meeting of the Massachusetts A gricul- tural Society. in December, 1867, Professor AGassiz said: “I was born, and have lived two-thirds of my life in a grape-growing coun- try, and I feel deeply interested in the question, how the grape shall be grown here success- fully. But I think it can not be grown with perfect success until a prejudice which exists throughout the whole country is overcome It is because I know that it is a prejudice that I would openly speak about it. Wine growing 284 FRUIT AND countries are the regions where temperance prevails; where there is no drunkenness. They are countries where the traveler is helped to a glass of wine to warm‘and strengthen him} they are countries where the clergyman holds it to be an act of charity to give a glass of wine That is the charac- ter of wine-growing countries. Here, the use of wine is considered a sin, and men who use it are considered men not deserving to be in the company of gentlemen. Now, I will say, that before [ came to this country, now twenty years ago, I had never taken a glass of water over a meal in my life; and I will say another thing, that as long as I have lived, and I am sixty, I have never been flushed by the use of wine; I will not speak of drunkenness, I know that my mother gave her children—myself among the rest—wine as soon as they were weaned, and I know that I have done the same But, gentlemen, until to him who needs comfort. with my own children. you have overeome the prejudice which exists throughout the country against the use of the pure juice ofsthe grape, as a daily beverage, you will never bring the cultivation of the grape to its right foundation, and you will not receive from that crop the return you are en- titled to obtain. In countries where the grape is cultivated as the prinéipal crop, the product from the sale of the grape is not the chief re- ward for the culture, it is the wine; and you will not be thoroughly successful, you will not have that variety of grape, you will not have those diversified modes of cultivation, which will secure its production on a large scale, until you have introduced the use of wine as a daily beverage in every household, and as the most wholesome beverage that can be added to any other manufactured article of food.” In DrEnNMAN’s work, on the Vine and its Uses, there are abundant quotations from emi- nent travelers, physicians, and others, in wine- growing countries, all going to prove that where the vine is found in most abundance, there is no intemperance; that the people are healthy, temperate, thrifty, and cheerful. E. W. But, of Massachusetts, says: “A clerzyman of this State, who passed two years in France for his health, going all over it, for the most part on foot, told me that in all the wine districts he found temperance, but the moment he got into those districts where the grape could not be grown, where they drank beer and brandy distilled from the potato, and from beet-waste, there he found intemperance immediately. And that is the uniyersal testi- FRUIT TREES: Now, all the world will have stimu- lants, for necessities; for debility arising from sickness or age, or that form of disease—if it mony. is a disease—dyspepsia, where you can not digest your food. Physicians prescribe stimu- lants, and until an abundant supply of wine is made, these noxious drinks will be used. It seems to me that it is not only better for us to use wine, but better for the cause of temper- ance. Since it is certain that stimulants must be had, it would seem to be wise to supplant those which we have, which lead to intoxica- tion, and have a wholly different effect upon the system from pure domestic wines, by wines made in our own land. They will be light. Wine can not be transported unless it is strong, and therefore the foreign wines are strong.’”’ According to Mr, Husmann, of Missouri, although the Catawba, Clinton, Isabella, Con- cord, and many other varieties, begin to color pretty early in the season in the Northern States, yet they are seldom permitted to hang on the vine long enough, on account of the early frosts of Autumn, for the acid center of the fruit to dissolve, and fully mature for good wine. “The longer a grape hangs on the vine the more its watery substance evaporates, the acid diminishes, and the sugar increases. Much of the Catawba, Clinton, and Isabella wine made at the North and East, wanting in this maturity, has an unripe taste, and but little flavor. They should, in those sections, confine themselves to such early ripening varieties as the Delaware, Creveling, and the Massasoit, or Rogers’ No. 3, from which, I am sure, they can produce good wine.” Inasmuch as the temperate zones of Europe produce the most highly-flavored wines—the fine German and French wines, for their deli- cate fragrance, are the universal favorites of the civilized world—henee Mr. HusMANN sets forth that the same rule seems to apply to this country; that he has not found the California wines of really fine flavor; that while the hot and arid climate of California and Mexico may yield a great quantity, yet in quality they can not compete with the West—Missouri, Illi- nois, Arkansas, and perhaps parts of Indiana and Ohio, which alone are destined to produce the wines that will be the pride and boast of the nation. With healthy varieties, which will yield a certain return every year, we can make wine so cheap that it will become the beverage of the masses. If we can count upon 1,000 gal- lons to the acre per year, we can much better _ GRAPES—GRAPE WINE afford to sell that wine at fifty to seventy-five cents per gallon, than we can sell wine of a variety which yields but 250 gallons at $1 50. The labor is nearly the same, and the capital it yields is. larger. We want good wines for the laboring classes at low figures, and of these we should grow the greatest bulk. North and South, East and West, ours is destined to become an immense wine-producing | country; and this is especially true of California aud the Western and Southern States. The best varieties of European wine-producing grapes are being planted in California, and succeed well— such as the White Malaga, Black Prince, Black Hamburg, Muscat of Alexandria, Black Zin- findel, Red Traminer, Verdelho, Golden Chas- selas, Royal Muscadine, White Nice, and others. Not only will California and the Western States be able to supply the home demand for good wires, but they will, in time, come in vigorous competition with the wines of Europe in many foreign markets. At the great Paris Exposi- tion, when the Foreign Commissioners exam- ined specimens of wines made in our Western States, they had the liberality and honesty to say, “If you can raise such grapes and make such wines in your country, you want none from us.” The census of 1860 shows that over 1,600,000 gallons of native wine were then made in this country -—fully twelve times as much as was made in 1840. It is said that the Buena Vista vineyard, in Sonoma county, California, is the largest in this country, if not in the world—con- taining 6,000 acres, with 722,000 vines planted previous to 1865, and 75,000 additional ones in 1866. The yield of that vineyard in 1865 was 42,000 gallons of still wine, 60,000 bottles of sparkling wine, and 12,000 gallons of brandy. In that State about 1,000 vines are planted to the acre, and after four years these vines yield five to six hundred gallons—while one hundred and seventy-five gallons to the acre are the aver- age annual product of the German States and France; and that of Italy four hundred and fifty gallons. The total yield of California in 1866, was, in round numbers, over three millions of gallons, the aggregate value of which was fully $10,000,000 ; while the planting of vineyards is going on at the rate of at least three millions of cuttings per year, and the wine product of that State will, it is estimated, in 1876, exceed in value that of wheat and all other cereals com- bined. Large quantities of wine are made from the native Mustang grape’in Texas; and from the Scuppernong, Clinton, and other |grapes in other portions of the South; 285 from the Catawba, Concord, Ives Seedling, Dela- ware, and others, in the Ohio Valley, Lake Erie region, Missouri, and Iowa. To make good wine, grapes must have the requisite quantity of saccharine matter, with its acid accompaniment, in a finely elaborated form; in the extreme North, where the grape does not properly ripen, good wine can not be secured—in the tropics, the grapes contain too much sugar for the purpose. Tests made in the Sandusky region in 1867 show that the must, or juice of the grape, increased ten per cent. for wine purposes, from the 15th of Octo- ber to the 15th of November. At the meeting of the Lake Shore Grape Growers’ Association, at Cleveland, in Febru- ary, 1868, a committee reported as follows on tests of grape musts: “N. LonGwortH says: ‘TI would sooner pay seventy-five cents per gal- lon for faust weighing 95, than five cents per gallon for must that only weighs 75.’ He considered the percentage of must the great desideratum of grape growers who wished to make good wine. We certainly should admit the force of his argument until it is proven io the contrary. Our tests have been made with care, and we hope the following report will be of interest to you all: When Pressed. DELAWARE. Oct. 165—JoHn Hoyt, City fi tos EORGE Leick, Buclid Ri ge over Bay Wine Company 19— ORD, East Cleveland... 21—Dr. Dunnam, Euclid Rid CONCORD. Oct. 19—Forp, East Cleveland 78 | 17.08 | 4 21—Dover Bay Wine Co... 80 | 18.03 | 3% 21—Dr. DunuaMm, Euclid 841 19.04 | 3/2 ISABELLA, Oct. 2I—Dover Bay Wine Co 92 | 21.04 | 5 2I—ATWELL, Dover Bay 76 | 17.02 | 634 CATAWBA. Nov. 1—Dover Bay Wine Co 95 | 22.02 | 5 —Boyp, Avon Point 2 | 21.04 | 54g 11I—D. Newron, Catay 93 | 21.07 | 548 12—Dr Dunn AM, Euclid Ridge. 100 | 23.04 | 434 12—Gronce Leicx, Euclid Rid 101 | 23.07 | 444 12—Forp, Eust Cleveland 3 | 21,07 | 6 CLINTON, Nov.12—Dover Bay Wine Co... 101 | 23.07 | 6 DIANA. Nov. 9—Dover Bay Wine Co... 91 | 21.02 | 6 12—Forp, East Cleveland 96 | 22.05 | 68 NORTON’S VIRGINIA. Oct. 26—JOHN Hoyt, City...........-c0cses-sseee 97 | 22.07 | 6 Novy. 1—Grorcr Leck, Weiciiil Ridge... 99 | 23,02 | 434 IVES. NOV 5,1 DO ver BBY ICO: -ciccesvecsessiecsacjestsorse 87 | 20.02 | 514 While such facts as these, showing the rela- tive saccharine and acid properties of the dif- ferent kinds of grapes, are important, it is also 286 important to approximate the quantity of wine| that can be produced from the grapes grown upon an acre. It would be difficult to cite an- other case like the single Scuppernong, cover- ing an acre, from which sixty barrels, or eight- een hundred and sixty gallons, of wine are said | to have been made in a single year; yet we have the good authority of A. E. Tompson, of Lillside Vineyard, near Cincinnati, who has, sixty acves of vines, that the Concord will yield from eight to ten hundred gallons to the acre; Ives’ Seedling from five to seven hundred gal- lons; and the Delaware from three to four) hundred gallons. The wine product of three acres of IvEs’ Seedling and the Delaware, sold at four dollars and twenty-five cents per gallon, at Cincinnati, or over twothousand dollars per acre. The following recommendation was made by Drs. J. A. WArprrR and H. ScurorpeEr, at the Illinois Horticultural Society, in 1862: “We beg leave to present tlre followirf list of grapes for the preparation of wine without sugar—except in Northern latitudes, if abso- lutely needed: Catawba, for White Wine, of high flavor. Delaware, for White Wine, of very delicate and delicious character. Herbemont, for White and Red Wine, of high character. Norton’s Virginia, for abundance of a very rich Red Wine. Clinton, for abundant dark Red Wine, of great promise. Concord, for a Red Wine in great quantity, and of fair quality—promising very well. Grorce HusmMany, of Missouri, gives the | specific gravity of the must, from the following different varieties of grapes, according to the Must Scale; and, it may be added, that from seventy to one hundred degrees, varied by the season and kind of grapes, is a very good must, and will make excellent wine, if rightly han- dled during the fermenting process, and atter- treatment : Arkansas.—Closely resembles the Cynthiana, and will make superior wine. Brown.—Makes a red, light, but pleasant wine. Cassady.—Must, 95 to 105; a delightful wine, of pale straw color, great body, and exquisite flavor; the best purely white American wine I have yet tasted—equal to the best Hock wines, if not superior. As this variety has considera- ble acidity, about a gallon of water and two pounds of best crushed sugar should be added to each pailful of mashed grapes. FRUIT AND FRUIT TREES: Catawbu.—Must varies from 75 to 95, accord- ing to season; makes a good still wine, resem- bling Hock, but with strong native flavor, and a good deal of astringency. The best method is to add to the gripes, after they have been mashed, about one-third water—that is, fifty gallons of water to one hundred gallons of juice, and at the rate of two pounds best crushed sugar to a gallon of water—il the grapes be very ripe, add Jess; if very unripe ,and acid, add more sugar and water, Clinton.—This grape contains a great amount It needs water and sugar, about like the Catawba; it will make very good claret, with a peculiar frost-grape flavor, which many like. Specilic gravity 98 to 105. Concord.—Must 78 to 90; makes a very agree- able light wine, of a brilliant color. It very nearly resembles some of the Hungarian red wines, and has become a universal favorite. The best wine is made from it by adding one- third water, and sugar, as in the case of the Catawba and Clinton, making a light red wine of pleasant strawberry flavor, which will much improve by age. This wine can be produced so cheap that it may become the laboring man’s drink, in place of whisky and beer; it is very palatable, and imparts a peculiar invigorating effect upon the system, Creveling—A small sample made of this grape has given mea very high opinion of its quality for wine, It supplies a want long felt among the wine-drinking public of a wine in- termediate between the Concord and Norton, land of more delicate flavor. It resembles the choice clarets of France, with perhaps not so much astringency. Ido not think this needs any manipulation to produce a good wine. Specifie gravity 88. Cunningham.—Must 100 to :12; makes a del- icate wine, which often remains sweet after fer- mentation; it is a heavy, spicy, fragrant wine, of a dark yellow color, which many prefer to the Delaware. One-third addition of water, with sugar, will, I think, improve it. Cynthiana, or "Red River.—Must 110 to 125; it closely resembles Norton’s Virginia; wine not quite so dark; it is of the same or even greater body, delightful aroma, spicy, and much smoother than the Norton—and altogether the best red wine produced in the country. Delaware—The must of this grape is gener- ally so rich, and the proportions so evenly bal- anced, that it will make a first class wine, of great body and fine flavor, without manipula- of acidity, and also a great deal of sugar. GRAPES-—GRAPE WINES. tion or addition. It is, perhaps, the perfection of the Hock or Rhenish wine type among our natives, and will compare with any of the im- ported wines, if well and carefully made. Must 105 to 120. Diana.—Said to make very fine wine; never tried it. ; Gathe, or Rogers’ Hybrid No. 1.—This makes an excellent white wine here, where it fully ripens, although at the East it would hardly do so. It has a good deal of flavor, a good deal of pulp and acidity, and therefore needs Gallizing about like the Cassady. If thus managed, it makes one of the finest wines we have, of very delicate flavor, smooth and rich. As it is also very productive and healthy, it will become a very popular wine grape here. Specific gravity, 78. Hartford Prolific.—This, if well made, resem- bles the Concord closely, and though hardly a true wine grape, can still be made into wine advantageously where the fruit can not be mar- keted well. It may be treated like the Concord, and will then make a fair red wine. Herbemont.—Must, about 90; makes a very deligate white wine, if the grapes are pressed without being mashed; and the pure juice, if treated in this way, more nearly resembles a delicate Rhenish wine than any other we may have; it has a good deal of body, and is aro- mitic and spicy. Isubella.—Makes only an apology for wine. Ives’ Seedling.—I can not speak from experi- ence in regard to this variety, as I have never made wine from it; and although I have tasted a good many samples made in Ohio, I have been unabie to accord it the high rank our Ohio friends claim for it. It has a pleasant flavor, but a great deal of acidity and harsh- ness, an unripe taste, if I may so express my- self, which is not at all pleasant to me. Per- haps by Gallizing judiciously—that is, adding sugar and water—a better wine may be made from it than I have yet seen. So far, I can see nothing in it which should induce me to prefer it to good Concord, and it certainly does not produce as much per acre, from all I ean learn. Lenoir.—Must, 95 to 105; makes a fine, brill- iant red wine, of great body, and Madeira flavor. Lindley, or Rogers’ Hybrid No. 9.—This also makes an excellent wine; does not, perhaps, need Gallizing to the same extent as the Geethe, but an addition of one-third will much improve it. It is an excellent substitute for the Cataw- ba, and, as it is healthy and hardy and very 287 productive, it will, doubtless, soon take its place, Specific gravity, 80. Louisana.—Must, 95 to 105; makes an ex- cellent pale, red wine, very heavy, with a -de- lightful aroma, Martha.—This is, perhaps, our most valuable grape for white wine, as the vine has all the good qualities of its parent, the Concord, and makes a delightiul white wine of fine flavor and good body. It seems to succeed every- where, and would make a fair wine, even far- ther north, as it ripens early. Should be Gal- lized one-half. Specific gravity, 92. The first wine made of it last Fall has far surpassed my expectitions, and as it is very productive it will soon become one of our leading wine grapes. Maxatawney.—But little wine has been made of this, our best healthy out-door grape of white or rather amber color, What little I have made leads me to the belief that it will make a very delicate white wine, without Gullizing, and as it seems very productive, and ripens thoroughly here, it will, no doubt, be largely planted for that purpose. Specific gravity, 82. North Carolina Seedling—This is another very decided native, which may perhaps prop- erly be called Muscatel. It has a tough, acid pulp, and strong flavor; but will, if Gallized one-half, make a wine which has met with uni- versal favor and brings a high price in market. It is very healthy, a strong grower, and im- mensly productive. Specific gravity, 84. Norton's Virginia—This wine has already acquired a world-wide reputation, and is, no doubt, the best wine for medicinal purposes we now have. The juice, when fully matured, will safely bear comparison with the best Port, having the adyantage over the latter that it has no addition of alcohol. It is the great remedy here ior dysentery, and diseases of the bowels, and even cases of cholera have been cured with it. It is of a dark color, resembling Burgundy, and improves with age. Specific gravity of must, 100 to 120. Oporto.—Not favorabiy impressed by it; think the Clinton is better. Rulander.—This is not the German grape of that class, but as I think a Southern variety, closely related to the Herbemont and Cunning- ham. It makes a pale red, or rather brownish wine, of great body and fine flavor; should be about one-third Gallized. It resembles Hoek. Specific gravity, 100 to 110. Taylors Bullitt—Must, 90 to 100; makes an excellent white wine, which by many is pre- ferred to the Delaware, but is rather unpro- 288 ductive. It may be treated in the same man- ner as the Delaware, having the same body, but a different flavor.” At the Golden Bluff Vineyards of A. H. & G. B. WortHen, Hancock county, Illinois, October 1, 1866, the following specifie gravity of must was tested; Delaware, 100; Clinton, 96; Taylor’s Bullitt, 90; Catawba, 86; Con- cord, 83; Oporto, 73; and Isabella, 72. At a recent New York State Fair at Buffalo, while the best out of a dozen samples of Ca- tawba marked 88, three specimens of Jona reached respectively, 88, 90, 92; while five samples of Delaware ranged from 87 to 103. The Alcohol of Wines.—Wine caleulated for daily use should not contain more than from 8 to 12 per cent. of alcohol (spirit of wine), nor over 5 to 6 per cent. of acid; and as one out of two parts of sugar is converted by fermentation to alcohol, 100 parts of the must of the grape should contain from 5 to 6 parts of acid, from 16 to 24 parts of sugar, and from 70 to 79 parts of water. Many persons erroneously suppose that such domestic wines as are made from currants, gooseberries, or elderberries, are very innocent as compared with pure grape wines. We give the following statement of the amount of aleohol contained in several vinous and other drinks—varying somewhat in different speci- mens, yet giving very nearly the average: Cur- rant wine, 20 per cent. alcohol; porter, 23; champagne, 12; gooseberry wine, 12; elder- berry, 9; cider, 73; ale, 7; and the lighest Rhine wines, 43. How to Make Wimne.—W. 0. Hickox, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, than whom per- haps no person is better qualified to speak on this matter, gives the following method, which is only designed for home manufacture: ‘“ Pick the grapes off the stems when fully ripe, re- jecting the bad ones. Pass them through the wine-mill to tear open the skins, but not to bruise the pulp. Press moderately, then get all that remains in the must from which to make brandy or an inferior sour wine. Strain and fill into clean barrels; then insert a bent tube tight in the bung, and let the lower (outside) end rest under the surface of water ina bucket, so that while all the gas shall escape, the air will not get into the wine. When it has done fermenting, rack it off into clean barrels, bung it up, and set it ina cool place—bottle it in a few months. The great secret of making good wine is to select only the best grapes, and not press out the sour portion of the pulp. Noth- * FRUIT AND FRUIT TREES: ing is here said about the numerous mixtures of water, sugar, and grape juice, which are fre- quently concocted, and sold under the name of wine, but only of the pure juice of the grape, properly fermented. Dr. J. A. WARDER, chairman of a commit- tee, reported at the Ohio Pomological Society, in 1866: “The grape is par excellence the wine fruit, and the rhubarb is as emphatically not what it has been called, a wine plant, and we hope never to be called upon to examine specimens of its preparations, miscalled wines. We are more than ever conyinced of the abso- lute necessity of having our grapes perfectly ripened before making them into wine. We recommend the greatest attention being paid to perfect cleanliness in all the operations. We also wish to express our objection to the prae- tice of using any foreign ingredients in the preparation of wines from our grapes. We think the grapes should themselves furnish suf- ficient sugar to make them strong enough; and that we should not aim to make strong wines, but rather light ‘ones, with spirit enough to keep them from acetous fermentation. Hence, all wine makers are encouraged to prepare these fluids in their perfect purity.” On the other hand, Mr. HusMAnw thus adyo- cates the process of using sugar and water to deficient must: “Shall the must be left as na- ture gave it, or shall sugar and water be added? This question has of late called forth a good deal of disenssion; one party claiming that na- ture makes the wine, and the juice of the grape should be left just as nature gives it, without any manipulation or addition whatever. Tlfe other, that nature furnishes the raw material, but that wine is an artificial product, which requires all the skill, guided by reason, of which the maker is capable. “The latter is evidently the most reasonable My ideas about this question may be given in a very few words. If nature furnishes me with the grapes, which I intend to make into wine, a juice which contains everything to make first-class wine, in the right proportions, I shall leave it so, on the principle, ‘let well enough alone;’ but if I think there are deficien- cies which can be supplied by adding to that which is already in the must, but not in suffi- cient quantity, I shall do so, as my reason was given me by an All-wise Creator for the pur- pose of using it to the best advantage. All grape juice contains, in larger or smaller proportions, sugar, water, free acids, tannin, gum-coloring matter, and fragrant, or flavoring substances. view. GRAPES—HOW A good wine should contain all these ingredients in due proportions, The saccharometer will show me the amount of sugar contained in the must; the acidimeter, the amount of acid it contains. If I find that the must does not con- tain sugar enough, and an exeess of acid, what can be more natural than to add the sugar, and to dilute the acid by adding water? Both are ingredients of the grape; where, then, can be the harm of adding them, until the proportion is attained? But this is not all. Many of our native grapes contain an excess of aroma as well as an excess of acid. If, by a proper man- ipulation, this also can be toned down, so as to be pleasant instead of offensive, it is an im- provement, not an adulteration, and such a wine is certainly pure, and more wholesome than the simple juice of the grape, with its ex- cess of acid, tannin, and aroma, would have been. “Let not the reader.misunderstand my posi- tion. We can only make the best wine in the best seasons. We can add sugar to the product of poor seasons, and dilute the acid by water so as to bring the must to its normal alcoholic standard; we can thus always produce a pleas- ant and drinkable wine, but the exquisite flavor developed in the grape, in the best seasons, we can not make.” The successful manufacture of grape wine on a large scale is an art not easily described, and not acquired in a single season. Grapes have different qualities — varying, more or less, in different localities, and different seasons—and hence, require different treatment to convert them into the best wine they are capable of making. Hence, general rules only can be of any material service; an experienced eye, and nicely discriminating taste and judgment, will be in constant requisition from the gathering of the grapes, separating, mashing, fermenting, barrelling, and bottling, to its final ripening in the cellar. Mr. Husmawn has described these several processes in detail in his work on “Grapes and Wine.” A Grape Grower’s Maxims.— ANDREW S. FuL- LER, an eminent horticulturist, and author of The Grape Culturist, furnishes these practical maxims, with which we appropriately close the subject of grape culture: 1. Prepare the ground in the Fall—plant in the Spring. 2. Dig deep, but plant shallow. 3. Give the vine plenty of manure, old and well decomposed; for fresh manure excites the growth, but does not mature it. 19 TO MAKE WINE—STRAWBERRIES. 289 4. Luxuriant growth does not always insure fruit. 5. Young vines produce beautiful fruit, but old ones produce the richest. 6. Prune in Autumn to insure growth, but in the Spring to promote fruitfulness. 7. Plant your vines before you put up trellises. 8. Vines, like soldiers, should haye good arms. 9. Prune spurs to one developed bud, for the nearer the old wood the higher flavored the fruit. 10. Prune short, or learn how to climb. 11. Vine leaves love the sun, the fruit the shade. 12. Every leaf has a bud at its base, and either a bunch of fruit or a tendril opposite to it. 13. A tendril is an abortive fruit bunch—a bunch of fruit a productive tendril. 14. A bunch of grapes, without a healthy leaf opposite, is like a ship at sea without a rudder—it can’t come to port. 15, Laterals are like politicians; checked, they are the worst of thieves. 16. The earliest grape will keep the longest, for that which is fully matured is easily pre- served. 17. Grape eaters are long livers. 18. He who buys the new and untried yarie- ties should remember that the seller’s maxim is, let the buyer look out for himself. if not Strawberries.—This is the only fruit which grows in every clime. IsAAc WALTON said: “‘ Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did.’ Mr. Downine says: “The strawberry is perhaps the most wholesome of all fruits, being easy of digestion, and never growing acid by fermenta- tion, »s most other fruits do. The oft-quoted instance of the great Liynxus curing him- self of the gout by partaking freely of straw- berries—a proof of their great wholesomeness— is a letter of credit which this tempting fruit has long enjoyed, for the consolation of those who are looking for a bitter concealed under every sweet.” April and September are the two months in the year in which strawberries are usually set out, as may best suit the convenience of the planter. If set in the Spring, the blossoms should all be picked off the first season to prevent the plants from exhausting themselves. Choose a deep, rich spot, moist but not wet, and have, if possible, a northern exposure; for 290 strawberries, while ripening require an im- mense amount of water, and early frosts effect less damage on northward slopes. Some strawberry growers recommend the old plan of planting in beds, in rows a foot or fif- teen inches apari, and setting the plants twelve inches from each other in the rows; some con- tend that the rows should be two feet apart; and others, still, advocate putting them three fect apart, and the plants two feet asunder in the rows. The plan of a strawberry bed, and its treat- ment, for many years most successfully tried by Dr. JoserpH Hosgsrys, at Madison, Wisconsin, is worthy of imitation. His plan is to dig a trench two feet deep, for the dry climate of the Northwest, and as Jarge as may be desired. Place in the bottom a layer of some five or six inches of well-rotted, rich manure; then put on the top soil, and fill up to the top with the subsoil dug from the bottom of the trench. | Place in this the strawberry plants not less than eighteen inches apart both ways. Dress the bed twice, during the Fall between the rows, with a coating of wood ashes; and for Winter covering, put on an inch anda half of straw, with long sticks to keep it from blowing off— thus giving proper ventilation, and not heating and destroying the plants, as a heavy litter or manure covering is apt todo. This straw may be removed from the plants in the Spring, and leit as a mulch between the rows during the Summer. Or, what is much neater, rake off the straw in the Spring, and substitute as a mulch between the rows the first cutting of grass from your lawn, two inches deep, which not only serves as a mulch, but keeps down the weeds, and if properly placed around the plant will keep the fruit free from dirt, and protect the clothing of those engaged in picking the fruit. Runners should be carefully taken off as fast as they appear, that the strength of the plants may not be wasted upon them. No top dressing is needed; but a new bed should be mide in a new place every third year. Sucha strawberry bed will yield a plentiful harvest. In 1865, the third year of bearing, Dr. Hos- Bins’ bed, twelve by fifteen paces in size, of Wilson’s Seedling, produced nearly five hun- dred quarts—or at the rate of nearly 13,000 quarts, or four hundred and six bushels per! acre. Of late years, hill planting has been highly commended. A. M. Purpy, the well-known nurseryman, of South Bend, Indiana, says: “We have heretofore strongly advocated the FRUIT AND FRUIT TREES: matted row system, but after careful and prac- tical comparisons, we are satisfied that the hill method is the best, one year after another. The fruit averages double the size—the crop double, and, on most soils, with less labor. In hills they form such strong bushy tops, that the fruit and blossoms are protected from severe late Spring frosts. Last Spring we had a late frost in May, that nearly ruined our planta- tions that grew in matted rows, while those grown in hills were but slightly damaged, and yielded a very heavy crop. Another reason is, that the heavy tops mat down around the crown in the Winter, and protect it from the action of the frost, while those grown in the matted row form but small tops and are not thus protected. Again, if the ground should be weedy, they are attended to with much less work and care than if allowed to throw out runners. The work can nearly all be done with the hoe and eul- tivator, while if in matted rows, it must be done with the fingers, which is very laborious indeed.” He adds, “that the only ease in which the matted row method is admissible, is where the land is quite free from weeds and is not liable to severe frost in Winter or Spring, and that while all varieties will do better grown in hills, some will not succeed in any other way. As soon as the hills are through bearing, rotted manure or compost is plowed or spaded deep between the rows, and in addition to cutting off all the runners that are starting, the entire top of the plant is taken off close to the crown. This is deemed very essential— preventing the plant from remaining in a dor- mant state for weeks, and causing new roots to be thrown out immediately, and making a large mass or stool by Autumn.” In hill culture, sawdust and old tan-bark have been recom- mended as a Summer mulch between rows; and spent hops from the brewery, have been used with excellent effect. Where strawberries are raised on a large scale for market purposes, it can not be supposed that beds can be made as described by Dr. Hopsins; the plants must be put out in soil and locality best suited to them. PARDEE’s Manual on the strawberry advises that, “as the fruit is composed of so large a proportion of potash, soda, and lime—sixty-two paris in every hundred, as the analysis shows—we recommend that an application be made of twenty or thirty bushels of unleached or leached ashes, ten or twelve bushels of lime— either stone or oyster shell—witii two or three - bushels of sa:t, to the acre, thoroughly mixed STRAWBERRIES—CULTURE OF. with the soil, if possible some weeks before the plants are set out, and the ground frequently worked with spade or fork, before planting, and stirring up with a long-toothed rake after- ward as long as it can be done without disturb- ing the roots. * “ About the first of May, and again ten days or two weeks later, three times each Spring, liberally sprinkle your choicest beds with a solution. in six gallons of soft water, of one quarter of a pound each of sulphate of potash, glauber salts, and nitrate of soda, with one and a half ounces of sulphate of ammonia. We would not represent this application to be es- sential to the production of good fruit, but the) apparent effect seemed to be to arouse the plants from the torpor of Winter, and give them an early and vigorous impetus, which resulted in increasing the size, quantity, and superiority of the fruit. By this treatment the bed will remain in good condition much longer than it otherwise would.” A Pennsylvania strawberry grower suggests that the land is generally made too rich for the production of this delicious berry, and says that more depends upon the kind of soil and manure than upon the quantity of manure used. On a lean, tenacions soil, there is no danger in the application of too much barn-yard manure with a liberal mixture of wood ashes. On a sandy loam, characteristic of a great deal of our prairie soil, we should increase the pro- portion of ashes at the expense of the manure. On a black loam, rich in vegetable deposit, we should use ashes liberally with little or no manure. Strawberries, says Dr. WARDER, have a pe- culiarity in their blossoms, from which they have been classified as pistillates, stuminates, and hermaphrodites, or perfect flowered. In the first class the stamens are so defective that the flowers need the fertilizing influence of other kinds, which must be planted near them. These pistillates furnish many of our fayorite varieties, especially those that are cultivated in beds—such as Burr’s New Pine, Extra Red, Fillmore, Hoyey’s Seedling, Necked Pine, Russell, and Superior. The next class, the staminates, embraces most of those sorts which produce the largest berries, though their flow- ers are often so deficient in the pistils that a large percentage of them fail to produce per- fect fruit. This is particularly the case when - these varieties are grown in beds, and allowed to multiply their runners. They are, however, quite productive when cultivated in hills, where | 9° 1 they form large bunching crowns from which spring numerous trusses of flowers—of this class are the Austin, Dr. Nicaisse, Golden Seeded, Jucunda, Victoria, and Washington. Besides these two classes, there is another, the hermaphrodites, in which the two sexes are so evenly combined, and so well developed, that almost every flower is followed by a well furmed and perfect fruit. This is a small class, as very few varieties of the strawberry, either wild or cultivated, belong to it—among them are the Agriculturist, Wilson’s Albany Seedling, and the Longworth. While Lonewortu and some others claim that the pistillate varieties are the most pro- ductive, others prefer the hermaphrodite sorts, which fertilize themselves. Hybridization of Strawberries. — Strawberries neyer hybridize, or mix in varieties, when grown together. You may set any number of varieties side by side, and the fruit of each will be as distinct, from year to year, as if they were a mile apart. If hybridization can be effected at all, which is doubtful in our opinion, it can only be shown in seedlings. That is, by mixing the fructfying pollen of the blossoms of two varieties, and sowing the seeds grown from such varieties, and producing new varie- ties therefrom, it is contended by some persons Ii that be so, all seedlings are the result of hybridiza- tion, as honey bees mix the pollen of varieties, that a hybridization does take place. in gathering it, as thoroughly as could be done by the hand of man. Mounds for Strawberries—An advantage can be gained by those having only a small piece of ground, to raise mounds three or four feet high for strawberries, and plant the vines upon them, and cover the spaces between the plants with thin flat stones, bricks, or something simi- lar, to prevent washing, and serve as mulching for the plants. Covered smoothly and evenly it would present a handsome surface, similar to pavement; it would keep the soil moist about the roots of the plants, preserve the fruit clean trom dirt, facilitate the ripening of the fruit upon the south side, and retard it upon the north, thus extending the strawberry season to a longer time. The picking would be more convenient than upon a level surface; the roots of the plants would have a deeper and more mellow Soil to extend in, and thus combine many advantages, ornamenal and uselul, over the level culture. Mounds well paved over the surface would be likely to last many years. Fall Growth of Strawberry Roots—After the 202 fruiting season is over, dress the rows down to about six inches in width, with sheep shears, or a sharp wheel run along the side of the row, and thus prepare them for the next year’s growth. Select a plant that has just borne fruit, pull it up, and you will see that every root is dead. As soon as the berries begin to ripen, the roots did their very best, and gave all their life to the fruit. But the crown or heart of the plant enfolds the elements of a new set of roots, and with prompt and kind treatment, she will develop them into a healthy being; feed her as you would a generons moth- er, for this is her time of need. Unless the earth is rich enough to develop the new roots in the Fall, the next crop will come feebly to the birth, or not at all. This peculiar physio- logical condition of the strawberry plant, is the reason why the early Fall is the best time in the year for transplanting, as well as for working over the old beds. When the beds are put in order, give them liberal drafts of liquid manure, and a mulching of fine straw or spent tan-bark upon the surface, to prevent evaporation, and the plants will go right-ahead and establish themselves for next year’s crop. Product of Strawberries.—In seven townships in New Jersey, where, in 1866, there were eight hundred and fifty-seven acres in cultiva- tion, the average yield was a little over twenty- nine bushels per acre, bringing, upon an aver: age, $5 81 per bushel, or a little over $169 per acre. It was an unproductive year, some fields, however, yielding as high as seventy bushels per acre. NicnHo~aS’ Onmer, near Dayton, Ohio, having five acres of strawberries, chiefly Witson’s Albany, raised, in 1867, about one hundred and twenty-five bushels to the acre, realizing for the crop, $1,900. From half an acre of land, Mr. Ames, of Beaver Dam, Wis- consin, sold berries of Witson’s Albany Seed- ling variety of one year’s product to the amount of $452—getting, previous to July 5th, twenty- five cents a quart, after the 5th, twenty cents a quart, and twelve cents on the vines. He mulched heavily with straw between the rows. A farmer near Ottawa, Ilinois, picked from an acre of Wrixson’s Albany, between the 5th and 30th of June, one hundred and eight bushels, besides what he consumed in his family, and realized $731 20—paid $69 12 for picking, leaving the net proceeds of the acre, $662 08. Professor T. H. Buraxss, of Ulster county, New York, stated at a meeting of the New York State Agricultnral Society, that the Tri- omphe de Gand had sold at the highest rates FRUIT AND FRUIT TREES: of any strawberry, or over forty cents per quart ; that the product of the best plantations has been from fifteen hundred to two thousand quarts, and had yielded $800 or $900 per acre; that the heaviest product and largest sum he had known from a given area, was obtained from a small patch one plant to a square foot, the runners being well ciipped—yielding a pint to each plant, and at the rate of about $4,000 per acre. A prominent fruit grower of west- ern New York, raised thirteen hundred bushels of strawberries from sixteen acres of ground, or eighty-one bushels and a peck to the acre, selling them at an average price of twelve and a half cents per quart, realizing the total sum ef $5,200, or $325 per acre. Captain ANDER- SON, at a recent meeting of the Western Fruit Growers, at Cincinnati, stated that he had raised as many as seven thousand quarts per acre; that, under some circumstances, he had averaged one quart to the plant, and that they would realize from $2,000 to $2,500 per acre. He practiced the stool or hill system, and planted two feet apart each way. O. J. WEEKS, who had planted Wrtson’s Albany in rows three feet apart, and fifteen inches in the row, had raised about three hundred bushels per acre, or about nine thousand six hundred quarts, These various results show the differ- ence in soil, climate, location, and treatment, and should prove an encouragement to others to strive to emulate the most successful of these examples, PRINCIPAL STRAWBERRY YVA- RIETIES. Agriculturist.— An admirable variety for sandy or poor soils, but not so good for rich ones ; succeeds well in the Northwest, and is a delicious fruit for home use. Very popular in all parts of the country; of a rich aromatic flavor. Barnes’ Mammoth—A new hermaphrodite variety ; as firm as WriLson’s Albany, of much larger size, about the same color; flavor, spicy and rich. Very promising, especially for market purposes. Boston Pine —Staminate; requires high culti- vation ; fruit early, large, shining red, juicy and sweet. Early and productive. Boydan’s No. 30.—A new seedling, by Serit Boypan, the originator of the famous Green Prolitic—and claimed to be superior to that STRAW BERRIES—VARIETY well proved, reliable sort, in every respect— high praise. Brooklyn Scarlet.—Plant, hardy and vigorous; fruit, good size, bright scarlet, with long neck; flavor delicous and highly perfumed. Brighton Pine——Only medium in size, but one of the best market sorts; hardy, early, and and prolific. Burs New Pine.—A pistillate, of large size and fine flavor; hardy, vigorous, and produc- tive—too tender for market. Charles Downing.—A seedling from Downer’s Prolific, claimed by all who haye fruited it to be superior to that well-known and reliable variety. Originated with Downer, in southern Kentucky. | Colfax Strawberry.—A seedling, cultivated for fifteen years by Hon. ScouyLeR CoLrax, at! South Bend, Indiana; of vigorous growth, far | more so than Wilson’s, often taking a half bushel measure to cover a plant the second year; it is hardy and productive, yielding fruit of excellent size and flavor. It seems to get)! along with less care than other varieties. Crimson Cone, -A pistillate; vine, vigorous | and wide-spreading, productive; berry, beauti- ful in appearance, large size, fine color, and medium flayor. Crimson Favor.—CHARLES Downtna has) said of this new variety, that he thought it would prove very large, very early, and of good | flavor, but not very productive. Downers Prolific—Hermaphrodite; does ex- ceedingly well in many localities, adapting itself well to soils and situations; ripening early, and bearing profusely, well up from the ground, rather acid; but, being very soft, will | not bear transportation. Dr, Nicaisse.—Fruit of enormous size, early, | of a bright red color, very glossy, of the first | quality ; some of the berries measuring six and a half inches in circumference, and weighing | from one ounce and an eighth to an ounce and! three-quarters. Early Scarlet—Hermaphrodite ; early, hardy, and prolific. Fruit bright searlet, rich, and slightly acid flavor. It is a fine variety to serve as an impregnator of pistillate kinds. Early Washington—Hermaphrodite; a fine market fruit, on account of its hardiness, earli- ness, and productiveness; fruit, medium size; flavor, fair; color, orange scarlet. Fillmore.—A pistillate; very productive, good flavored, red-fleshed berries, very near the ‘immense crops of large, fine, sweet fruit. ground; hardy in hot weather, the fruit hangs OF 293 long, and carries well to market; and isa good variety to follow earlier kinds. French’s Seedling.—Yhis is a fine, early va- riety, and produces well in the Northwest. Genesee.—Luxuriant, very productive, stout Vines, supporting well the fruit, which is large, | . . dark crimson, and ripens late. Golden Queen.— Hermaphrodite; a great yielder of rich, golden-colored fruit, late in the season—similar to Trollope’s Victoria, but far | a0 B more prolific; very large, twenty choice ber- ries having filled a quart measure, and not over fifty on an average. Golden Seeded.—It is distinct from the Tri- omphe de Gand, though some have confounded 'the two; plant a little tender to the frost; ber- ries large and conical, on rather sharp stems. Green Pine Apple.—A vigorous grower, a poor bearer, of a very peculiar flavor. Green Prolific—A fine, hardy plant, very productive; stems high and strong; fruit large, of a beautiful light orange-scarlet color, and of The yield is enormous, North and South, never sunburns, and seldom winter- kills. An excellent market fruit, and suited to the Northwest. It is steadily growing more and more in favor. * Hooker's Seedling—Hermaphrodite; vines vigorous, hardy, and produetive; fruit dark crimson, sweet, rich, and excellent, ranking with the best. Hovey’s Seedling.—Pistillate ; vines vigorous, and when well-fertilized and well-impregnated, is still a very desirable kind, and will yield It It is too moderate flavor. requires a rich, deep, loamy soil. tender for the Northwest. Hudson.—Pistillate; very largely cultivated in some localities ; distinguished for its hardi- ness, and late period of maturity, together with its fine, rich, acid flavor, so valuable for pre- serving Succeeds well in the Cincinnati region. Iowa, or Washington.—Staminate ; a wonder- fully productive variety, good:size, and well adapted for the market. It lacks high flavor, and is yet a very early, and very good straw- berry. Jenny Lind.—This is regarded as better than the Early Searlet, the two earliest in the sea- son; a hermaphrodite; productive; fruit a bright searlet, rather solid, tender, juicy, pleas- ant subacid, and sometimes highly perfumed. Jenny's Seedling.—Pistillate; a rather late variety; fruit dark, rich, glossy red; vines hardy; good for general cultivation, and de- 294 sirable for preserving; very productive, 3,200 pounds gathered from less than three-fourths of an acre. Jucunda.—Hermaphrodite; late variety, com- ing fully ten days after the Wilson’s are gone; large, showy, and of moderate flavor, ten or twelve filling a pint measure, and they carry well to market. In the region of Rochester, New York, and northern Indiana, and in Ohio and Pennsylvania, they have done well, also in portions of Wisconsin; but generally in the Northwest, when the berry has proved to be large, it has been hollow, and in quality and quantity not the best. This is the same as “ Knox’s 700.” Kramers Seedling—A seedling of Wilson’s Albany, originating in Iowa; hardy, standing the Winters there without protection; fruit sweet and rich, equal to Hoyey’s or Wilson’s in size, with an unrivalled aroma. Lenning’s White—Uermaphrodite; a hardy plant and excellent berry, and is suited to the Northwest—the best “white variety” known; very productive, highly flavored, and aromatic. Longworth’s Prolific. —Hermaphrodite; su- perb—a _ kingly berry, eminently fit to be planted and eaten; berry large size, dark rich crimson, subacid, good quality. Succeeds well in the Ohio Valley. MeAvoy’s Red.—An Ohio berry, large, beau- tiful, and very prolific; keeps well, medium quality, subacid; plants vigorous and hardy. After twenty miles land carriage, and forty- eight hours’ exhibition, it has remained the brightest and most showy of forty choice varie- ties in the Cincinnati market. MeAvoys Superior—Originated by D. Mc- Avoy, at Cincinnati, in 1848; a pistillate va- riety, hardy, vigorous; fruit very large, often over five inches in circumference, rich dark color, tender, juicy, core rather open, and of coarse texture; too tender, except for short car- riage distance. The Buffalo strawberry is so similar to MeAvoy’s Superior, as to be scarcely distinguishable from that berry. Mexican Ever- Bearing.—Hardy, vigorous, and not liable to winter-kill, bearing from July to October. Said to have been brought from Mex- ico about 1861—pretty generally believed, how- ever, to be simply the old red Alpine, which in France is very profitable and beitrs the Summer through. Saas Monroe Scarlet.— Remarkably productive, sometimes over three-seore large ripe berries, of good size, on a single year-old plant, at one time, the largest measuring foumor five inches FRUIT AND FRUIT TREES: in circumference. It is a hybrid of Hovey’s Seedling and the Duke of Kent, very vigor- ous; pistillate; fruit good, fair flavor, a long bearer, good for market, and does well partially shaded. Napoleon Third.—Fruit large to very large, irregular, flattened, varying from oval to eocks- comb shape; color handsome rose-ved, shading to darker in the sun, and waxy-blush in the shade; flesh of snowy whiteness, firm, and sprightly, high flavor, with a delicate aroma; plant vigorous and healthy, and very produe- tive, in some localities exceeding even Wilson’s Albany, flowers perfect. In season, it is later than the Wilson, succeeding it, and continuing long in bearing. New Jersey Scarlet—This is probably the ear- liest kind of its large size; it comes into bear- ing all at once, very few being left for picking after the first—consequently popular with the marketmen, Nicanor.— Very hardy; fruit glossy, rich,” sweet, and high-flavored; having long, deep, strong roots, endures the changes of Summer and Winter with impunity, and is very prolific— commences to ripen a few days before the Early Searlet, and continues fruiting a long time; berries from one to one and a quarter inches in diameter, Peak’s Emperor.—Hermaphrodite; very sim- ilar to Agriculturist in appearance; is hardy, and does not sunburn; fruit very large, often measuring six and a half inches in circumfer- ence, firm, very productive, and flavor excel- lent. It continues longer in bearing than the Wilson. Perpetual Pine ( Glede).—This is claimed to be a real perpetual strawberry, bearing a fine Spring crop, and also keeping up fruiting late in the Autumn. President Wilder—A new variety, hardy, ro- bust, vigorous, and very productive—produced from artificial impregnation of Hovey’s Seed- ling with La Constante, the latter being one of the best foreign kinds; the fruit large, many berries measuring over five inches in cirecum- ference, and weighing over an ounce avoirdn- pois; of a brilliant crimson scarlet; flavor rich and sprightly, inclining to sweet, with a distinct, aroma of the Alpine variety. Strawberry of the highest promise. Season late. Red Alpine.—Fruit small, bright scarlet, and }of peculiar flavor. It continues to ripen for a long time, which is its chief value; and by de- -stroying the Spring blossoms, an Autumnal ‘erop may be secured—a fact worthy of more RASPBERRIES, general knowledge and practice. The White Alpine varies only in color from the red variety. Romeyn’s Seedling.—Hermaphrodite; this new fat 1 variety has attracted great attention at the East, some claiming for it equality in every respect with the Triomphe de Gand, and far more productiveness on all soils; it has an immense root reaching down so deep that the drouth will not effect it. It does not winter- kill in the region of New York; fruit large size, very solid, fine flavor, bright red color, and very prolific; as many as two hundred quarts have been taken from one hundred and twelve plants, and two quarts and a half trom a single plant, at two pickings !—the last being on the morning of the 9th of July. Fruit stems from a single plant, exhibited at the New York Institute, in June, numbered six | hundred perfect sets. Comes into bearing very late—two weeks later than the Wilson. Russell’s Prolifie—A pistillate; very hardy, and gives the best satisfaction on rich soil, pro- ducing a very prolific crop of large and beauti- ful berries, borne near the ground. They com- mand a high price in market, and Dr. Hon- BINS, President of the Wisconsin Horticultural Society, commends the Russell as a fine variety for cultivation for home use in the Northwest. The fruit is tender, and sometimes scorches under the rays of the sun. Triomphe de Gand.—Wermaphrodite; this is regarded as the best of the foreign varieties, large, generally very prolific, and good—rather blunt or cockscomb-shaped, borne on long fruit stalks. It is rather essential that it should be raised in hills or rows, and not in beds, and the runners kept clipped. It requires a richer soil than some other kinds, and seems not quite so reliable, though there are occasionally sea- sons when, with the right kind of treatment, it beats all others, not merely in the quantity of its fruit, but in the quality; and it is, moreover, remarkable for its long-continuance in bearing, freque: \ly supplying the table for five weeks in successicn. Victoria.—Hermaphrodite, sometimes pistil- late; hardy, fruit medium to large, rich, and of a slightly acid flavor. Walker's Seedling—A new variety, origina- ting with SAmuEL WALKER, ex-President of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society; well indorsed as a hardy, vigorous, good staminate, of excellent flavor, best quality, and produc- tive—of medium season, and a “ good honest fruit.” Western Queen.—Pistillate; originated with 295 | Professor KrrTLanp, at Cleveland; fruit, a rich’ (dark glossy-red, juicy, subacid, and of an agree- _able flavor. Season medium; bears carriage well. Wilson’s Albany Seedling—This is the “Great ,Commoner ;” it seems to bear the same relation |to strawberries that NapoLtrnon’s Old Guard jdid to his army—a reserve on which we may /place the utmost dependence. It has, beyond question, been much more generally cultivated | throughout our country than any other variety, | and especially for market purposes. It is hardy —succeeding in the Northwest—prolific, vigor- ous, and reliable beyond all others; fruit, a deep crimson, tender, with a brisk acid flavor. It yields good crops, whether in hills, rows, or beds; it sometimes sunscalds in extreme hot weather, and hence it is doubtful if it will bear the heat of extreme Southern Summers. It requires Winter protection, as indeed all kinds do, in the Northwest, and on the prairies. Strawberry Wine—In years when strawber- ries are unusually abundant, or where they are too soft to transport to market, they can be /made profitable by converting them into wine, jadding to two quarts of juice two quarts of | Water, and two pounds of refined white sugar. Raspberries.—“ A good loam,” says Dr. Warper, “well cultivated, is best adapted to the raspberry plant, and will give the largest results. The only preparation requisite is or- dinary plowing, but deep cultivation and ma- nuring are well bestowed upon the raspberry pateh, and it should be kept clean by thorough Summer cultivation, or the surface may be coy- ered with mulching material. “The raspberry may be planted in the Fall, but early Spring-time is generally pre- ferred. The plants may be set about three feet apart, in rows that are from six to nine feet wide, or they may be planted in hills, five by five feet, or wider, for some of the larger kinds, Planting in rows is usually preferred, but the hills allow of cultivation in both directions, or cross-plowing, which saves hoeing, and also permits the pickers to get among the plants more readily. “Trimming the raspberry was formerly done only in the Winter, and consisted in shortening the canes, and removing the old dead wood and the surplus feeble shoots, so as to leave from two to four in each hill or plant. This work was done at any mild time between October and February, or March. Fall pruning, if done too early, may prove very injurious, for when followed by mild growing weather the buds 296 burst and grow at the expense of too much of next year’s crop. Of course, it must be under- stood by the pruner, that all the species and varieties of this genus, including the blackberry and raspberry, produce shoots one year that become the bearing canes of the next Summer, and then These shoots start from the crown of the roots. An apparent exception to this rule exists in the Autumnal-bearing rasp- berries, which produce blossoms and fruit upon the cane shoots the season of their growth. “Summer pruning is now practiced by all good cultivators. This isa very simple opera- tion, and consists in pinching or cutting off the shoots so soon as they are two feet high, which causes them to branch out with strong laterals, and these are cut back, according to their strength, in the Winter. All surplus and weak shoots may be removed at the time of the Summer pruning, and, if preferred, the bear- ing wood may be cut away soon after harvest- ing the fruit; but no good results are obtained by this, except the improved appearance that follows the removal of the dead wood, which can be more easily eflected in the Winter, when we have more leisure, The Summer pruning makes the plants more stocky and bushy ; they resemble little branching trees, and they are able to bear enormous crops. This method of training obyiates the necessity for any kind of support, such as stakes or trellis, and the sturdy little plants are able to stand alone. “We have two American species of eatable raspberries, the Strigosus, or red-fruited, and the Occidentalis, or thimble-berry, the black- caps, all of which have their stems recurving till they meet the ground, where they take root. Besides these we have the European species, the Ideus, that furnishes many delicious raspberries, most of Which are tender and need Winter protection.” A cool aspect is of material consequence, and, to secure this, the north side of a fence or trellis, which will form a screen from the sun, is the most favorable; on the north side of a shrubbery, or a row of fruit trees, is also a suit- able place. If neither of these situations is to be had, an open spot in the garden may be chosen, always being careful to avoid the south or east side of a fence. A temporary shade may be effected in the open garden, by planting a row of running beans on the south side. Planting a raspberry under an apple tree has been suggested. The American red varieties are generally propagated by suckers—sometimes by seeds, die. FRUIT AND FRUIT TREES: The English Reds and American Black-caps are propagated by rooting from the tips of the pendent branches. Of this class, Doolittle’s Improved, is, perhaps, the best known, and doubtless many others, including native seed- lings, are multiplied in the same way. The black-cap varieties throw up no suckers. Care must be taken in planting raspberries of the black-cap family, that the young plant, which has seldom more than one well-devel- oped germ, is-not broken off. If broken in careless handling, it is not certain that the plant will die, but it is certainly put back in growth until another germ is formed, and a weak growth is the result. The Gardeners’ Monthly cautions those who are about transplanting raspberries and black- berries, not to plant them too deep, as most of the failures result from this cause. Raspber- ries and blackberries will not root out from the cane, as most things will from their stems, the buds have to come from the crown or roots, and several inches of soil to come through is too much for the bads—they will sooner die first. Mulching is very desirable. Where trellises are required they can be cheaply made by a row of posts inserted in the ground on either side of a row of raspberries, with horizontal slats or strips nailed on the tops of the posts; or good firm posts may be placed in the ground, and two or three pieces of tarred rope, or annealed iron wire, coated with coal tar, stretched from post to post, to form a trel- lis upon which to fasten the bearing canes. Others simply tie to stakes. For manure, if the soil is rich in vegetable mold, use only a slight dressing of ashes or bone dust; if the soil is clayey, use plenty of well-rotted barn-yard manure, with some lime and salt. For Winter protection of the half-hardy varieties, and for all varieties in the North- west, bend down the stems before the ground freezes up, first placing a small mass of earth against the foot of the stems, over which they may be bent without breaking, and then cover- ing them with an inch or two of earth, tan or sawdust. Two stools may be bent toward each other, and covered at one operation. At a meeting of the New York Farmers’ Club, it was the concurrent testimony that the red raspberry is generally indigestible, and hence undesirable for cultivation. Neverthe- less, the best fruit growers in every section of the country are highly commending various kinds of red raspberries; and we nowhere RASPBERRIES—SUMMER VARIETIES. hear of any confirmation of the objection mentioned, and can not but believe that these delicious berries were designed for the use and enjoyment of our race. SUMMER VARIETIES. Brinckle’s Orange.—Large, prolific, rich or- ange color, luscious as a peach. It is hardy at Philadelphia, where it originated, and does well in the Northwest with Winter protection. Cuartes Downrne regards this as the best raspberry of all the many varieties he culti- vates. Clark.—This new red variety has proved per- fectly hardy, where tested; fruit large and firm, of a briglit scarlet color, flavor the most deli- cious; a good bearer, and keeps fruiting a very | long time. A seedling, raised by E. E. CLARK, of New Haven, Connecticut, probably from the Fastolf, is thought to be the finest of the Ant- werp tribe. It has stood the Winter when the cold has reached 25° below zero. , Davidson’s Thornless.—One of the black-cap varieties, and the earliest in ripening its fruit— a week earlier than the Doolittle, to which its fruit and habits are similar. It is thornless, and very desirable on that account. It is sue- ceeding well, where tried in the Northwest, even in Minnesota. Doolitile Black-Cap—A hardy and fine mar- ket berry; has hitherto borne the palm of the black-cap varieties. It does well in the North- west. Some $600 worth of the Doolittle have been sold as the product of a single acre in a year. Davidson’s Thornless, and the Seneca, bid fair to outstrip it. Fastolf—An English red variety, probably a seedling of the Red Antwerp; fruit large, bright purplish-red, rich, high flavored, and productive, ripening in long-continued succes- Too soft for market culture. Needs Winter protection. Franconia.—A fine red variety, resembling the Fastolf, but of rather more acid flavor, and ripening some ten days later than the Antwerps, producing abundant crops of fine fruit which bears carriage to market well. Needs Winter protection. French.—A seedling of Fastolf crossed with Yellow Antwerp; large crimson fruit, matures late, and deserves extensive culture. Garden.—Ripens next in order to Dayidson’s Thornless; has a dark red or brown berry, as sion. 297 if red and black were mixed. By some this is highly prized as a garden berry. Golden-Cap—If properly trimmed, it will yield heavy crops of large, deep golden-colored fruit—the largest and most productive yellow raspberry grown. From its tempting and at- tractive appearance it is one of the most desir- able sorts for table use, and brings the highest price in the market. The birds, it is said, do not disturb them, probably supposing from their color that they are unripe. Kirtland.—A very hardy, desirable red sort, resembling the Clark somewhat, but bush not quite so rampant a grower; fruit not as hard, but markets in fine condition. Knevett’s Giant—An English red variety ; it is more hardy than the Red Antwerp, bears a much larger crop; fruit a deep red, and of ex- cellent flavor. It needs Winter protection. The American Pomological Society recommend it for general cultivation. Mammoth Cluster.—This is different from the Miami Black-cap, CHARLES DowninG, AN- pREW S. FuLLER, and many others pronounc- ing it distinct from and superior to any of the black sort they have ever seen. It is won- derfully productive, the largest in size of the black-cap family; perfectly hardy, having stood the most severe Winters, with the mer- cury down to 28° below zero, without the least injury; and it comes into bearing just after It is cultivated largely by Porpy & Hance, South Bend, In- other black-caps are done. | diana. Miami Black-Cap.—This is deservedly a fa- vorite of the Black-cap variety, generally re- garded as superior to the Doolittle, but a week or ten days later; fruit very large, brownish- black, and almost entirely covered with bloom ; very productive, and perfectly hardy. Naomi.—A new variety, hardy, productive, large, of good color and quality, and for firm- ness the very best for transportation. It is highly commended by the Ohio Horticultural Society, M. B. Baten AM, and Dr. WARDER. Philadelphia. —This is one of the best of the American Red varieties; it has proved per- fectly hardy and productive in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and northern Indiana; flavor, second rate; color, dull purplish-red; medium size; sends up very few suckers; will bear shipping in quart boxes very well. Purple Cane—An old tried, ‘reliable, hardy sort, of the Black-cap variety; fruit almost identical with the Philadelphia, but of better flavor. Profitable for a near market, and for 298 FRUIT It makes the best of jams. Bushes last many years, and yield best when they become thoroughly rooted. Red Antwerp.—The true foreign Red Ant- werp, of which there are comparatively few in family use has few superiors. our Western States, is large, regularly long, conical, dull red, with a rich sweet flavor; this is somewhat different from the North River Antwerp, which is of large size, fine flavor, productive, bearing carriage well, and has yielded as high as $2,800 to $3,000 per acre. The common Red Antwerp has a small round berry. The Cineinnati Red Antwerp has proved hardy and productive in the Northwest, standing the Winters unharmed, with the ther- mometer 30° below zero ; it suckers prodigious- ly, and these need hoeing down, as one would weeds among corn; berry is fine for table use and jams, but too soft for market purposes. All the Antwerps do well in partial shade, and succeed in orchards. S®reea Black-Cap.—This is a decided im- provement upon the Doolittle, producing more and larger fruit, with canes more vigorous. It is very hardy, and succeeds well in the North- west. Yellow Antwerp—Much resembles the Red Antwerp, except in color, and is a handsome and excellent fruit, but is often a long time in maturing. In the Southern States the Ant- werp varieties do not succeed. AUTUMN BEARING VARIETIES. Catawissa.—Is a native of Columbia county, Pennsylvania, and has a somewhat wild taste, yet the fruit is of good size, roundish form, dark red color, and quality really excellent. It produces abundantly on the young wood, ripening generally during August, September, and October, and until the snow flies. One per- son, having forty hills, reported gathering from them a quart to a hill per week “from July until October.” To secure a full Fall crop ex- perience teaches that the plants should be mowed over level with the surface, early in the Spring, and the new shoots will bear abund- antly toward the end of Summer. _ Ohio Ever-Bearing.—Discovered near Lake Erie, in Ohio; it is a large, rich, pleasant fruit, of a dark color, approaching the black. Its fruit ripens the last of June, and continues putting out new blossoms and bearing till killed AND FRUIT TREES: by the frost, if the weather is moist and favor able. Carries well to market; is cultivated considerably and profitably in New Jersey, and in the Cincinnati region; and both the Cata- wissa and Ohio Ever-Bearing are commended for cultivation in the Northwest. Dr. WARDER states, in the Ohio Agricultural Report, for 1865, that the Ohio Ever-Bearing is simply a Fall-bearing variety of the Black- cap; but thinks it is apt to run out if plants are not renewed eyery third or fourth year. It needs good culture, and is then very produc- tive; he highly esteems it for family use. It is sometimes difficult to propagate these ever- bearing varieties, owing to the tips producing blossoms and fruit instead of striking root. Dr. WARDER also commends another Au- tumnal black variety—Lum’s Ever-Bearing— which resembles the common black, or Doolit- tle, but is more stocky, and not so tall; a very profuse bearer; fruit large, black, and sweet— the Summer fruiting resembling the Doolittle in size, but is much larger in September and October. Before the first crop of berries is gone, new shoots come up, and thus keep up a succession of fruit till late in the Autumn. Many regard this as the best of the Autumn bearing raspberries. If the plants are all cut down in the Spring, close to the ground—and so of the Catawissa, Ohio Ever-Bearing, and Griggs’ Daily-Bearing—they will produce a large Fall crop, commencing to ripen the last of August. Griggs’ Daily-Bearing Raspberry, which has been thought identical with the Ohio Ever- Bearing, upon comparison, presents some points The Griggs’ seems larger, and quality, and to bear more fully. The canes are also smooth, with scarcely an appearance of spines, while the Ohio Ever- Bearing is pretty well supplied. Large-Fruited Monthly.—R. L. PARDEE says this is a new variety that he has had bearing in his garden some years, and has often gath- ered a moderate amount of fruit from it in September and October, as well as in the early Summer. With good cultivation and thorough pruning, it produces full crops of fruit of the character but not equal to the Antwerps. To produce an Autumn crop, prune the canes in the Spring to within a foot of the ground. In the garden of General J. K. Prouprit, at Madison, Wisconsin, a second crop of Fastolf raspberries was produced by whole clusters upon the tops of the tall new canes, among the withered stems of the first crop. of difference. of rather better BLACKBERRIES—VARIETY By procuring proper varieties—the earliest, the medium bearing, and the latest—we may have a continued supply of raspberries for four or five months in the year, and in the Southern States much longer. Loyers of fruit through- out our country should strive to encourage the culture of such varieties as will longest extend the fruit-bearing period. BWlackberries.—This fine fruit fills the gap after cherries and strawberries have passed away, and when raspberries and whortleberries are becoming searce. In most of our States the better varieties are successfully cultivated ; and even in the Northwest the Kittatinny, Dor- chester, and Missouri Mammoth, hardy kinds, should be thoroughly tested, and if they fail with Winter protection, the best of the native varieties should be substituted, giving them, in accordance with their native habitat, partial shade and moisture by mulching freely, in the orchard or under fences, and, if possible, with a northern aspect. Plant in Spring or Autumn. Any rich, deep soil, says Dr. WarpeEn, well plowed, will suit these plants, which should be allowed plenty of room, and may be set every four or five feet, in rows eight or ten feet wide. The ground should be well cultivated or deeply mulched, and the suckers must be removed by cutting them off with the hoe whenever they appear between the rows. Nor should: the plants be crowded ; one plant every two feet in the rows, or two canes in a hill, will be sufli- cient, and will yield larger, finer, and better fruit than if more are left together. The black- berry being only another species of the genus Rubus, or bramble, the remarks as to the habit and pruning of the raspberry are applicable to this species, and need not be repeated, except to enforce the propriety of Summer pinching, or topping and thinning out, so as to produce strong laterals and stocky plants. This cutting may be done a little higher, say from three to four feet, according to the vigor of the plants, and the habit of the variety. The most natural manure for the blackberry isa vegetable mold—if a thick coating, the better. A clay soil is unsuited to this berry; too high manuring from the barn-yard does not seem to be favorable, but rather retards its success. Leing ugly things to work among, it is best to train the blackberry to a fence or trellis—on the northern side of a high fence; and for trel- lises, wooden slats are better than wires. They should be mulched in the Fall with plenty of OF. 299 | vegetable manure, forked in the next Spring. Blackberries are pretty stiff to lay down well, but in the Northwest, if the Kittatinny, Dor- chester, and Missouri Mammoth fail to stand the severity of the Winter, then care should be taken to bend the cane over a hill of earth, or bundle of straw or cornstalks, and cover with earth or evergreens. Varieties.—Crystal White—This is a new Illinois seedling, entirely distinct from the old white blackberry, being free from spines. The canes are bright, clear, light green, vigorous, strong growers; hardy and very productive; fruit large, and when fully ripe, a clear rich white, juicy, tender, sweet, and high flavor. Ripens last of July to middle of August. Dorchester.—Hardier than the New Rochelle or Lawton, and nearly equal in size; more elongated in form, somewhat sweeter, and pro- ducing large crops of high-flavored fruit, some- times measuring an inch and a quarter in length, of a deep shining black color; they should be fully matured before gathering. Ripen about first of August, and bear carriage well. Kittatinny.—This new variety, from the Kit- tatinny, or Blue Mountains of Pennsylyania, has apparently proved the hardiest variety yet cultivated. The Kittatinny, says the Ohio Pomological Report, for 1866, is really a fine plant, very vigorous and productive, and a lus- cious fruit, superior in its qualites to the New Rochelle. The Northern Iinois Horticultural Society, at its meeting in February, 1868, spoke of it as showing a hardiness and adaptation to the climate beyond any other in culture. It has thus far given more general satisfaction, especially in the colder regions, than any other variety. Fruit, large to very large; a glossy black, sweet, rich, and excellent; is very pro- ductive, and continues in bearing four or five weeks. Missouri Mammoth—Couman’s Rural World states that this new variety is much larger than the New Rochelle, or Lawton, and begins ripen- ing earlier than Wilson’s Early, and continues fruiting late. The fruit is very black when ripe, of a sweet, vinous flavor, fat pulp, and does not turn red, like the Lawton, by standing after picking. The plant is said to have borne an exposure of twenty-eight to thirty degrees below zero, without the slightest injury ; if this be true, it would prove of immense value to the Northwest. New Rochelle, or Lawton.—More cultivated than all other blackberries. Is of a very vigor- Z 300 FRUIT ous growth, and exceedingly productive; very large and intensely black fruit, juicy, rather soit and tender, with a sweet and excellent flavor. It has proved exceedingly successful and popular in the Middle States and Ohio Valley, but begins to show that it is somewhat tender and unfitted for the Northwest. When gathered too early, it is acid and insipid; when fully ripe, it is too tender to ship to market. Sixty to seventy berries sometimes fill a quart measure; a single stalk or cane’ produces six hundred to a thousand perfect berries; and in New Jersey, they average eighty bushels to the acre—in some cases a hundred. They ripen about the first of August, and may be continued in bearing, by keeping the ground clear of weeds and cutting away the suckers, for five or six weeks, Needham’s Improved White-—This is a great bearer, the fruit not white but with a blush cheek; not of good quality or size, compared with the Lawton. Some years it fails. In- stances have been giyen of single canes pro- ducing eight, ten, and even eleven quarts of fruit. Thornless Blackberry—Except an occasional prickle on the under side of the leaf, this bush is perfectly free from thorns; flavor of fruit very sweet, partaking of the Cap raspberry, size medium to small; very productive. Orig- inated in Ohio, and is perfectly hardy, where the Lawton has been killed down to the snow line. It has borne good crops in Illinois. It has the advantage that it can be laid down as easily as the raspberry, which is not the case with the New Rochelle; requires protection. White Cluster. —I1t was first discovered in 1856, in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, grow- ing in a cold, exposed position in that region of the northern extremity of the Alleghany mountains; and in that severe locality it has never been known to winter-kill, and has always produced bountifully of fine fruit, “when fully ripe, much the color of good cream.” J. H. Foster, of Kirkwood, New Jersey, testifies to its vigorous, hardy, and won- deriully productive habits, where it has been’ transferred to New Jersey; and says that the plant is quite distinct from other white black- berries, which, as a general thing, have not proved hardy, many being also unproductive, and not a few failing to produce the desired white truit. Wilson’s Early.—This variety is being ex- tensively introduced in some regions of coun- try; fruit very large, oblong, black; quite firm, AND FRUIT TREES: sweet, rich and good, ripening very early, the crop maturing within two weeks, thus render- ing it of the highest value as an early market variety. The earliness and uniform ripening of the Wilson, says Dr. WARDER, will canse its rapid introduction into the market gardens. Mammoth Prolific Dewberry.— This is a hybrid between the Lawton black- berry and the dewberry, and was taken from Maine to central Illinois four or five years since. It is said to be much hardier than the Lawton, requiring but little, if any, protection in that section of the West. It needs but little cultivation, and will bear fruit from year to year without resetting. The fruit is large, juicy, and slightly acid, but not so sour as the blackberry, and bears shipment well. It is said to be a prolific and perpetual bearer, yield- ing from sixty to eighty bushels to the acre. J. C. Barrie, Clement, Clinton county, Llli- nois, who had cultivated it largely, has shipped the fruit to New York in good condition. Gooseberries.—This delicious fruit sel- dom reaches that perfection in our dry, hot climate that is attainable in Great Britain, where the climate is cooler and moister. Goose- berries need a deep, rich soil, shade and moist- ure—partially shaded on the northern side of a high fence, or planted on ground with a northern aspect, or in orchards, or in alterhate rows between grape vines. The Houghton, or American Seedling (which Dr. SYLVESTER, at a meeting of the Western New York Horticultural Society, regarded as practically identical) is very hardy, prolific and healthy, not subject to mildew; fruit me- dium size, skin smooth, pale red, flesh tender and good. Downing’s Seedling is an improve- ment upon it, and has given good satisfaction ; while the Mountain Seedling has larger fruit than the Houghton, fflly as productive, other- wise similar. The Shaker Seedling is a rank grower, prolific and good; and the Ohio Pro- lific bears wonderfully, and is valuable. “This fruit,’ say Purpy & Hancr, “is gaining in popularity and importance every year, and we hope may be so improved that we may have as hardy and productive sorts, and as free from mildew as the Houghton Seedling, with the size and flavor of Smith’s White,’ or Wood- ward’s White Smith—a large and excellent En- glish variety, fruit over an inch in size, grow- ing on a small tree, of erect habit. Dr. WARDER says that notwithstanding the WHORTLEBERRIES—MULBERRY—CURRANTS. high price of sugar, which has lessened their use, gooseberries are just as valuable to the farmer’s family as ever they were; and the cultivation of the Houghton and American Red varieties is so simple, that they may be, and should be, grown in every household garden, and by the side of every cottage. It notion that because the gooseberry is often found wild in poor soils, it therefore needs no manure. With the writer, the treatment which ensures the best results is as follows: Give the plants a dressing of manure in the Fall, packing it in and around the roots in Spring. Keep the ground clean and open until about the middle of May or first of June. Then, spread under the branches a layer of straw five or six inches thick, letting it extend over the ground as far as the roots penetrate. This mulching should remain on the ground until the first of September, when it should be removed and the soil worked clean. The de- sign of this midsummer dressing is to prevent any check in the growth of wood or fruit, and to keep the air about the bushes uniformly In this simple way we man- is a mistaken moist and cool. age to get good crops, as often as five years out Persons near the sea-side might use Tanners’ of seven. sea-weed or salt hay for a mulch. bark is also used with success. T cultivate gooseberries, says Judge Knapp, of Wisconsin, in the same manner as I do cur- rants, with this difference; during the dry days and when the fruit is growing, I give them fre- quent watering over the top, after sunset, with washing suds, cold, and when I can not get that, I apply yery weak lye in the same man- ner. It is well to scatter a spoonful of salt around the bush in the Spring, say about six inches from it. Bushes treated in this manner and well trimmed will not rust. Indeed, the suds or lye wil! kiil the rust after it has formed, and you may calculate on an annual crop of all the berries which the bushes can hold. I often have branches so loaded that the berries will hang in double rows a foot anda half in length. In the Northwest Houghton’s Seedling has thus far succeeded best, though latterly at- tacked by the borer; it needs Winter protec- tion in that cold climate. Whortleberries.—The decrease in the erop of wild whortleberries, or huckleberries as commonly called, caused by the cultivation of hitherto waste lands, together with increased consumption, has so enhanced the value of the 301 jarticle that they latterly sell in the Eastern markets at from $5 to $11 per bushel. Atsuch | prices they will well repay cultivation; and once set, they would remain permanent. Bushes have been known to yield a quart; but let them be set in rows three feet apart each way and we should have 4,840 bushels to the acre, and these estimated at a pint to the bush would yield over seventy-five bushels to the acre--and a third more bushes to the acre could be safely set, by placing them two feet apart in the row. This would allow the plow to be used between the rows. Picking them would be much easier than gathering strawberries, and much more pleas- ant than picking raspberries or blackberries of the common thorny varieties; and, so hardy is the whortleberry, that no trouble about Winter protection would be necessary. Doubtless their cultivation, like the culture of other berries, would greatly increase their size, qual- ity, and productiveness. Mulching may be necessary to give them something like their native condition. In selecting from the wild varieties, reference should be had to their size and vigor, and they should be taken from open, bleak exposures, rather than from the woods or shady nooks. Mulberry.— Downing’s Ever-Bearing mulberry is wonderfully hardy, and worthy of cultivation, The fruit is esteemed for cooking. A wild black variety is a prolific bearer, and the fruit, from June to September, is very profitable for food for hogs. The wild red mul- berry is a rapid grower for timber and pro- tective belts, and niakes excellent posts. Currants. —In almost every log-cabin garden, says Dr. WARDER, we used to find this health-giving fruit, which offers its agreeable acid in the heat of Summer as an antidote or preventive of the bilious effects of our torrid season. But now, the currant is a neglected fruit. This being a Northern plant, it is thankful for a partial shade or protection from the scorching sunshine in latitude 40° or south- ward. For this object it is well to plant the bushes on the north side of a fence or building, or on ground that is somewhat moist. Cur- rants have been found to do well in the shade of young orchard trees, and they sometimes contirue to do well for a long period, even after the apple trees have occupied and shaded the whole surface. 302 FRUIT The currant delights in a deep, rich loam, and will thrive even where the soil is somewhat wet. The bushes should not be crowded, as they require about four feet space each way. Trimming may be done in the Fall or Winter, rather than in the Spring, as the buds swell, and the blossoms appear very early in the sea- son. The pruning should consist in shortening two or three of the strongest young shoots, cut- ting away all the weaker ones, and removing only the oldest and exhausted bearing-wood. Unlike the raspberry, the currant does not | fruit upon the young shoots of the previous year’s growth, but upon little spurs that ap- pear only on branches that are two or more years old. The English, and some nice cultivators in this country, advocate training the currant in the tree shape, with a single stem a foot high, and then branched. This plan keeps the fruit well up from the ground, and the effect pro- duced is very pretty ; but the natural tendency of this plant is to produce shoots annually from the crown; hence the suckers from the base of the stem are very troublesome, and if neglected, the little tree is soon spoiled and becomes a mere bush. The currant plantation must be kept clean, and free from grass and weeds. After the cul- tivation in the Spring, it is a very good plan to cover the soil with a heavy coating of old hay, straw, fodder, leaves, or other suitable mulch- ing material, which will retain the moisture and preserve the fruit a long while ina fine condition. It needs to be well manured, and does the best in the rich alluvium of a brook, spring, or bog, which plainly points to the soil and moisture most natural for its production. NicHoLas OHMER, near Dayton, Ohio, plant- ed about three acres of Red and White Dutch currants, which yielded enough to make thirty barrels of wine, and he sold currants enough beside to pay for the sugar used in making the wine, and the wine, which enjoyed an enviable local reputation, sold at a price which rendered his currants a profitable crop. Gathéring Currants.—Currants should also be gathered with their stems; they should also be dry, and all leaves thrown out. Gooseberries, if for shipment, should be gathered dry, and a careful expulsion of all leaves will cause them always to command the best price. Like the strawberries, care should always be taken not to expose them to a hot sun after gathering, for such exposure soon gives them the appearance of being half-cooked. « AND FRUIT TREES: Currant Cuttings.—Cuttings of currants, goose- berries, ete., made in the Fall, form a callous, and are ready to strike root and grow as soon as Spring opens. When not convenient to plant them in the Fall, the Agriculturist advises that they be cut at once, dipped one-third of their length in mud, placed in a cool cellar, and kept moist by an occasional sprinkling of water. Varieties.—The Versailles was pro- nounced, at a meeting of the New York Farm- ers’ Club, the best known variety extant; the bunches are extraordinarily large, measuring from three to four inches in length, and the fruit handsome, productive, and of large size. May’s Victoria, or Houghton Castle, is very hardy, fruit large, and yery long bunches; late, and rather acid, good; plant vigorous; a mod- lerate bearer. The White and Red Dutch are the varieties mostly cultivated; they are large, of good flavor, and productive—the White is the mildest, and very nice for the table. The Cherry is considered by some as identical with the Versailles, but they are evidently different; the latter is as hardy, and decidedly superior to the Cherry in agreeable flavor. The Cherry is the largest of all red currants, quite acid, short clusters, good bearer, and considered the best for jelly. The White Grape is con- sidered the finest white variety, size large, and ‘of a beautiful transparent white; and Fertile d@’ Angers is very similar to the Versailles— The Champagne is pale red or flesh color, and a very acid cur- rant, is commended by Dr. WARDER—good for | jelly purposes. The Black Naples currant; very hardy and productive, deserves to be more generally cul- tivated than itis. “The black currant,’’ says A.S. Fuiuer, “is a profitable fruit. Tt will grow on land too sandy for the red variety, as on Long Island and the pine lands of New Jersey. It is rather slower than the others, and comes in bearing on the third or fourth year, while the red comes into fruit the second year, and produces more. But the price of the black currant is about double that of the com- mon red. For five or six years the culture of the black has been far more prevalent.” The proper way of pruning black eyrrant bushes, of all ages, is to get rid of as much of” the old wood as can be replaced with young wood; and to cut but the very top parts from the strongest young shoots, unless it be on purpose to furnish young wood for the next season, ’ - | both are French varicties. }a | CRANBERRIES. 303 The fruit of the black currant, made into a! well; while the Cherry and Egg are nearly as jelly, is regarded by many, as invaluable as a remedy for sore throat, quinsy, bowel difficul. ties; and made into jam or dried, it is valuable for puddings and cakes. Cranberries.—The cultivation of this valuable fruit is steadily on the increase—and yet it is questionable if the increase equals the demand. They are extensively cultivated in Massichusetts, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Michigan, and Wisconsin, where the prevailing rock is sandstone, the soil sandy, and the waters soft. It is doubtful if they will succeed to any extent in a pure limestone soil, with hard water. On peaty soils, with a cover- ing of sand, they seem to do well. The cranberry is naturally a water plant, and so long as there are such large tracts of natural cranberry land, which can be profitably devoted to nu more productive purpose, we believe it better that they should retain their.own primi- tive soils. In marshy lands, flowed more or less by fresh water, in a loose soil, they thrive wonderfully; and as they are a fruit always saleable in their season, and largely consumed where they can be obtained, they will continue an object worthy the attention of those who have the proper soil for them. In 1867, the cranberry crop of New Jersey was forty thousand barrels, and about the same in the following year. In New Jersey, Ocean county alone had more than a thousand acres in cultivation, producing sixteen thousand bar- rels; and fully a million of dollars are invested in their culture in that single county; while in Monmouth and Burlington counties their cul- ture is on a still more extensive scale. The annual product of the other States named, aside from New Jersey, was in 1868 estima- ted ut fifty thousand barrels; and the value of the whole crop of the country estimated at about $1,000,000. The average product per acre is doubtful, as it is founded on different experiences in differ- ent localities, with varied conditions, and treat- ment—from sixty bushels to four hundred bush- els per acre; and one writer states that he has heard of a thousand bushels having been picked from an acre, From one to two hundred bush- els is about an average yield. The Bell, the Cherry, and the Egg-shape are the varieties generally cultivated; the Bell cranberry is of two kinds, the large and small. The large Bell cranberry is generally preferred for cultivation; a good bearer and preserves good, if you get large varieties and prolific bearers. A very common plan of making a bed is to select a bog, or low piece of ground which can be easily overflowed with water, and drained to the depth of two feet, and after turning un- der the sod, and pulverizing the surface, to cover the whole with white sand to the depth of six inches. The plants are placed about eighteen jinchesapart. They must be kept clear of weeds, and in the course of three or four years the whole surface will be covered with the vine. By means of a dam the bed is kept under water about one-half the year. The objects of this flowing are three-fold: It destroys worms and insects; it Winters the plants in the best possi- ble manner, and it protects from frosts, which are liable to destroy the crop in Autumn as well as in Spring. The crop may be gathered in the Fall, or, if covered by water during the Winter, in the Spring. After the bed begins to bear, the production of the berry is attended with less care and trouble than any other crop. Unlike other berries, the cranberry can be pre- served without difficulty for a long time; the market, too, is seldom overstocked ; and it is much sought after for ship supplies, and the foreign demand is steadily increasing. An old cranberry grower of Massachusetts, gives the following as the result of his expe- rience: “Cranberries will grow on high, moist land, and sometimes produce well, but their proper place is low and springy, or wet land. The best place, however, is a peat bog and swamp muck. Make the surface of your ground as even as possible, and nearly level, with a slight inclination toward a drain, if you have one, in order that it may be easily flowed, and no ponds remain after drawing off the water. This may be done with any material. There should then be put on this level surface, about four inches in thickness of swamp muck or peat, which should be again covered with about three inches in depth of loose sand, free from grass or its fibers, and also from clay or stones. It is not important what the color or quality of the sand, if it be not adhesive, and is free from roots and grass.” F. M. Topp, of Bricksburg, New Jersey, thus states his views on the culture of the cranberry : 1. A peaty soil is needed. It may be either a clear peat bottom, or it may be a mixture of peat and sand—what we call savannah ground, Old cedar swamp bottoms seem most natural tc the cranberry. 304 FRUIT 2. The plantation must be situated on a run- ning stream of water, with dam and gates. Here in New Jersey, we consider it necessary to keep the vines covered with water the entire | Winter. This would probably be unnecessary in North Carolina; still it would be well to be able to do so, as it is the only way of extermi- nating insects and worms. If your bottom is peat, it must first be cleared of bushes and tus- socks, and then sanded to the depth of five or six inches. If savannah, it must be plowed and harrowed. The ground may be prepared | at any time, but Spring is the best season for | planting. In sanding peat bottoms, wheel- barrows may be used, or a car made expressly for the purpose, running on a wooden track, ironed with old wagon-tire, and pushed along} The ground must be| by three or four men. marked out as for corn, with a sled, two feet or eighteen inches each way. Have asharp stick, with a knot or crook in it; place your foot on the knot and push it down; then set out two or three vines in the hole, taking care they reach through the sand” into the peat, and packing the sand close about them. It is not necessary for the vines to have roots; they are very tena- cious of life, and will grow if run through a cutting-box and sown broadcast. 3. Cultivation—The first and second Sum- mers, hoe and keep free from weeds; after that the vines will take care of themselves. 4, Harvesting.—We employ women and chil- dren to pick them in good picking, for fifty cents a bushel. 5. Putting up for Market.——Put them up in barrels, or in bushel erates made expressly for the purpose. They will bring a better price if sorted over. There are various contrivances for picking them over, but none of them are very satisfactory. A first rate article now brings about four dollars per bushel. Some years prices are much higher, and never less than three dollars for a prime article. The berries borne the first and second sea- sons have generally been sufficient with me to pay for hoeing and weeding. The third season a fair crop may be expected, and ever afterward the plantation grows more productive, and your only trouble or expense is the picking and put- ting up for market. Upland Culture.—Though the natural habitat of the cranberry is the lowland, yet they can be raised on poor uplands, with a surface of five or six inches of sand carted on—or in such localities as the pine barrens of Long Island, AND FRUIT TREES: or the pine lands of New Jersey. They need to be set in wider rows than those in swamps or bogs, so as to afford frequent plowing to pre- vent the ground from baking, and impart mois- ture to the plants. Of course, by this system of culture there is no opportunity for flooding. “One reason usually assigned for flooding,” |says THomas E Brincer, of Long Island, “is the supposed necessity of destroying the ecran- berry worm. None trouble us as yet. Another reason is to keep them back, out of the way of late frosts—an unnecessary precaution here, as they do not blossom until June. Another rea- son is given, that much moisture is necessary during their growth, to raise the berry to per- fection. To this I answer, cultivation provides the remedy. The gronnd being naturally un- derdrained, if the surface is kept mellow, any drouth can be successfully resisted. At night we usually haye heavy dews, which help ma- terially; and by trailing the vines in rows, a a natural mat or covering, operating as a mulch, is provided, thus helping to assist the natural habit of the plant, while it grad- ually accommodates itself to existing cireum- stances,” The product of the upland culture must nec- essarily be less than that on the lowlands; one cultivator in Massachusetts, from half an acre of upland, gathered the third year thirty bar- rels of berries, which he sold at fifteen dollars a barrel; the cost of picking and marketing was three dollars a barrel, leaving a clear profit of three hundred and sixty dollars. Professor Forrst SHEPHERD, of the Western Reserve College, Ohio, found several years ago a native upland cranberry in various sections of British America, particularly on the Neepe- gon coast of Lake Superior. ‘The plant,” says Professor SurpHerD, “is much like our common cranberry, but more vigorous, cover- ing the ground entirely with a green mat, while the surface is flaming red with berries, more delicious than anything of the kind I have ever tasted. I have no doubt the plants may be propagated to great advantage on poor, cold, sterile lands of a northern exposure in all the United States. But they should not be put in marsh or bogs.” The fruit of this variety re- sembles an ordinary pea in size and shape, of a beautiful pale red color, bright and glossy ; softer than the swamp berry, and therefore will not keep so long; flavor remarkably pleasant and agreeable, peculiarly adapted for jellies and preserves, FOES OF THE FARM: Insurrous Insects AND DisEAses; REMEDIES AND Metuops oF DEFENSE. THE different kinds of insects found within our country number about thirty thousand, or about ten distinct varieties to one of the animal kingdom; and of this large number not less than one-third are cannibals, devouring one another for food -thus the bald hornets and spiders catch flies, the mud wasp catches the spider, the ichneumon fly catches the wasp, and birds and other insect-feeders catch the ichneumon fly. The American Entomologist, edited with great ability by Dr. B. D. Watsu, of Rock Island, Lllinois, estimates the average yearly depredations of noxious insects in our country, at three hundred millions of dollars. It is the first duty of the farmer to clean out all the fence corners and rubbish heaps, and burn them, thus destroying the germ of many insects that would otherwise prey upon the crops and the orchard. He should learn from books, agricultural papers, and his own observa- tion, when to expect their appearance, and be prepared, with the best means at command, to avert their increase and depredations. Toads, frogs, and skunks are really friends of the human race, destroying a multitude of worms and insects, and their laryee—frogs dong low grounds and streams, and skunks and toads especially in the field and garden. Even snakes, lizards, and spiders subsist upon insects. Birds, too, render the farmer a vast service in the destruction of insects, and though they do eat a few berries and other fruits, yet they should be protected and encouraged. Not one bird in fifty fails to serve as the ally. of man against his enemies. The shrike, or butcher-bird, kills mice, and wages a most re- lentless war on locusts, grasshoppers, moths, and other insects, not only for food but for amusement—often impaling hundreds of them on the thorns of the hawthorn or wild plum, near his haunts. He is rightly named, a butcher-bird. An Alabama planter raised bountiful crops, 20 while the caterpillar destroyed the cotton of all his neighbors around him, The reason was simply this: He issued the sternest orders that not a single bird, except the jay, should be killed upon his plantation under any pretext whatever. He allowed little willow groves to grow in his fields, and to them he sent a sack of oats every morning, which were scattered upon the ground. The birds fed upon the oats, and swarmed in thousands around his fields. They exterminated the cotton-fly; and hence there were no eggs, there were no cater- pillars, there were no larve, but there was a blooming garden in the midst of a, blighted wilderness. Some of our States have wisely passed laws making it a penal offence to destroy brown thrushes, blue birds, martins, swallows, wrens, cat-birds,* meadow-larks, or any other of the insect-eating birds. It has been estimated that the swallow alone destroys at least nine hun- dred insects per day. Enemies of Fruit and Trees.—We find it convenient to divide this chapter, post- poning a consideration of the enemies of gar- den and field crops, and first paying attention to such as injure fruit: Caustic Soda for Fruit Trees—The late Pro- fessor MAPES gaye an account, at a meeting of the New York Farmers’ Club, of a series of experiments which showed that a saturated solution of caustic soda is not injurious to the most tender living vegetable, while it dissolves all dead vegetable matter. For several years he made extensive use of this strong solution for fruit trees, and always with the best effects. It destroyed great numbers of insects, and kept the bark clean and bright. A pound to a gallon of water makes a proper saturated solution, Calomel for Fruit Trees—An apple tree, which was in process of destruction by insects, and (305) 306 rendered unproductive, was thoroughly cured in this way: A hole was bored in the body of the tree, nearly through the sap, and two grains of calomel inserted. As soon as it was taken and distributed by the sap, the vermin died, and the tree began to bear fruit, and has done so for three years, to the entire satisfaction of the owner. Sulphur may be mixed with the calomel and produce good results. Beneficial Effects of Salt—We believe, says Wx. C. Loner, of Delaware, in the United States Agricultural Report for 1865, that we have discovered a sovereign remedy for nearly all diseases of our fruit trees, as well as for the destructive insects, which so frequently destroy our fruit after it has given promise of satis- factory crops. It is nothing more than com- mon salt. We have experimented with it on bushes and young trees, with admirable effect in many instances, though sometimes with in- jury, owing rather to the manner of applica- tion than the agent employed. Its application was first suggested to us as an insect-destroyer, from the success of an experiment made upon the tree-moth. We found it altogether effect- ual in preventing injury from this troublesome pest, and so we extended our experiments, with almost equal success, to the fruit-destroying family of pests. The difficulty is in the proper application of the remedy or preventive, as salt is so injurious to tender vegetation that, frequently, we can not reach the insect without also touching a bud, blossom, or tender leaf. Where the atmosphere is impregnated with | saline particles, nearly all our troublesome in- sects, and most of our diseases of fruit trees are unknown. The most perfect fruit of the peach, plum, nectarine, and apricot, and the} most enduring trees are found in the neighbor- hood of salt water. On the higher lands, along the Delaware and Chesapeake bays, all stone fruit trees bear plentiful crops, and endure much longer than in the interior. On the is- lands of the bays where the shores are washed by salt water, we have found peach and plum trees with their loads of fruit in such perfect condition as we have never seen elsewhere. Of the many plum trees we have examined in those localities, we have yet seen no trace of Black Knot, nor any sign of the Curculio on the fruit. Peach trees flourish and bear annual crops at the age of fifty, and in some cases seventy years, and on the islands of the Chesa- peake the figs produce two or three successive crops of perfect fruit in the same season. FOES OF THE FARM* that every enemy of fruit that burrows in the ground may be successfully pursued, and easily exterminated, by the proper use of salt. Fall plowing is also a good remedy, if the ground be left in ridges. Freezing kills the eggs. Other Remedies and Suggestions —Bind a bun- dle of the boughs or twigs of the red cedar around the body of each tree infested with worms, with the butts uppermost, and the worms will speedily disappear. Muke a strong decoction from coarse waste tobacco, and to every five gallons add one pound of copperas, and apply it with a brush to the trees. The dregs, after soap making, proves an effectual remedy against fruit-tree insects. Pour the fluid where the tree divides into limbs, that it may run down the bark to the roots, where eggs of insects are often deposited. The ammoniacal water of gas, or gas liquor, mixed with three-fourths its quantity of com- mon water, and sprinkled over the leaves and branches of trees, will destroy all insects upon them. A small trench should be dug around each tree to receive the water which falls, that it may soak down to the roots of the trees and destroy insects which may harbor about the roots, As a wash for the bodies of young fruit trees, take lye made of ashes or potash—one ponnd of potash will be enongh for a gallon of water; or common soft soap mixed with water until it is of the consistency of cream. It may be ap- plied with brush or swab, in July, when it will have a tendency to destroy the eggs of insects which are then deposited on the bark, and about the roots. This wash will also be found effectual in removing moss and other parasitica! productions. A sufficient amount of potash *s contained in the soap to accomplish these ends. and yet not enough to injure the bark of the tree, and as it is of vegetable origin, it is more congenial to the tree than lime, and is always to be preferred. It does not close the pores of the bark as lime wash, or coal tar, or grease does, but leaves them unobstructed and open to atmospheric influences, and in a state of vigor- ous and perfect health. It has long been used by orchardists and gardeners, and has never been known to injure any fruit tree, when made and applied as above directed. Apple Diseases and Insects.—We can but briefly mention the more common dis- eases of the apple, and its insect enemies, sug- I have long held, says Horace GREELEY, | gesting remedies when known. APPLE DISEASES AND INSECTS. Apple Beetle.—This little insect is found bur- rowing in the pith of the young branches of the apple tree in the Spring. The branches above the seat of attack soon die. Cut off these branches, below the dead and dying portions, and burn them. Apple Blight—Destroys the terminal shoots ~ all over the tree, as stated by Dr. J. H. Saxis- BuRY and C. B. Sautspury, in the Ohio) Agricultural Report for 1863, by a fungus dis- ease—generally making its appearance sud-| and more re- liance should be placed on _preventives than curatives—among the former, are sulphur and sulphuric acid, which serve as fertilizers to the tree. Others represent the blight as caused by a small worm no larger thananeedle. Cut off the diseased limbs and burn them. Apple Borer.-—This insect, of the beetle family, lays its eggs and deposits them, in June or early in July, in the tender bark at the base of the tree—laying one egg in a place, and some- times eight or ten in a tree— producing a grub about an inch long. Make a wash of a pailful of soft soap, four quarts of sulphur, four quarts of air-slaked lime, four quarts of wood ashes, half a bushel of cow or hen manure, with water enough with these ingredients to fill a barrel, and use it freely on the trees and about their base. Some fill the holes with hard soap, or a piece of camphor, behind which a soft plug is driven; or probe the cavity with a flexible wire; while others still, with a gouge or prun- ing knife and mallet, thoroughly dig out the borer—where but a few are taken out the tree soon recovers, heals over, and does well. The waste water from salt works, called “mother water” or “bitter water,” applied, about a pint at a time, at various intervals from June to August, about the base of each tree, or, in lien thereof, a strong briny decoction, is regarded as a simple and effective remedy. Dr. Asa Firecw recommends cutting an orifice some three inches above the aperture where the borer enters, at the upper end of the burrow, and pouring in hot water from a tea-pot spout and sealding the depredator. But preventives should be resorted to, as the easier and safer way of saying the trees, and promoting their health and productiveness. The late Mr. DownrNc recommended a mix- ture of soap, sulphur, and tobacco water, or soap and tobacco water, mixed to the consist- ency of thick cream, with which to wash or paint the bark of the tree immediately above the ground and axils of the lower limbs. denly after warm, moist weather ; 307 |Others destroy all the borers they ean find, 'then bank up the earth around the trunk to ithe height of several inches, and then tie on paper so as to cover the trunk to the height of ‘about ten inches above the earth, to prevent | the females from depositing their eggs. Ti this | paper is smeared with gas tar, all the better. | Others recommend placing a piece of hard soap in a little bag, securely in the crotch of a tree, so that it can drip down the trunk with the rain, thus constantly supplying the tree with alkali and grease—no borer will go there. Solid whale-oil soap, rubbed around the base of the trees, is also an effectual] remedy. Apple Maggot Fly.—A very small two-winged fly proceeding from the larve or grubs found in fruit previously perforated by the codling or apple moth, This fly injures or destroys the pulpy substance of apples. It prevails in the Eastern and Middle States. Apple Midge.— A slender, tapering, glossy, white worm, which finds its way into the in- terior of ripened or stored apples. Prevent- ives, as in the case of the apple worm or codling moth, are the only modes of cireum- venting these pests. Apple-Root Plant Louse —This insect, says Dr. WatsH, lives habitually underground, sucking the sap from the roots, and causing thereon large excrescences orswellings. In II]- linois it is erroneously called the Woolly Aphis or Plant Louse, and destroys many trees, by sucking up the sap of the roots, producing much the appearance of dry rot. Remedy — drench the roots of infested trees with boiling water, which will not produce injury to the tree; a strong decoction of soap or lye, or brine, will generally prove effectual. Before young apple trees are planted, the roots should be soaked a considerable time, either in a strong solution of soap, or in strong tobacco” water—the latter probably the best—and thus destroying whatever lice may exist on the roots of the young trees. Apple Thrips.—Minute, slender insects, which wound the young apple, and are difficult to ex- terminate. Dusting the vegetation which they infest with flour of sulphur, and washing it off a few days afterward, has been found: successful in some cases; and would, doubtless, prove more so if applied when the thrip is in its larvee, or immature state. Apple Worm or Codling Moth—This insect disfigures many of our apples and pears, caus- ing them to fall prematurely from the tree. The moth has four wings, light-gray and 308 FOES OF . brown, and a dark brown oval spot on the} It deposits its eggs in the eye, hinder margin. or blossom end of the fruit, and these hatch in a few days, producing a reddish-white grub, which eats its way to the core, when’ the apple shortly falls to the ground. The worm now seeks shelter in the crevices and beneath the rough bark of the tree, spins a web-like co- coon, and remains until the next season, One remedy is, to keep the bodies of the trees well scraped, and annually washed with lye water early in the Spring, and picking up all the fruit as fast as it falls, or Jetting hogs run in the orchard to eat it. It has long been known that by placing an old cloth, or anything of that nature, in the crotch of an apple tree, the apple worms may be decoyed into building their cocoons under- neath it, and thus be destroyed wholesale. Dr. TRIMBLE’s method—which amounts to the same thing, and has been found to be practi- cally very beneficial—is to fasten two or three turns of a hay band round the trunk of the apple tree, and every few days, from June to the middle of September, to slip the hay band up and destroy the cocoons that have from time to time been formed on the bark under- neath it. Every female moth that hatehes out in July or August, from the first brood of apple worms, will probably deposit an egg in some two or three hundred nearly matured apples, | thereby rendering them more or less unsalea- ble and unfit for use. Tansy or wormwood growing near apple trees will, it is said, destroy or drive away the moth. Fires built around the orchard in the evenings of the latter part of June and early in July, will attract and destroy the moths in large numbers, and will greatly tend to keep them in subjection. Army Worm.—These pests have occasionally appeared in different parts of our country dur- ing the past century. As a general thing, they commence on one side of an orchard, taking all the trees as they proceed, completely defoli- ating them. Prepare strips of birch or bass- wood bark, three or four inches wide—or any- thing else that will answer the same purpose— tie it about half-way up the trunk of the tree, and smear with a coating of tar. This will ef- fectually stop their progress. Bark Lice—Lice seldom do any harm on a thrifty tree, but on poor trees, as on poor calves, they delight to make a lodgement. They are very minute insects, with a shell or scale, and the inexperienced would searcely dis-: + Z THE FARM: cern them. Remedy—induce vigorous growth in the tree; a crop of buckwheat in the | orchard, maturing and decaying there, forms a mulch, and the trees thrive, and the lice disap- pear. Ashes applied about the base of lousy trees render a good service in this direction; | the lye passing through the roots into the tree, | doubtless furnish the lice a distasteful food, and \they either travel to other quarters or perish. |A wash applied to the tree, of strong lye and ‘flour of sulphur, in May or June, and a repeti- |tion, will do no harm, A coat of lard, put on jwith an old shoe brush, well rubbed in, will |destroy the lice in two or three days; and a therough application of kerosine oil with a | paint brush, will not only thoroughly clean ithe tree of lice, but of dead bark and moss, and | give new vigor to the tree. Hornets and yellow leiekats have been known to exterminate bark ‘lice, eating them up, old and young. Dr. /Warsn, the State Entomologist of Illinois, de- ‘elares that the usual wash remedies amount to ‘Tittle or nothing, except so faras the friction ‘used with a stif brush, and that soon after the | blossoming of the apple, serves to destroy the vermin. Canker Worm.—There are several allied spe- cies of this insect, not alone confined to the apple, but preferring the elm to all other trees. /The male is a moth, with pale, ash-colored wings, with a black dot, a little more than an inch across; the female is nearly wingless, oval, dark ash-colored above, and gray be- neath—a measuring worm, ten-footed, and nearly an inch long. Early in the Spring the worm rises out of the ground; the females, having no wings, climb slowly up the trunks of the trees, looping or arching up their backs at every step, while the winged males hover about to pair with them. The female soon lays from sixty to a hundred eggs, glued over,.closely ar- ranged in rows, in the forks of the branches, and among the young twigs, which are hatched out the latter part of May, and the dusky- brown or ash-colored canker worm, witha yel- low stripe, soon commences preying upon the foliage. A belt of canvas, saturated with tar and train oil, encircling the tree, prevents their ascent. Another preventive is a leaden trough, encircling the body, secured in its place and filled with oil. Another remedy is, spading up the ground in the Autumn, beneath the trees, on which they appear, and dressing it liberally with lime; or using bands of straw and cotton batting tied around the tree, and examined daily to kill all APPLE DISEASES that have become entangled in it. Tarring is effective, if it is thoroughly done. .42.1| wre =e duction. luctt one male. SONIATLOD Shortest] Mean Longest GueroOn. ‘ copy | period. | period, | period. Years. Days Days. Days. Mare 4 years. 10 to 12 May, 322 347 AY 5 pe 12 to 15 Betas 10 July. 220 284 321 3 as 5 2 Ee) 6 Nov. 146 4 161 ea 7 1 oe 6 March, 109 115 143 1 a8 6 2 a 6 Noy. 150 156 163 2 as 5 4 ss 19 to 12 May. 365 330 391 5 “ 12 to 15 nadsctoce 281 308 235 “ _ 6 fs 1 chs Sto =| —aseverece «=| wens ene 48 50 56 1 sf 9 told Doe rabbit. 6 5 to6 Noy. 20 28 35 Buck rabbit. 6 5tob Cock ... Pu Niet 5to6 Turkey, sitting ) hen Radin 17 24 23 on the eggs of -duck 24 27 30 the turkey 24 26 30 Hen sitting on) duck { 26 30 34 the eggs of the J hen 19 21 24 Duck = 23 30 32 ( 27 30 33 16 18 20 In some latitudes in this country, July will be too late for the best month of copulation for the cow. Producing the Sexes at Will—In a treatise published by Professor THury, of Geneva, Switzerland, he gives a summary of his obser- vations and deductions on the subject of pro- ducing sexes at will. He announces the dis- covery, that, in the case of animals that usually produce but one at a birth, and have a regular rutting season, it is perfectly easy to produce the sex most desired. The pith of the theory is, that before the ovum has reached a certain degree of maturity, it will invariably produce a female offspring ; while, on the other hand, it is equally certain to produce a male after it has passed that degree of maturation. The Professor’s application of the theory consists in ordering that the female, when it is desired to produce a female offspring, be brought to the male at the beginning of the rutting season, or toward the close of that season, if it is, de- sired to produce male offspring. 5 M. Cornax, of the Canton of Vaud, reports that he has made twenty-nine careful experi- ments with cows, with a view to test the prac- tical value of this theory, and that every ex- periment was successful. In twenty-two cases he desired to produce females, meeting with success in every case; in the seven experiments he desired to produce males, and in these he succeeded equally well. ARISTOTLE observed that the pigeon ordina- rily laid two eggs, and that, of these two eggs, one produced a male and the other a female, He found that the first egg gave the male and the second the female, but he searched in yain for the philosophy of it. M. FLourEns ex- perimented on this phenomena, and in eleven repetitions the first egg invariably produced the male and the second the female. If MM. Cornax and FLovREns report cor- rectly, it would seem that the Professor’s theory may not be without foundation. It is very ea- sily put to the test, and we doubt not that: it will soon either be established or exploded. We ought to say that Professor THuryY is him- BREEDS AND BREEDING. self, of the opinion, that it can only be relied | on where the animal is running out, in a nor- mal condition. Physiology of Breeding.—The axiom that) ‘ike begets like” is good as far as it goes, | and, if all animals were in a condition of na- ture, it might be a sufficient guide; but with domestication come disturbing influences. What every stock grower wants is, as BAKEWELL ex- | pressed it, “the best machine for converting herbage and other animal food into money,” This can be produced only by attending to cer- tain rules which the experience of stuck grow- ers have established. The law of similarity directs the hereditary transmission of certain qualities possessed by one or both parents ; and within certain limits it is invariable. The lesson which it teaches is, breed only from the best. A family in Yorkshire is known for several generations to have been furnished with six fingers and toes. A family possessing the same peculiarity resides in the valley of the Kenne- bec, and the same has reappeared in one or more other families connected with it by mar- riage. The thick upper lip of the imperial house of Austria, introduced by the marriage of the Emperor MAximILian with Mary of Burgundy, has been a marked feature in that family for hundreds of years, and is visible in their descendants to this day. Equally noticea- ble is the ‘‘ Bourbon nose” in the former reigning family of France. All the Barons de Vrssrus had a peculiar mark between theirshoulders, and it is said by means of it « posthumous son of a late Baron de Vesstus was discovered in a London shoemaker’s apprentice. HALLER cites the case of a family where an external tumor was transmitted from father to son, which always swelled when the atmosphere was moist. The famous English horse Eclipse had a mark of a dark color on his quarter, which, althuugh not a defect, was transmitted to his progeny even to the filth generation. These facts show how necessary it is to have regard to every particular ; not only the general appearance, size, shape, length of limb, strength, thickness of skin, length of hair, docility, ete., but also structural deiects and hereditary dis- eases. Youatrsays: “There isscarcely a mal- ady to which the horse is subject that is not hereditary.” The law of variation teaches that breeds di- verge from their pure character under the in- fluence of climate, food, care, and habit. Sub- jected to widely different conditions of living, 23 393 pure breeds change their size, and even their structure, and at last adapt themselves com- pletely to the necessity of the situation. The breeder has to deal with these divergencies and tendencies. His aim should ever be to grasp and render permanent, and increase so far as prace ticable, every variation for the better, and to reject Jor breeding purposes such as show a downward tendency. ” Among the “faint rays” alluded to by Mr. Darwiy, as throwing light upon the changes dependent on the laws of reproduction there is one, perhaps the brightest yet seen, which de- It is the apparent influence of the mule first having fruitful intercourse with serves notice. a female upon her subsequent offspring by other males. After a mare has borne a mule, she can never afterward be relied on to bring forth a colt of any value, because it will be apt to bear so close a resemblance to a mule as to render it So a bull will frequently transmit his qualities to several generations of calves, The mare and unsaleable. although only one is of his get. cow seem to be more likely to receive and repeat the characteristics of the first bull or stallion than any subsequent one. Dr. CARPENTER, in the last edition of his work on physiology, says it is by no means an unirequent occurrence ior a widow who has married again to bear children resembling her first husband. Recently, in a paper published in the Aber- deen Jowrnal, a veterinary surgeon, Mr. JAMES ‘McGinnivray, of Hundley, has offered an ex- planation which seems to be tne true one. His theory is, that “when a pure animal of any breed has been pregnant by an animal of a dif- ferent breed, she is a cross ever afier, the purity ot her blood being lost in consequence of her connexion with the foreign animal, herself be- coming a cross forever, incapable of producing a pure calf of any breed.” Relative Influence of Parents —W.C. SPoonER, veterinary surgeon, says, in speaking of the relative influence of parents: “The most prob- able supposition is that the propagation is done by halves, each parent giving to the offspring the shape of one-half of the body. Thus the back, loins, hind-quarters, general shape, skin, and size follow one parent; and the fore-quarters, head, vital, and nervous system, the other; and we may go so far as to add that the former, in the great majority of cases, go with the maie parent, and the latter with the female.” Among recent interesting theories on this branch of the subject, is that of Mr. Orvon, presented toa Farmers’ Club, in England. It 304 is, briefly, that the male parent, chiefly deter- mines the external characters, the.general ap- pearance, in fact, the outward structure and the locomotive powers of the offspring, as the frame- work, or bones and muscles, more particularly those of the limbs, the organs of sense and skin; while the female parent chiefly determines the internal structures and the general quality, mainly furnishing the vital organs, 7. e., the heart, lungs, glands, and digestive organs, and giving tone and character to the vital functions of secretions, nutrition, and growth. The mule is the progeny of the male ass and the mare; the hinny that of the horse and the she ass. Both hybrids are the produce of the same set of animals. They differ widely, how- ever, in their respective characters—the mule, in all that relates to its external character, hav- ing the distinctive features of the ass; the hinny, in the same respects, having all the distinctive features of the horse, while in all that relates to the internal organs and vital qualities, the mule partakes of the character of the horse, and the hinny of those of the ass. In short, the mule is in its external appear- ance, 2 modified ass, and the hinny a modified horse. ‘The male gives the locomotive organs, and the muscles are among these; the muscles are the organs which modulate the voice of the animal; the mule has the muscular structure of its sire, and brays; the hinny has the mus- cular structure of its sire, and neighs. It is believed, however, by many, that the offspring is most likely to resemble that parent which had the greatest generative influence in the formation of the fetus; and it follows, therefore, that the most perfect animals, both male and female, should be selected and em- ployed in propagation, there being no other certain means of establishing or preserving an eligible breed. Influence of Confinement.—Professor AGASSIZ has suggested the question, whether we do not injure the vitality and vigor of our domestic animals by the common system under which “every male is made to be nothing but a breed- ing machine;” in other words, by keeping stallions and bulls shut up in stables in a sort of pampered luxury unfavorable to healthful development. The Country. Gentleman says: “ In some coun- tries of continental Europe, as our readers are aware, stallions and bulls are habitually worked in harness and in the yoke. In whatever other respects these animals may vary from the stand- ard we desire to attain, it is our belief that in > - LIVE STOCK: healthful vigor, reproductive powers, and ca- pacity of endurance, they afford an example we might seek to imitate with advantage.” This is, to say the least, plausible. We know that, among men, the most prolifie and vigor- ous are those who work, not those’who live in idleness. As they can not be properly con- trolled, it does not answer to let stallions and bulls run at large, in the pasture, with females ; and as exercise and fresh air are absolutely essential to their good health and vigor, the best way to obtain these, and keep them in good condition is, to break the former, when quite young, to the harness as well as to the saddle, and the latter to the yoke, and work them regularly but moderately. This would also subdue their fierceness, and make them manageable and safe on a farm. S. M. Wetts, of Wethersfield, Connecticut, and many of the best stock growers of New England oppose this view, and insist that con- finement does not result in injury; so the ques- tion can be settled only by multiplied experi- ments. q A good-sized, well-fed yearling bull will get as many vigorous calyes as he ever will; but it will be likely to weaken him, if he be permit- ted to serve more than half a dozen the first season. With such moderate use, his gets will almost certainly be strong and perfect, and he will develop more vigorously and rapidly, Thorough-Breds.—It ought not to be neces- sary to say a word against breeding from native or even grade bulls. No intelligent farmer, who knows what is for his best interest, will think of admitting into his herd any but a thorough-bred bull of some good variety. A very great change has been wrought in this di- rection within ten years, and in some parts of the country, where stock raising has been wisely developed, it is properly regarded as a disgrace to permit the mongrelizing influence of a scrub bull, A good bull will frequently transmit great milking qualities inherited from his mother; indeed, if unusual milkers are chiefly sought for in the prospective heifers, the ancestry of the bull is as important as that of the cow. “Such knowledge as has been gained nee ob- servation and experience,” says Mr. GOODALE, in the article already freely quoted, ‘‘ regarding the relative influence of the parents, teaches emphatically that every stock grower should, in the first place, use his utmost endeavor to obtain the services of the best sires; that is the best for the end and purposes in view ; that he de- VARIETIES pend chiefly on the sire for outward form and symmetry: and next, that he select dams best calculated to develop the good qualities of the male, depending chiefly upon these for freedom from internal disease, for hardihood, constitu- tion, and generally for all qualities dependent upon the vital or nutritive system, The neg- lect which is too common, and especially in breeding horses, to the qualities of the dam, miserably old and inferior females being often employed, can not be too strongly censured.” In rearing valuable horses the dams are not of | less consequence than the sires, although their | influence upom the progeny be not the same. | This is well understood and practiced upon by | the Arab, who cultivates endurance and bottom. If his mare be of the true Kocklani breed, he| will part with her for no consideration what- | ever, while you can buy his stallion at a com- paratively moderate price. The prevalent prac- tice in England and America of cultivating | speed in preference to other qualities, has led us to attach greater importance to the male, and the too common neglect of health, vigor, endurance, and constitution, in the mares has, in thousands of cases, entailed the loss of qual- ities not less valuable, and without which speed alone is of comparatively little worth. “Breeding, as an art, in this country is in its infancy. A glimpse of the stature it may at- tain unto, is afforded us by the success attend- ing the exhibition of the horses of Mr. Try Broeck and the cattle of Mr. THorNE upon Britain’s own soil, and in competition with the best of her own growth. We have the best material to begin with or to go on with which ever existed on the earth. We have a country for its development, which, in soil, in climate, in food, in freedom from diseases, and in other facilities, has no superior, and probably no equal in the world. Let scientific knowledge - and practical skill take the place of prevalent ignorance and carelessness, and improvement must go rapidly forward, and accomplish al- most incalculable results.” A Tax on Male Animals. — Hon. GrorcE GeppEs, of Onondaga county, New York, ‘recommends a national tax on all bulls, stall- ions ete., and says: “This would be one of the greatest steps ever made toward the im- provement of agricultural stock; it would be more than a step—it would be an immense stride—for any man has only to stroll across country a few miles and see the wretched entire male animals kept on many farms, to be griev- ed sorely in migd at the idea of propagating OF CATTLE. 359 such miserable and valueless trash. If every horse colt not altered when a year old entailed a tax of $20 per year upon his owner—if every bull calf of six months old had to pay $5, and the same per annum afterward, and every ram lamb, and boar pig were taxable at $2 per year, commencing at three months of age— it would exterminate most of the worthless brutes, and in five years time the live stock would be worth very many millions more, and in the course of a few generations there would be nothing living but had some good blood in it, for the dullest of farmers would not pay taxes on the hideous objects which now rove around. If some wealthy man would buy (for the trifle such ugly specimens would sell for) one or two and send them in all their deform- ity to the nearest agricultural show fair, the exhibition of these monstrosities might do much good, for it would cause great discussion as to others who made use of males no better, and so shame the owners that they might begin to see the folly of raising such unsightly and un- profitable animals.” This proposition seems worthy of immediate adoption. If there is any measure so simple as this, which can ameliorate our stock, by abolishing the wretched scrubs which still in- fest every county in the land, its practical working ought not to be postponed for a day. Varieties of Cattle.—From the prin- ciple of selection, from the influence of cli- mate, food, and care, and from many natural tendencies which are not well understood, have sprung varieties of each genus, more or less definitely marked, and bearing greater or less relative value. Of the genus ox, there are seyv- eral kinds well-known in America, such as the Durham or Shorthorn, the Devon, the Ayr- shire, the Jersey, or Alderney, the Dutch, etc., and a countless herd of natives, varying in quality up and down through the whole scale of merit. There are three points of prime importance in determining the selection of a breed of cat- tle: dairy qualities, working qualities, and, finally, beefing qualities. Some breeds com- bine two of these in admirable completeness; none seems to concentrate them all in the high- est perfection. The average Devon is probably superior to any other breed for the yoke; the average Alderney for richness of butter; and the average Durham for beef. Yet these points of superiority are subject to modification by many conditions, Firstly, there is the differ- 356 ence in value between cattle of the same breed. There are individuals, and even herds, in each of the above named divisions, that are superior in any given quality to the average of any other division. Secondly, there is the modifi- cation caused by climate and food. In some localities, States, even sections of our country, one variety will be found to be pre-eminently adapted to prevailing conditions, and will prove superior to any other for general propa- gation, Points of a Good Cow.—The chief points which distinguish a prime dairy cow, and are at the same time compatible with an aptitude for fattening, are, a long and small head, a bright and placid eye, thin chops, small horns, neck thin toward the head, but thickening to- ward the shoulder; dewlap small. The breast neither immoderately wide (as is remarked in cattle with a great tendency to fatten) nor yet “narrow, and projecting before the legs; the girth behind the shoulder deep, the ribs wide and gradually distending more and more to- ward the loins; there should be good breadth across the hips and loins; the thighs should be thin and the legs not too long and inclined to crookedness; the udder should be capacious, Lut thin and not too coarse and fleshy, and nearly of equal size, with moderate-sized teats equally distant from each other, and the milk vein large. The tail should be thick above and taper downward, and the skin fine and silky. Dr. ANDERSON gives the following rythmical enumeration of the qualities of a good cow: **She’s long in her face, she’s fine in her horn, She’ll quickly get fat without cake cr corn ; She’s clear in her jaws, she’s full in her chine, She's heavy in flank, and wide in her loin; She’s broad in her ribs, and long in her rump, A straight and flat back, with never ahump; She’s wide in ber hips, and calm in her eye, She’s firm in her shoulders, and thin in her thighs; She's light in her neck, and small in her tail, She’s wide in her breast, and good at the pail; She’s fine in her bone and silky of skin, She’s a graizer’s without, and a bntcher’s within.” In an essay in Rural Affairs, DonaLD G. MircHett (“Ik Marvev’’), says on this point: “First of all, the milk dairyman should abjure allegiance to any one strain of blood; it will never do for him to swear by the herd-book, or to have any hobby of race. Here and there, a Shorthorn (at a great price) proves a great milker; and there are individ- ual Ayrshires who do wonders in the filling of a pail; the Alderneys, I think, never. Grade animals of good milking points will be service- able ones for him; and if he keep his eye open, LIVE STOCK: as every shrewd farmer should, he will find here and there some rawboned, misshapen native animal, who will yield golden returns. Those animals that will give the most milk under generous feeding, without respect to name or lineage, are the animals for him. Therefore, in nine cases out of ten, the best milk herd is very motley in form and color. In an expe- rience of some ten years, with a herd of twenty or more, the three most profitable milkers I have owned, have been a grade Shorthorn, (from Kentucky), a grade Ayrshire, and a rawboned native.” The only practicable means of generally im- proving the quality of stock, is to put none but thoroughbred bulls upon the best grades and native cows. Some extraordinary natives are reported from time to time. The cow of Mr. Cour, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, produced one hundred and ninety-three pounds of butter during five months of Winter time. Hospa MERRILL’S cow, same town, yielded thirty beer quarts of milk per day. A native cow of Tuomas Hopeces, of North Adams, made four hundred pounds of butter in nine months. The Durham.—We place the Durham, or Shorthorn first, because there is no doubt that it is Phe developement of more care, more skill, and more intelligence, as a uniform breed of cattle, than any other breed in the world. It is also much more bred from in this country than any other. The Durhams are pre-emi- nently superior for the beef market. They grow to a larger size than any other stock, and their beef is unsurpassed in weight, delicacy, and succulence. They eat according to their size, and so they are regarded as difficult to keep on the hill- sides of New England, where the Ayrshire and Devon are preferred. In sections where the air is moist and the food abundant and rich, as in the blue-grass lawns and ranges of Ken- tucky, and on the native herbage of the prairies of the West, they are bred from more than all other breeds. Their milking qualities are excellent, under favorable conditions; and they have the advan- tage of turning profitably to the shambles when ° needed no longer for the dairy. A cow that sells readily to the slaughter for seventy-five to one hundred dollars, will be preferred wherever food enough to keep her can be found; for every thriving farmer will look first to milk and next to capacity to take on flesh, The Shorthorn cow is heavy; it is trouble- some to her to travel; she requjres thick grass VARIETIES in fact, she wants to be “up to her knees in clover,” and then she will pay most richly, both as a milker and for the butcher. But it would be the height of folly for a farmer who has only poor pastures to buy Shorthorns. In lon- gevity, continuous breeding to an advanced age, and a final profitable termination of her career at the shambles, the Shorthorn has no} equal. The majestic size, proud carriage, and beau- tifully variegated colors of the Shorthorn ren- der him easily recognized by the merest tyro; but few who thus admire and recognize him are aware how many qualifications go to make up this splendid whole, or how carefully each point has been weighed and discussed, and its relative value decided. The “high caste” Shorthorn should have a small head, a broad, flat forehead, with no projection of the frontal bones; the face should be well cut out below the eyes, tapering to a fine muzzle, with open nostrils; the nose must be flesh or chocolate colored; the eye must be bright, prominent, and yet placid; a small piggish eye is to be avoided; the horn should be well set on, and of a waxy, yellow color at the base; the body should be square, massive, and symmetrical, set on short legs, which should be straight and well under the animal; the fore legs should be small in the bone below the knee, while the forearm must be broad and tapering downward, fitting level into the girth ; the hind legs must be nearly straight; if the hocks are too much bent, turned inward, or not well under the body, it not only gives an awkward gait in walking, but is generally a sign of weakness; the neck is moderately long, clean in the throat, and running neatly into the shoulders, which should not be too prominent at the points, nor too wide at the top; they should mold nicely into the fore-quarters, and be well covered with flesh on the outside; the neck vein should be well filled up with flesh, and form on smoothly to the shoulder points; the chest must be broad and deep, and full back of the elbows; the brisket should be full and broad rather than narrow and projecting. In the upper portion of the frame we must have width and thickness and length; the crops must fill up level with the shoulders and back; the ribs must spring level and full from the back, and fill well up to the hips. ; The loin must be broad and well carried for- ward into the crops, and covered with thick flesh, molding nicely on to the hips, which though wide must not be too prominent, but OF CATTLE. , 357 |slope away gradually to the rump bones at the tail; the back must be level from neck to tail, with no drops back of the shoulders, nor any rise where the tail is set on; the rumps must be well laid up, but not too high; the twist should be well filled out in the “seam,” wide and deep, the outside thigh full, the flank deep, and form- ing with the fore-flank and belly, a parallel line with the animal’s back. The whole frame must be evenly covered with flesh, of a mellow elastic nature, readily yielding to the fingers, yet following them as the pressure is with- drawn; the skin must be of a moderate thick- ness, neither too thin nor thick enough to be stiff and hard; it must be covered with a coat of thick, soft, mossy hair. As oxen, the Durhams are admirably adapted to heavy work. They are stronger than any other breed; just the oxen for quarries or any very hard, steady pulling; but they are mild, docile, slow, and are generally surpassed by the quicker Devon grades, at plowing, and all road traveling. The Devon grade oxen take a large major- ity of. premiums at the fairs where there is competition, They are almost as tall and long, much handsomer than the Durham, and more spirited. S. W. Barruerr, of East Windsor, Connecticut, a Durham breeder, says: “ There are some objections to Shorthorns not yet men- tioned. Take a pair of high grade steers, and you will find that by the time they are four and a half or five years old you can not plow with them; they are so broad that the off ox can not walk in the furrow, and they also out- grow the road. I have seen cows with bags so large that it was difficult to drive them home from pasture. I owned a Shorthorn cow that was afterwards sold at auction in Canada for thirteen hundred dollars.” Of all descriptions of cattle, Shorthorn grades are now the most popular, where dairy business and fattening. are carried on simultaneously. They are for the most part, admirable milkers ; their calves, both heifers and bullocks, can be fed-off at an early age, and, coming to heavy weights, bring large and remunerative prices ; while the cows themselves, when no longer use- ful for the dairy, are easily fattened, and can be quickly got rid of. The Devon—The Devon is entitled to the next place, because it appears to have been the “first settler” of this country. The Devon head is handsome, and the color almost uni- formly a bright red. They are now bred mainly for beef and work; more rarely for the 358 dairy, as their average yield of milk, though rich, is small. The Devon beef is very sweet, and is preferred at Smithfield market. C. L. Frnt, in his “ Mileh Cows and Dairy Farm- ing,” says: “The improved North Devon cow may be classed, in this respect, with the Here- ford, neither of which have well-developed milk yvessels—a point of the utmost conse- quence to the practical dairyman.” Though indigenous to a country possessing the mildest climate in Great Britain, this breed is remarkably hardy and vigorous, and thrives where more delicate animals would scarcely live. For general farm labor, no other breed in the world can equal the Devon oxen, They have great quickness of action average docility, and a stoutness and honesty of work to which few teams of horses can pretend. For the production of beef of superior quality they are unsurpassed, even rivalling the little Highland Scot in the estimation of the London west-end butcher, whose fastidious customers oblige him to kill none but beef of the finest quality and flavor, and who may, therefore, be considered a good judge of excellence in this particular. The Devon does not, indeed, at- tain the great weight of some breeds, but their, advocates claim, that on a given quautity of food, and in a given time, they will make as much beef as any of them. The flesh is of high character, being well marbled and mottled with fat and of fine grain. The weight of meat is laid on the choicest parts, the shoulder, side, and fore-flank being well covered with flesh ; and, in addition, they have a peculiar property of furnishing meat of first-rate quality along their tops or backs. A well-bred Devon, in eood condition, will always show flesh over the very backbone itself, thus, of necessity, securing a good thickness over the loin. It is this admirable distribution of flesh that distin- guishes the Devon. Francis M. Rotcn, gives the following photograph of the Devon: “ We will now try, in a few words, to describe the North Devon, as we have seen him in the show yard of the Royal Agricultural Society, the admired of all beholders, where even ‘shorthorn’ men con- fessed him a model of perfection. He has a small, lean head, a somewhat dishing face, a delicate light-colored nose, a bright, prom- inent eye, surrounded by an orange-colored ring, small, flexible ear, elegantly symmetrical horns, which have an upward tendency and are slightly turned out at the tips, a light neck, round, full bosom, and a deep chest, with a LIVE STOCK: good, full fore-flank; the shoulder sloping, without a coarse point, and rising slightly above the line of the back, forming, with the crest, a sloping line from the head, which adds much to the style and carriage; the crops are full, with no hollow or drop behind the shoulder, and molding nicely into the full, springing rib, which, with the last mentioned point (the crops) especially marks the well- bred Devon; the loin is broad, the hips wide, but not ‘ragged,’ and the quarter long and well filled up between the hip and rumps; these last should be well up, but here we find the point most liable to weakness in the whole form—they are frequently low, narrow, and joined with a crooked leg; but in our perfect specimen the rumps lie well up and are well covered with flesh; the bone is fine, and the cord of the tail long and slender, finishing with a full tassel of white hair. Our Devon is of a rich blood-red, with a tinge of golden light playing over his soft rippled coat; but the color varies from a decidedly yellow-red, to a mohogany color, though this last, when ac- companied with a dark nose and almost black color about the head, is a very questionable hue for a true North Devon.” The Ayrshire—This breed originated nearly a hundred years ago in Ayrshire, Scotland, and is the result of careful selection and crossing with good breeds already established, by which defects were remoyed and good qualities in- creased and rendered hereditary. The ameli- oration is supposed to have been assisted by skillful crossing with the Jersey and the old Teeswater—the latter also the foundation of the Durhams. . The following is the approved deseription of the Ayrshire: “Head small, but rather long and narrow at the muzzle; the eye small, but smart and lively; the horns small, clear, crooked, and their roots at considerable dis- tance from each other; neck long and slender, tapering toward the head, with no loose skin below; shoulders thin; fore-quarters light; hind-quarters large; back straight, broad be- hind, the joints rather loose and open; carcass deep, and pelvis capacious, and wide over the hips, with round fleshy buttocks; tail long and small; legs small and short, with firm joints; udder capacious, broad and square, stretching forward, and neither fleshy, low hung, nor loose; the milk veins large and prominent; teats short, all pointing outward, and at con- siderable distance from each other; skin thin and loose; hair soft and wooly. The head, VARIETIES OF CATTLE, bones, horns, and all parts of the least value, small; and the general figure compact and well proportioned. Compared with other im- proved breeds, the thighs, or what is called the twist of the Ayrshire cow, are thin. She is, churacteristically, not a fleshy animal.” F Lina, in his treatise on milch cows and dairy farming, devotes considerable space to this breed, and concludes that for dairy pur- poses purely, or mainly, the Ayrshires deserve the first place. In consequence of the cow’s small symimetrical and compact body, well- formed chest, and capacious stomach, there is little waste through the respiratory system; while, at the same time, there is a very com- plete assimilation of the food, and thus she converts a large proportion of her food into milk, and of a better quality than any other breed. A Scotch account says: “The excellency of a dairy cow is estimated by the quantity and quality of her milk. The quantity yielded by the Ayrshire cow is, considering her size, very great. Five gallons daily, for two or three months after calving, may be considered as not more than an average quantity. Three gallons daily will be given for the next three months, and one gallon and a half during the succeed- ing four months. This would amount to more than eight hundred and fifty gallons; but al- lowing for some unproductive cows, six hundred gallons per year may be the average quantity annually from each cow. “The quality of the milk is estimated by the quantity of butter or cheese that it will yield; three gallons and a half of milk to a pound of butter. An Ayrshire cow, therefore, may be reckoned to yield two hundred and fifty-seven pounds of butter per annum. “When the calculation is formed, according to the quantity of cheese that is usually pro- duced, the following will be the result: Twenty- eight gallons of milk, with the cream, will yield twenty-four pounds of sweet-milk cheese, or five hundred and fourteen pounds per annum.” The above Scotch estimates are probably somewhat above the average product of Ayr- shire cows in this country; but it still remains true that, in proportion to their size and the food they consume, they are superior to all other cows as milkers. The Weruts brothers, of Connecticut, give, as asummary of their ex- perience in buying and breeding for the pail, that two Ayrshires give as much milk as three Durhams or Devons, and that two Durhams eat as much as three Ayrshires. 359 The Ayrshire oxen, though smart and hardy, are generally too small to take a first rank. A cross with the Durham has been found effective in improving the quality. A cross obtained from an Ayrshire bull and a pure-bred Short- horn, produces a stock that for beauty and strength, for the milk-pail, and, at last, to take on fat readily, would be hard to beat. The Alderney.—The cattle known as the Al- derney originated on the small islands of Al- derney, Jersey, and Guernsey, in the channel between England and France. These islands contain a thrifty population of six hundred to the square mile, and on every farm of eight acres there will be about five cows, three heif- ers, one horse, and three pigs. These farms are generally owned by the farmer, but when rented they fetch enormous prices, ranging from six to twenty-five dollars in gold per year per acre. The cows of Alderney and Guernsey are now generally superseded by the superior race of Jerseys, refined from Norman stock. The cows have been long celebrated for the produc- tion of very rich milk and cream, but till within a quarter of a century they were com- paratively coarse, ugly, and ill-shaped. Im- provements have 4een very marked, but the form of the animal is still far from satisfying the eye. The head of the pure Jersey is fine and ta- pering, the cheek small, the throat clean, the muzzle fine and encircled with a light stripe, the nostril high and open; the horns smooth, crumpled, not very thick at the base, tapering, and tipped with black; ears small and thin, deep orange color inside; eyes full and placid; neck straight and fine; chest broad and deep; barrel hooped, broad and deep, well-ribbed up; back straight from the withers to the hip, and from the top of the hip to the setting on of the tail; tail fine, at right angles with the back, and hanging down to the hocks; skin thin, light peculiar fawn color; and, elastic skin, covered with fine soft hair; fore legs short, straight and fine below the knee, arm swelling and full above; hind-quarters long and well filled; hind legs short and straight below the hocks, with bones rather fine, squarely placed, and not too close together; hoo!s small; udder full in size, in line with the belly, extending well up behind; teats of medium size, squarely placed and wide apart, and milk veins very prominent. The color is generally cream, dun, or yellow, with more or less white, and the fine head and neck give the cows and heifers a 360 LIVE fawn-like appearance, and makes them objects of attraction in the park. They were received with but little favor on their first appearance in this country—being regarded as delicate, requiring more care than other cattle, as small and mean, fit only for rich and ? They have over- come these prejudices to a gre t extent, until it is cenerally acknowledged tha, °n average herd of Jerseys will make more butter in a given time than the same number of average cows of any other breed, on the same amount of food ; that the deeply-yellow, highly-flavored, waxy butter has a marrowy richness that is not equalled; and that it will pay every farmer who furnishes milk or butter for market, to “sentlemen farmers.’ keep at least one Jersey to every six cows for the purpose of flavoring and coloring the total yield. Their butter brings from five to fifteen cents more by the pound in Eastern markets than any other. Hyper, of Connecticut, stated that the butter was regarded by his family as too rich to be palatable, and Devon butter was used instead. For poor pastures and hard Winters, they are not equal, as it is said by some breeders, to the Ayrshires or Devons. But Trrus Oakes, and other reputable breeders, affirm that no cow excels the Jersey in hardiness. They do not carry beef; they do not possess the symmet- rical and rounded form that characterizes the Shorthorns and Devons, nor ean they probably ever rival them for the yoke or shambles. Jersey bulls are coming largely into use, as a means of adding to the butter-making capac- ity of other breeds—the Alderney and Ayrshire being a favorite cross. Dutch cattle are of large size; prevailing color black, with sometimes a white patch over the back, resembling a sheet, and are, from this, distinguished by the name of sheeted cows. They are heavy milkers, but the milk is of rather poor quality, and not very productive of butter. Another very seriots objection to Dutch cattle is the difficulty of fattening them when past their prime, and the large quantity of food they consume in the endeavor to pre- pare them for the butcher. On account of these two faults in the character of this, at one time rather popular breed, they have of late years been going down in public estimation. The Hereford is another aboriginal stock of British cattle, that has long flourished by the side of the Devon. In earlier days, the char- acteristic white face, by which they are now recognized, was not a peculiar mark of the Lieutenant-Governor FE. T.| STOCK: | Hereford, The first importation into this coun- try was by Henry Cuay, in 1817. In this breed, the face, mane, throat, the under por- jtion of the body, the inside and lower part of |the legs, and the tip of the tail, are beautifully | white; the other parts of the body a rich red, usually darker in the male than the female; the horn is white or light yellow, of a waxy appearance, sometimes tipped with black; the forehead is broad, with spreading horns—those of the bull straight and level with the poll, and of the ox and cow slightly curved, with an upward tendency ; the eye is full, yet passive, denoting the quietness of disposition and tem- per characteristic of the Hereford, and which is of paramount importance to insure the prof- itable feeding of allruminating animals. This race has long been famous for its oxen and steers; they are very hardy, larger and stronger than the Devon, and docile as the Shorthorn. |The Hereford cow makes slight pretensions as a milker, and is seldom selected for the dairy. The Brittany cows are a small, tough breed, capable of enduring all hardships and living on little, while yielding well in milk and but- ter. Professor W. H. Brewer says: “They are noted throughout France for their milking qualities. They are even smaller than the Jersey, but more hardy, yield similarly rich milk, and thrive well on poor soils. Cows of this breed are cited, which on their native hills, pastured on the scanty feed of the region, yield eight times their weight of milk per year. They are a breed for poor lands, and thrive where other breeds fail.” Mr. Fuint says of this breed: “Standing only about three feet high on their legs, the most fashionable height; mostly black and white—now and then, but rarely, a red and white; they are as docile as kittens, and look pretty enough to become the kitchen pet of the hard-pressed mountain or hill-side farmer, with pastures too short for a grosser animal. Ten pounds of hay will suffice for their limited wants for twenty-four hours.” What is a Good Cow?—This ques- tion has already been inferentially answered. The best cow would be she that produced the most and richest milk on the least feed, while her male calves made the best oxen, and her carcass at last the most profitable beef. These qualities can assuredly be bred in and ren- dered hereditary by careful selection, to a far greater extent than is now dreamed of, The ;milch cows and beeyes of 1970 will doubtless WHAT IS A contrast with ours more widely than ours do} they consider the best cows for milk for their with the small stock that preceded BAKEWELL. And it should be remembered that a cow which will give twice as much milk and make twice as much butter as another, is worth more than twice as much money as a cow because she will not eat twice as much food, nor require twice as much care. Joun T. Norton, of Farmington, Connecti- eut, says of the product of the Jerseys: ‘‘ This milk will make about one pound of butter from six quarts of milk. One pound from twelve quarts is not far from the average yield from other herds.” Another writes: “They are not deep milkers, seldom giving over twenty-five to thirty-two pounds of milk per day. We had one which we sold to the Rev. Henry Warp BrrcHer, that gave forty and a half pounds of milk per day. As that gentleman justly observed, ‘the Jerseys did not give much milk, but what they did give was all cream.’ The most butter per week we ever had a Jer- sey cow give was sixteen pounds.” A well known breeder says: “The Durhams and Devons, as a rule, only yield well for a short time, during the most favorable period of their milking; while the Jersey will keep her yield well up during the whole season; and if extra care and pains are not taken, she will not dry off before she calves again, which is not to be desired, and is injurious to both cow and calf.’ J. M. Morss, of Massachusetts, says of a Jersey: “We made from her in the month of June, sixty-five pounds of butter, besides using some milk. Her yield of milk per day was about seventeen quarts.” Tuomas Frrcu, of New London, Connecti- cut, says: “TI have a Jersey cow with a strain of Ayrshire in her that has produced in seven days, on good pasture and no other feed, six- teen pounds seven ounces of splendid butter, besides supplying the family of five persons with milk sufficient for tea, coffee, ete.” Mr. Bracu, of West Hartford, Connecticut, reports in the Country Gentleman, that he has a Jersey cow that made ten pounds of butter in the first week of February. Mr. Furnt, in his work on “Milch Cows,” says: “A cross obtained from an Ayrshire bull of good size, and a pure bred Shorthorn cow, will produce a stock which it will be hard to beat at the pail, especially if the cow belong to any of the families of Shorthorns which have been bred with reference to their milking qualities, as some of them have. I have taken great pains to inquire of dairymen as to the Goop cow? 361 breed or grade of their best cows, and what purposes, and the answer has almost invaria- bly been, the Ayrshire and the native.” The Jersey cow, “Flora,” made no less than “five hundred and eleven pounds of butter in one year, without extra feeding;” and J. C. Converse, of “Yassachusetts, affirms that his Jersey cow, “S4dy Milton,” produced fifteen hundred and ninety-five quarts of milk, and two hundred and twenty pounds of butter in three months, from grass in pasture only. J. Bopicr, a Scotchman, writes to the Gen- essee Farmer: “T have carried on a dairy in Ayrshire, Scotland, for twenty-five years, and always considered the Ayrshire cow the best that could be obtained—milking qualities con- sidered. Our best Ayrshire cows yielded thir- ty-six quarts per day, on pasture alone, and our poorest, twenty-four quarts per day during June and July.” JosrerH H. Howe, a well-known dairy feeder of Massachusetts, gives the monthly yield of an Ayrshire cow, that gave in one year five thou- sand two hundred and sixty-five quarts of milk. “The keeping consisted of a few roots or shorts, with as much hay and other fodder as she would eat—during the Summer months, nothing but good pasture.” The Ayrshire cow, Dolly, owned by 8S. M. WELLs, of Connecticut, has given five thousand quarts a year. YOuUATT estimated a fair annual average for an Ayrshire cow at six hundred gallons. Arron thinks it approaches a thousand. The great value of Alderney stock is that it is almost indispensable in crossing for the pro- duction of the most valuable and highest type of the cow for rich and poor, family and dairy. A high-grade Alderney never gives poor milk. Hon. H. Incats, of Mercer, Maine, is re- ported to have had a cow, half Durham and half native breed, that gave in June 353 pounds of milk per week, and whole Weight of butter first week, 19 pounds; weight of milk the sec- ond week, 367 pounds; weight of butter second week, 21 pounds, making 40 pounds 10 ounces of butter in 14 days, requiring 18 pounds of milk to one of butter. S. Scammon, of Stratham, New Hampshire, reported in the Country Gentleman, that he has an Ayrshire cow which made, in one year (when she was six), by accurate weight, six hundred and ten pounds of butter. Her milk weighed fourteen thousand five hundred and forty pounds—more than seven tons-—the aver- age being almost forty pounds of milk per day, 362 and twelve pounds of butter per week, during the year. Mr. Scammown gave his cow ‘ hay, and generally two quarts of meal per day.” In the Summer, he gave her four quarts of meal per day, till July, then decreased to two quarts, and, after haying, turned her out to grass, and gave no meal;” gave her “green stalks in the season of them.” He says his two daughters milk this cow, “one on each side of her, witha large pail apiece!” Would sell her “for $1,000,” and nothing less. “good To Ascertain the Age of Cattle.— The ordinary guide for ascertaining the pre- cise age of cattle is the horn. At three years old, the first distinct ring is usually observed ; at four years old, two are seen; and so on, one being added on each succeeding. year. Hence the rule, that, if two be added to the number of rings, the age of the animal would be given. These rings, however, are perfectly distinct in the cow only; in the ox they do not appear until he is five years old, and are often confused: in the bull they are either not seen until five, or can not be traced at all. They are not al- ways distinct even in the cow. Far surer signs are presented by the teeth. Generally, if the mother have gone the average period of gestation, the calf will show two cen- tral teeth on each gum at birth; two weeks af- ter, a tooth will be added on each side—making eight in all—and in a month this number will be doubled. The number and appearance of the front or incisor teeth, at subsequent periods, are indicated by Youatrt in the following cuts: N Two Years. THREE YEARS, Five Years. LIVE STOCK: Ten YEARS. Mr. Hickey says: ‘“‘The age is indicated with unerring certainty by the teeth, to those who have judgment and experience, until the animal reaches the age of six or seven; until two years old, no teeth are cast; at that age, two new teeth are cut; at three, two more are cut; and, in the two succeeding years, two in each year; at five the mouth is said to be full, though not completely so until six, because until that period the two corner teeth (the last in renewal) are not perfectly up. The front or incisor teeth are those considered, for a full- grown beast has thirty-two teeth” (eight in- cisor and eight molar teeth on each jaw). An Infallible Sign of a Good Cow.—Is there an “infallible sign” by which alone to judge accurately of the quan- tity and quality of a cow’s milk and butter? Yes; if we may rely upon the discovery of M. Francis Guenon, for which he has re- ceived a pension of three thousand frances a year from the French government. The sign which he and his official patrons declared to be infallible, and which is now observed and studied with care by every intelligent breeder in this country as well as in Europe, is the Milk Mirror, as M. GuENON called the eseutch- eon, formed by the lines on the back part of the udder and thighs of a cow, where the growth of hair changes its direction. The importance of this theory is fully recog- nized by Mr. Fir, and by most of the stock authorities of this country; Joun 8S. SKINNER asked in his introduction to GuENON’s work: “Ts it extraordinary or incredible that the milky secretions of the cow should produce, in the region where the process is carried’ on, and where her characteristic excellence lies, exter- nal effects not more visible or striking than are produced on the size, color, and growth of the hair, on the shoulders, neck, and head of a bull?” GuENon’s claims attracted the attention of French Agricultural Societies as early as 1837, and the Bordeaux society, after putting him to severe tests, reported favorably. We extract briefly from their report: “M. GuEnon has established a natural method, by means of which it is easy to recognize and class the dif- \ AN INFALLILLE SIGN OF A GOOD cow. ferent kinds of milch cows. classification, which is no less ciear and dis- tinct than simple, we are enabled, 1. To distinguish with ease, in any herd of cows, each individual comprised in it, according By means of this to the quantity of milk which she is capable of yielding—from twenty-six quarts a day down to} next to nothing, and all intermediate quantities. 2. To know the qualities of the milk which each will give, as being creamy or serous. 3. To determine during what time, after being got with calf, the cow will continue to give milk. “We have examined, in the most careful manner, upward of sixty cows and heifers; and we are bound to declare that every statement made by M, Gurenon with respect to each of them, whether it regarded the quantity of milk, or the time during which the cow continued to give milk after being got with calf, or, finally, the quality of the milk as being more or less | creamy or serous, was confirmed, and its accu- racy fully established. ; “After more than twenty years of observations and researches, M. GuENON has succeeded at length in discovering certain natural and posi- tive signs, which constitute the basis of his method; a method henceforward proof against all error. This system, gentlemen, we do not hesitate to say it, is infallible. signs upon which it is founded, ever constant, invariable in the place they occupy, are strongly impressed upon the animal by the hand of na- ture. To appreciate them becomes an easy task.” GUENON applied his system with equal con- fidence to young animals, deciding on the fu- ture milking qualities of calves, The marks from which he judged are now well known among farmers, visible on the posterior parts of a cow, in the space between the udder and the vulva. The escutcheon is bounded by the lines where the different growths of hair meet. All breeds of cows are divided by GuENoN, into eight classes, according to the shape of the escutcheon belonging to the class, and the higher orders of each class are found among the best cows of every country. According to the order of a cow is her yield of milk; if she be a large and constant milker ber peculiar escutcheon will be large, regular, and free from blemish; as the milking capacity degenerates, the escutcheon becoaies diminished and its out- sine indefinite. We present for the reader's inspection and study, an illustration of GuENON’s mirror, in the escutcheons of the eight different classes, re- taining the arbitrary names which he adopted. The} 363 It is not necessary to illustrate the eight orders of merit into which GuENon divided each of the eight classes. We merely repeat that from the first order in each class, as here represented, the inferior orders descend in regular gradation, until the eseutcheon almost entirely loses its distinctive character, or “runs out ” Ic is only necessary to add that the kinds of escutcheon are deemed valuable, in the order in which they are named—the Flanders being the best, and the Horizontal the least desirable. The best cows with the Flanders escutcheon yield, according to GUENON, when in the height of flow, an average of about twenty quarts a day. This average diminishes, not only down- ward through the different orders of the same class, but also through the different classes— the best of the Horizontal escutcheon cows yield- ing only twelve quarts daily in their low. We omit engravings of two of the classes—the Square and the Limousine eseutcheon—because they seem to us to be merely variations of the Demijohn, Cows of the first order of each class are known by their haying a delicate udder, cov- ered with a fine downy hair growing upward between the four This downy growth continues over the hinder part of the udder, and the region above it, blending with from teats. asimilar upward growth, which, beginning on the legs a little above the hock joint, covers the inner surface of the thighs, encroaching upon the outer surface to points on either side, and then suddenly contracting as it extends up- ward. The skin of the inner surface of the thighs and adjacent parts, up to the vulva, is of a yellowish color, with here and there a black spot. A sort of bran or dandruff detaches from it. Ciass 1,—T'Lanpens EscuTcHEON, SIGs | =sSSSS Sn RS —— \ q a ae Fi - Cxass 4—BicoRn EscuTcHeon. Echt STOCK : S777 i Class 6—HorizontTaL EscuTcHeon. In most of the higher orders of cows above described, we find above the two hind teats two small oval marks, about an inch and a half wide by two inches long, formed by hair grow- ing downward in the field of ascending hair. There are also, very often, two tufts of ascend- ing hair alongside the vulva, “‘indicating a prolonged continuance of the flow of milk as the time of calving approaches.” Mr. FLinr calls attention to the fact that “in a fat cow, with an inflated udder, the mirror appears larger than it really is; while in a lean cow, with a loose and wrinkled udder, it appears smaller.” He adds that the mirror depends somewhat on the breed, and he does ‘not believe that precisely the same size and formed milk-mir- rors on a Hereford or a Devon, and-an Ayr- shire or native, will indicate anything like the SPAYING same or equal milking properties. It will not do, in my opinion,” he continues, “to disregard the general and well-known characteristics of the breed, and rely wholly on the milk mirror.” A correspondent of Conrman’s Rural World thinks GuENON’s mirror valuable, but by no means infallible, adding: “T saw, two years ago, a three-fourths Al- derney heifer calf, of extraordinary beauty; I offered the owner twenty dollars for it at two weeks old. I turned it out to pasture without other feed; it has done well, and now has a heifer calf and is the most symmetrical young milch cow I ever owned—and what is better, the best milker. She requires to be milked three times a day although the calf runs with her. This heifer has not the GuENON escutch- eon. Three weeks before coming in, her udder was not bigger than that of a goat; now she can seareely get about, owing to her legs being so distended by her udder. I have another three-fourths Alderney, a very superior butter cow; neither she nor any of her progenitors had the GuENoN escutcheon. Now, I think those purchasing cows for the dairy should not reject one that has not the escutcheon marks.” Spaying Cows.—To spay is to castrate, or remove the ovaries of a female animal, a process which incapacitates her for reproduc- tion, and greatly diminishes the fervor of her periodical heats. It was first practiced on cows by Mr. Waxy, an American, but has been most popularized in France. In that country, milch cows are subjected to it, even when they are not intended for the shambles in years. Advantages of Spaying.—M. Lrvrar claims that spaying “causes a more abundant and constant supply of milk, an improvement of its quality, the certainty of a uniform flow, ex- emption from the perils of receiving the bull and delivering the calf, ana, finally, greater facility of taking on fat when the milk fails, and a flesh that is more tender and juicy than that of an ox.” The best age for spaying is six; after-drop- ping the third or fourth calf. M. Morin, says: “The cow spayed thirty or forty days after calving, and at the time when she gives the largest quantity of milk, continues to give the like quantity, if not during her whole life-time, at least during many years, and at the time when the milk begins to dry up the animal fat- tens. We are able to add, moreover, at this day, certain facts, the result of many years’ ex- periment, that the milk of the spayed cow, COWS—WEIGHT OF BEEVES, 365 although as abundant, and sometimes more so, than before the operation, is of a superior quality to that from a cow not spayed; that it is uniform in its character, that it is richer, consequently more buttery, and that the butter is always of a golden color. We believe that we ought to remark in passing, that if we feed the spayed cow too abundantly, lactation dimin- ishes and the beast promptly fattens. It is, therefore, important that the feeding should not be more than sufficient to enable us to ob- tain the desired result.” Spaying is chiefly valuable as applied to: 1, Small or decrepit cows; 2, those which though fine in appearance and good milkers, calve badly ; 3, those subject to miscarriage; 4, those which calve with difficulty; 5, those that are always in heat; 6, those that for any reason it is not desirable to keep. Prof. MoCuuRE recently published a treatise on this subject, in which he set forth that “spayed cows are less liable to prevailing dis- eases, and when sick are more easy of cure; they are always in condition and fit for the butcher and when pleuro-pneumonia is among them they can be sold without loss; they give the same quantity and quality of milk the year ’round, if they are properly fed and eared for. Ten spayed cows will give the year round as much milk as double the number of cows not spayed, thus saving the interest on the outlay in the purchase and feed of ten cows.” Disadvantages of Spaying.—The disadvantages of the operation are summed up as follows: 1. The risk of death to the animal under the operation will be about one in a hundred—less than in the castration of bulls. 2. Spayed cows are apt to accumulate fat and flesh, so that they will become dry much sooner than cows not spayed. Still there can be little loss in this, for a fat cow is always ready for sale. 3. The expense of the operation will be from $3 to $5, which will depend upon the distance the operator has to travel, and how many ani- mals are to be operated upon. The ovaries are attached near the backbone. We shall not describe the process of removing them. Until spaying becomes more common in this country, the veterinary surgeon, or the neighborhood “ horse doctor” must be relied on, Weight of Beeves.—The net weight is from fifty to sixty-eight pounds to one hundred pounds of live weight, according to the condi- tion of the animal, and according to the inclu- sion or exclusion of the hide and fat from the 366 calculation. The largest ox ever killed in America, whose weight is verified, was a Mas- sachusetts Durham grade ox, eight years old, fatted by Joun SanpeErson, of Bernardstown, in 1862. His live weight was 3,600; his net weight 2,473, after shrinking a week. He girted back of shoulders ten feet eight inches ; forward of hips, eleven feet eight inches; height, six feet three inches; length, nine feet eight inches. A Connecticut ox, presented to WASHINGTON, weighed on the hoof 3,500; and several oxen have been killed in this country whose live weight was more than 3,300. The Towa Homestead tells us of a white steer, be- longing to Samurn TH. Jones, of Sangamon county, Illinois, that girted ten feet six inches ‘and weighed 3,600. Excursion parties visited it from different parts of the State. The aver- age weight of our cattle increases every decade, and it can not be long before a four thousand pound ox will be grown. The Cattle Market.—No other coun- try in the world consumes so much meat as America, per capita; for in no other country is it so easy for the common people to earn a liv- ing, and to live well. Something like two million head of cattle, including sheep and swine, are received every year at the New York shambles, and of this number much more than one-half are swine. The total value in 1863 was over $30,000,000. In 1863, 210,384 bullocks were sold in the New York market. Almost all of them came from the West, and six States furnished propor- tionately as follows: Illinois, nominally 118,- 692—though many of these were raised in Towa, Wisconsin, and Kansas; Indiana, 14,232; Ohio, 19,269; Michigan, 9,074; Kentucky, 6,- 782; New York, 28,985. Cruelty in Transportation.—So- ton Roprnson speaks in his ‘‘ Facts for Farm- ers” of the shocking cruelty that is often dis- played in the confinement of cattle, without food or water, during long journeys, and makes the following humane suggestions: ‘‘ We must have an improvement in cattle-cars. It cer- tainly would not be difficult to construct them so that cattle should stand with heads to one side, where water could be given them in a trough, by means of a hose; and if this can not be done, it must be made acriminal offense to keep the animals on a car more than thirty hours without water. In fact, it would be bet- ter for all parties if the number that a car LIVE STOCK: should contain were limited (by law), and if the stock in no case could remain on the cars over thirty hours without being unloaded, rested, fed, and watered.” The philanthropist, Mr. Berecu, is also urging the same much needed reform. The attention of legislators is invited to the shameful abuses which now prevail. Working Oxen.—The Egyptians wor- shipped the ox for his services as a laborer. In New England he still holds the first place as the farm Jaborer; but in the West he is largely superseded by the quicker horse. The tendency to dispense with oxen is likely to be carried too far. They are most useful in all heavy operations, and every farmer with a hundred acres of arable land can keep one pair to great advantage, as an auxiliary to the horse team. Progressive farming commands deep, rather than wide, culture, and the ox will - be found useful here until steam shall be ad- vantageously harnessed to the implements of tillage. In a good working ox we want to see the fol- lowing qualities: Let him haye large nostrils, a long face, a bright hazel eye; which will indi- cate docility and intelligence; a hoof rather long, and not turned outward very much; a straight back, a broad breast, wide gambrel, small tail, and horns of medium size. When you find such an ox as that, he will be a good worker. Remember that oxen are not deaf. Don’t bellow at them. Don’t flourish around them, and yell like an Indian, when you wish to di- rect their motions. By this folly you exasper- ate yourself, confuse the team, and disturb the neighbors. The ox is one of the most tracta- ble of beasts; and the best driver we ever saw was a boy, who addressed his oxen in a low tone, and neverstruck them. They obeyed his voice and gesture, as horses obey the rein. Breaking Steers—Some hard tussling is gen- erally involved in breaking a pair of wild, vigorous three-year-olds. JoHN Y. SMITH thus advises in the Western Farmer: “Take two animals of about equal size and strength, and tie them together with a strong rope, by placing one end around the horns of one animal and the other end around the horns of the other, and make them fast, as for leading or tying up, leaving three or four feet of rope between the inner horns, and turn them into a field free from trees, Let them run and pull and haul till they are tired of it, and they will walk side MANAGEMENT OF COWS, by side and feed together. Then take offthe rope and they will ever after lead with the docility of a child, even though the first occasion may be years afterwards. It is much easier than for a man to be jerked around all day bya wild heifer or steer, and more effectual. We have tried it, and know.” A better way is to break steers to the yoke while calyes and accustom them to the word of command. All animals, male and female, | intended either for breeding, milk or work, should be thoroughly domesticated and taught} to “handle well” and have no fear of man. It is one of the first essentials in early train- ing to bring the animal to depend upon the driver. Food, water, care, and training should be mainly given by one person. A feeling of dependence as opposed to independence should be cultivated. ‘There should also be a strong friendship, a familiar acquaintance, and the fullest confidence of the animal, The labor is half accomplished when the animal has confi- dence in and a thorough acquaintance with the driver. W. H. GArpner says: ‘No demand should ever be made of a young animal with which he can not readily comply.. It is a good rule to so direct that the easiest way to move is in the very direction you want the movement made. Any and all demands made must be enforced, The trainer never suffers in the esti- mation of the animal when he succeeds, even if force be necessary to effect the wished-for result. It is probably necessary to teach .all working animals a wholesome fear of the whip. This done, its further use is seldom necessary. The whip should not be used in urging to higher speed. The best of all gaits is a quick, nimble walk. Train all teams to walk well.”’ “Young steers should not be cosseted and handled more than is necessary to keep them familiar with their master; more petting than this is apt to make them a slow, plodding pair of oxen. When too domestic, they lose spirit.” They should seldom be worked with old oxen; it will restrain their lively walk, and give them slow and plodding habits. Management of Cows.—We append a few simple rules for the general management of cows: Heilers designed for the dairy can hardly be fondled or petted too much. The calf should be made familiar with her owner’s presence and touch, until she becomes fond of him and follows him about the yard, courting his atten- | 367 tions. Her bag should be handled occasionally before calving. Treatment of this kind will keep her in hand, and by the time she comes to milk, after the first few manipulations, she will be as gentle and steady as an old cow. Never buy a cow of a dairyman; if he is a good manager he will sell only his poor stock. As a rule, cows should be run dry four to six weeks before calving. If milked closely before calving, the calves will be poorer. This, howeyer, depends much on the cows; some will give good milk without harm up to nearly the | time of calving. To determine which cows are best for keep- ing, try their milk separately, and weigh the butter—for sometimes a cow may give much milk and little butter, and vice versa. Heifers dried uptoo early before calving will always run dry in after years about the same time; therefore be careful to milk closely the first year until about six weeks before coming in. Spring cows should come in while they are yet fed on hay, and before they are turned to grass, which will be more likely to prevent caked bag and milk fever. Cows should generally be fattened before they are fifteen. While the value of the udder in a good dairy cow exceeds the value of the cow, her pasture, and the necessary attendance, she may be kept to any age. A dairyman should raise two or three calves a year to every fifteen cows, to restore the losses. For a milker we would have the heifer come in at two years old, and if she has been well kept, so as to have attained a good size, she is then old enough to become a cow. She will give more milk for coming in early. A large pasture field for cows in milk is det- rimental to quality of milk; the cow that gets her fill in a short time, and then lies down to ruminate quietly, will do much better than the same one required to spend a much longer time in obtaining the same amount of food. Kicking Cows—Cattle differ in natural dis- positions as widely as their masters do. Some are nervous and irritable; others calm and docile. But nine cases in ten, bad habits in cattle result from the bad treatment of calves. If a cow have acquired a habit of kicking furi- ously whenever the milker approaches, the best cure is the butcher. If too valuable to spare, she can be restrained by elevating her nose with a strap tied to a beam overhead; or by passing a buckled strap over one of her bent fore legs. Simply tying the ears together has been found a preventive, by diverting the 368 attention. Scolding, fretting, loud threaten- ing, thumping, and flagellations, are silly, as well as useless. A kicking man is worse than | a kicking cow. “Tf a cow or heifer persist in kicking under kind treatment, take a small rope, and quietly fasten it around the opposite fore foot, and) thence bring it over her back so as to hang by | the milker. When she kicks again, without | saying a word, draw her foot up to her body. You can now handle her as you please. She, will struggle to release her foot, but to no pur-| pose, and will soon crouch to the floor, Then) let her get up again, and pet hera little. If she kicks again, repeat the operation as often, and you will soon find she will not move a foot while you are milking, unless there is some irritating cause, like sore teats or sharp fin- ger nails.” | Milking.—In the first place, a cow giving milk should have all the good feed she will consume, Summer and Winter, with a suitable allowance of pure clean water to drink, and good comfortable stables during Winter, with access to shelter in inclement weather during Summer and Fall; should be milked at regular stated intervals, by the same milker, who shall perform the milking in the least possible time to do it thoroughly; and in a dairy of several cows, in regular succession—that is, the same cows follow each other in being milked, in reg- ular course at each milking; and whatever feeding, or other caring for there is, should be done in the same regular, orderly course. Cows in milk, as well as all other stock, and they in particular, should haye salt where they can have constant access to it—not only for their health, but for the quality and quantity of milk, and to keep up a constant flow. Milk as fast as possible. Experience proves this to be the best way. Talk as little as possi- ble while milking. Let the cow be perfectly quiet and contented. Milk at regular hours; let those hours be nearly or quite equidistant— say twelve hours between each milking. Then there will be no straining of the bag by over- distension. Milk clean. To leave milk in the udder tends to dry up the cow. A French agricult- ural writer states, also, that, from recent experi- ments, it appears that the last milk drawn from the cow contains en times more cream and but- ter than the first milk. Hence it follows that if, after drawing, say some seven or eight quarts of milk from the cow, the operation'should be LIVE STOCK: stopped, and a pint or more left in the dugs, near one-half the cream and butter are lost. Yet it is best always to milk with a full hand, Never strip with the fingers. Many a good cow has been spoiled by stripping. Milk firmly with the whole hand, and the cow will soon learn to drop all her milk within the time allotted to her. The teats and bag ought to be washed clean before milking. Hard Milkers.—Cows generally milk hard because the orifice of the teat is too contracted, A correspondent of the New England Homestead states that he had a valuable young cow that milked so hard from the hind teats as to make the operation slow and very fatiguing to the milker. He adds: ‘By the aid of a probe I ascertained that the obstruciion was at the lower end of the teats; I therefore thought that a little surgical skill might remove the eyil. I took a narrow-bladed knife, gave it a keen edge, took the teat in my left hand, inserted the point gently to the milk passage, and then, without fear or trembling, gave a sudden thrust of the knife in the right direction, and the cure was effected. The cow started a little, and then stood still. A few drops of blood followed the cut only. I then operated on the other teat with the same result. Another young cow, that came of the above-mentioned, had lost one- quarter of her bag, and milked so hard from one teat that the stream of milk was no larger than a small knitting-needle. With the same success I operated upon that.” To Make Cows “ Give Down.’—A timely taste of salt, or sometimes of meal or roots, will make acow yield her milk. Joun JoHN- STON says sour milk is better. “As the cow stops drinking she will give down freely.” To Prevent Leakage.—Some cows have a habit of shedding their milk in the pasture and yard, between milkings. There is an article called collodion, or liquid cuticle, which may be obtained of druggists. Apply this to the end of the affected teats after milking the cow. It at once forms a thin tough skin, and closes the orifice. At the next milking, this skin can be broken through, and after milking the col- lodion is again applied. After a few applica- tions in this way, the defect will be permanently cured, Another useful purpose of this article may be mentioned. Cow’s teats often become tender from chaps and deep fissures in them. They may readily be cured by moistening a piece of muslin in this fluid, and applying it smoothly to the parts affected. It adheres so firmly that very TO PREVENT CATTLE FROM JUMPING—CALVES. it will not be loosened, even if the calf*is al- lowed to draw the milk. Cows Sucking T hemselves—Some try a yoke, and others a shingle on the nose as a prevent- ive of this bad habit; and another uses “an old bridle with the bit in her mouth.” in the Prairie Farmer, recommends the follow- ing remedy: ‘Mix cayenne pepper with lard, as strong as you please, the stronger the better, and after milking, grease the teats and lower part of the bag with the compound, and repeat the application until she forgets the habit, which will not be long. The pepper is so un- palatable that she will not try it many times.” To Prevent Cattle from Jump- img.—‘“A Soldier Boy” writes that he has of jumping by piercing the ears of the unrnly animal, and tying them together over the head with twine. ‘The philosophy of it is that an animal always drops its ears when about to jump. When this is prevented, the jumping is abandoned.” A Western farmer says he makes it a rule that whenever cattle are made to pass a fence, whether through bars or “slip-gap,” to leave | one rail for them to pass under. This gives them a downward tendency, and lessens their inclination to jump or look upward, as they are sure to do when a lazy attendant throws down a part of the rails, and makes them yault the rest. The habit of breaching is generally acquired through the negligence of the owner. When the habit has become fixed, the slaughter-house is the only cure. The poke, and all mechan- ‘ical contrivances about the face, are deformi- ties, and ought seldom to be resorted to. Calves.—Yovarr says: “Parturition hav- ing been accomplished, the cow should be left quietly with the calf; the licking and cleaning of which, and the eating of the placenta, if it is soon discharged, will employ and amuse her. It is a cruel thing to separate the mother from the young so soon; the cow will pine, and will be deprived of that medicine which Nature de- signed for her in the moisture which hangs about the calf, and even in the placenta itself; and the calf will lose that gentle friction and motion which help to give it the immediate use of all its limbs, and which increases the lan- guid circulation of the blood, and produces a genial warmth in the half-exhausted and chilled little animal. A warm mash should be put be- 24 ee S| 369 fore her, and warm gruel, or water from which some of the coldness has been taken off. Two or three hours afterward, it will be prudent to give an aperient drink, consisting of a pound of | Epsom salts and two drachms of ginger. This may tend to prevent milk fever and garget in the udder.” W. H. Wurtrr, of East Windsor, Connecticut, says: “The best way to raise calves, is to take them from the cow as soon as dropped; if pos- sible, never let them suck, as they learn to eat or drink sooner, and there is no sore teat from biting, and the task of weaning the cow from the calf is soon over. A writer in the Germantown Telegraph pre- sents his method as follows: “A ealf that Iam going to raise { never let suck the cow. It is always succeeded in curing cattle of the habit) much easier to learn it to drink without than after sucking. I have had calves drink alone before they were twelve hours old, and after the second day, have but little trouble with them, as they drink freely if in good health. Besides the great advantage of this is, that when they are turned out with the cows they never trouble them. For the first two weeks I give them milk drawn from the mother; after the cud comes, then I seald a little bran or ground oats and corn, cake meal, ete. This mixture I have about milk warm, feeding them three times a day, making fresh each time, as they do not relish stale food. They will soon eat a little hay; clover is best. If there is grass, I tie them out for a short time, and in six weeks may be left to run, and the slop is gradually slacked off. I consider March the best time to start calves, as in April they can get a little grass, and by the following Winter they have a good beginning.” The Mussachusetts Plowman says that when a calf is fed with milk by hand, it ought to be fed three or four times a day, slowly, as it would ) get it from suckling, otherwise instead of going to the fourth stomach, where it would go nat- urally from the cow’s udder, it will be liable to fall into the rumen, paunch, or first stomach, and cause a derangement of the digestive or- gans. Professor TANNER says the best breeders in England give their calves liquid food, at least eight or ten weeks. A calf will thrive better on milk that is not rich in butter than on what is commonly called rich milk; because the nutricious elements of milk reside chiefly in the casein. The Irish Farmers’ Gazette gives the follow- ing: “The best substitute for milk for such a purpose is a compound of three quarts of lin- 370 seed meal, and four quarts of bean meal, mixed with thirty quarts of boiling water, and left to digest for twenty-four hours, when it is poured into a boiler on the fire having thirty-one quarts of boiling water. Let it boil for half an hour, keeping it constantly stirred with a perforated paddle to prevent lumps and to produce perfect incorporation. It is then put to cool for use, and given blood warm. When first used it must be given mixed with the milk in small quantity, and increased gradually; decreasing the milk in the same proportion till they get the above mucilage only.” This suggestion has been fol- lowed with great success by some farmers in Great Britain and Ireland. Cotton-seed meal, though a third richer, is similarly used, and with the happiest results. A few have reported the death of calves from feeding it; but it was undoubtedly the result of over-feeding. Calves are very fond of it; and it must be given in very limited quantities. It is bad practice to leave calves and colts to take their chances among older cattle. The older ones will get the best picking, while they need it least. They will select the best shelter and the warmest beds for themselves, and leave the little ones to take the chances that are left. Calves well fed and taken care of, with a quart or two of meal daily in Winter, will be double the size at two years they would have attained by common treatment. Oat-meal gruel, corn meal, sliced sugar beets, and boiled potatoes, are much used as food for a growing calf, The Scours in Calves.—Rennet is said to bea sure remedy for scours. ‘Soak a pieceas large as a thimble in a cupful of water, and admin- ister it; one dose will effectually check the dis- order.” Diseases of Cows,.— Abortion.—The frequency, with which cows have prematurely slipped their calves in some districts of this country within the last five years, has been such as to cause wide-spread alarm in the States affected. In many instances, it seems to have taken an epizootic form, whole droves, town- ships and counties being similarly afflicted as by a contagion. In 1866, the New York State Agricultural Society memorialized the Legisla- ture to take action for the suppression of the disease, setting forth “that in New York the annual value of the butter made exceeds forty millions of dollars; and the annual value of the cheese manufactured exceeds six millions of dollars; that a subtle andvhitherto undis- LIVE STOCK: covered disease has existed for years past, which causes abortion in the cows of the dairy dis- tricts; that this disease has been constantly increasing, and that its ravages during the past year have been unusually appalling. Over eight thousand cows have been lost in Herki- mer county alone during the past year from this disease, which is spreading in the counties of Oneida, Lewis, and other dairy districts.” A commission was appointed. A report was made in 1868, by Professor Daron, who had ascertained the following mentioned facts: “1. Abortion in cows only exist to analarm- ing extent in the States of New York and Mas- sachusetts. “2. In New York State it is increasing, abortions being now about five per cent. of all pregnancies “3. The disease does not depend on the amount of butter and cheese taken from the cow. “4. Good milkers are shown to be no more liable to it than poor ones. “5. It does not occur oftener with the first calf than afterward. “6, The greatest number of cases occur dur- ing the seventh, eighth, and ninth months of pregnancy —during January, February, and March—the increase beginning to be marked about the time the cows are housed in No- vember. “7, The disease can not be ascribed to cold and exposure, nor to defective stables. “8. It is not caused by allowing the heifers to go to the bull at an immature age, “Q. It is not caused by the use of bulls too young and therefore imperfect in vigor or de- velopment. “10. It is not due to an inflamed or diseased state of the uterus, post mortem examinations revealing only stoppage of fcetal circulation pre- vious to the occurrence of abortion. “11. No original defects in the foetus can be seen which will account for its expulsion. “12. A cow having once aborted, is about four times more likely to do so subsequently, than one never affected. “13. The disease is not due to a too early separation of the calf from the dam. “14, It is remarakably local in its ravages. “15, Farms on which no cases are known to have occurred, are often contiguous to, and sometimes lie directly between farms on which the disease has been most severe, and vice versa. “16. The disease is often carried from farm DISEASES to farm, and so far as the present state of the investigation affords any light, it appears that farms on which the cows are habitually raised, are much more likely to be exempt than those on which the cows are habitually purchased.” Here is no positive recommendation, YouaTT says: “The sympathetic influence is the main cause of the slinking of the calves. Another cause is the extravagantly high condition in which cows are sometimes kept.” These two causes can hardly account for the a-tonishing prevalence of abortion in the large dairy dis- tricts. The editor of the North British Agriculturist attributes the disease, in many instances to drinking stagnant water. C. V. SHARPLeEIGH, in the American Stock Journal says: “ No doubt this is excited and produced by the fungi found on our grasses, which appear to possess a power somewhat similar to, but milder than, the ergot of rye.” JOHNSON says: “The causes are frequently involved in obscurity; but it may be men- tioned, that an extremely hot and foul cow- house, a severe blow, violent exertion, starva- tion, plethora, an overloaded stomach, internal inflamations, constipated bowels, bad food or water, improper exposure, and the like, will now and then produce abortion.” These con- ditions then, are to be avoided, and it may be that a disease which seems to be semi-infectious will yield to humane care and healthful influ- ences, Milk Fever—“ Dropping after Calving.”—A\- though parturition is a natural process, it is accompanied with a great deal of febrile ex- _citement and liability to local inflammation. A sudden change of function from the womb to the udder results in pain with which the system sympathizes, and puerperal fever ap- pears. Great milkers are very liable to it. The fever sometimes appears in two or three hours after calving; if four or five days have passed, the animal is usually considered safe. Youarr recommends moderate bleeding to re- lieve the plethora, a dose of a pound toa pound and a half of Epsom salts, and an injection to move the bowels, and the subsequent adminis- tration of sedatives if needed. Some good prac- titioners object to bleeding, unless the cow was in too high a condition at the time of calving. The Rural New Yorker says: ‘“ To prevent this fever keep the cow from exposure to cold and dampness near calyYng time, and for some time afterwards; give warm messes of wheat bran—after calving, made thin—three times a 71 oo OF CuWS. day, and some water to drink from which the chill has been taken, if drawn from a well or cold spring. Four years since we had a cow which came in the first of May; she seemed smart, and the third day was given a cold mess of bran and water at noon. The next morning she was in great distress, would rise up, trem- ble, and fall down, and had not eaten the hay placed in her manger over night. The stable floor was littered with straw a foot thick to pre- vent her from injuring herself when falling. A piece of saltpeter the size of a large pea was dissolyed in a pint of water, put in a long- necked bottle and poured down her; then she was vigorously rubbed all over with wisps of straw, and covered with a thick woolen bed- quilt, to draw the internal warmth to the sur- face—her limbs often well rubbed. Some warm gruel (made of bran and flour, mixed) was poured down her, as she could eat nothing herself, her calf permitted to run with her, and having a good appetite took every oppor- tunity to get what milk it could. The rubbing and external warmth were kept up; the second dose of dissolved saltpeter was given twenty- ty-four hours after the first; repeated doses of wheat bran and flour gruel given, and some young, tender grass picked and placed in her mouth. The second day she did not tremble so much, and could stand longer; the third day was much better, and the fourth being pleasant she was let out to feed on tender grass near, and return to the stable when tired. She soon became as well as ever.” Mr. Bensamuen Wi1cox, a well-known and extensive dairyman, of Herkimer county, New York, speaks of several cures that have been made for this disease by a simpler remedy— merely the use of cold water thrown upon the body of the cow. The cases alluded to were bad, the animals’ limbs paralyzed, the cows unable to rise, and were given up as lost by the owner, At that stage of the disease several pails of cold water were thrown upon the loins, along the back, and over the bady of the cows, which soon gave relief, the use of the limbs restored, and the animals saved. It is his opinion that losses may be generally avoided by the use of water in the way described, more especially if the animal be placed on a low diet, and kept in a cool place for a few days before and after being attacked with the disease. Milk Sickness, or Trembles.—This disease is peculiar to America, and little known west of the Mississippi Valley. Its prevalence is con- fined to no season. Mr. Stevens, in his edi- 372 tion of YouaTt, says: “Its latent presence may be discovered by subjecting the suspected animal to a violent degree of exercise, when according to the intensity of the existing cause, it will be seized with tremors, spasms, convul- sions, or even death.” Its cause has been en- tirely unknown, and its cure has consisted solely in opening the bowels. Since 1860, according to the Medical and Surgical Reporter, it has been discovered by Wiri1Am Jerry, of Edwards- ville, Illinois, and Dr. McPHeErrers, of St. Louis, that the diséase results from eating the White Snake root. Garget, or Caked Bag.—Inflammation of the udder is very apt to attack young cows, and is often induced and promoted by the new-milch cow lying down on the damp ground or a cold floor. Warm stables are a preventive of many ailments. A writer in the Prairie Farmer re- commends another “ounce of prevention,” in drawing the milk from the bag a few days be- fore the calt is expected, and as svon as the udder becomes distended. much trouble and expense. “The most effectual remedy for this,” says Youart, “in the early stages, is very simple: The calf should be put to the mother, and it should suck and knock about the ndder at pleasure.” If it becomes very serious, he adds, the cow should be bled; a dose of physic ad- ministered ; ¢he udder well fomented; the milk drawn gently off, at east twice a day, and an ointment applied to the bag. The ointment may be made of sage or bittersweet and_hog’s lard, simmered together—or simple linseed oil. Soft soap is sometimes an effective application. An old dairyman writes: cured by administering half a tea-spoonful of tincture of aconite given in a little ground feed. I have known cows, when it was im- possible to draw the milk, cured in twenty- four hours’ time.” The Western Farmer confidently recommends thorough bathings of the bag in cold water, two or three times, and daubing the udder with hop yeast. Warts on Teats—One recommends the fol- lowing remedy: ‘‘Neats foot-oil, beefs gall, spirits of turpentine, and old brandy, equal parts of each. Shake well before using. Ap- ply once a day.” Another: “Five cents worth of either lunar caustic, or caustic of potash, will cure warts on the teats of cows. Keep the caustic in a vial; take a stick, wet the end with water and rub the caustic on the warts. Two or three applications will suflice. Be very care- This has saved him “Tt can be effectually, LIVE STOCK: ful or it will eat too deep and make a sore.” Warts on teats usually go no deeper than the skin, and they may be cut off close with sharp shears, without harm, when the cow does not give milk. A double teat may be removed by twisting a piece of fine wire around it and stop- ping the circulation. In ten or twelve days the teat will drop off, and new skin will form over the scar. For sore teats, apply an ointment of beeswax and linseed oil, or a preparation of an*ounce of glycerine and fifteen grains of tan- nin. It will save the milk from spilling, and the cow from kicking and getting kicked. Diseases and Ailments of Cattle. Under this head we shall treat briefly some of the more common ailments of neat cattle in America, referring the reader who seeks for more elaborate directions, to those books which are deyoted specifically to Farm Stock. In several jnstances, we have recited two or more remedies which are recommended on good iu- thority for the same disease, leaving the choice to the reader’s own judgment or convenience, Let him remember, however, first and last of all, that there is no veterinary surgeon so effective when animals are sick, as Doctor Norse. Give the afllicted creature the best care and shelter, and feed and water, with good judgment and caution, and the necessity for medicine will very often be avoided. Bloat.—This is sometimes known as hooye, a gaseous distention of the stomach and bowels, occasioned. by overe&ting or the evolution of gas from green food, especially clover in a state of fermentation, which results from an im- paired state of the digestive functions. An animal thus affected requires immediate relief, or it dies. The Boston Cultivator suggests the following as the best remedy: Dissolve, in a quart of warm water, about two ounces of hypo- sulphite of soda, then add two ounces of fluid extract of ginger, and drench the animal with the same; give injections of soap-suds about every twenty minutes, or until the animal passes wind from the rectum, when immediate relief is the result. In eases of great disten- tion, the probang and stomach-pump are most efficacious, and sometimes the main reliance. We may add here that for all sorts of ind- gestion in cattle, powdered charcoal is an ad- mirable remedy—five to ten tea-spoonsful being a dose. Black Leg is an insiduous disease that seizes cattle and kills them in a few hours. The fore legs and shoulders become congested, and the DISEASES AND AILMENTS OF CATTLE. animal attacked drops helpless. A correspond- ent of the Western Farmer says: “ For two years, the black leg prevailed in this vicinity, severely attacking colts, calves, and yearlings. I have never known it to attack an animal over two years old. The great difficulty is in not knowing of the disease in time to effect a eure. ‘The only remedy I know of is sulphur and spirits of turpentine, mostly sulphur, given plentifully.” Barn Itch—This is often a troublesome dis- order. It is contagious, and liable to run through the whole herd, if not arrested. The disease is cured by mingling sulphur with oil or lard, and applying the mixture to the dis- eased parts. A strong dose of physic may also be administered. Mad Itch has been cured by giving cows as much soot and salt as they would eat, with a -pound of sulphur a few hours afterward, and in the morning as much salts. Another says: “Give a mixture of powdered mandrake, one drachm; ginger, half an ounce; cream of tar- tar, half a drachm; flaxseetl tea, one pint. Give an injection of two quarts of soap-suds, in which mix half a drachm of mandrake, and two drachms of ginger. For food, give them thin gruel, seasoned with salt, for a few days.” Choking.—For eattle choking with turnip or potato, get eight feet of telegraph wire, double it in the middle, and twist it together, so as to leave a loop in it. Take the creature by the horns and run the loop end of the wire care- fully down its throat, and pull it out, and the turnip will be either pushed down or pulled up, giving instant relief. Some farmers use a stick with a flaxen swab on the end, soaked in melted lard or oil. If not too far down, the obstruction may be removed with the hand. A Portland correspondent of the New Eng- land Farmer gives the following easy and sim- ple remedy: “The instant a creature becomes choked, no matter what with, the throat be- comes dry, and the longer the substance re- mains, the drier the throat. The following is a sure remedy: Take some oil, no matter what _kind, and hold the creature’s head up and turn down About one gill of oil, and then let go of the head, and the creature will heave it out in two seconds! I have tried it for years, and never knew it to fail.” A drench of six beaten eggs and two ounces of salt is also said to be effective in giving relief. Epileptic Fits—Horses, cattle, sheep and pigs are subject to these fits. The best thing that can be done with the last-mentioned three classes, is to fatten and butcher them after the appearance of the first fit; and, if you ride a horse occasionally so afflicted, get your life in- sured for the benefit of surviving relations. Valerian has been much recommended as a remedy for epilepsy. In the horse and ox it may be given in two ounce doses; in the sheep in half ounce doses, and in the pig in two drachm doses. Flies.—Cattle cease to be annoyed by flies if washed with a weak solution of phenic or car- bolie acid; or they may be rubbed with strong solution of walnut leaves. Foot Rot, or foul-in-the-foot, is one of the most common and painful ailments of the ox. An old English work proposes the following remedy: “If the disease first appears between the claws, wash the part clean; when dry, rub a tar rope to and fro between the claws till an evident warmth is produced ; then dress the part with a wooden skewer dipped in butter of anti- |mony, oil of vitriol, or nitrous acid. Let them | stand dry for an hour or two, and then turn Repeat this for three or four days successively. If inflammation ap- pears, reduce it by a poultice of linseed meal, The cure will be accelerated by them on a dry pasture. or rye flour. administering the following saline purgative: Take of glauber salts, one pound; ginger, pow- dered, two ounces ; molasses, four ounces; add two pints of boiling water, and when blood warm, give at one dose. Particular care is re- quisite to keep the animals on dry pasture for a week or two.” Hog Ail is quite a different disease, and more formidable, and is chiefly visible at the Various remedies are pro- posed for it, but none seem to have given speedy or effectual relief. Sawing off the ends of the hoof, at thé outset, has been found much the best remedy. “ Horn Ail.’—There is probably no such disease as horn ail, or hollow horn, or “horn it is really only a symptom of crown of the hoof. distemper ;’ fever and other derangements of the body. When the horns are unusually cold or warm it indicates only that the animal is suffering from some functional difficulty elsewhere. A writer in the Rural American says, when these symptoms appear, “take a quantity of black- ash bark; steep it strong and give a pint of the warm decoction to a dose, at the same time +bathing the loins thoroughly with the same. I will warrant a cure in two days. It needs to be given but once.” Dapp says: ‘‘ Endeavor to promote a healthy action through the whole 874 system ; to stimulate the digestive organs; to remove obstructions, both by injections, if necessary, and by the use of aperients; lastly, invite action to the extremities, by stimulating liniments, and ‘horn ail’ soon disappears.” Boring holes in the horn, pouring boiling water on the head, and cutting off ‘an inch of the tail,” are cruel delusions of the ig- norant. Tice. — CALEB CANFIELD, of Livingston county, Michigan, writes to the Rural that he is not troubled with lice on cattle, horses, hogs, hens, or geese, or ticks on sheep. His remedy is sulphur. ‘lo an ox, or cow, or hen, he gives a table-spoonful in the feed; tosheep less. He puts it in the coops of the fowls insmall lumps; feeds it once a month in Winter, but not in Summer, except to hogs. He gives his horned cattle and horses a spoonful of pulverized salt- peter in the month of March or April, and again, without fail, when he turns them out to grass. Isaac ScHAuUBER, of Saratoga county, New York, says: “A few applications of good cider vinegar along the backbone, on the head, and other places where the lice gather, will soon finish them.” Another certain remedy is, first grease the afflicted animal, and then sift anthracite coal ashes all through the hair. Onions fed to calves and other neat stock will rid them of lice, and improve their appear- ance and condition. So tobacco will kill lice, as it will kill any animal but man—and it kills him after a while. Water for this should be prepared by boiling cheap damaged tobacco. Erriz Grey, of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, says she killed all the lice on a terribly-infested herd by pouring petroleum over their backs. “I then turned them out in the sun, and such pranks as they cut! I thought they were going crazy—but it did its work. About four o’clock I examined them, and every louse, little and big, was on the outer end of the hairs, dead enough.” Insects have no lungs, but breathe by spira- cles or minute holes in their bodies; and if these spiracles are clogged with grease or fat, they become suffocated and die. The applica- tion of oil in cold weather is bad, however. All mercurial poisons are dangerous, for the “cattle will lick themselves. Good wholesome fuod and care will generally keep lice out of a barn-yard. Murrain.—This is an ancient disease which has afflicted cattle ever since the earliest his- tory of the Egyptians. purpose It is really an epi-! demic catarrh in a malignant form.» In some | LIVE STOCK: parts of Europe whole districts have been swept of their live stock. In its dangerous form, the cough becomes frequent and conyul- sive; bloody matter runs from uostrils and mouth; the eyes become unusually dull; the pulse is small and feeble; the respiration is quicker; the flanks are tucked up; the tender- ness on the loins is removed; insensibility is stealing over the frame; and the feces are more loaded with mucus, and more fetid. The patient moans and lows, and grinds his teeth almost incessantly; the head is agitated by a convulsive motion ; blood begins to mingle with the faces; the breath, and even the perspira- tion, becomes offensive; and the beast staggers as he walks. ‘ “The early stage of murrain,” says YOUATT, “is one of fever, and the treatment should cor- respond with this—bleeding. Physie should be cautiously, yet not timorously, resorted to. For sedative medicines there will be rarely room, unless the cough should continue. Sniall doses of purgative medicine, with more of the aromatic than we generally add, will be serv- iceable, effecting the present purpose, and not hastening or increasing the debility which gen- erally is at hand; but if the bowels be suffi- ciently open, or diarrhea should threaten, and yet symptoms of fever should be apparent, no purgative must be given, but the sedatives should be mingled with some vegetable tonic, The peculiar fetid diarrhea must be met with astringents, mingled also with vegetable tonics. In combating the pustular and sloughing gan- grenous stage, the chioride of lime will be the best external application; while a little of it administered with the other medicines inwardly may possibly lessen the tendency to general decomposition.” Pleuro Pneumonia.— The pleuro pneumonia is one of the most fatal and distressing mala- dies that ever attack cattle. At all times liable to spread rapidly among animals coming near or in contact with those diseased, it frequently assumes the form of a contagious epidemic, being taken by almost every animal coming within striking distance. It is a malignant form of inflammation of the lungs, of an emi- nently contagious character, peculiar to the ox- tribe, and has existed within the memory of man in the mountain regions of Central Eu- rope. Within a few years it has made serious ray- ages in some sections of this country. The first signs of the disease are visible in two to eight weeks after exposure; the animal hasa DISEASES AND AILMENTS OF CATTLE. 375 slight cough and shiver, and there is a diminu- | cording to the condition of the animal; 2, purg- tion of the appetite and milk secretion. tiveness soon follows; shivering fits recur ; temperature and pulse rise, and all the symp-jof recovery.” The creature! thinks, should be avoided. toms of an acute fever set in. moans; the action of the abdominal muscles is spasmodic. and shrinking. The eyes are bloodshot, mouth clammy, skin dry and tightly bound to the Cos- ing with half-hour doses of Epsom salts. ‘The the |commencement ct purging should be the signal Astringents and stimulants, he This disease seems to be peculiar to certain Pressure on the ribs causes pain | pastures; it oftenest oceurs in woody districts, and especially in low, swampy land; and it is most prevalent in Spring and Autumn.: Some- subcutaneous tissues, and the urine is scanty | times it seems to be infectious. Little is known and high-colored. There are symptoms like the bronchitis ; and | the lungs rapidly give way. The beast has a discharge from’ the eyes, and a fetid, sanious discharge from the nose. Not unfrequently I coughs up disorganized lung-tissue and putrid pus. Great prostration, and indeed, typhus symptoms set in. and the animal sinks in the most emaciated state, often dying from suffocation, in conse- There is a fetid diarrhea, quence of the complete destruction of the or-| gans concerned in respiration. In treatment, cut off all communication with the eee erred source of the disease. disturb the cows or the oxen from their stalls, as removing them tends to spread disease, and does no good to the cattle. Allow water, feed Do not \ judiciously, and give carbonate of ammonia, | preparations of iron, gentian, or other tonics, sparingly. R About three-fourths of the animals exposed. take the disease. One-fourth die, aud about one-fourth are rendered comparatively worth- less. Few, if any, ever entirely recover. Red Water.—The disease known as red water from the color of the urine, is one of the most intractable maladies of cattle and slieep, and is frequent in this country. It may be tech- nically divided into acute and chronic, or fa- miliarly into red water proper, and yellow water, Red water, also known as the bloody murrain, is from inflammation of the kidneys; it is at once characterized by pain and high fever, dys- entery followed by costiveness and a flow of bloody urine. It requires active treatment and runs its course in a few days. Yellow water is more prevalent; it is from inflammation of the kidneys; the urine is char- acterized by the dark-brown color of vitiated bile; its action is slower but equally fatal. In this disease, the liver always becomes enlarged and inflamed, sometimes rotten, and clotted with blood. The remedy recommended by Youarr for both forms of the disease, is: 1, Bleeding ac- tions: | weeks after lof its real cause. The Western Rural says: “Cattle and sheep fed exclusively on turnips, or on rank, innutri- tious pastures for a considerable time are liable to red water. Food which contains a very high percentage of water, and but a small percent- age of the nutritive substances necessary to re- pair the waste of the body, does not supply a sufficient amount of nutrient materials to the blood.” A writer in the Rural American says the affliction is referable to leeches taken into the stomach: “If you have an animal die of this disease, open it, and take out the liver, wash it, and take a knife, and begin at the end and slice it thin, and you will find holes that ap- pear as if a small bullet had passed through ; and if you examine the liver carefully you will find a leech there. I had an ox that lived two the attack, and on opening him I found a leech in his liver. In another: case, a two year old steer kicked up his heels and played at evening, and the next morning he dead. I opened him and found three leeches in his liver. was No one who waters his stock the year round, in pure deep water, loses any by this disease.” The Southern Planter publishes the following, from Frank G, Rurri:;'“ As a sure prevent- ive, take a mixture of the following propor- Salt, one gallon; flour sulphur, one-half pint; saltpeter, one-half pint; copperas, one gill. Pulverize thoroughly and mix, and keep it where the cow can get to it daily, Asa cure: Bither sugar or molasses—the sugar as a bolus, the molasses as a drench—a pint of sugar or a gallon of molasses, and the dose repeated at intervals until the animal is relieved or dies. After the beast is relieved a tea-spoonful of calomel may be used.” Mr. SuHexpon, of Michigan, cured an ox violently attacked, by mixing half an ounce of copperas and half an ounce of alum, dis- solving them in hot water and while warm turning it down the animal, In twelve hours he was better, and a repetition of the dose 376 cured him, though for a time weak from the great discharge of blood, Scours (Diarrhea).— A large stock grower recommends corn meal as an infallible cure for scours in animals—a pint in a warm-bran mash, given once a day. Youarr says ‘‘the most ef- fectual medicines are prepared chalk, opium, eatechu, and ginger, mixed in the proportions of one ounce of the first, one drachm of the second, four drachms of the third, and two of the last to each dose—to be administered in thick gruel,” after the action of a mild pur- gative. quickly cured by washing them several times a day with a mixture of spirits of turpentine and the yolk of eggs.” §. Birp, in the Maine Farmer, says: ‘ For sores, flesh wounds, bruises, sprains, etc., og horses, shower with cold water two or three’ times a day, and when dry wash with Roman wormwood tea, salt and water, or beef brine. Never wrap up sores or sprains.” Youatr recommmends the following ointment for sores and abrasions: “ An ounce of beeswax and three of lard, with a quarter of an ounce of sugar of lead, and a drachm of powdered alum.” Smut Corn Disease— y ° = SS bs. ak ibs.| Ibs. | 204) 36 | 10,407 126, aa 192} 3be¢ PONTO mine Shed and open field “Total number of sheep, 504—average weight January 3, 143} pounds per head—Feb- | ruary 3, 1503 pounds—average gain per head on the whole, 7} pounds, nearly. As the best lot of thirteen gained in weight twice as rapidly as the average of the whole, the im- portance is shown of selecting the very best sheep in purchasing for fattening. “Feeding Roots.—The account current with one lot of the sheep I am feeding this Winter gives a considerably better average in- crease in weight than the above, and also forci- bly illustrates the value of ruta bagas in feed- ing. This lot of sheep consists of 300 head which reached my farm about November 20th ; market value, $10 07 per head. They were! pastured a fortnight, when I began feeding. About the middle of December they were housed, and the feed slowly increased until January Ist, when it reached the full feed specified, of one quart per head per day. It consisted of half oats and half oil meal up to about this time (Jannary 20th). I have now substituted Indian corn for the oats—about 24 bushels corn unground, mixed with 300 pounds oil meal, constituting the daily food of the 300, valued at: 300 Ibs. oi] meal, cost me $70 per ton.. 2% bushels corn, at1 90 per bushel ee Troots--would sell for 3744c. per bu but this much exceeds cost of producti 3 00 134 lb. per day hay to each, 450 lbs. 495 Cost of feeding 300 sheep per GAY. .....scccceecsrsesneees $23 20 Or an average per head of about 7% cents per day. “The sheep are gaining unusually well—a | twenty-seven yeurs a fact which I ascribe to the increased quantity 415 of roots I am feeding them as compared with former years.” “About the middle of February,” adds the jeditor of the Cultivator in a note, we received from Mr. W1Ixnp, with the three omeeee sheep referred to above, which we are obliged to present in condensed a statement of the results form: Estimated average weight of the 300 at this date, lbs. per he r weight. | Total amount of foc Clusive of p is considered equal to 60 days’ full. feed at above rate to this time—per Bee $ | Money vaiue, When feeding began.. 150 e Profit per head, exclusive of attendance, but with no allowance for manure “This gain, it should be remembered, is after »|selling the hay to the sheep, at the barns, at | $22 per ton, the corn at $1 90 per bushel, and jthe ruta bagas at 374 cents per bushel; and, on ‘the 300 sheep, considering the shortness of the “investment, the profit is certainly a very pretty | one.” Sheep Mamnure.—“ As to the value of sheep manure,” observes Mr. WINNE, in con- clusion, “and the effects resulting from its lib- eral application, I have never kept much other |stock, and I may be permitted to add that ago, when I came on to this farm, I cut from about 60 acres of land the first year 25 tons of hay. Year before last [ cut from precisely the same number of acres, 100 tons, and last year (a season of severe drouth) 90 tons. When I begun on the farm T had one barn 32 by 40 feet, which held all the crops it produced. I now have one barn 44 by 52 feet, 20 feet posts; one shed 21 by 36, 18 feet posts; one 21 by 24, 16 feet posts; one 30 by 72, 18 feet posts, and one barrack that will hold 17 tons of hay. Summer before last they were all full. Two rules I laid down, never to lose sight of, when I commenced farming for myself: 1. To deal honorably with mother Earth—that is, to plow well, harrow well, give her all the manure I could, and never sell my straw, but keep it all for the land, and I assure you I could soon see an improvement. 2. Never to buy anything (except manure) I could possibly do without, until I had the money tg pay for it—for manure, when it could be had, I was never afraid to run in debt. These two rules I have strictly adhered to, and must attribute much of my success to their benign influence.” Corn for Sheep.—Lewis Cuarg, of 416 Beloit, recommends the readers of the Wiscon- sin Farmer to grow and largely feed corn for sheep. He says: “Plant six acres of corn for each one hundred. Corn planted in rows, four feet each way, gives in round numbers 2,700 hills to the acre. Six acres will give 16,200 hills. In the five months, commencing Decem- ber Ist, and ending May Ist, there are 151 days. If you feed the one hundred sheep, 100 hills of corn, each of those days, you will have 1,100) hills left. I generally reckon five and one-half acres, as the sheep will not usually need one hill each toward the last of April, and perhaps not quite that as soon as the first of December. Then again, I usually commence about the mid- dle of November to feed, and come on to the full feed gradually. If first of December is cold, they will want their full feed, as it is economy the wrong way to let sheep lose flesh in the beginning of Winter. Falling away then and subsequently increasing their flesh will cause the shedding of wool. Who would have imagined that twenty-four acres of land would Winter four hundred sheep? Who does not believe that one hill of good corn is enough to keep one Spanish Merino sheep one day, if it is cut up before the frost comes, is well-cured, and fed to the sheep, stalks, leaves, husks, and corn?” Summer Shelter.—Summer shelter for sheep, and indeed, for stock of all kinds greatly promotes their comfort, and therefore, their health and growth. We rather like the idea of SoLomoN GREEN, of Townsend, Massachu- setts, who says he has kept sheep thirty years, and advises to have small buildings erected in sheep pastures, made dark, so that the sheep by going into them may avoid the flies. He says that the sheep will go in at eight o’clock in the forenoon, and remain till four o’clock in the afternoon. “The house,” he says, “should be built on runners, so that it can be moved, and this will enrich the land. A’ house twelve feet square is sufficient to hold a dozen sheep and their lambs. Move it its length once in two or three weeks.” This, it will be seen, accomplishes two objects. It protects the sheep, inducing them to keep quiet during the heat of the day, and it thor- oughly manures the pasture ata trifling ex- pense of time. In this way you may fertilize the top of gravelly knolls and sand hills. The lower places will take care of themselves from the wash of the higher. LIVE STOCK: To Ascertain the Age.—tThe age of the ram may be ascertained by the number of rings or knobs on his horns, but from the large number of hornless sheep, and many other reasons, it is safer and more satisfactory to de- termine the age by the teeth. The sheep has eight cutting teeth in the front of the lower jaw, and six molar or grinding teeth in each jaw—above and below. When the lamb is born it sometimes has no cutting teeth, but it generally has two, and before it becomes a month old, the full number, eight, appear in the lower jaw. When one year old, it sheds the two middle teeth, and within six months from the time of shedding, their places are filled with two wider than the first. At two years, the next two are shed, and in six months their places are filled with two wide teeth. At three years, the two third teeth from the center are shed, and their places are filled with two wide teeth, and at four years the corner teeth are shed, and by the time the sheep are five years old, will have grown out even, and it will have a full mouth of teeth. After that, the teeth begin to grow round and long, and at nine or ten they begin to shed, and then is the time to fatten for the butcher, and let young sheep take their place. Dogs and Sheep.—aAn Indiana sheep farmer says, that “a number of sheep, wearing bells, in any flock, will keep away dogs—he would allow ten bell sheep to every hundred or hundred and fifty. When sheep are alarmed, they run together in a compact body, in which act all the bells are rung at once, which fright- ens the dog, or makes him think some one is on his track, so he leaves without making mutton.” Many sheep culturists in the land, however, know that bells are not an infallible preventive. Another says: “To cure a deg of sheep kill- ing, let him see the sheep he has killed; in his presence take off the pelt, fasten it tightly around him, and make him* wear it from one to three days.” Or, second, fasten him between two stout rams, the three abreast, and let them race him about the field awhile. It will open his eyes to the character of sheep. Or, third, cut off his head. Neither of these remedies will be effectual unless you can eatch the right dog. A Trap — TI would recommend those haying sheep killed to place them in a pile together, or to leave at Jeast one of them where the dogs SHEEP—SHEARING have left it; then put four or six lengths of fence around the dead sheep, made of sawed scantling (a pen of straight rails will answer as well as seantling). Commence by placing the scantling on the ground, and as you lay them up, draw your sceantling in, the width of them every time around, and build the fence high enough in this way that a dog can not jump it. Then lock the corners well, and you have a pen that dogs can go over into from the outside readily, and when once over, they can not get out again until they are hélped out. In this way, in a few nights, you will be quite likely to get the very same dogs that killed your sheep, as they will have the curiosity or desire to go over the ground the second time.” Sheep kept with cows are not so apt to be killed by dogs as when alone, The cows fight for them. This is a most serious matter; as the govern- ment statistician reported in 1866 no less than eight hundred thousand sheep killed or muti- lated by dogs yearly; being a two per cent. tax on the total investment! Shearing Apparatus.—An Ohio cor- respondent of the Country Gentleman furnishes that paper with the following: ‘Not having seen any notice of any improvement on the old- fashioned mode of shearing sheep—no doubt as uncomfortable for the sheep as the shearer—I thought I would send you a sketch of one I have been using for the last three years, which I find to be just the thing. It was first made and used by a neighbor who has followed shear- ing many years. It has these advantages—the shearer stands up to his work, having both hands free; the sheep can not injure itself by struggling, even if heavy with lamb, and you can shear faster and easier. E Figure 1. Description—A. Small rope, with iron ring in the end, passing through two holes in the table, and over the sheep’s head. 27 AND MARKING. 417 ZL. Hickory stick seven feet long, two inches wide at the notched end, notches one anda half |or two inches apart, for adapting it to the size of the sheep. C. Shackles, made of two leathern straps, one inch wide, fastened to each end of a small iron ring, one and a half or two inches diam- eter, and passing and fastened to another ring two inches in diameter. D, Forward end of stick B. Ff. Wooden wedge, to fasten rings on the notched stick. Mode of Operation.—The sheep is caught, |turned on its haunches, and the under part of jneck and between the fore legs are sheared; then lifted on the table or bench, the head placed under the rope, the leather shackles put on the feet, and stick inserted—as shown in the cut; one side is sheared, and then the sheep is turned over and finished. Hoping this may benefit some of my brother farmers, I submit it to your consideration.” Figure 2, The editor endorses it, remarking that any assistance in performing the laborious and dis- agreeable work of shearing sheep will be espe- cially acceptable to the farmer. He suggests an improvement, shown in Figure 2, represent- ing two leathern loops at each end of a stick, through which the feet are inserted; and as the legs are extended these loops draw tight and hold the sheep fast. A sliding ring, with a pin and holes, accommodates it to the size of the sheep. Tw-leather straps (not shown), nailed to the table, and connected by a buckle in the middle, then receive the neck of the sheep, as in the mode described by the correspondent. Marking Sheep.—Says the Western Farmer: “The advantages of having every sheep in the flock marked with plain figures, such as can be easily read even across a com- mon sheep-yard, are too obvious to every one to need any argument in its fayor. The best materials for marking we have ever used are red lead and pure Japan. This mixture will work equally well whether you use iron or wooden types. Many try Venetian red, which looks very well at first, but it soon rubs off and the figures become obscure. The numbers and ages are shown by marks on the ear, and these should be made when the 418 lambs are quite young, or a day or two old, when the dams are more readily known than after the lapse of some weeks. The mode of numbering adopted by the celebrated Von Tarr has been generally adopted by which the numbers may be readily carried uv to 1 000 or more, It is as follows: k ~~ > Figure 5. Figure 1—One notch’ cut in the left ear at the top, is 1. One notch cut in the left ear, under side, 3. One notch cut in the right ear, at top, 10. One notch eut in the right ear, under side, 30. A combination of these notches easily makes any number up to 99. Figure 2—One notch cut in the left ear, at the end, is 100. One notch cut in the right ear, at the end, 200. Figure 3—The point of the left ear cut straight off, is 400. The point of the right ear, cut straight off, 500. The figures furnish examples of these mark- ings, to which are added the holes punched through to show the age. As no owner would make a mistake of ten years in the age, these marks are much simpler: Figure 4—One hole in the left ear is 1. One hole in the right ear, 3. LIVE STOCK: In order to explain more fully these different marks, the following references to the figures are added : Figure 1 is 1, 3, 10, and 830—44. Figure 2 is 100 and 200=. Figure 3 is 400 and 500=900. Figure 4 giving the age, is 1 and 3=4; which means that the lamb canie in 1854, or 1864, as the case may be—no hole indicating a year, as 1850, or 1860; a mistake of ten years in the age not being possible. Figure 5 is an example showing a combina- tion of these marks as follows: 1+30-+30+100=161; and the lamb belong- ing to the year 1867. The numbers being marked every year, and the age marked besides, there is no possibility of making any mistake in a single individual. By a book register, the number of the dam may be kept, the date or day of lambing, the ram, and any additional remarks. The best marker is a saddler’s spring punch, which may be used for cutting the notches by placing it at the edge of the ear; or for punet- uring the holes in the middle. The holes should be about a fifth of an inch in diameter. | If too small they will grow up when the wound heals. Live and Dead Weight in Sheep.—The En- glish rule is to weigh sheep when fatted, and divide the weight by seven and call it quarters. Thus, a sheep weighing one hundred and forty pounds would give twenty pounds a quarter as the dead weight. Ifthe sheep are in good con- dition, this rule is sufficient for all purposes. Poor sheep will fall below the mark, and extra fat ones go over it. To Cure Sheep from Jumping.—A correspond- ent of the Ohio Farmer gives the following cu- rious account of the method adopted by him to prevent his sheep from jumping the fences of his pasture: “I want to tell you about my jumping sheep, and how I broke them. I got them in a pen sufficiently large to hold them. I then caught the ringleaders, one at a time, and made a small hole in each ear. I then took a cord or string, and run it through the holes in the ears together, close enough to keep them from working their ears; I then let them out, and they are as quiet as any sheep.” Brief Facts and Suggestions.— Keep sheep dry under foot with litter, This is even more necessary than roofing them. Never let them stand or lie in mud or snow. Count, every day. SHEEP—DISEASES OF. Begin graining with the greatest care, and use the smallest quantity at first. If a ewe loses her lamb, milk daily for a few days, and mix a little alum with her salt. Do not let the sheep become frightened. Never allow a stranger into the yards un- less ‘accompanied by the feeder, or some one familiar with them. It sometimes puts them back two or three days. Separate all weak, or thin, or sick from those strong, in the Fall, and give them special care. If any sheep is hurt, catch it at once and wash the wound, and if it is fly-time, apply spirits of turpentine daily, and always wash with something healing. If a limb is broken, bind it with splinters, tightly, loosening as the | limb swells. If one is lame, examine the foot, clean out between the hoofs, pare the hoof if unsound, and apply tobacco, with blue vitriol, boiled in a little water. Shear at once any sheep commencing to shed its wool, unless the weather is too severe, and save carefully the pelt of any sheep that dies. In Summer, sheep drink five or six pounds of water every day, and when deprived of it, they eat less food and lose weight. Joun JOHNSTON writes the American Farmer that sheep fat more readily in October and No- vember if they have first-rate pasture, than at any other season of the year. To insure successful Wintering for a flock, these things, are, first of all, indispensable, namely: Good shelter, food sufficient in quantity and variety, running water, and skillful attend- ance. No man who expects to make any improve- ment in his flock will allow a ram to “run with the ewes.” Six or eight ewes in a day is as many as one ram ought to be allowed to serve when he has the very best of care; with a less number his gets would be much increased. Lambs from pure-bred rams will be worth one-half more than those from common rams, Much may be gained in Winter by changing from one variety of feed to another. A feed of well-cured corn fodder or straw will be relished three or four times a week. The same ram should not be kept with a flock more than a year; neither should he be used in the flock that he was raised from. There is no part of the United States, if there is of the world, where sheep are not better for some degree of Winter shelter. In western Texas and in the Gulf States, perhaps they de- mand no more than a pole-shed or dense clump ae |ful and systematic breeders. 419 of trees to break the fury of the “northers;” north of latitude forty degrees to forty-two de- grees, close barns or stables, with abundant ven- tilation, are beginning to be preferred by care- Shelter is food saved; strength kept, which would otherwise be lost ; and wool improved by the good condi- tion of the sheep, to say nothing about the most important points of all—the lambs which are to follow. A suffering sheep will produce a weak lamb. Because of their omniverous habits, sheep are very valuable as scavengers on old farms, and as pioneers on new lands, in cleaning them of noxious weeds, bushes, briars, and burrs, almost all of which they will eat at some sea- son of the year, or in some stage of their ex- istence. But sheep generally imply good fences, Diseases of Sheep.—Under this head we shall give approved remedies for a few of the common disease of sheep: Apoplery.—Bleed moderately ; then give two ounces of Epson: salts in a gill of water. Blackwater.—Keep the bowels open with Ep- som salts; and give a tea-spoonful of elixir of vitrol, or sulphuric acid, diluted with seven parts of water, in an infusion of oak bark. Blackmuzzle.—Mix an ounce of verdigris (acetate of copper), four ounces of honey, half a pint of vinegar; simmer them together over a fire for ten minutes in an earthen pipkin. Apply it to the mouth on a piece of rag. Colie (Diarrhea—Scours).—Prevent by using great care in changing dry for green feed. A teed of sulphur is also said to be a preventive. The following is an English remedy: “Ten drops of laudanum, ten drops essence of pepper- mint, one tea-spoonful of the spirits of turpen- tine, and one table-spoonful of sweet oil.” Youatt modifies the prescription as follows: “Take of prepared chalk an ounce, powdered eatechu half an ounce, powdered ginger two drachms, and powdered opium half a drachm; mix them with half a pint of peppermint- water. The dose for a lamb is from one to two table-spoonfuls morning and night.” Flies.—Certain flies sometimes deposit their eggs in the wool of sheep during the last weeks of Spring. The resulting maggots burrow un- der the skin, and often sadly torment the poor animals. Fly powder: Two pounds of black sulphur, half a pound of hellebore; mix them together, and sprinkle the sheep from the head to the tail with a dredging-box. Wash: The farmer will find this an excellent recipe: Half 420 a pound of powdered white arsenic (arsenious | acid), four pounds and a half of soft soap. Beat these for a quarter of an hour, or until the arsenic is dissolved, in five gallons of water. Add this to water sufficient to dip fifty sheep. | The quantlty of arsenic usually recommended is too large. Foot-Rot.—This is a formidable disease. We shall not diseuss the question whether it is con- tagions; suffice it that it commonly appears among flocks kept in wet, filthy yards, or fed in rich moist pastures. It seems to be pro- duced by foreign substances finding their way through the eracks in the hoof, and inducing acute inflamation within the foot. The disease is often long in culminating; it progresses grad- ually, first causing limping; then the lifting of | one foot; then severe lameness of both fore feet; then going upon the knees, which brings the feet in contact with the breast. Then the feet become masses of rottenness; maggots breed in them and work into the flesh, and this corruption is communicated to the breast. The cure, says the American Agriculturist, is” very simple and sure: “The well-cleaned hoofs, softened by soaking in dewy grass or on a rainy day, or otherwise, are pared with cut-) ting pliers and very sharp knives until every} particle of diseased matter is taken away, even! if it involves the removal of all the hoof; they are then washed with warm water and soap, and smeared with some caustic paste, or fluid, or the sheep forced to stand in a hot, saturated solution of blue vitrol for ten minutes,” Youatr recommends, after the decisive cut- ting away of all diseased matter, the washing in a weak solution of chloride of lime (a pound of the powder to a gallon of water), and then an application of muriate of antimony with a swab. Dress and pare anew every day. The American Stock Journal recommends, for the preparation, a pound of powdered sulphate of copper to four pounds of tar, smeared on with a brush afier paring. Phenie or carbolic acid, is mentioned as an effectual remedy in the early stages. Grub in the Head.—This is another form of the bots; the fly, instead of depositing her eggs where they will be taken into the stomach, lays them upon the lining membrane of the nose, where the breath will soon hatch them, and whence the larve crawl up into the frontal cay- ities of the head. The great distress which sheep suffer from the attacks of this insect, can hardly be imagined by one who,has not seen it. That death is occasioned by grub in the head LIVE STOCK: is not probable, but when great numbers ex- ist in the head of a sheep, the irritation they produce, especially when they take their de- parture in May and June, is great. But Youarr argues that these grubs in the head, though they cause inconvenience and annoyance, do not cause any serious disease; that sheep never die from their depredations ; that their presence in the head is possibly an actual benefit; and that it is doubtful if the worm ever eats a mouthful of anything—arriy- ing at these conclusions, however, rather by de- duction than induction. Hundreds of farmers in America are certain that they have lost scores of sheep by this parasite; and we ap- pend some remedies that have been proved. To prevent the fly from laying eggs in the nose: Daub whale oil up the nostril oceasion- ‘ally with a feather; or bore shallow two-inch augur holes in the manger or in blocks, and fill with salt, smearing around the top with tar, so that it will stick to the nose. : Spirits of turpentine and corrosive poisons are sometimes used to expel the grubs; but they are dangerous and unreliable? A writer in the Country Gentleman uses a wash of one pound of Scotch snuff and some asafetida to one gallon of hot water. The New England Farmer circumyents the intruders, and swindles them out of their habi- tation, by the following cute trick: “Take honey, diluted with a little warm water, a suffi- cient quantity, and inject into the nose freely with a four-ounce syringe. The worm will leave his retreat in search of a new article of food; and when once in contact with the honey, becomes unable to return, and slides down the mucous membrane. Then (say two or three hours after using the honey) give the sheep a little snuff or cayenne, and the effort of sneez- ing will place the worm beyond the chance of doing harm.” Lice and Ticks.—Sheep are infested by both lice and ticks—the latter far the more formida- ble. Tobacco juice, tar, mercurial ointment, are the usual remedies; though a single fifteen minutes’ bath in warm water will drive all the lice from lambs: Hard-wood ashes, rub- bed in, is also a good exterminator of vermin. TnomAS JAMESON sends the following to the Western Farmer: ‘Take the sheep on a warm day and lay it on its side, then with a piece of chalk draw a line from just back of the ear, along the side to the roots of the tail. Sepa- rate the wool, beginning immediately back of the ear and lay it open to the skin along this GOATS. line and sprinkle in Scotch snuff, closing up the fleece as you go along to prevent the snuff from being scattered and lost. Serve both sides of the sheep in this manner and in just forty-eight hours thereafter you may look for live ticks in vain.” Carbolic acid in a crude form is very effect- ual in destroying vermin or curing scab in sheep. Poisoned Sheep.—Sheep will sometimes eat of poisonous shrubs. A certain remedy is found in blood-root and brandy—a strong extract—a table-spoonful to a sheep, and more to a calf. A decoction of strong black tea is said also to be an antidote. Rot.—Youatt estimates that “more than a million of sheep die eyery year from this dis- ease.” It is inflammation of the liver, caused, or at least aggravated, by the presence of the fluke-worm. The result is hastened by pas- turing on ill-drained land, covered with de- composing grasses—salt-marshes excepted. It is atlirmed that sheep that have free access to salt will never have the rot. 7 DoyLE recommends as a remedy: “Bleed freely and give glauber or Epsom salts.” But if the malady has made much progress give it the butcher’s knife. WrtutcH says that elder leaves will often effect a cure. YOUATT says that, after physicing, “two or three grains of calomel may be given daily, but mixed with half the quantity of opium, in order to secure its beneficial results, and ward off its injurious effects.” Do not be sanguine of a cure in any but the first stage. Scab.— YOUATT says it is not contagious, and recommends housing; shaving, wherever the skin feels hard; washing with soap-suds, and then, every other day, washing with lime water and a decoction of tobacco. A correspondent of the Country Gentleman has found salt and sulphur a sure cure for scab in sheep. He puts one-eighth or one-tenth part of sulphur with the salt and feeds as usual. Dantet KELLy, of Du Page county, Illinois, contributed to the Praivie Farmer his remedy for this troublesome disease—which he thinks a sure cure: One pound mercurial ointment and three pounds of fresh lard, well-mixed together. Turn the sheep upon its back and anoint the bare spot under each leg, and also around each place where the “scab” has appeared. Keep the sheep from the weather a few days. Crude carbolic acid is death to the scab, and is much used in England. Sniffles—WiLt1amM P. HAYDEN informs the 421 | Maine Farmer that equal parts of garget. root, alum, and tobacco, steeped together, will cure the sniffles in sheep. It should be forced up the nostrils with a syringe. Stretches—Should any of the sheep get the stretches which they are apt to do when high fed, give a quid of tobacco half the size of a hen’s egg, and if not relieved in twenty minutes give them a second dose, but nine tiimes in ten the first dose cures. For stoppage in their water, give one tea-spoonful of spirits of niter, with the same quantity of spirits of turpentine, in half a gill of lukewarm water. Goats.—The goat was coeval with the ox and the sheep, in those regions of the East where civilization first dawned upon mankind. He was a part of the mythological systems of the ancient nations. In the Scriptures he is constantly referred to as forming the wealth of patriarchal families. By the laws of Moses his meat was allowed to be used as human food, and he is ordained to be emptoyed in remarka- “Thou shalt make curtains of goats’ hair as a covering to the is a sacred injunction. The earli- est Grecian and Roman writers speak of him as yielding food and raiment, and superstition connected him with the attributes and services of the gods The fleece of the goat has furnished man ble religious ceremonies. tabernacle,” with his richest, most durable, and gorgeous attire; its nutritious and wholesome milk and meat have yielded him food; its skin has sup- plied the materials for water-sacks or bottles, morocco, ete., while the animal itself may be said to have lived on chips. But he doesn’t live on chips if there is anything else he can bite. If milked regularly twice every day, one will yield a sufficiency for a small family, Goat’s milk is very healthful, very nourishing, and is often prescribed for the sick during eon- The Irish have done more than any other people to introduce the goat among us, and the hairy scavengers have yielded a valescence. good deal of inexpensive milk. Horacr GREELEY gave expression to the popular dislike of this qnadruped, in the fol- lowing letter to the editor of the Agriculturist : “Frienp Jupp—H. G. T., in the Decem- ber Agriculturist, wonders what can be urged against the keeping of goats. I answer—not much, if you are living on the stony hills of Palestine, or the desert of Sahara, or plains of Colorado, or the parched, desolate | valleys of Utah, where a tree is unknown and the 422 LIVE its production is barely a possibility. In fact, I think the goat destined to prove a great bless- ing to all that vast region lying westward of the banks of the Platte, and eastward of the Sierra Nevada. In a shade-blest, fruitful coun- try like this, however, the goat is a nuisance and The utmost vigilance will not prevent the destruction of your rarest fruit and shade-trees, if you keep Billy and Nanny on your premises. “| speak feelingly on the subject, for my ex- perience has been a sore one. My last trial with a she goat (bought for her milk for an infant) and three young ones—all fine animals, but for their invincible propensity to eat any- thing that should not be eaten. Iam not cer- tain that either of them would have barked a crowbar, unless very hungry ; but I would not like to insure the dry, cork-like rind of the big trees of California (from a foot to eighteen a terror. inches through) against the teeth of any goat IT ever harbored. If you must have goats keep them, for their milk is the best food that can be had for young children; but tie them fast in some lot where nothing grows that you want to survive, or shut them up in a barn, and be sure they never have a chance of liberty. A goat at large on a Yankee farm will do more damage in a single week than can be repaired in ten years.” Goats emit at all times a strong and disa- greeable odor, named hircine, which, however, is not without its use, for if one of these ani- mals be kept in a stable, it is affirmed that it will be an effectual preventive of the staggers, a nervous disorder which is often very fatal to horses. Goats yield, on an average, two quarts of milk a day; some of the Maltese and Assy- rian varieties givea gallon. Take him all in all, the common goat of the municipal gutter is rather an unprofitable citizen. The Cashmere and Angora Goats. —The “shawl-bearing animal,” which reaches such perfection in Cashmere, Angora, and other parts of Western Asia, is the only animal that produces a fabric worth its weight in gold. The supply of fleeces and goats is limited and precarious. Access to them is difficult and dangerous, owing to the jealousy of the gov- ernments and the barbarous bigotry of the people. Dr. James B. Davis, of South Carolina, and RicHArD Perrers, of Georgia, were among the earliest and most successful im- porters and propagators of the Cashmere goat, STOCK: and thousands of the best breeds are now owned in different Siates, The Angora goat is a more recent arrival. The acclimatization of these goats in this coun- try is an established fact. For several years, in different parts of the Union, the Cashmere and Angora goat have been bred, both pure and crossed with our native goat. Far from dete- riorating by the transfer, as had been predicted, it is found that in some parts of the country even the unmixed breed of the imported goats has shown evident signs of improvement re- sulting from the change. This branch of pas- toral industry has begun to assume very consid- erable prominence. ; The Angora goat is the best variety of the wool-bearing animal, producing the finest and most lustrous mohair and fur used either in Europe or the East, for the most luxurious and expensive fabrics. He is a native of Angora, the ancient Capadocia, in central Asia Minor, situated on or about the fortieth parallel north latitude, a mountainous and sterile region. His coat is a brilliant, long silky hair, dazzling white, lustrous as silk, or burnished metal, hanging down in long spiral curls, with an undergrowth of pure white down or fur. Weight of fleece four to nine pounds. The curls are regarded as evidence uf the purity of the blood. Extravagant stories about the value of this fleeee—five orsix dollars a pound—must not be credited. It is worth more in London than any wool, bringing generally from sixty cents to adollar a pound in gold, a little more being paid for exceptional parcels of great beauty, for fancy manufacture. The Angora goat crosses admirably with the best common goat, “while,” says the importer, J.S. Derm, “the progeny will be as beautiful as the full-bloods. The grades by the fourth generation can not be distinguished from pure breeds, except by experts, while his meat is superior to the best mutton, and the animal himself can be fed cheaper than the sheep.” A correspondent says that in this country these animals have improved in size, weight, and quality of the fleece. The three-fourths blood yield a fleece softer and finer than the imported animal, but not so long. This is more than England can boast of. France has been more successful, but not as successful as our breed- ers in the acclimation of this goat, After chronicling everything that can be said in favor of the Cashmere and Angora, we warn our readers against investing in these goats at HOGS. faney prices, until they are sure it will pay. We have no doubt of the value of these ani- mals to cross with our best common goats, and their introduction may be productive of as great a benefit to agriculture as the importation of Merinos; but we have had enough of the morus multicaulis and the “ wine plant.” Let there be no panic in the shawl business. A correspondent of the Prairie Farmer says the Cashmere goats grade as well as thorough- breds, are valuable additions to a flock of sheep, with which they associate on infimate) terms, and the sheep soon learn to follow the lead of the goats, as these do not like exposure to storms, they run to the shelter and are fol- lowed by the sheep, much to the advantage of their health—particularly the variety that grow more in hair than wool, and cost much more’ than some others of much greater value. The goats also lead the flock home at night, as they will never sleep away from their accustomed resting place, if able to reach it without ob-| structions. The goats also fight dogs or prairie wolves with great courage, and the timid sheep soon learn to look upon their companions as their natural protectors. “These goats are hardy; they live and fatten on coarse food, They will Winter on good straw alone, and come out in fair condition in the Spring. The common ewe goat has from two to five lambs at a birth—the Cashmere but one. They can be graded up very fast, but it is necessary to use the thorough-bred male, or as high a grade as possible, to cross with the com- mon goat. A good common ewe goat will raise two to three one-half blood lambs well. The eight months’ ewe will drop and raise one or two lambs. This is much faster than you can ean grade up sheep. “Tn choosing common goats, get the shortest- legged, and best-formed you can find. There is much difference even in the common goats, and the form of the dam has much to do with the form of the future grade offspring. Parties desiring to grade up a flock should procure good, common ewe goats, in time to have the kids come in April or May. The kids are much stronger and hardier than Merino lambs. We hardly ever lose a kid unless by unavoida- ble accident. A well-fatted one-half blood wether goat is superior to any venison. “Tt is probable that the day is not far distant when flocks of profitable wool-bearing goats, will be seen on many of the stock farms of the United States.” 423 HOGS—THEIR BREEDS, HABITS, AND USES. The hog has been in disrepute for a long time, at least ever since he began to play his part in the ancient religion. It is fashionable to denounce and deride him. In one of our rural cities not long since, the story goes, a stately doctor was upset by a sow while trying to drive her and her litter out of his lawn. He retired to his office, covered with mud and mortifica- tion, and broke into the following not very flattering tirade: “Tf there be anything I do most heartily de- test above all the beasts of the field and fowls of the air, it is that filthy brute—the hog. He was doubtless one of the curses sent after the fall of Adam to punish us for our many sins; but our Creator, in kindness to us, afterward pronounced him wnelean, and not only unfit to be eaten, but that he should be abhorred and driven out of the sight of all human beings. Jews, Mahomedans, and a few Pagan sects de- test him; but we Christians, with a higher and purer faith, cherish him as we would a charmed Faugh! The foul, hated, unclean beast he is; and the dire author of half of the most disgusting diseases which afflict humanity! What breeds leprosy? The What breeds cancer? The hog! What The hog! What originated other horrid diseases, the names of which I dare not mention? Again, I say the hog! ’Tis to this abominable quadruped we owe all our cu- serpent, even in our bosoras. hog! breeds scrofula? taneous diseases, consumption, small-pox, mea- sles, and collateral maladies, too numerous to mention; and this All-wise Creator, under the Mosaic law, forbade man to eat his flesh. Delicate-cured ham, pork boiled, baked or fried, roast pig, and sausages, I hate and thoroughly detest ye, one and all, as unfit to be eaten.” Yet the hog outlives all hostility, and laughs, so to speak, at the sneers of his slanderers. Still is the succulent roast pig the sacrifice on many a dinner table, and still is the ceiling festooned with the savory sausage, and the smoke-house fragrant with ham. We deal with facts ; not with sentiment. for reason, an The hog is a true cosmopolite—a citizen of the world. He increases and multiplies and inherits every part of the habitable globe. He is as ubiquitous as the herring. He does not rank high as a gentleman, but is very accom- modating in his habits, thriving contentedly in the stye of the rich or the kitchen of the indi- 424 gent. He wallows sometimes; but naturalists tell us that he does this for the sake of cleanli- ness—to destroy the vermin—l/or the same rea- son that Pacific islanders grease themselves. By instinct he is less filthy than many other animals, for he will not foul his bed if he can help it. Among other peculiarities, are his grunt of satisfaction, and his squeal of remon- strance and reproach—but this last is only the echo of abuse. Another trait is that he carries straw in his mouth when it is about to rain— serving as the poor man’s barometer. Homer, in his Odyssey, honored the swine- keeper with the confidence of Utyssrs—and why not? The hog, called stupid, is really one of the most sagacious of animals. The gamekeeper of Sir Henry MILpMAY actually broke a black sow to find game in the woods; to run in the hunt with wonderful success. “She would track game, back and stand, and point partridges, pheasants, snipe, and rabbits as skillfully as a bred pointer. She has some- times stood a jock snipe when all the pointers have passed it. She would promptly answer a call, and was as much excited as a dog on being shown a gun,” : The Babylonian Talmud says, “Cursed be he that breedeth hogs;” and the history of the Maceabees tells us that the scribe ELEazer walked straight to the tortures of persecution rather than eat a slice of spare-rib—heroically preferring the martyr’s stake to the pork steak. This animal has been under the ban of many religions; the Easterns learned from the Egyp- tians to hate him because he perversely de- clined to “chew his cud;”’ but he still manages to musticate and digest considerable pottage in the course of a year. The hog is the product of Nature’s most eco- nomical thought. There is no part that can not be utilized. His flesh, fat, bristles, hair, hoofs, and bones are all turned to account. The divisions of his unctuous body are as familiar as the divisions of the earth. His ears and feet go to souse; his brains are a choice dish for the epicure. His tail has for ages been claimed by successive generations of children as their peculiar property. Tradition points out how to appropriate it—roast on the coals, take it in the fingers, and eat without salt. Spare-ribs and chine! are there any more ap- petizing syllables? The hog is the staff of life—the arch enemy of famine. He is the poor man’s most precious boon. Moreover, in his earliest days, he is strikingly handsome, playful, and graceful—a LIVE STOCK: rival of the human infant, for the admiration of the discerning spectator. In adult pighood he is omniverous and self-reliant; and he breeds faster, grows faster, and keeps cheaper than any other domestic animal. So it comes to pass, that, in spite of his snout, his will- fulness, his droll humor, his uncouth manners, his bristles, and his grunt, he is, and will long remain, a power in this land. America is pre-eminently the home of the hog—he is a logical deduction from Indian corn. We read that he was introduced from Spain into the West Indies by Columbus, in 1494; into Florida by De Soto, in 1538; into Nova Scotia and New Foundland in 1553; into Canada in 1608, and into Virginia in 1609. It is related that here they multiplied so rapidly that the colonists were compelled to palisade Jamestown—high to keep out the Indians— close to keep out the hogs. Mrs. Hoe produces eight to twelve, and even more little ones ata birth; and cgn perform this feat twice a year. So the supply may be in- creased almost without limit. Some, man of fizures has estimated the descendants of a single sow, with only six young at a litter, to be, in ten generations, about six million five hundred — thousand. According to the census there is one hog and one additional ham for every hu- man being in America—Indians and all. A hundred and filty million dollars worth of hogs! In 1863, more than four million hogs were eut and packed in the West for transportation, and more than six hundred thousand of these were packed in Cincinnati. The average weight of hogs and yield of lard, for some seasons, in the Cincinnati pack- ing, were as follows: Yield of lard. Iso poun ds, Ba pounds. Years. Average weight. 1560)... 221 2B5' ts 20 Faae 203 St 26 ts ee 23 es 9 “ F “ It would seem by this table, contrary to the general opinion, that the weight of the hog and the weight of the lard correspond to each other. The average prices of hogs, for fourteen years, in the market of Cincinnati, were as follows: Per 100 pounds. Per 100 pounds. 1854 »34 45 1895 5 75 1856 6 05 1857 6 24 1858 517 1559 6 59 1860, 6 21 s HOGS—BREEDS OF, ETC. As examples of extraordinary weight, the following aggregate and averages of several lots of hogs eut in Cincinnati, were furnished to the press in 1867: No. of lot. |No. of hogs.| Net weight. |Average weight. 3 710 5 640 7 720 22 403 11 612 20 7i2 30 506 35 451 35 449 These lois, for extraordinary weight, taking quantity into account, have probably never been equalled, and the lot of twenty, raised and fed for market in Hamilton county, has cer- tainly no parallel in the wide world, none of the hogs exceeding nineteen months in age, and generally running from fifteen to sixteen months old. The farmers of the West know that hogs are the best sacks they can send their corn to market in. Breeds.—There are, in America, at least seven tolerably distinct breeds: Yorkshire, Chester County or Chester White, Essex, Suf- folk, Berkshire, Lincolnshire, and Chinese. The Essex and Suffolk are favorites with gen- tleman who feed few; but the large Berkshire Lincolnshire, or Chester County (a branch of the Bedfordshire), are preferable for the gross feeding of the West. Youarr (“On the Hog,” p. 91), vouches for a Berkshire pig, killed in Cheshire, England, in 1774, that weighed, when | alive, fourteen hundred and ten pounds, when | dressed, twelve hundred and fifteen pounds avoirdupois. The present breed of Berkshires has diminished in size in fifty years, but has improved in quality. The Illinois State Agricultural Report for | 1864, publishes an Essay on Swine from H. C. Smit, of Vermilion county, from which we quote: “The improved Berkshire— that pos- sessed of a dash of the Neapolitan and Chinese | varieties— comes, perhaps, nearer the desired standard than any other pure breed, but I think it is decidedly improved by a cross of the Suf- folk. The Berkshire sow is perhaps the best breeder and the best nurse known. This breed will stand more neglect and hard usage than! any other; they stand long drives on foot and) shipping by railroad remarkably well; they are more compact and weigh more to their looks than any other hog; their skin stands exposure to the prairie mud exceedingly well, and with reasonable care and feed a lot of them 425 will average one pound gain per day until they are from three to five hundred days old. But the majority of Berkshires are a little too round and close built; they have not belly enough, are too active and restless. With a little care these defects might be bred out.” The Magee hog is a variety much esteemed in some parts of Ohio and the West. A. G, Nyx, of Jefferson county, Iowa, thus refers to it in the Iowa Agricultural Report for 1865: “The Magee hog was first brought to this county by Mr. DukE GREEN about ten years ago. The hog brought to this county by Mr. GREEN was, in color, white and black spotted, with very large bone, large ears, and altogether, a very coarse hog, but of enormous size, fre- quently at three years old and well-fattened, weighing from seven to nine hundred pounds. They were hard to fatten, however, when young, and consequently were not popular; but, through the efforts of Mr. MaGer, the first breeder of this hog, and others in Ohio, and Mr. JosepH Ropers, Mr. Dayip Swir- ZER, and others of this county who have bred the Magee hog successfully, and especially with the view of making a finer hog, we have now.a hog of the same color and name, but with smaller bone, smaller ears, and altogether amueh finer hog; that will fatten at any age, and, if properly managed, can be made to weigh from three to four hundred pounds at from fifteen to twenty months old; and this is |the best age to market hogs for Iowa farmers, and I think the Magee hog the best for our purpose. Other breeds may suit better for some regions—such asa dairy region, where ‘hogs must be marketed at from six to ten months old; but for any corn-growing region, like southern Iowa, the Magee hog is superior to any that I have seen.” ; Points and Management of a Breeding Sow.—she should be large for the breed, square built, with short nose, ears and legs, thick and rather short in the neck, plump and compact in the carcass, broad in the breast, substance in the fore-arm, and a hereditary tendency to fatten well and early. Never let her raise pigs until she is a year old, and never but one litter the first year. Then if she proves a good milker let her raise two litters per year. It is about as important that a sow should come of a family of good milkers, as it is for acow. 8S, Lewis says in the Michigan Farmer: |“T find that hasty pudding and milk for the 426 supper and breakfast, and corn for dinner, con- stitute a very good diet for a breeding sow. A great many farmers have fallen into an error in not allowing plenty of straw for a bed. Many build a warm pen in order to ayoid giv- ing her much straw. Let her run to a straw stack and she will “build” a nest to suit her- self.” Let her food be moderately salted, and feed charcoal, and a trifle of sulphur occasion- ally. Every hog should have a little charcoal oceasionally. During the first week in the age of the pigs, the mother should be disturbed as little as possible. Especially strangers should not ap- proach her. Give her nothing to eat for two or three days, except a little thin warm gruel, not exceeding half a pint of meala day. Give her a pail or two of warm water each day. If she is doing well and is quiet, and takes care of her young, “let well enough alone.” After three days time you can feed more, and when the pigs begin to come to the trough and eat, you will have ample space to dispose of all the spare meal and buttermilk your place will aflord. Young pigs will fatten faster on pure skim-milk than anything else. The plan or custom of breeding in and in from close relations is a most injudicious course, and seems to bring on degeneracy in the offspring. In selecting both sows and boars, a due regard must be paid to the object for which the progeny are designed. Small bone is desirable in stock reserved for breed- ing, as this description produces the least offal. How many Pounds of Pork will a Bushel of Corn Make?—this ques- tion, much discussed, can never be answered, because it depends on different conditions—on ‘the breed of hog, on the kind of corn, and still more on the temperature of the pen. The last consideration is too important to be overlooked. We have already set forth the unprofitable- ness of leaving neat cattle exposed to cold, and keeping them warm with expensive food in- stead of with snug quarters. Swine are subject to the same conditions. A correspondent of the Ohio Farmer, writing from Dunean’s Falls, gives an account of an experiment made with one hundred hogs, averaging two hundred pounds each, and placed in nine large covered pens, with plank floors and troughs. The re- sult is detailed as follows: “The corn was ground up, cob and all, in one of the ‘Little Giant’ steam mills; steamed and | LIVE STOCK: or five times a day, all they could eat, and in exactly one week they were weighed again, the corn they had eaten having been weighed also, and calling seventy pounds a bushel, and pork as before—four cents gross—it was equal to eighty cents per bushel for corn. The weather was quite warm here for the season of the year. The first week in November I tried the same experiment on the same lot of hogs, and the corn only brought sixty-two cents per bushel, the weather being colder. The third week, same month, with same lot of hogs, corn brought forty cents, and the weather still get- ting colder. The fourth week same as above, corn brought twenty-six cents; weather still colder.” This lot of hogs were sold off the last of No- vember, and another lot of hogs put up, which had been fed in the field on corn in the cob. “This lot was weighed and fed as above, the five weeks of December, and the corn fed aver- aged twenty-six cents a bushel, the weather being about the same as the last. This lot was tried again in the middle of January, the corn fed for that week averaging only five cents per bushel; at that time the thermometer stood at zero. 'This:same lot was tried again and just held their own, the thermometer being below zero, sometimes as low as ten degrees,” From these facts the writer comes to the con- clusion that “it will not pay, as a general thing, to feed corn to hogs after the middle of Novem- ber,” unless the price is very low. The ex- perimenter is certainly correct in deciding that it will not generally pay to use corn for fuel to keep hogs warm in Winter; but the comelusion that it will not pay to feed corn at all in Win- ter seems not necessarily to follow. Let him keep them warm with a thorough shelter, and his corn will make pork as rapidly as in Summer. Experiments.—If the farmer can get as much for his corn by first making it into pork, as by asale of the grain itsell, it is best to convert it to flesh, provided the manure is worth more for his land, than the labor of feeding. Zunt’s Merchant’s Magazine gives several experiments, showing the cost of pork making. In one, 100 hogs were fed 100 days, by S. B. ANDreEw, of Ohio, with as much corn as they could eat, and each bushel of corn gave an increase of 10} pounds of animal, or 8 2-5 pounds of dressed pork; or, in other words, 1 pound of pork re- quired 5} pounds of corn. In another experi- ment with 58 hogs, 1 pound of pork required 63 pounds of corn. The corn was-{fed in fed at 6 and 9 A. M., 12 M., 3 and 6 P. M.,| the ear, HOGS—COOKED FOOD FOR. According to these experiments, three cents per pound for pork is the same as twenty-five cents per bushel for corn; four cents per pound is thirty-three cents for corn; five cents per pound is forty-two cents per bushel; and six cents per pound is fifty cents for corn. This would not pay in many places, without fatten- ing hogs mainly on apples, which many farmers do at a great profit. A smaller experiment made with cooked meal, by Hon. H. L. Exvusworrn, required a little less than four pounds for a pound of pork. Different breeds might give quite different results. According to another experiment, six hogs were shut up to fatten the first day of Autumn; they were fed one month on 29 bushels of corn, (58 bushels—ears), and “increased 886 pounds, or 123 pounds gross weight, for each bushel of | The next month they were fed 68 bush- | corn. els, and gained 336 pounds, or 10 pounds per bushel. pounds per bushel. This result was quite sim- ilar to the first-mentioned aboye, and this may | be taken as about the average results of judi- cious feeding in the ear in the early Autumn. Another experimenter, J. D. Lawes, ob- tained one hundred pounds of pork from seven bushels of corn, or one pound of pork from four and a half pounds of corn; the grain was ground and moistened with water before feed- ing. NatHan G. Morcan, of Union Springs, by wetting his meal with five times its weight of hot water, and letting it stand twelve to eighteen hours before feeding, obtained one pound of pork from two and a half pounds of corn, A Kentucky farmer reports through the Ohio Cultivator, that a bushel of dry corn fed to hogs made five pounds of pork; a bushel of ground corn boiled, in one instance, made sixteen pounds and seven ounces, and in another nearly eighteen pounds of pork. A correspondent of the Prairie Furmer, says with reference to the quantity of pork from a bushel of corn, that a series of carefully con- ducted experiments have established the fol- lowing facts: A bushel of good, raw, unground dry corn, fed to a middling good breed, in com- fortable quarters, without much sun, and not allowed to root, and before cold weather, will produce ten pounds of pork, and if the breed is very good, fifteen. The same amount of fermented corn meal will produce one-half more; and, if cooked also, about three-fourths The last month they consumed 56) bushels and increased 272 pounds, or nearly 10) 427 more than in its raw state, hence it is easy tc find how much pork should bring to correspond with the price of corn. Take, for instance, raw corn, the most common way it is fed; pork at five cents per pound is equal to corn at fifly cents per bushel, and so on, above or below, in the same ratio. The good of our farms and pockets demand that we sell our oats and corn in beef, mutton, pork, butter, cheese and wool. The Utica New York, Herald, an excellent authority, says: ‘Upon an average of several careful experiments, two bushels of corn in the ear, or one of shelled corn, make nine and seven-twellths pounds of pork. The same amount of corn ground into meal, and mixed with water, produces eleven and one-eighth pounds of pork.” The New York Independent says, from care- fully conducted experiments by different per- sons, it has been ascertained that one bushel of corn will make a little over ten and a half Taking the result as a basis, the following deductions are made: When corn sells for 125 cents per bushel, pounds of pérk, gross. pork costs 1} cents per pound. When corn costs 17 cents per bushel, pork costs 2 cents per pound, When corn costs 25 cents per bushel, pork | costs 3 cents per pound, When corn costs 36 cents per bushel, pork costs 4 cents per pound, When corn costs 50 cents per bushel, pork costs 5 cents per pound. The manure will more than pay for the labor of feeding and killing the hogs. Cooked Food for Hogs.—A Wayne county, Pennsylvania, farmer has accurately tested the results of cooking feed for swine, and presents the following figures: The experiment was conducted with two pens of hogs, which were carefully weighed, the gains noted, and the food in each case also weighed or measured. The hogs selected for the experiment were all grade Chesters, and, with one exception, nearly of the same age, weight, condition, ete. Pen No. 1 contained three hogs, whose live weight was nearly one thousand pounds. They were fed all the corn they would eat up clean—the three consuming forty-five pounds of corn daily. After being fed seven days, they were again weighed, when it was found they had gained ten pounds each. By calculation we find that during the seven days this pen of hogs consumed five bushels and eight quarts of corn, costing $6 66. The 428 gain being thirty pounds, we see that thirty pounds of pork cost $6 66, and would have sold at the time for $2 55. Pen No. 2 con- tained two hogs, one of which weighed alive six hundred pounds, and the other nearly four hundred founds. They were fed all the cooked meal they would eat—the two consuming twenty-five pounds of meal per day. The re- spective gains of each were five and seven pounds, the smaller hog gaining five pounds per day and the larger seven pounds. By cal- culation we find that the pork made from whole corn cost a trifle over twenty-two cents per pound, while that made from cooked meal cost four and a half cents per pound. Tuomas J. Ener, of Chester county, Penn- sylvania—one of the best farmers of that ex- cellent farming district—in answer to the inquiries of the editor of the Practical Farmer, gives that paper a report of his experiments, which can not fail to be read with interest by all engaged in making pork: “My first experiment was with old corn, in three forms, viz.: shelled and fed whole; ground and made into slop with cold water ; and ground and thoroughly cooked. five in number, were from the same litter, and were the produce of a good common sow crossed with a Berkshire boar. “Tn each case the food was given them as fast as consumed, and all possible care taken to avoid any waste or irregularity of feeding; in every case of a change of food three days w-s) allowed before the weighing for the experiment, in order that the eflect of a sudden and entire change of diet might not affect the result. “T found that five bushels of whole corn) made 47} pounds of pork. Five bushels (less; miller’s toll) of corn, ground and made into thick slop, with cold water, made 54} pounds of pork. The same amount of meal, well boiled and fed cold, made 833 pounds of pork. “ With the whole corn the pigs had the slops from the kitchen (no milk), and for drink with the boiled mush, one or two quarts were thinned with cold water, or slop from the house; in each case the house slop was used in some form or other, but all the milk was reserved for small pigs. The filteen bushels of corn cost $1 30 per bushel; and thee will notice, that while the pork made from the whole corn barely paid for the corn, that from the same amount of ground corn cooked, paid the whole cost of the corn and a little more than one Lhe pigs, \ LIVE STOCK: grinding and making into slop will fully war- ‘rant the extra tronble and expense. How could it be otherwise, when the whole economy of profitable feeding consists in bursting or breaking the indigestible hull which encloses the minute particles of the food? “Tn the above experiment the data are based upon pork at $14 per ewt., and corn at $1 30 per bushel; but it will apply as well to other prices. “The second experiment was exclusively with new corn, in two forms, viz.: on the ear, and shelled and ground before boiling; and all in each case was what we knowas ‘nubbins’ or soft corn. The best of this class of corn was reserved for the pigs and the worst fed to the eattle. Ten bushels on the cob made 295 pounds of pork, fed in the usual way, on the ground. The same amount shelled, ground by horse-power, and well boiled, made sixty-four pounds ef pork. Of course, a portion of that fed on the ear was wasted; but it is the com- mon plan, and forms but a fair test of the com- parative merits of cooked food. I have made no experiment with sound new corn, but may |have a favorable opportunity before the season is past; but would suppose that my experi- ment with old corn would forma good criterion to judge by. “Thee asks for any indirect points which may have been noticed during the experiments. I have found that there is economy in allowing the food to become thoroughly cold before it is fed; that in this state a larger amount will be eaten, with more apparent good appetite; that, while sealding is beneficial, thorough and pro- longed cooking under pressure is more economi- eal. In more than one case I fastened the lids of the barrels down until the pressure was as high as five pounds per square inch in the barrel and steamer, and an examination into the condition of the food convinced me that its globules were thoroughly bursted, and it was all, or nearly all, rendered available. During a given time the same pigs will consume rather more corn cooked than uncooked. “Having eaten various portions of one of the above pigs fed almost entirely on cooked food (fed cold), and having assisted in killing all of them, I must say that the prevalent idea that the meat of such pigs is not as firm as if fed upon uncooked food, has proven, in my case, to be erroneons—though I am not prepared to siy what the result would have been had the food been used while warm or hot.” dollar per bushel over, and that the economy of Another correspondent of the same paper, HOGS—BRIEF HINTS FOR FEEDING. in speaking of the value of potatoes when cooked for hogs, says : “T have demonstrated to my own satisfaction, with the use of a Prindle steamer and careful weighing, that while five bushels of boiled mush (hasty pudding) will make eighty-four pounds of pork, three bushels of meal and five of potatoes will make seventy-two and one-half pounds of pork. I do not wish to be under- stood that the five bushels of potatoes made the extra twenty-two and one-half pounds, but merely to state that under similar circum- stances the two combined produced the above result.” A correspondent of the Indiana Farmer thus narrates his experience: ‘‘ My piggery is one hundred feet long, with a cook room attached to one end in which is situated a tubular boiler for generating steam. Extending through the center is an alley way six feet wide; on each side are the pens, eight feet wide by seven deep, from which: there is a door leading to the out- side yards, which are of the same size. There are sixteen pens of the size I have described, in each of which are six hogs. My mode of cooking is with two large tanks, each of which holds four hundred gallons; steam is carried into these tanks by iron pipes direct from the boiler, and valves are so arranged as to boil one or both tanks at once. Into these tanks is pumped about one hundred gallons of water, which is boiled in about twenty minutes by opening the steam valves; the tank is then filled up with garbage from the city (which, by the way, contains everything used in the kitchen for cooking), and closed up tight; steam is kept up for one hour. By this time every particle of this matter is thoroughly cooked. The tanks are then opened, and if near the time of slaughtering, a bushel of corn meal well mixed in, the steam shut off, closed up and allowed to stand until the following day to cool before feeding, when it is at just. the right temperdture to make the most fat. One of these tanks will give my hogs a good feed; the other is ready for evening. I am fully con- vinced that hogs can be kept and fattened at one-third less expense by cooked food than by raw; in fact my experience satisfies me that cooked food is indispensable, especially during the Winter months, and I would recommend steam as the most effectual and economical. I am sure that farmers who keep from six to twenty-five hogs would find a steam apparatus a good investment.” Ata recent meeting of a Farmers’ Club, the 429 breeding and feeding of pigs being under con- sideration, the leading speaker submitted the “You will require dry Foul air en- following suggestions : floors, fresh air, and cleanliness. courages disease; cold air consumes food in making heat, that ought to make fat. It would not be practicable to put in a growing store to take fat, nor would it be judicious to put in a coarse dwarf to make a good bacon hog. You must have a full-grown, fair-conditioned ani- mal. There should not be more than six kept in one sty. The farmer has five principal in- gredients for this purpose, viz.; Grain, potatoes, Swedes, mangel wurzel, and cabbage. The roots well-boiled and well-bruised, the grain also well-boiled—take equal parts of Indian and oat meal, and any of the grains mentioned you may have, as crushed beans, peas, vetches, rye, or barley, with a little pollard and salt, made in thick gruel, added to the roots, and always given in a lukewarm state at regular hours three times a day. The less excitement or annoyance the better, and a desire for sloth and sleep encouraged by watching his comforts, and the words made applicable that are sometimes used with some easy-going and quiet dispo- sitions : ‘*To eat and drink and sleep; what then? To eat and drink and sleep again.” Brief Hints for Feeding.—Most farmers will say: “Go to grass with your small-talk about hogs; haint I raised ‘em these forty year?” Hold on, friend !—let us offer a few suggestions for those who are not so wise as you. A hog is unique in character; he will sleep himself into fat, but nobody ever knew one to squeal himself into fat. His Winter bed should be as dry and warm as his owner’s. He should have some square yards of fresh earth, for he never feels quite happy unless he spend a por- tion of his time in rooting. In Summer give him a faithful washing once in twenty days. The growth will richly repay the labor ex- pended. Mr. Lawes, of England, a gentleman of large leisure, fortune, and experience, made three series of experiments in pig feeding, a few years ago, that are entitled to much consideration. In both the first and second series, thirty-six pigs, from nine to ten months old, and weighing about one hundred and forty pounds each, were divided equally into twelve pens, weighed once a fortnight for eight weeks, and fed with differ- ent food. Bran, beans, or peas, corn, barley, and 430 boiled codfish were used separately and to- gether, both in limited and unlimited quanti- ties, and the gains of each carefully noted. The result was that bran was found a very poor food, that a variety of food was found more fattening and profitable than any one kind alone, that Indian meal was found the most fattening in proportion to its weight, that barley meal, fed without limit, produced more flesh than Indian meal, that five hundred and) sixty-five pounds of barley meal and four hun- dred and ninety-one pounds of Indian meal were equivalent in increasing the weight of the animals one hundred pounds, and that as ani- mals fatten, they consnme less food, and in- crease less. A bushel of corn made no more pork ona fat hog than a lean one. The lean hogs eat more and grow more, the fat ones eat less and grow less. It has been often proved by actual experi- ment, that corn when ground and cooked, is thirty per cent. more economical for fattening pork than when fed in the usual way. Mr. KENDALL says in the American Stock Journal: “ A good’ many intelligent farmers in the States of New York and Vermont are be- ginning to fall into the Canadian pea practice— feeding stock on peas and vines, and fattening pork on peas—finding a saving of thirty to filty per cent. in doing so, besides a quick and easy | method of maintaining a maximum condition of fertility in their land, without expending half their income for expensive mercantile fer- tilizers.” A correspondent of the Richmond, Virginia Farmer, also testifies: ‘‘ My honest opinion is, that two bushels of peas are far superior to three bushels of corn, and worth more to fatten hogs, or to increase the milk of cows.” Sugar beets and parsnips are regarded as among the best food for hogs. Parsnips are! preferred, but they should be fed raw, as boil-. ing makes the pork flabby. Parsnips appear to be nearly the only root good for swine in an uncooked state. Turn a herd of swine into a field containing field beets, ruta bagas, carrots, | and parsnips, and the question will very soon) be settled which they like best, and which, consequently, is best for them—the parsnips: being wholly devoured before the others are! touched. Boiled turnips mashed with coarse shorts and silted, make a very etfective dish. Also boiled potatoes and boiled pumpkins —though the seeds should first be removed from the latter. A correspondent of the Ohio Farmer insists LIVE STOCK: that sorghum, thrown to the pigs whole, is equal to Indian corn, and presents some facts corroborative. Why Sows Destroy their Young. A writer in the American Stock Journal thinks that costiveness and its accompanying eyils are the main causes of sows destroying their young, and proper food the preventive and cure. He says he has ‘never known a sow to eat her pigs in Autumn, when running at large with plenty of green food; but, with hardly any exception, sows littering early in the Spring are troubled with costiveness, which is frequently so severe as to be accompanied with inflamed eyes, and followed by frenzy.” Potatoes, tur- nips, beets, carrots, or parsnips, or any vege- table that will have a tendency to open the bowels, are recommended. Feeding Standing Corn.—In some portions of the West, farmers let their fatting swine harvest the corn, turning them into the ripening field in early Autumn—say Angust or September—restraining them to one part of the field at a time by a movable fence, which en- closes about enough to last them for two or three days. Corn can sometimes be fed adyan- tageously in this manner, where the stock is large and the price of labor high. But there is no reasonable doubt that corn is generally fed most economically by grinding and steaming, especially when it is done ona large seale—the grinding and steaming being | both performed with one engine, at the farmer’s own barn. To Prevent Swine from Root- img.—Shave off with a razor, or sharp knife, the gristle on the top of the noses or snouts of young pigs. The place soon heals over, and the pigs are thus rendered incapable of rooting. Spaying Sows.—A correspondent, who has “successfully tried it,” recommends the fol- lowing method of spaying sows, as ‘‘much less painful than when done with a knife: “ Inject with a small syringe, up the uterus, about a wine-glassful of sulphuric acid. This destroys, on the part of the sow, all desire to take the boar.” Diseases of Swine.—We shall refer briefly to the most prevalent of these, and give approved methods of treatment. During the last ten or fifteen years, the swine of most of HOGS—DISEASES OF. the States west of the Alleghanies have been seriously afflicted with a disease, or combina- tion of diseases, commonly called Hog Cholera.—It appeared in Indiana in} 1856, and soon attacked the adjacent States. It spread through the West and South, in nearly every State assuming, at some period, the char- acter of a wide-spread and fatal epidemic. Its victims have been numbered by millions. It prevails somewhat in Pennsylvania, New York, and a little in New England, though generally, in swine brought from the West. According to the United States Agricultural Report for 1866, in some of the counties of Virginia, three-fourths of the hogs died; in the Carolinas and Louisiana, almost as many ; in Georgia, hog raising was abandoned on account of the disease; in Alabama, aman with a herd | of one hundred and seventy-four, lost all but! eighteen; in Union county, Tennessee, seven hundred died; in Kenton county, Kentucky, from four to five thousand—the loss ranging | from three to forty-five per cent. throughout the | State; in some counties in Illinois and Mis- souri, the loss is given at fifty per cent., and, in Indiana, a fifth of all the hogs produced for five years are said to have perished by this in-| sidious disease. Hog cholera is a general disease of the whole system, resulting from some poisoning of the blood; and the pleurisy, the inflammation of the lungs, the ulceration of the intestines, the superficial ulcers and swellings, and other ailments are only the local effeets or results of the general disease. The symptoms are a refusal of food; an in- tense thirst; difficult breathing; staggers and falls; in most cases there is diar- rhea, with copious fluid discharges of offensive matter; in some cases there is vomiting; the legs are swelled; purple spots appear first on the nose and head, and, as these multiply and become ulcers, the animal dies. From investi- gations by Doctors GrorGE Surton, of Indi- ana, and G. L. Coxxrns, of Rhode Island, the disease would seem to bea sort of pleuro-pneu- monia. Dr. Epwin M. Snow,* of Rhode Island, de- nies that the disease is contagious, as it is thought to be by Dr. Surron, and adds: “The following, as I understand the subject, are the causes, not only of this disease among swine, but also of the disease referred to among cattle, as well as of epidemics in the human race, viz.: the animal * Essay in U. S. Agricultural Report for 1361. 431 “1. An epidemic atmospherical poison. “3. The local conditions or circumstances adapted to receive and propagate the poison existing in the atmosphere.” Of these causes, says Dr. SNow, very little else is known; we do not know what are the chemical or electrical changes in the air by which the poisons are generated, nor very much about the local conditions adapted to their propagation. Of this last, however, we know that some of the conditions favorable to the spread of the disease are low ground; impure air arising from filthy pens; overcrowding; the nse of improper and unwholesome food; The mention of these stimulants of the disease, suggests the preventive conditions—and every farmer should remember that the disease is malignant, and in and the want of pure water. prevention is the only safety. Treatment: Remove to a clean, dry pen; stimulants and tonics of some description, with plenty of pure air, pure water, and suitable nourishment must be given. A correspondent of the Prairie Furmer says; “I have resided in Illinois one year, and I have had sixty head of hogs on hand during that time. They have had the cholera, but I have not lost one from it. I feed three parts wood-ashes, two parts salt, one and a half parts copperas, one and a half parts sulphur, pulverized. Mix all with wheat bran. I feed once a week. Do not feed musty corn, and your hogs will not be so apt to take the cholera.” The Western Rural states that hog cholera is caused by eating more than the animal can | well digest, and salt and charcoal or stone coal are recommended as proper remedies and _ pre- ventives to be kept at all times within reach of the swine. This theory and treatment are now generally adopted throughout the West, with quite uniform success. Kidney Worms.—Hickory ashes in the food, or corn soaked in very strong lye, are said to be infallible remedies for kidney worms. Salt, brimstone, and charcoal fed occasionally, seem to be a preventive. A correspondent of the Cultivator, says: “TI have often known copperas given to hogs with this disease, and never knew it fail to cure them in a few days, even after the hog was unablé to get about by dragging the hind legs. The copperas may be given to them in portions of about half a spoonful daily, in dough, or anything else that they will eat.” Mange.—Chamber lye is a certain cure for the mange; pour it on the hog, and rub well with the hands at the time. Ifa very bad case 432 give a good dose of rea-pepper tea; afterward sulphur, a common dose. Feed warm dish- water and oat-meal mush. Antimony with sulphur and hog’s lard is Youart’s mange- ointment. Measles —This is a disease resulting generally from confinement. Keep the sties clean, and give a half tea-spoonful of powdered antimony. If they are affected with sore throat turn them into an open pasture where there is fresh feed and ground to root. Pounded charcoal mixed with their food is good where pasture can not be had. Staggers. — The Western Farmer says: “For staggers in swine we would recommend cutting a notch in the roof of the mouth till the animal bleeds freely, then rubbing it with salt, giving LIVE STOCK: it a little urine to drink. Pigs have openings on the inside of the fore legs below the knee from which, when in health, a small discharge is kept up. The stoppage of these little orifices is supposed to be the origin of the staggers, and rubbing them with a corn cob, or other rough material, will usually effect a cure.” «Another authority applies the same remedy by intro- ducing the salt in a slit cut in the forehead— the head being first fastened with a rope noosed around the upper jaw. : Thumps.—One table-spoonful of copperas at a feed to every ten shoats, given three or four times a week, will both prevent and cure this disease. The copperas should be dissolved in asmall quantity of warm water and then mixed with the slop or feed. POULTRY, BEES, AND FISH CULTURE. Metuops or MANAGEMENT AND CoNDITIONS OF Succgrss. Poultry.— Poultry and eggs are held in higher estimation by the French than by any other people. According to a national statis- tician, the French eat more than seven thou- sand million eggs a year, which is something like one hundred and fifty eggs annually for each man, woman, and child! England consumes seventy-five thousand tons of eggs a year! The New York Evening Post estimated the value of poultry and eggs in the United States, in 1861, at the enormous sum of two hundred and sixty-five millions of dollars—more than half of which represented eggs. The recent shipment of eggs from asingle county in Ohio, eastward, in one month, was oflicially reported to be one hundred and fifteen thousand tivo hundred dozen, and one merchant in Marion county shipped one thousand seven hundred barrels in a season, The eggs eaten in this country every year, blown and strung, would form a necklace that would encircle the earth five times! The Ovarium..—It has been ascertained that the ovarium of a fowl is composed of 600 ovulas or eggs, therefore a hen during the the whole of her life can not possibly lay more eges than 600, which in a natural course are distributed over nine years in the following pro- portion—varied in some breeds: First year after birth. Second Sor ss Third Sey ye Fourth ae ed Fifth Sy eee Sixth “ @ Seventh Set Se 40 Righth TEbere 20 Ninth ie as 10 It follows that it would not be profitable to 28 keep hens after their fourth year, as their pro- duce would not pay for their keep, except when they are of a valuable or scarce breed. Varieties.*—The common dunghill fowls of this country are in great excess of numbers over the distinct breeds which haye been intro- duced from abroad. Some of our native mon- grels are excellent fowls and worthy of reten- but as a rule they are inferior to the best imported breeds, and their owners ought to supersede them or seek to ameliorate their quality by crossing them immediately with some pure-blood. That the mixing of this foreign blood with that of our own native races of domestic birds tion; has already proved of great advantage, no one who has bred poultry extensively in the last fifteen or twenty years will deny; and whether we consider the item of increase in size and weight, at a given age, attainable with certainty through this crossing of stronger foreign blood upon our native breeds, or that of the well-de- cided advantage thus obtained in the enlarge- ment and*inecrease of weight and numbers of eggs obtained from the product of this crossing, the general gain by the process is clearly in our favor. Shanghai.—We begin with this disagreeable and abominable bird, because he is the largest of the genus gallus, and we can not omit him, because with some demoralized breeders he is still a favorite. A farmer writes from Fond du Lae that “the Shanghai is the swmum bonum in the chicken line. If he means some bone, he is *The best popular representation of the different varie- ties of fowls known in America, is a gorgeous chromo-lith- ograph by L. Prane & Co., of Boston. The portraits of the breeds are very accurate, ani the sheet makes a hand- some picture for the dining room. (433) 434 POULTRY, quite correct. Look at the ungainly gawky! “ Behold him in all his glory!” oe ‘ tl | FE Lf Sy: i ull it Y yt & fj] “vil iy oe “, eg Gp ly) ZZ" | uy ie i y ay / ) x y Ad i i “Here he is in his Says the sarcastic artist : naked deformity! neck like the leaning tower of Pisa; ruff like a Connecticut umbrella; tongue like a weaver’s shuttle; feathers rally- ing here and there, in a vain attempt at wings and tail; legs like two California pines—con- venient for stepping over stake-and-rider fences; spurs like an old-fashioned well-sweep ; feet a reproduction of the pedal extremities of some antediluvian monster!” The Wisconsin Farmer exclaims: ‘We don’t see any particu- lar advantage in breeding our hens to eat on the top of a barrel, and mere size is not to be sought at the expense of quality. The pure Shanghai is coarse in flesh, an innmense con- sumer, a small layer, and a miserably clumsy, - though very willing sitter. In a state of purity they are perfect abominations, eating about as much as a Chester county hog, while any child can count their eggs. For our part, we would as soon have a drove of swine or of mules + a i a BEES, AND FISH CULTURE: wading through our crops or hanging around our doors as a flock of such burlesques.” Brahmas and Cochins. —These, as their names imply, are Asiatics and cousins of the Shang- hai, though they are so improved, that the re- lationship is suggested only by the large size. “These fowls,” says C. N. Bement, one of our best poultry authorities, “are noted for being early and abundant layers. Eggs of good quality, ayeraging about two ounces each— rather small in proportion to the size of the breed—good mothers; chickens strong, grow rapidly with good feeding, fit for the table at four months old. As has often been said, they are early and excellent layers, and arrive at ma- turity earlier than any other large breed. By the term ‘maturity’ is meant the age at which a pullet mall poramepen laying, and thus perpet- uate its race.’ As Winter layers they excel all other fowls; and they are so hardy that they can be hatched and reared in almost any weather. Frost does not seem to affect the eggs. The Scottish Far- mer says: “If any one wishes a nice looking, useful hen, we haye seen nothing that we can recommend so well as a cross between a Brah- ma cock and a common barn-door fowl.” Both the Cochins and Brahmas bear confinement to a limited space better than most fowls—a four- foot fence will hold them. They are, however, large feeders, and have rather coarse-grained, oily flesh. mis ssupply of new-laid eggs is required in Winter, irrespective of temperature, Cochins, buff, white, or partridge—or Brahmas are the the most to be depended on, as when they have attained an age of seven or eight months, the pullets of these breeds lay quite irrespective of season, of course supposing they are well fed. A fancier of these large fowls says: “The Brahma fowls are the best the hen feyer ever introduced into this country, for laying in all seasons of the year. Taking all things together, we believe they will meet the most common wants, satisfy the most common requirements, and adapt themselves to the most common cir- cumstances of those who desire to raise fowls for amusement, for eggs, or for market.” Dorking.—For chickens for the table, there is nothing like the Dorkings. The varieties are, white, gray, silver gray, and speckled, and they are preferred for the table in the order named. They are handsome; are moderate, layers of large and well-flayored eggs; restive not caleu- lated for confinement; sit steady and are excel POULTRY—VARIETIES OF. lent mothers, rather delicate in constitution, chickens not easy to rear, They are to be ranked among the large fowls, and are esteemed the best in quality of flesh. The Horticulturist says: “The Dorking has for years had our preference as a bird for all purposes of laying, breeding, ete., and all pub- lished works agree with us. All who experi- ment carefully, and weigh well the subject, we believe, will join us in saying, that for one breed alone, the pure Dorking has the most good qualities. A cross of a Dorking cock with Brahma hens, gives, perhaps, the largest and best chiekens for early eating; but if the breeds are not kept pure—in other words, if the first cross be bred from, the succession will be unworthy the attention of any breeder, and therefore we find it best to confine ourselves to the Dorking alone.” It has a large, plump, square body, with a remarkably full breast; short, stout, white legs and skin, and usually five toes upon each foot. There are both white and colored birds, the colored generally being considered the more hardy and a little the heavier. Their weight is from five to eight, and sometimes nine pounds. Dorkings feather early, mature young, fatten easily, have a white, fine-grained and tender flesh, which is excelled in flavor only by the game fowl. Hamburg.—F or number of eggs, there is noth- ing like the Hamburgs, but they never sit if they can help it. They are distinguished as “everlasting layers,’ of middling-sized, but rich eggs, and like all great layers, they are poor incubators. They lay eleven months in the year, but seem to think that an egg has no possible destiny except to be eaten. They are very handsome birds; bear confinement tolera- bly well; are highly attractive on lawns. There are five principal subvarieties, the black, go!d- en-spangled, silver-spangled, golden-penciled, and silver-penciled (Bolton Grays). Hambures generally have rose combs and blue legs, except the black; the cock will weigh from three to four pounds, and the hen from three to three and a half pounds; flesh not first-rate for the table. They are considered small eaters, and are great favorites of those who require an abundance of eggs rather than frequent broods of chickens, Polands.—Phis breed seems to be allied to the Hamburg. The varieties are white, black with white top-knot, and golden and silver-spangled. They are remarkably handsome birds; great layers, but poor sitters; unfit for confinement; 435 not good for the table; chickens are rather del- icate, and difficult to rear. The Polands all have combs alike—a small comb in front of top with two points. Yellow-legged Polands are said to be hardier, and excellent for the table. | Poland hens have been known to lay two hun- dred to two hundred and fifty eggs a year. The London Field, speaking of the Hamburg and the Polands, says: “If the mere weight }and number of eggs is taken into consideration, we believe that no fowls will give so good a return for their food as gold and silver-span- gled. The pullets of these breeds will, if well fed, and with a free range, commence laying at about six months of age, and will continue to | : A lay ten or eleven eggs a fortnight until next moulting season. After the second season they still lay admirably, but not quite so freely. We are certain that no fowls will give so many eggs for their food as these beautiful birds; and for choice as layers, we would select the silvers. There is no doubt that five pullets of this breed may be depended on for supplying over one thousand eggs in twelve months. But they have their drawbacks— they are innocent of all knowledge of.bounds, and fly like wild fowl, as might be inferred from their laying propen- sities, do not sit, and their eggs are slightly be- low the average size of those of the larger fowls.” Black Spanish.—For size of ege there is noth- ing equal to the Spanish; but they are capri- cious layers. They are very handsome birds— the aristocracy of poultry. Lay larger eggs than any other breed, and in great numbers; poor table fowls; thrive in any locality, how- ever confined; do not sit; their color suited for any atmosphere. They are notorious for laying eggs that weigh from two and a half to three ounces each, They require warm housing and good care. As a rule, they yield fewer eggs than the Spangles, and mature a little later; but if eggs of large size are required, and the fowls have to be kept in or near large towns, none answer better than Spanish. Bantams.—Useful to those who are fond of birds, and are deterred from keeping them by lack of accommodation ; to those who have only avery limited space at command, the different varieties of Bantams will prove satisfactory. The principal kinds are golden and silver-laced Sebrights, game, black and white, and Japan- ese. They are excellent for Winter Jaying. Game —The Game fowls are good layers of rather undersized, delicious eggs; first class sitters and mothers; flesh fine-grained and sec- ond to none for the table. They are hardy and . 436 great foragers, and can not bear restraint. They are excellent fowls in all respects except their pugnacity, and by some are preferred to all other breeds. Leghorn.—J. C. Cox, of Osborne, Ohio, says: “ My experience is that the Leghorn fowl has no superior whatever—a new variety called Sicilian, I think, nearly equals in number and size of eggs, either Brahmas or Spanish. The Leghorn will lay two-filths more than Brahmas, and one-third more than Spanish. Another farmer thinks that ‘the best fowl for general and all purposes combined, is a eross of the yellow-legged white Leghorn and Brahma, using a cock of the former with hens of the latter. The result will be a medium-sized fow], pure white, yellow legs; superior layers; not all sitting, nor total abstinence from incubation ; excellent meat and flesh; no real objections in any respect.” French.—The prominent Freneh breeds, the Creveceeur, La Fleche and Houdan, are little known in this country, but the first-named has a European reputation of standing at the head of all breeds asa table fowl. Their eggs ure also very large; and the fowl ranks among the heaviest, as well as the choicest. A writer says: “The Creveceeur has a very bulky appearance, and is strongly developed ; crest, whiskers, and beard in both hens and cocks. The comb of the cock is very prominent and projects like two horns; with the hen it is the same, but much smaller. The whole plumage is pertectly black, legs black, claws four in number, strong and long. This breed is superior in all respects, and justly esteemed as the most precocious and finest in the world. There is nothing that equals them as a table fowl. The chickens are in fine table condition at three months. Last year I myself had chickens of this breed, that at six months weighed seven and three-quarter pounds. Eggs very much resemble the Span- ish, being fully as large.” Dominique.—This is the best fowl of common stock that we have, and is the only common fowl in the country that haseenough distinet characteristics to entitle it to aname. These fowlsare full medium in size, being but little less in weight than the Dorking, have full breasts, roundish plump bodies, double or single combs, and yellow legs. Their main plumage has a light gray ground color, while each feather is barred crosswise with a darker shade. They are frequently known by the name of. “ hawk- colored fowls.” They are good sitters and mothers, are hardy, easily raised. retain their ‘over all other breeds. POULTRY, BEES, AND FISH CULTURE: peculiarities with great tenacity, have yellow skins, a color preferred by many for a market fowl; and tuking these fowls all in all, they are one of the best varieties for common use. Hon. Jonn WerntwortH and Col. Tow- LAND, President and Vice-President of the Northwestern Poultry Association, have each expressed very high opinions of this fowl, the former, we believe, breeding them almost ex- clusively, at least giving them the preference Ata late exhibition of this association, the Dominique certainly com- pared very favorably with any other variety shown, Interbreeding.—Many object to cross- ing the pure breeds of the so-called ornamental fowls, lest the new strain result in degeneracy; but it is not evident why special qualities may not be bred in, and why the whole law of selec- tion will not apply to this, as well as to any other department. It is believed, on the con- trary, that there is every opportunity in this country for those who keep poultry to gain whatever shape, size, or characteristic they faney, by carefully breeding to combine and perpetuate the superior points of different breeds. See whut breeding has done; it is thought by naturalists that the eggs of our do- mestic hens are, on an average, a third larger and heavier than those dropped by the hens of the ancients—and analogy would indicate that the hens themselves are also larger than their feathered progenitors. Some of the best poul- try-men in this country are advocates of careful and persevering experiments to improve on the present “ pure breeds.” Concerning Eggs.—Eggs, even from the same hen, sometimes differ a good deal in weight, but retain their general characteristics, so that the observing housewife can soon learn to pick out those laid by each fowl. Barley is said to increase the proportion of the yolk of the egg, and rye is said to favor the development of the white. Loss in Weight.—Egegs lose a slight portion of their weight when left to themselves; the contents becoming dried up gradually and re- duced, so that there is left a solid residuum withdrawn toward the small end of the egg, the opposite end being filled with air. Eggs which weighed two anda half ounces when fresh, weighed but a small fraction over an ounce at the end of two years. During incuba- tion the diminution of weight is pretty rapid. POULTRY—CONCERNING EGGS OF. ‘ Material for Shells. —The poultry-breeder should furnish his hens with material for strong egg-shells. This enables nim to trans- port them without loss. He should know, also, that the embryo chick depends on the envelop- ing shell for material for its bones. This it withdraws and appropriates from time to time, so that the weakened walls often crush in before hatching. Sand or grayel will not make shells. Hens should be fed with the ground bones of animals, bits of old lime, broken egg-shells, or the shells of clams or oysters in a pulverized form. They must have free access to such ma- terials to form the shells of their eggs, and to grit or gravel to grind the food in their giz- zards. Mrs. J. VAN Buren, of Clarksville, Georgia, is facetious over her success in feeding bone meal, and in this mood advises: “ Don’t feed your laying hens too much bone, meal, for the unusual amount of cackling they will have to do may bring on bronchitis!” Moistening the Eqgs.—For seven or eight days before hatching, sprinkle the eggs with cold water while the hen is off. Colonel Hassarp, in an address before the Canada Poultry Asso- ciation, said; “I prefer in cold weather to lift the hen off, wet the eggs, and put her on again. There is less risk of a chill. Many complaints are made of eggs not hatching, though there are birds in them, Thisis entirely caused by their being too dry. Unless moistened, the inner membrane of the egg becomes so hard and dry that the chick can not break through.” How to Make Hens Lay.—That excellent au- thority, C. P. Bement, says: “ Many persons feed hens too much for laying. To keep twenty hens through the Winter, three pints of corn and two quarts of oats or buckwheat per day; also, about twice a week, give them shorts or bran wet with warm sour milk, of which they seem very fond; make it quite wet, and put in a large spoonful of ground black pepper. Give them all the green stuff that ean be had, such as cabbage leaves, parings of apples, cores and all, ete. So fed, with comfortable quarters, they will lay all Winter. Keep only early Spring pullets. Change cocks every spring. “Animal food of some sort is essential for poultry, especially in Winter, when they can not yet the worms and insects which they pick up in Summer. Onions are an admirable food, or rather, an adjunct to their ordinary food. If given regularly, it is said that they will prevent the attacks of the more ordinary disease of fowls.” It is not generally understood, even by those 437 who profess to be most deeply versed in tha mysteries of henology, that the hen being om- niverous, requires, to insure fecundity, a very liberal allowance of meat! It is, however, ar undoubted fact, that feeding hens too freely on meat imparts a strong, unpleasant animal odor to the eggs. A correspondent of the Massachusetts Plow- man recommends the following feed for hens, as a good preparation to make them lay: ‘‘Take one quart of corn and boil it in clear water, to which add, while boiling, a table-spoonful of black pepper, or half the quantity of cayenne; this quantity to be allowed to every nine hens daily, then the water to be drained off for them to drink when sufficiently cool, or to be mixed with one-third lime water.” Feed regularly. Give a variety of food, and give it sparingly each time. In noticing the habits of poultry, it will be seen that the pro- cess of picking up their food, grain by grain, is a very slow one; but it gives them exercise, and if they have to snatch for it, all the better, as this assists digestion greatly. Saunpers’ Domestic Poultry has the follow- ing excellent rules: “ Never overfeed. Never allow any food to lie about. Never feed from trough, pan, basin, or any vessel. Feed only when the birds will run after the feed, and not at all if they seem careless about it. Give adult fowls their liberty at daybreak.” Eggs in Winter—Dame PARrrineton’s in- quiry is a common one: “‘ Why do hens refuse to lay when eggs are dear, and always begin as soon as they get cheap?” The fact is, if poul- try keepers knew how to manage their broods, they could easily have eggs all Winter. The simple conditions, which will produce this re- sult nine times out of ten, are: 1. Get the right kind of hens; either some hardy common hens, or else the Brahma, Co- chin, or Hamburg, or Bolton Gray. 2. The nearer the temperature of their Win- ter house can be made to that of Spring, the better they will lay. It should face the south, with windows to let in the sun, A tolerable warmth is indispensable. 3. They must be young; no hen over two years old will lay much in Winter. 4, ‘They must have warm feed; a little meat and chopped vegetables now and then; some old plastering and grayel on the floor, half a barrel of ashes to roll in, and fresh water every day. A correspondent of the California Farmer | kept a dozen young hens, a cross between the 438 Chittagong and Dorking, with a strain of Bol- ton Gray, and says: “From this source my larder has been supplied with two dozen eggs, on an average, through the coldest weeks of the Winter, while they were commanding in the market five cents a piece. In return for this outlay of the biddies, they have been sat- isfied with an outlay of their owner of about one quart and a half of shelled corn daily, washed down with a dish of sour milk, with occasionally crumbs from the master’s table. They have been, moreover, confined in a snug hen-house, well lighted by one large window on the south side, and provided with a box of air-slaked lime for them to pick materials from _ for their egg-shells, another box of gravel, and another of wood ashes, for them to wallow in at pleasure. Now and then a bone has been thrown in for them to pick, and a chunk of refuse meat, besides all the ege-shells from the kitchen. The time spent in their service has averaged fifteen minutes daily. Besides the fresh eggs, their other droppings have already amounted to two barrels of manure, equivalent to guano, with an unfailing supply in prospect.” J. L. Peazopy, of Macoupin, Illinois, tells what he learned of a Kansas man about making hens lay in Winter. He says: “He told me if I would let my hens huddle together in some warm corner, and not let them roost, I should get plenty of eggs. I had about twenty hens; my hen-house was a rough shed, eight feet square, with a small window and door on the east. I took down all the roosting poles, leay- ing the nest-boxes only. With a few boards I made a small shed, about four feet square, on the south side of the larger one, and covered it with corn fodder. Straw is better. I made a hole for the hens to pass from the large house into the small one. The result was, my hens continued to lay all through the cold weather. You will have to drive them in a few times at first; they will soon learn to go in themselves.” The South Carolinian states that hog’s lard is the best thing to mix with the dough given to hens. It says that one cut of this fat as large as a walnut, will set a hen to laying immedi- ately after she has been broken up from sitting, and that, by feeding them with the fat occa- sionally, hens continue laying through the whole Winter. Two most important conditions precedent of January eggs are, a warm, clean, and well- ventilated hennery, and cooked food given warm in the morning. Corn should generally be crushed or ground before feeding. Potatoes POULTRY, BEES, AND FISH CULTURE: boiled and mixed with meal while warm, are a great encouragement to hens. Buckwheat is also excellent in the rotation. A frequent feed of buckwheat, with a few boiled potatoes, tur- nips, mangel wurzel, or other succulent food, will generally be paid for four-fold by the eggs laid during the Winter and the Spring. Hens starved in Winter will not furnish many eggs the coming Spring; yet they may be kept so fat as not to lay at all. If kept warm, in a roomy, well-lighted hennery, and fed due pro- portions of proper food, with other auxiliaries above mentioned, they will delight your ears all Winter long with the music of the signifi- cant eackle, and your palate with savory eggs. Nest Eggs.—To have a supply of these, in- destructible by heat or cold, just empty some eggs, as you need them, through as small an aperture as possible, mix up with water to the consistency of cream, some pulverized plaster, and fill the shells brimming full; when they have hardened, if you choose to peel them you will find them perfect; and if you think your Brahmas will be fastidious about color, a little annetto mixed in will render the illusion per- fect. These are cheaper than the earthen nest eggs purchased at the crockery store. To Cure Hens of Sitting. —A correspondent of the Farmer’s Advocate says he cured his hens of persistent sitting, by shutting them in a tub having an inch or two of water on the bottom. He keeps them there during the day, and puts them on the roost at night. If not cured the first day, he gives them another ‘‘water-cure” treatment, when they will be glad to stand on their feet. It will also generally cure hens of sitting to place them under some up-turned box or barrel, without food for twenty-four hours. Ducking is also much in yogue as a penalty. Raising for Market.—Poultry to fat- ten rapidly must be, like hogs, restricted to a limited space. Freedom and fat are incompat- able. Fattening fowls should never have food lying by them, for they are just as liable to overeat as any other stock. By cramming themselves, as they often do, they impair di- gestion and become dyspeptic; yet, not losing an appetite for food, they continue to eat and thus make the trouble worse. When they be- come crop bound, although they still eat, they grow poor and sometimes die as of starvation. They luxuriate on grass or clover, which are a necessity fér them; in Winter they like man- gels or Swedes. They must have access to POULTRY—RAISING FOR MARKET. 439 plenty of pure water. Cooked food is the most In these circumstances they will fatten beauti- nutritious, most easily digested, and altogether fully in three weeks, and there is no known best for rapid fattening. Quietness is especi- process by which they can be kept healthy after ally desirable, and every pen of fattening fowls, | they are well fattened. Begin then three weeks should be partially darkened. Generally speaking, Spring chickens are the most desirable, and near cities they should be hatched in February or March and got ready for market by May or June. They require great care, but they return an ample profit. The most usual time in which hens manifest a desire to incubate, extends from March to May or June, and at this season chickens may be reared without any extraordinary precautions. How and What to Feed.—The Massachusetts Plowman gives good advice, thus: “It is of no use to put up a skeleton and expect to make a fine, fat, tender-meated fowl of it by feeding in confinement. Fattening is adding fat to lean. You must have the lean laid on while the bird is running at liberty. No amount of feeding will make a hard, old fowl tender. If a hen is over ten months she may as well be ten years. She has passed the age for the table. She is old at ten months and ought not to be palmed off as a chicken. “Four months, or at most five months, is old enough to take chickens for the table, and if you take’them at that age, in good fleshy con- dition, three or four weeks of confinement ought to bring them into first-rate condition for the table. If they are going to market they may be crowded to advantage, but for home consumption it is not needed. If you makea coop big enough for fifteen or twenty fowls and put four or five into it they will not readily fatten. They have too much room. To fatten rapidly they must not have room to move about freely, but simply enough to stand and shift their position. They ought to be fed three times a day. Indian meal or dough is one of the best articles of food to lay on fat. Oat meal mixed with milk is also first-rate. Either subtance should be fresh mixed each time, and no more ought to be given than will be eaten up at the time. If you give too much the bird will overfeed, or become cloyed, that is, the ap- petite is destroyed, and the food gets sour, and if the fowl does not take a decided distaste to it, it will not thrive upon it. “Feed fattening fowls at day-break in the morning. Cover them up warm at night and protect them from cold during the day. ” Feed regularly, never on stale food. Never subject them to draughts of air. Never place them where they can see other fowls running about. before you want to kill. Calculate the number the coop will hold, and fill it so full that the fowls can do but little more than stand com- fortably. You can’t expect to do more than put on flesh while fowls are running at large. You can’t fatten. If you want to get the high- est price in market, you niust coop and feed three weeks in the manner indicated.” Charcoal has been tried in fattening fowls, with marked advantage; the difference in weight produced, amounting to fifteen or twenty per cent., besides a decided advantage in tenderness and flavor. The charcoal was pulverized and mixed with the food, about a gill daily to one turkey, and also left free on the ground. : The London Field says: “In the course of about a fortnight to three weeks, at the utmost, a fowl will have attained, under this system of feeding, the highest degree of fatness of which it is capable, and it must then be killed; for if the attempt be made to keep it any longer in that state, it becomes diseased, from an inflam- matory action being established which renders the flesh hard and even unwholesome. When the fowls have arrived at a state fit for killing, they should be kept for twelve or fifteen hours without food or water, in order that the intes- tines may be as empty as possible, otherwise the bird turns green and useless in a short time.” GEYELIN’s “ Poultry Breeding” recommends seasoning food with salt, and adds: “Experiments have proved that the season- ing poultry food with bay salt produces the fol- lowing advantages: “1, To render the fattening of shorter dura- tion. “2. To produce, with the same quantity of food, more flesh and fat. “3. To give the flesh greater firmness and flavor, and to the fat more compactness and a finer grain.” Boiled Grain —C. N. BEMENT says: ‘‘ There isno saving by boiling oats or buckwheat to feed to poultry. Corn, on the other hand, is more profitable when boiled than when given raw, for the fowls, which would have consumed two quarts of uncooked or raw corn, consumed only three quarts of the boiled grain, which are not equivalent to three pints of raw. Even calculating that they were to consume three 440 quarts a day of the boiled grain, there would be a saying of one-fourth. In very cold weather, it should be fed to the fowls hot, and the water in which it was boiled may be given them to drink. Barley is also much more economical when boiled than raw, for fowls which would have eaten two quarts of raw a day, ate three quarts of boiled grain, showing a saving of two-fifths by giving boiled instead of raw barley. How Many Pounds of Chicken will a Bushel of Corn Make?2—According to the Western Rural, one bushel of corn—fed raw in the grain—will produce nine pounds of poultry. J. C. THomp- son, of New York, says that the same grain ground and scalded, will produce twenty pounds of poultry. The French never feed whole grain; they can not afford it. How to Kill and Dress Poultry.—GEYELIN deprecates the common barbarous methods of killing, and says: “Open the beak of the fowl, then with a pointed and narrow knife make an incision at the back of the roof, which will di- vide the vertebra and cause immediate death; after which hang the fowl up by the legs till the bleeding ceases; then rinse the beak out with vinegar and water. Fowls killed in this manner keep longer and do not present the unsightly external marks as those killed by the ordinary system of wringing the neck. When the entrails are drawn immediately after death and the fowl stuffed, as they do in France, with paper shavings or cocoa-nut fibers, to preserve their shape, they will keep much longer fresh. Some breeders cram their poultry before kill- ing, to make them appear heavy; this is a most injudicious plan, as the undigested food soon enters into fermentation, and putrefaction takes place, as is evidenced by the quantity of greenish, putrid-looking fowls that are seen in the markets.” A housewife adds; “ Dip the body in boiling water, then pick quick; when through douse the fowl in hot water again, then throw it into a tub of cold water; let it remain three or four minutes, this will make it swell out plump, and will keep twenty-four hours longer than if it was not thrown in the cold water.” Flow they Fatten Fowls in France——In France the chickens are fattened for table use in the following ways: They are confined separately in small coops, and are not allowed to see each other or other fowls. They are crammed either with a liquid, consisting of barley meal and milk, poured down the throat of the fowl through a funnel three times a day, or they are POULTRY, BEES, AND FISH CULTURE: crammed twice a day with pellets made of meal of barley and buckwheat mixed into a paste with milk. One meal must be digested before another is crammed down. It generally takes from two to three weeks to fatten a fowl. Peat as a Deodorizer.—The employment of peat, or dry muck, as the means of deodorizing poultry houses, appears to be worthy of more attention than it has hitherto received. The fact that from four hundred to five hundred fowls can, by its aid, be kept in one building for months together, with less smell than is to be found in any ordinary fowl-honse capable of accommodating a dozen chickens, is very conclusive as to its efficacy. In the building of the National Poultry Company, where this fact has been ascertained, seven or eight fowls are kept in each compartment, twelve feet by three teet, and yet there is no smell or trace of moisture. To this we may add that peat is one of the best compounds for hen manure, absorbing and retaining all its richness and making of it a most powerful guano. Have this regularly swept up every Saturday, packed away in bar- rels, and sprinkled over with plaster. Dawa, with force and truth, says: “The strongest of all manures is found in the droppings of the poultry.” Next year each barrel of ‘it will manure half an acre of land; save it, then, and add to the productive energies of your soil. To get rid of Epicurean Cats.— When a cat is seen to catch a chicken tie it round her neck, and maké her wear it for two or three days. Fasten it securely, for she will make great efforts to get rid of it. Be firm for the time, and the cat will be cured. She will never again desire to touch a bird. To get rid of Intrusive Hens.— If your neighbor’s hens visit you too often, feed them some gruel, and coax them to lay their eggs on your side of the fence. Then, in your most amiable mood, show your neighbor how much your egg-harvest has increased, and beg him not to restrain his poultry of their free- dom. You probably will not be troubled long, and this means of defense is perfectly just. A few Stray Grains.—Pigeons are hatched in eighteen days; chickens in twenty- one; turkeys in twenty-six; ducks and geese in thirty—all sometimes varying a day or two. It is a good hen that will lay one hundred and fifty eggs the first year; one hundred and POULTRY—EGGS, ETC, thirty the second; and one hundred the third ; after which she ought to “go to pot.” Try eggs by putting them in cold water. Those that sink the soonest are freshest ; those that are stale or addled will float. There is no infallible test, but this is as good as any. Pulverized charcoal given occasionally is a preveutive of putrid affections, to which fowls are very subject. Pulverized chalk administered with soft feed will cure diarrhea. This disorder is caused by want of variety” in the food, or by too much green food. Fowis exposed to dampness are apt to be troubled with catarrh, which will run to croup, if not attended to. Red pepper mixed with soft feed, fed several times a week, will relieve the cold. To prevent hens from eating their eggs: Neatly break a hole in the end of a soft-boiled egg. Remove the contents and mix with a tea- spoonful of mustard; then refill the shell. Set this in the way of the egg-eating jenny. One mouthful usually effects a cure. To color eggs: Fowls, to which a portion of chalk is given with their food, lay eggs re- markable for their whiteness. By substituting for chalk a calearous earth, rich in oxide of iron, the color of the egg-shells will be of an orange red. Never permit the hens to roost more than four or five feet high, for they frequently hurt themselves in coming down. By changing roosts from eight or ten to four feet, hens will remain healthy, lay no more soft-shelled eggs, and alight without injury. Many lose their young chickens from neglect to scald the meal, and wonder what the matter was. ] In selecting fowls for breeding, we should bear in mind that in male birds full maturity is seldom attained till the third year, while the pullet in her second year generally assumes the matronly appearance of her mother. We would advise the dismissal of the cock after his fifth year, and the breeding hen after her fourth. : In France artificial egg-hatching machines are considerably used; but in this country human labor is too expensive, as compared with hen labor, to justify their adoption. The Patent “ Perpetual, Hen-Feeders ” will not do either; they save a little human labor, at the expense of much “hen fruit.” It is found that when hens can supply themselves 441 indefinitely from one of these automatic ma- chines, they get fat, forget to deposit their usual installment of eggs, and at last, very likely, die of liver complaint. It is unprofitable to keep a large number of hens together. If many must be kept, put them in separate apartments, holding not more than ten each. Transporting eggs by rail generally destroys their vitality. Eggs ought to be sold by weight instead of by count; average eges weigh eight to the pound, while of small ones it takes from ten to fifteen to make a pound. How Many Eggs will a Hen Lay Annually 2— A correspondent of the Country Gentleman said that his hens—natiyes—avyeraged only thirty- five or forty eggs a year. This brought out numerous rejoinders that lie before us, showing a much larger general average. C. N. BEMENT thought that a dozen good hens, well-kept, would furnish ten or twelve hundred eggs a year. F. Crook says: “In 18641 kept forty-four hens, and had fresh eggs laid every day in the year; in January, 112; February, 258; March, 549; April, 775; May, 712; June, 579; July, 557; August, 579; September, 439; October, 247; November, 238; December, 112. Total, 5,158 ; average per hen, 117 each.” JAMES E. QUINLAN has gathered 2,910 eggs from twenty-seven hens in seven months. J. S. Watkins writes: “In 1864 I kept eighteen hens, and they laid 2,793 eggs, and raised one hundred chickens; average, 155 eggs each hen. In 1865 I kept twenty-five hens, and they laid 3,826 eggs, and raised one hundred chickens; average, 133 eggs each hen. The account for seven months in 1866 is thus: Thirty-two hens have laid 2,915 eggs, and raised seventy chickens; average, 91 eggs each. Our fowls are of the Black Spanish and White Leghorn breeds.” Another says: “Last year I raised ten pul- lets of the White Leghorn variety; they were hatched the first of May, and commenced lay- ing the first of September. From that time until the first of July this year, they have layed 1,510 eggs, at a cost of fifteen cents per week for keep, which amounts to $24 95. The eggs I have sold average fifty cents per dozen which amounts to $62 95, leaving a net profit of $38. This year I have raised about two hundred chickens.” These are high figures; but there is no doubt 442 that any good breed of hens, properly kept, can be made to average, by the thousand, a hundred eggs each, annually. Diseases of Poultry.— Generally, if a hen gets sick, it will cost more to cure her than she is worth. But there are a few com- mon diseases that may treated. A good pre- yentive of disease among poultry is sulphur. Gapes.—The gapes, an ailment of young chickens, results from a collection in the throat of numerous small red worms, which distress the chick, causing it to open and shut its mouth. The origin is thought to be the drink- ing of rain water or impure water; Indian meal is also believed by some to develop and aggra- vate the disease. Camphor is said to be a cer- tain preventive, and a lump as large as a pea- nut, dissolved in a vessel from which they drink, will keep the gapes from the chickens. A thimbleful of powdered sulphur mixed in the feed once a week, is also said to be a prevent- ive. Salt, mixed in the food of the chicks, is confidently recommended by some. Perhaps the surest cure in the earliest stage, is the introduction of a small feather or a looped horse-hair into the windpipe, and the withdrawal of the worms, This is much prac- ticed, but needs skill and a steady hand. Af- ter taking out the worms, give the chick a tea- » spoonful of strong, black pepper water, and let it go with the mother. The worms may some- times be dislodged and the disease cured by compelling the chicks to inhale tobacco smoke until they become insensible. Some put snuff in the mouth. J. H. Manperr writes: “Take a four or eight ounce vial and fill it with large grains of wheat ; then fill the vial with turpentine and let it stand, corked tightly. When you see any of your chicks begin to droop and gasp, catch them and give each one grain of the wheat. If in the morning, give another at night. If in the afternoon, give one the next morning. I have never found this to fail in my family.” Lice.—A correspondent of the New England Homestead says, vermin may be driven from hen houses by the following plan: 1, Give the hen house a thorough white-washing, nests, boxes, roosts, and everything about the premises; 2, sprinkle sulphur in the nest-boxes three or four times during the year; 3, keep the floor constantly covered with ashes, loam, and gravel, and clean out at least once a month; 4, rub lard under the wings of the mothers. Lice may be kept from fowls ‘by applying a POULTRY, BEES, AND FISH CULTURE: _drop or two of turpentine or kerosene oil upon ‘the head and under the wings. By putting sycamore leaves, tobacco leaves, or fresh pine shavings in a nest, vermin may be banished from the vicinity. Diptheria.—The American Stock Journal says: “This disease may be cured easily by the fol- lowing method: Take a small wooden paddle and remove the yellow matter from the tongue, and then apply lard and black pepper to the diseased parts. A single application is gener- ally sufficient.” Pips—CnHarures L. THAYER says: “Give one tea-spoonful of the best pepper-sauce every other day, and every other day give one tea- spoonful of pepper-sauce and one of castor-oil mixed, until the fowl is better. I have just cured a rooster that had the pip so bad that his comb turned very black before I knew what ailed him. I cured him with the above re- ceipt.” Browne, in his “ Poultry Yard” ad- vises to “feed on a low vegetable diet.” Scouring, or diarrhea is caused by the too abundant use of relaxing food, Cayenne pep- per, or chalk, or both, mixed with meal or boiled rice, check the complaint. Apoplexy.—S. M. SAUNDERS, in an essay on diseases of poultry, says: “ Apoplexy with fowls, as in human beings, is difficult to enre. It is generally the result of high feeding, and is most common among laying hens, which are sometimes found’ dead on the nest—the expul- sive efforts required in laying being the imme- diate cause of the attack. The only hope for cure consists in an instant and copious bleed- ing, by opening a vein with a sharp-pointed pen-knife or lancet. The largest of the veins seen on the under side of the wing should be selected, and opened in a longitudinal direc- tion, not cut across, and so long as the thumb is pressed on the vein at any point between the opening and the body, the blood will be found to flow freely. Light food and rest should be given the bird after the operation.” Hen Cholera.—* This disease, so much dreaded by poultry raisers, may be checked and abso- lutely cured by giving the chickens, in one gal- lon of fresh, clean water, one tea-spoonful of chloride of lime, once a day for three or four days, and, after a few days’ interval, repeating, and so on for a few weeks.” Another says: “The symptoms are lassitude and emaciation, and, in very severe eases, the voiding of white matter, streaked with yellow. This appears like the yolk of an egg when |stale, and clings to the feathers near the vent. POULTRY—TURKEYS—DUCKS. Treatment—take white chalk, two parts; rice | flour, three parts, and flour of sulphur one part, moistened with alum, to a paste. Give this| twice a day till relieved. For drink, give one tea-spoonful of tincture of iron to three parts of water. , TWurkeys.—The domestic turkey is exclu- sively a native of America,* and it is said that plain Ben. FRANKLIN wished to make it our national emblem instead of the eagle. This useful bird, graced with cranberry-sauce, has been a prominent auxiliary in the celebration of the American thanksgiving; and in 1864, there were no less than siz hundred tons of tur- keys sent to the soldiers of the Federal army in the field. “The finest and strongest turkeys,’ Browne’s Poultry Yard, ‘fare those of a bronzed black, resembling, as closely as pos- sible, the original stock. These are not only reared the most easily, but are generally the largest and fatten the most rapidly.” The Horticulturist says: ‘They do not roam so much as the common turkey; they are double, treble, and sometimes quadruple the size of the common, and are also more tender in flesh, besides being a much finer-flavored bird for the table.” The editor adds that he has seen those that weighed upward of forty pounds, and known of several that weighed fifty pounds. Hatching.—The Poultry Yard says: ‘The turkey-hen isa steady sitter, and in this respect resembles the wild bird—nothing will induce her to leave the nest; indeed, she often requires to be removed to her food, so overpowering is her instinctive affection; she must be well sup- plied with water within her reach. Should she lay any eggs after she has commenced incuba- tion, these should be removed—it is proper, therefore, to mark those which were given to her to sit upon. The hen should on no account be rashly disturbed ; no one except the person to whom she is accustomed, and from whom she receives her food, should be allowed to go near her, and the eggs, unless circumstances imperatively require it, should not be meddled with. On or about the thirty-first day, the chicks leave the eggs.” Rearing the Young.—J. Lurron says in the Prairie Farmer: “Young turkeys are apt to die before they attain the age of three weeks. I came to the conclusion that the fatality among them was caused by vermin, heavy feed, and says *'The tame turkey is derived from the wild turkey of Central America, and not from that of the United States, which is quite another species. 443 cold, damp weather. My method, this season, has been this: Take the eggs of the first laying and put under hens; the second laying let the turkeys hatch. Two or three days before hatch- ing, sprinkle the nest and the fowls themselves with sulphur. When the young were hatched, “|I took a little sulphur, gunpowder, and lard, mixed, and greased their heads and necks, to keep off the vermin while the young brooded. If it does not remain on, in eight or ten days put on another coat. I took equal quantities of wheat bran and Indian meal, and wet with sour milk, or loppered milk, with a good lot of fine-cnt chives, once in two or three days in it, and fed them until a month or six weeks old, then lessen the bran. Feed early in the morn- ing to keep them from rambling in the dew. Such has been my method of management, and I have lost only two out of forty hatched.” A correspondent of the Germantown Telegraph thinks corn meal hurts young turkeys, and the Country Gentleman says: ‘Do not hasten the newly-hatched turkeys from the nest. Let them remain from twelve to twenty-four hours under the mother, to gain strength. When remoyed, feed hard-boiled eggs, finely chopped, sweet- milk curds, or eggs and milk custard cooked hard. For three or four days feed very often, every two hours at least, and keep from dews Give no uncooked Indian meal, and no food of too soft or watery a nature. Give» plenty of pure, fresh water, sour-milk curds, cracked corn and barley, wheat and rye, and plenty of onions, root and top, chopped into their feed.” Turkeys are generally a very profitable “crop; averaging, in many parts of New England, nearly a hundred per cent. net upon their cost. Every farmer can afford to keep some; for they need little care except in wet and cold weather, when they should be housed. Turkeys caponized (castrated) fatten faster, and with less expense, and make sweeter flesh, and rain. Ducks.—The duck in its wild state is found throughout Europe, Asia, and America. He is a magnificent fellow, and it is hard to un- _ derstand how the symmetry of his shape should have so entirely departed, and his gray coat— green and violet and orange and brown—should have faded to such a draggle-tail dinginess as marks the domestic duck of the modern poultry market. Naturalists count nearly a hundred species of the duck genus scattered over all parts of the world; and there is little doubt that the intending keeper of this profitable 444 bird may take his choice from at least twenty different sorts. Light-colored ducks are gener- ally of milder flavor and less gamy than their darker brethren; and those that are reared exclusively on vegetable diet will have whiter and more delicate flesh than those allowed to feast on animal offal. All ducks are good layers if they are care- fully fed and tended. the night or early in the morning. While a duck is in perfect health she will do this; and one of the surest signs of indisposition is irreg- ularity in laying. The eggs laid will invaria- bly nearly approach the color of the layer— light-colored ducks laying white eggs, and dark ducks greenish-blue eggs; dark-colored lay the largest eggs. is to let them have as much substantial food as they will eat. They will require no cramming; | as they will cram themselves to the verge of suffocation; they should at the same time be allowed plenty of exercise and clean water. The Aylesbury duck isa favorite in Great Brit- ain for its large size. Its snowy plumage and comfortable comportment makes it a credit to the poultry yard, while its broad and deep breast, and its ample back, convey the assur- ance that your satisfaction will not cease at its death. Ducks, which are the most industrious and woracious devourers of insects, have this ad- vantage over their feathered congeners, that they can not scratch, and have very limited powers of flight over fences and other barriers into forbidden precincts. A correspondent sets ‘forth that ducks fatten twice as rapidly as chickens, some of them putting on fat at the rate of two pounds a month. The Guinea Fowl1.—The Guinea fowl has advantages; it is hardy, and very pro- lifie of small nutritious eggs, with hard shells, capable of being transported any distance. When young, it is delicate eating, the flesh be- ing little inferior to our partridge, and in season when chickens and prairie hens are scaree—in March. And it has disadvantages; a song like a handsaw, but good to scare away thieves and hen-hawks; they mate in pairs, necessitating as many males as females; they are not good sitters, but the hen that hatches their eggs must be, for the term of incubation is longer than that of chicks. The terrible and incessant clatter of the Guinea hen—* buck wheat !””—has prevented her from becoming a favorite any- Ducks generally layin The simple way to fatten ducks | POULTRY, BEES, AND FISH CULTURE: where. One is inclined to address her as O’CoNNELL did the ncisy fellow who was in- terrupting his speech: “I wish you had a hot potato in your mouth.” Geese.—The goose is an historical bird, but it dates so far back that its origin, and even its precise ornithological classification, is un- known, The varieties of the tame goose are numerous. They are a great nuisance when permitted to go at large. The white China and Bremen geese are larger and better than our common breeds, being far more prolific, and good sitters and mothers; their feathers are more plentiful, and sell at a higher price, and they are more profitable in every way. The China geese are all specifi- cally, if not generically, distinct from our com- mon geese. They are distinguished by a large knob or exerescence on the top of the bill next the head, that increases with age; beak strong and high-ridged; their attitudes graceful and swan-like on the water, but stiff and usually quite erect on land; voices, harsh, loud, and frequent; while their wings and tails are short, rendering it difficult for them to fly. Time of incubation, thirty-three to thirty-five days. There is generally great dissimilarity in size, the ganders being much larger than their mates. A correspondent of the Ohio Farmer gives his method of hatching: “I make a deep nest of horse dung, cover with a little straw or leaves; wet the eges about twice a week with salt water; the eggs usually hatch well, and the goslings are strong and-healthy. I haye had them come off before the snow was gone. Then for feed, I cut a handful of hay quite fine several times a day, and give them a little corn dough and salt it as for myself; have salt and fresh water for them to drink. I always take them from the hen, when they are old enough to run, let them have a yard, and take them in nights. Most people feed their goslings too much.” THE HONEY-BEE. The culture of the honey-bee has not re- ceived, in America, that intelligent attention which it deserves. Out of a hundred bee-keep- ing farmers, not ten even try to learn the habits or requirements of the ingenious creatures which they expect will furnish them with de- licious fuvd. The old barbarous methods are e HONEY-BEE. still largely in vogue; hives remain a prey to mice and moths, accident and famine, overrun with weeds, and left to decay. Formerly it was an inhuman practice to suffocate and de- stroy the bees, thereby uniting murder with robbery; but good managers have, for many years past, preserved them, and fed them dur- ing the Winter, by which plan five hives,on one pound each, have, in ten years, yielded a profit of one thousand two hundred and eighty pounds. To destroy the swarm for the sake of the honey is like cutting down fruit trees to get the fruit. One thingymay properly be said here: Bees will not chrive under the indifference with which most farmers regard them, and a man had better let them alone, or, at least, not keep them as an item of profit, unless he is willing to read and follow some reliable treatise on bee-culture, like “LAaneGstrotH on the Honey-Bee,” or Quin- BY’s “ Bee-Keeping Explained,” and then give a few minutes every day to ascertain the condi- tion and needs of his busy colonies.’”* Natural historians celebrate the industry, wis- dom, economy, and foresight of these little crea- tures, and their sagacity, approaching to reason. They are divided into three classes, queens, drones, and workers—these three orders forming a strong, harmonious, centralized government. It can, perhaps, hardly be called a republic, as it fosters an order of aristocracy in the drones, and the queen rules supremely, coquetting with her large and burdensome class of nobility, until the days get shorter, when they are slain by an insurrection of workers—the old protest of the commonwealth against indolence. The three classes in every bee-hive are: First, the queen--the only perfect female. The queen is considerably larger than a drone or worker, and so different as to be readily dis- tinguished. She is sometimes a glossy black, with orange underneath the body, sometimes a ring of orange where the body and abdomen meet. Her antenne turn down, and her wings, from the length of her body, seem shorter than those of drone or worker. She possesses her weapon of defense, in common with the worker, but is said neyer to use it except upon a royal rival. She enjoys longer life than her subjects, and feeling the perpetuation of her species to rest upon her, she goes forth but once to fit her for maternity, Fig, 1—QuEEN. *The American Bee Journal is published at Washing- tou, District of Columbia. 445 and then remains in the bosom of her faithful subjects, assiduously restoring the ravages time makes in her people. She is the only mother of the hive, and de- posits a fabulous number of eggs, sometimes 75,000 or 100,000 per annum. The eggs be- come males, or drones, females and neuters, or workers. When the hive becomes too full for thrift or comfort, the queen leads forth a mixed colony of young and old, and recommences her procreatal duties. Her fertility decreases with age, and expert apiarians give young queens to If she die, the work- ers raise a new monarch from a neuter egg, by their stocks at pleasure. transferring it to a royal cell, feeding it on royal ambrosia, and subjecting it to their mys- terious alchemy. Second—the drone, or male. These lazy and helpless aristocrats of our little insect mon- archies have been the subject of lively dispute, but American naturalists have at last concluded that, as Nature has furnished them neither with means of self-preservation nor defense, they exist solely for the continuation of their species. Drones are pro- duced from the same kind of eggs as workers, fed on a more liberal allowance of different food. Their luxurious existence is brief. Coming with the flowers of Spring, they are slain be- fore Winter, by the workers, who know them Drones can not ¥igure 2—DRonr. only as dependent idlers. sting; can not gather pollen, seerete honey, or practice the art of masonry. Modern inquiry having ascertained their only use, bee-raisers regulate their number, and discontinue their production, by removing drone-combs from the hive. Third—workers. The little brown worker; the “busy bee” of the moralist and poet, is too well known for description to be necessary. They are smaller than queens or drones, and of different organization. They are called neuters, being undeveloped females, not pos- sessing the power of procreation. They are admirably adapted for ceiling their houses, building the ele- gant comb that fills them, and gathering and conveying to its dependent inmates the food and water that sustains them. They are divided into courses for the Figure 3 WorkKER. systematic performance of their duty of senti- nels, foragers, ventilators, comb-builders, com- 446 POULTRY, BEES, A missaries and nurses of the young. With their tongues, a very changeable shaped and adaptable instrument, they construct their mar- velous combs, succeeding each other, so as to keep the work always in progress—neither night nor inclement weather stops this labor. In proportionate size, the queen bee is eight and a half and the male seven, and the workers six. A queen will lay two hundred eggs daily for fifty or sixty days; and the eggs are hatched in three days. The workers are five days in the worm state, and in twenty days become bees. ! The males are six or seven days in the worm state, and in twenty-four days they become bees. A queen is five days in the worm state, and in) sixteen days is perfect. When eggs are con- verted into queens, the oldqueen destroys them ; or if there are two young queens they fight till one has killed the other. There are about nine thousand cells in a comb of a foot square; their first purpose is as nurseries for the young, and they are then cleaned and filled with honey. Five thousand bees weigh a pound. Fertility of the Queen.—We extract from the Canada Farmer : “Generally within five or six days after emerging from the cell, the queen leaves the hive for a meeting with the drone, which takes place on the wing, and usually high in the air. She commonly leaves the hive between the hours of twelve and three » o’clock P. M., when the drones are on the wing. If she does not meet with the drone she returns to the hive, and in a short time goes out again ;| this she continues to do every day until she mates with the drone and becomes impreg- nated, when she returns to the hive, not to leave it until ske goes off with a swarm. Hav- ing mated with a drone, she becomes impreg- nated for life, and under favorable cireum- stances commences to lay within forty-eight hours. In some cases it may be much longer, extending to five, six, or even ten days; such cases, however, are rare. Another peculiar characteristic of the queen is, that if she does not meet with the drone within the first twenty- one days of her existence, she becomes incapa- ble of being impregnated, and hence never makes anything more than a drone-laying queen. We here see the wisdom of the Creator in the provision of so many drones. chances of the queen to be destroyed are nu- merous, the time for impregnation short, hence ‘the necessity of her meeting with the drone as soon as possible, that she may retire to the hive, where the chances for her destruction are greatly lessened. An unimpregnated queen The| ND FISH CULTURE. may easily be known by her slim, tapering ab- domen, shy and rapid moyements; the abdo- |men of the fertile queen being much larger ,and longer, and her movements more stately and regular. The queen generally lives to the age of four or five years, though she usually ceases to lay eggs that will produce workers after the fourth year—in other words, her fer- tility ceases, and though she may continue to lay eggs, they will only produce drones. The consequence is, the stock will soon dwindle away and perish.” Products of Bee Labor. —The fol- lowing are the varied products of the toil of the working bees: Propolis. — They collect propolis, a resinous substance, from the buds of trees and other sources, with which they coat the inside of their |hives, close crevices, and indeed, sometimes embalm an offensive substance which they can not remove. : Pollen, or Bee-Bread.—They collect pollen \from the anthere of flowers and other sources, brushing it as they do propolis, with their fore legs and wings, into the basket-like cavities in the thighs of the back legs. They announce the arrival of such supplies at the hives, by a beating of their wings. If it is not at once con- sumed by the workers, it is stored for future use, and constitutes that dark semi-liquid sub- stance called bee-bread, which, when ignorantiy received into the mouth, is rejected as speedily as the most nauseous drug. Honey and Wax.—They collect nectar, with their proboscis, from the nectariferous glands of flowers, and juices of fruits. This is con- veyed to their second stomach, from whence, like ruminating animals, they bring it up and deposit it as honey, or elaborate it as wax. Wax is produced from honey by some chemical change in the honey-sack, and is exuded from between the rings of the abdomen at the will of the bee; as is proved by their commencing at once, or deferring a day or two, the building of comb in their hives, after swarming. Taming the Honey-Bee.—It is well known by all scientific apiarists that the honey- bee is tractable, and is capable of being, to a certain extent, tamed and domesticated by any intelligent person who will go at the work ‘kindly. Lancstrorn explains the method of , controlling this irascible insect by three rules, expressed in the following formulas: pe] iA, bi when filled with honey, | BEES—SWARMING OF, never volunteers an attack, but acts solely on the defensive. 2. “Bees can not, under any circumstances, resist the temptation to fill themselves with liquid sweets. 3. ‘Bees, when frightened, begin to fill them- selves with honey from their combs.” According to the first rule, bees are generally good-natured at the hour of swarming, for be- fore leaving the old hive for another they al- ways fill their honey-bags to the utmost capacity. None sting unless they are crushed, except a few thriftless fellows who have neglected their rations. Under the second rule, bees can always be! managed. “If,” says LANGSTROTH, “as soon as a hive is opened, the exposed bees are gently sprinkled with water sweetened with sugar, | they will help themselves with great eagerness, and in a few moments will be perfectly under control.” Visitors are always welcomed by bees thus treated; but all motions about a hive must be quiet and slow, and the keeper should familiarize his colonies with his presence. Under the third rule, bees can be handled without danger. Again we quote LANGSTROTH: “Tf the apiarian only succeeds in frightening his subjects, he can make them as peaceable as thongh they were incapable of stinging. By the use of a little smoke from decayed wood (spunk or touchwood—the smoke directed upon the bees by the breath of the apiarian) the largest and most fiery colony may be at once ‘brought into complete subjection. As soon as the smoke is blown among them, they retreat from before it, raising a subdued or terrified note; and, seeming to imagine that their honey is to be taken from them, they cram their honey- bags.” Tobacco smoke is equally effective, and the same consternation may be produced by shutting the bees within their hive and drum- ming upon it. Swarming.— Of natural swarming, “a housekeeper” in the Cultivator says: ‘This most interesting event in bee-life and bee-keep- ing, used to be the only occasion when old fogies intermeddled with their bees at all, until their combs being filled, they were deemed fit for destruction, and when, like Sodom and Gomor- rah, they perished in vapors of sulphur. The old queen of the hive leads out the adventurous emigrants, whether in a fit of jealousy toward her aspiring offspring, or like a good human mother she prefers the hardships of pioneerage herself, we wot not; but her loyal followers are ~ 447 of all ages and conditions. They will some- times precede her, but return again to the hive until she accompanies them. They usually cluster near the ground, on some convenient bush; sometimes inconveniently high, and in a freak occasionally on another hive, or even on a bystander, Sometimes they hie away to un- known parts. Sand or water thrown among them will often bring them toa halt. Cluster bushes, or a pole with a knot on the top of mul- lein-seed or pine burrs, or even swarm-catchers of muslin, are sometimes employed to facili- tate measures. Wherever clustered, proceed quickly to hive them, all things being always kept in readiness in this important season. Have a table in the shade; a sheet spread over it; a hive thereon a little tipped up in front. Cut off the switch on which the bees are clus- | tered, and shake them off under the edge of the jhive. If in a large body, brush off the bees into a basket; if on a high limb, fasten the basket on a pole, and have the limb jarred while the basket is held under the limb; empty the basket under the hive. If any bees are dil- atory abont entering, sprinkle gently to expe- dite them. Set the hive at once on its stand, and keep it shaded. “Tf two swarms come off simultaneously and cluster together, if small hive together; the royal ladies will settle the question of right to reign, speedily, and you will have a good strong. stock. If the swarms are large, and you wish to divide them, spread a sheet on the ground, set two hives, and with a dipper divide the bees equally between the hives. If you unfor- tunately give one hive both queens—you will soon know it by the commotion of the queen- less stock—shut them up quickly with the wire- bottom board, empty the other, and search for a queen. If lucklessly she has been killed, re- turn the queenless stock to the parent hiye, and it will swarm again ina few days; or, if you use movable combs, give it a frame or two of brood comb, and, if possible, a queen. If you use the box hive, it is best to return late swarms to some weak stock, or unite two and foster un- remittingly. “In olden times bees used to swarm two or three times in a Summer; this event occurring in from nine to twenty days. This event is much rarer now. These second swarnis, being ‘led by young queens, are not so particular in choosing middays or fair weather. If these swarms occur late in the season, unite two; if , buckwheat is abundant, they will provide am- ply for themselves—otherwise you must be “ 448 charitable to them. The piping of the young queens usually indicates these coming swarms— this note is supposed to be the ery of the royal infanta’s for release from the nursery.” A Swarming Pole—A man who has proved its practicability, recommends the following method of securing a swarm: “Take a long pole, and make the small end bulky by wrap- ping paper around it abont as thick as a man’s arm, and half as long; then bind a black cloth about it, and secure it with a cord. When the bees are swarming, as soon as they attempt to settle, put that end of the pole in the place where they are about lighting, and usually they will settle on it immediately, but should they persist in settling on the limb, or whatever it is, jar it so as to disturb them, and they will leave it for the pole; when they are all clus- tered lay it gently down, and set the hive over them. Sometimes when fastened pretty firmly on the pole, it is expedient to shake it a little to make them leave it for the hive We have tried this simple plan for years, and have sel- dom failed.” i A Convenient Bee-Hiver—The accompanying cut and following description are from TucK- ER’s Rural. The plan appears practicable: * Sa Fig. 4—Ber-Hiver—Mape or Boarp wita Corn Coss SET IN. Take a board as large as the bottom of the hive, bore a number of holes through it, and insert corn cobs through these holes; then nail securely a handle eight or ten feet long, to this board. Nail a narrow board so as to form a sort of Hood over the cobs when it is set up. Make a slanting hole with a crow-bar in the ground, and thrust the pole or handle into this hole. If these cobs are dyed a dark-brown color, the bees will be almost sure to light upon them. But should they light on the branch of a tree a few gentle taps against the limb, will induce them to leave it and adhere to the cobs. These, from their rough surface, will enable the bees to hold on firmly. When they have settled, take out the pole, lay the in- strument flat, and place the hive on the board | stocks. POULTRY, BEES, AND FISH CULTURE: which holds the swarm, and the thing is done, In large apiaries two or three of these may be on hand for use. Another Easy Method of Hiving.—A corre- spondent of the old Yankee Farmer, says he has practiced the following plan with complete success for fifteen years, and he has never known his bees to pitch on any other place than that prepared for them: ‘ Drive down two stakes, about four feet apart, fifteen feet in front of the bee-house; tie a pole across these stakes, about three feet from the ground; then take a board one foot wide and twenty feet long, and lay one end on the ground, at the front of the bee-house, and lay the other part on the pole between the stakes, Put up this board in the beginning, and let it remain till the close of the swarming season. The bees will pitch on the under part of this board, and then that end which lays on the ground should be raised to a level with the other, and put on a barrel, box, or something else. Then turn the board upside down, and place the hive over the bees, and fasten it-with props, to prevent the wind blowing it down. By having a board not more than a foot wide, the hive will extend over the board, and be less likely to kill the bees when it is placed over them, and it will leave room for the bees that may be outside the hive to pass into it. Mr. Wrystow observed that he had sometimes found three swarms at once pitched on one board in different places. When he first put up the board, he usually rubbed on it some honey, salt water, or the like; but this may not be necessary.” r Artificial Swarming.—Transferring all or a part of the bees from one hive to another, is a great advance in bee-culture and perhaps the boldest step in the profession. In skillful hands it can almost always be successfully performed, but it should be done in the early part of the swarming season, and from crowded Mrs. Exvuen S. Tupper, an accom- plished apiarist, who gathers health and profit from the pursuit, says in the Iowa Homestead :, “Bee-keepers must decide in this month whether they will let the bees take their own way about swarming. Wor ourselves we never allow any natural swarms. It is much easier, we find, to keep the matter under our own con- trol, make as many colonies as we deem best at our own time, and thus keep all colonies strong, and secure the greatest yield of surplus honey. To do this in the best and simplest way, some form of movable-comb hive is indispensable, but even those who have only box hives or BEES—SWARMING gums, need not subject themselves to the watch- ing and uncertainty attending natural swarm- ing. Those who wish to transfer their bees to moyable-comb hives will find swarming time the very best time to do it. “Smoke the hive from which you wish to take a swarm, carry it a few yards from its stand, turn it upside down and place over it a box or hive as nearly as possible the same size, and stop all holes between them; then drum on the lower hive with sticks, keeping up a steady noise and jar for filteen or twenty min-J utes, and the bees, with their queen, will go into the upper box. [If the queen is not in the upper box, the bees will be restless.] If this box is the one which you wish to keep the bees in, you haye only, when the bees have gone up, to set this on the stand where the old hive stood and carry the old one to a new place sev- eral yards away, and the thing is done. The bees in the new box will do in every respect as well as a natural swarm, the old hive, having plenty of hatching-brood and eggs, will at once rear a queen, and do as well as if no bees had | | two before sunset, when the bees will take wing been taken from it. “Tf you wish to have a new swarm ina mova- ble-comb hive, after you haye driven them into a box as described, spread a sheet before the new hive, which is placed on the old stand, then empty the bees upon it.and allow them to cceep up into the hive. It is well, if possible, to have pieces of comb fastened in the frames, as a guide and encouragement to the bees. ““Caution.—Never expect to gain anything by dividing a swarm before it is strong in) numbers; unless the colony be large, and the old one be left full of brood, it is better undis- turbed. ing idle outside the hive. made in May or early in June, they are not . to be relied on. placed where the old one stood, else the bees ean not find it; the old one must not be placed too near the place. If the bees are Italians, enough will find it if it be placed a vod away. The black bees do not as readily seek the old hive, and two or three yards is far enough to move their hive. This way of swarming we practiced for years with perfect success. It is a poor substitute for the manner in which mul- tiplication of colonies can be performed by the use of movable frames, but we recommend it as far preferable to natural swarming.” The hive containing the forced swarm, should be of the same shape and color as the parent hive. 2. Don’t wait until the bees are hang-| Unless swarms are) 3. The new colony must be | | | brood may perish from neglect. OF. 449 slightly, removing from the old hive only two- thirds of the bees, with their queen, and then returning tt to its former stand, instead of put- ting the new hive there. LANGsTROTH says that some loss is apt to follow either method; if the old hive be put back, too many of the bees in the other will be likely to return to if; and if its location be changed, its unsealed He, however, agrees that it is better than natural swarming ; which is objectionable on account of the time and labor it requires, the loss of swarms that attends it, and the fact that many hives refuse to swarm at all. Some prefer another mode of forming an artificial swarm, thus detailed by LanGstrorH: “After the bees have been driven from the parent stock, the forced swarm is at once placed on the old stand, while the parent stock, in which the proper number of bees has been left, is set in a cool place, and shut up—care being taken to give them air—until late in the after- noon of the third day. It may now be put on its permanent stand, and opened an hour or Some will join the forced swarm on the old stand, but almost as if intending to swarm. most, after hovering a short timé in the air, will re-enter their hive. While the entrance was closed, thousands of young bees were hatch- ed, and these, knowing no other home, will all unite in the labors of the hive. The impris- joned bees ought to be supplied with water, to enable them to prepare food for the larve. In the common hive this may be injected with a straw through a gimlet hole.” An observing farnier says: “ But to have a sure success you must haye a Langstroth or other movable-framed hive, and with a parti- tion through the center of each frame, you tie in with strings all pieces of nice worker comb containing brood, or honey mixed with bee- bread and unfit to eat. With three or four frames filled with worcer comb, and as many more empty frames placed alternately, first a full frame, then an empty one, and plenty of buckwheat or other Fall honey-producing flow- ers, you will have a colony in good shape to Wiater.” Chloroform.—A writer in the Maine Far%ner says: “ Haying had little satisfaction and much trouble in fumigating bees with puff ball, ete., I bethought me to try chloroform, and shall neyer use anything else in future. I put about ten drops on a bit of rag, pushed it under the Another correspondent yaries the method: hive from behind, and in about five minutes 29 450 POULTRY, BEES, the bees were all on the bottom board. In this way I united two smali swarms most success- fully.” We advise a cautious testing of this method. To Prevent Swarming.—It is sometimes pre- ferred not to increase the number of hives. Such may be interested in the following, con- tributed to the Annual Register by Mr. QuINBY: “Tt has been ascertained that if abundant room be provided by surplus boxes being placed in immediate contact with the main combs of the hive, the bees that might go off in the swarm would usually remain at home and fill the boxes. ‘This use of surplus boxes at the sides, as well as on the top of the hive, with elean guide combs properly adjusted, has a tendency to prevent four-fifths of the swarms as demon- strated by Mr. Hazen’s hive, and when no swarm issues, it is reported that the average yield per hive will be one hundred pounds. If an increase of stocks is wished for, the prod- uct of one will buy several. “As a further security against swarming, a device has been offered which prevents the queen from leaving. A pen or yard is made in front of the hive, eighteen or twenty inches square. Nail together strips that will make it about three inches deep, with floor of thin boards, excepting a strip four inches wide next the hive, which should be of wire cloth for sifting out dust and for ventilation. Around the top on the inside, fasten a strip of tin three inches wide, in such a way that it will be par- allel with the floor, and thus prevent the queen, whose wing should be clipped, from crawling over. She will creep up the side, but being unable to hold fast to the under side of the tin, will fall back, and finally return to the hive with the bees that will not go far without her. The upper side of the tin should be painted some light color. Cut a place for entrance on one side of this pen, to correspond with the entrance of the hive. To prevent their rearing a young queen that may supersede the mother, and can fly, it will be necessary to open the hive once in eight or nine days, and remove all queen cells, or if it is wished to replace the old with a young queen, let one cell be left. There will be no risk of a swarm in that case, and when she begins-to lay clip one wing.” Artificial Feeding.—Mr. T. F. Bryc- WAM adyocates feeding bees to induce early breeding. He states that in many parts of the country, where bees were profitable in years past, it is not so now. Owing to cutting down Ri AND FISH CULTURE: the timber, reclaiming swamp lands, and bring- ing a larger area into cultivation, early forage is rendered scarce, and the principal crop for surplus, white clover, comes in bloom before the hive is sufficiently populated to take advan- tage of it. Bees hatched during its bloom are consumers, whereas had breeding been stimu- lated earlier, either from natural sources or by properly directed feeding for six or seven weeks before the clover harvest, the most mark- ed results would follow. In such districts he recommended feeding from one to two ounces daily of sugar syrup, according to the strength of the colony. The benefit is not only to the owner in surplus honey, but the hive will swarm earlier, and all know the advantage of a few days to a new swarm. “The number of days in a season in which bees gather more than is consumed in breed- ing, or by young bees who gather nothing for about the first ten days of their existence, is more limited than most people suppose. Some seasons it is less than a fortnight. Feeding swarms, weak in stores, to enable them to pass the Winter in safety, should be done as rapidly as possible after the queen has ceased laying in October; otherwise they will consume much in rearing young, when their population may be already sufficiently strong. By feeding regu- larly and sparingly I have kept young queens laying more or less freely, until the middle of November.” Buckwheat and clover are the best food for bees; though authorities state that the former only yields honey to them from sunrise until eleven o’clock A. M., unless the day should be damp. Preparations for Winter.—As soon as bees have finished storing surplus honey, it should be removed and the colonies equalized and prepared for Winter as speedily as possi- ble. Each colony should be made strong in both stores and numbers by the first of Winter, and the earlier in the Autumn this is done the better it will be for the owner. Says a bee- keeper: Small swarms should be united so that each swarm will have from four to six quarts of bees. To unite them I prefer to fu- migate them with puff-ball smoke, then put them together and let them revive in the hive in which you wish to have them remain. I prefer to remove all the queens except the one which I think is the best. An Italian queen may be introduced to such a swarm with per- fect safety if all the other queens have been removed. j BEES—WINTERING OF. “Now see that all have feed enough to last « them until Spring. It is more troublesome and in Winter or early Spring weather. Feed only good northern honey or syrup made of good refined expensive feeding than in warmer I have used brown coffee crushed and mixed with a little cream of tartar, with satis- factory results. For a feeder fill a fruit can, elass bottle, or other conyenient receptacle with feed; then tie a thin piece of cotton cloth over it and invert it over a hole in the honey-board where the bees will have free access to it. They will suck the feed through the cloth. You can feedia little faster and perhaps easier by using an upright tin or wooden box with a float in it. It should be set in the top of the hive. Each hive should weigh at least thirty pounds in addition to its empty weight.” sugar. Bees eat, on an average, fifteen pounds of honey per swarm in the Winter, varying fit teen pounds, according to the severity of the weather, and the size of the colony. An old bee-keeper says: “Take a small loaf of rye and Indian, or Graham bread, cut in two, and saturate the inside of each piece with good sugar water and place it over the bees, cover- ing close to keep warm; they will eat the in- side out as clean as mice.” During those Winters which follow bad honey seasons, many hives of bees will perish unless fed artificially. Bees may have too much honey to Winter well. Wuirr1am W. Cary says, bees will not Winter well in solid honey; there must be a fair number of open cells for them to cluster in and keep up their heat by being in a compact mass. Wintering in the Cellar.—Throughout the Middle and Southern States a thrifty hive will Winter out of doors with ordinary protection. Indeed, LancsrrotH lays it down as a rule, that “if the colonies are strong in numbers and stores, have upward ventilation, easy communi- cation from comb to comb, and water when needed, and the entrances are sheltered from piercing winds,” they will generally Winter successfully in the open air. But it is well-known that bees, like all ani- mals, eat in very cold weather for the purpose of keeping themselves warm; from which it follows that they will consume less honey if their temperature can be kept up by the warmth of the atmosphere. Most of the best apiarists above the Ohio are adopting the practice of Wintering their bees in the cellar, a custom long in vogue in Europe. If the cellar is dark and dry, and the temperature does not vary much | 451 from 36° it makes an excellent Winter bee- Between 32° and 40° bees keep very quiet, and consequently eat little. There should also be secured, if possible, a house. Bees can not do well if subject to extreme and sudden changes. Ventilation, Light, etc.—Be sure that the hive is well ventilated. uniformity of temperature. There should always be an opening of some sort in the top of the hive, so that the air within may be dry and pure; otherwise the moisture of their breath will con- dense in the hive, chill the bees, and eventually kill them. To prevent annoyance from intrud- ing insects, the opening may be protected by wire cloth, or something of that sort Keep the hives well darkened, in order that the bees may A light carried into the cellar for the purpose not be tempted out on warm, sunny days. of getting vegetables, or any other purpose, disturbs the bees. After they once crawl or fly away from the hive, they seldom get back again. A bee-keeper says of ventilation: “If straw or the old-fashioned board hive, they should be turned bottom-side up with the bottom boards removed. The animal heat will then drive all the dampness and mold out of the hive. Jf movable-comb hives are used, the cap, boxes, ete., should be removed and the hive al- lowed to remain right-side-up, with the en- trance closed.” Mr. Cary says: “We have wintered from fifty to seventy-five swarms in our cellar, for several years past, with good success. Our cel- lar is @ery dry. Bees never should be put into a damp cellar, as the combs would be very lia- ble to mold; they had better be left on the I also use LANGSTROTH’S movable-comb hives, and leave all the holes © open in the honey-board, twelve in number, the entrance also being left open. I should prefer removing the honey-board entirely, if it were not for mice.” t Another, who claims extensive experience, urges that, “In frame hives there should be no top ventilation directly through the top of the honey-board, but what I should term a side-top ventilation. This can be accomplished by hay- ing an inch hole through the sides of the hives, two inches below the honey-board. If directly through the center of the honey-board, there is too great a Circulation of cold air, keeping the bees in constant commotion. The side venti- lation, the top being entirely closed, the inch holes two inches below the honey-board, has a tendency to reverse the breath of the bees back Summer stands. 452 upon the top of the frames, forcing it to pass out at the sides, two inches below the top of the frames, keeping the top of the frames warm enough at all times for the bees to pass over from one frame to the other, in the coldest of weather, for food, ete.” Burying Bees for the Winter—Above the lat- itude of 40°, wintering bees in a vault in the ground is somewhat practiced by those who have not dry and equable cellars or convenient dark rooms; but it is indispensable that the spot selected should be absolutely dry. With care in wintering, bees will eat one-third less honey than if left exposed. CHARLES Da- DANT, of Hamilton, Illinois, says in the Bee Journal : “Low and uniform temperature, dryness, tranquility, security against mice, and slow re- newal of air, are conditions required for winter- ing bees in the ground. I use the mode which experience has proved successful. “Tn well-drained sloping grounds, I dig a diteh half a foot deeper than my hives are tall, and one foot wider than they are broad. I drain that ditch for greater security. If fear- ing the falling in of the earth, I stay the ground with some old planks. Then I lay in the bot- tom two four-by-four-inck beams. Upon these T place my hives, haying previously raised them from their bottom boards by inserting strips of half-inch lath. I remove top boxes, and leave open all the holes in the honey-boards, in order to give the bees plenty of air. Then with plas- terer’s lath I frame ventilating pipes or flues to the surface, the longer ones descendéng to within four or five inches of the bottom; the shorter ones to be placed in the roof. I place one of these flues at each end of the ditch, and another after each third hive—alternating a long and short one. These should be secured against mice. Finally, I prepare a support for a double-sloping roof of old boards, and then cover the roof with straw nearly a foot high, and place on that a layer of earth, equally thick—making altogether eighteen or twenty inches. “By these means bees are maintained in a low temperature, and remain dormant. for months, consuming little honey; and are all alive and active in the Spring. This is the best way to Winter feeble and poorly supplied flocks. Last year I wintered some thirty swarms in the ground, giving them honey in boxes, which remain untouched—the small quantity of honey they had in their hives having been sufficient for their support.” , POULTRY, BEES, AND FISH CULTURE: Feeding in Spring.—Another correspondent of the Bee Journal says of feeding in Spring: “T consider feeding bees in the Spring of as much importance as feeding any other stock. The apiarian should furnish his bees with un- bolted rye flour, water, and sugar syrup, as early in the Spring as the weather will permit. They seem quite pleased, and I have no doubt but the rye flour answers the purpose of pollen in feeding the young bees. It may be given them two or three weeks before they can obtain any from abroad. They can not rear their young without pollen water, honey, or a sub- stitute. A good substitute for honey is a syrup made by adding four pounds of water to ten pounds of good brown or coffee sugar, boiled five minutes, and skimmed. This may be fur- nished for one-third the value of honey, and every pound fed filis the place of a pound of honey for feeding the young brood. I use a feeder that is so constructed that I can furnish my bees with honey, rye flour, and water, all at the same time, and perfectly secure from rob- bing bees. “T have had considerable experience in feed- ing bees, and find it very profitable for three reasons. First, I save all swarms from dying in the Spring for the want of food; second, my bees swarm from two to four weeks earlier than if they were not fed. oa Z =o ° at o a = NAME OF FACTORY, AND COUNTY | : 3 ice OF LOCATION. iy = io a) Holmesville facto Miller’s, Lewis. Collins’, Erie.. Hawleyton, Broom 68,060, Coal Creek, Herkime 176,000 .80 | 10.00 Stevens’, Lewis....... 207,121 [ -16 Charleston, Montgomery Ys, 101 Nelson, Madison..... 199,84 Misst Schuyler, Herkime 195,916 | Spriugfield, Otsego. N ile Strip, "Madison West Exeter, Otsego. Brookfield, Madiso Orwell, Oswexo. North Litchfield Deansville, Onei Devifield and Ma , Jefferson 129) 105, 172,504 e Oneida ae! M: Ingraham & H Gilbert’s, Osweg 10, 165 McLean, Tompkins 302,084 Whitestow n, Oneida. | 204,025 Total number of cows reported Total pounds of cheese made. 3, iY. Average tbs. of cheese for each cow (nearly), 308%. Average Ibs. milk to | tb. cured cheese, for 24 factories, 9.8h. The largest average number of ths. of cheese for each cow, is that reported by the Springfield Center factory, Ots-go county, 459 Ibs. The next lurgest, by the Coal Creek factory, Herkimer county, 370 ths. The smallest number ths. milk, per th. cured cheese, re- Madison county, por ted by Elliston’s Brookfield fac tory, “tie next smallest, by Whittemore’s Scriba factory, Os- wexo county, 9.35. Aggregate sales of the 25 factories, at an average of 21 cents, 4 mills per th. $795,979 37. Average sales of each factory, 148,816 ths., $31,839 18. It will be observed that the weights of cheese made, as above given, are those of cured cheese. Five factories give the weight of the cheese when green, as well as when cured, and as this {llustrates the shrinkage before marketing, we give the aggregate, as follows: These five fac- tories manufactured 719,759 pounds, weighed in its green state, or 679,872 pounds, weighed when cured—a loss of 39,887 pounds, or about 5.54 pounds in the hundred. Theaverage sizes of the cheese made are given by nearly all the factories—the greater number running at about one hundred pounds each, and three at about one hundred and fifty pounds. Making on a Small Scale—A Maine paper, gives the following account of a new process of making cheese, which promises well where only one or two cows are kept, as it has been “repeatedly tried with flattering success:” The milk is set in the ordinary way every morning, and the curd is separated from the whey as well as it can be with the hands. It | pared in the is then pressed compactly into the bottom of 79 4 an earthen (or stone) pot, and covered over with several folds of dry linen or cotton cloth. | By this process the remaining whey is ab- |sorbed, and when the cloth becomes saturated, —|it is removed, und a dry one placed in its ene |In the course of a day and night the whey is removed as effectually as it could be done by | pressing. The next morning the milk is pre- and the curd is packed closely upon the top of that prepared the day previous, and the same method pursued same manner, in separating the moisture. This process is to be repeated till yon have a cream-pot full of cheese The labor is much less than in the old method, snd the care of it afterward com- paratively nothing. Here is another method, practiced where one or two cows are kept: “Take cool weather, either in Spring or Fall, when milk and cream will keep, and when flies are scarce. Strain your milk in some deep vessel, that will hold two milkings, in the morning skim slightly; warm the milk to blood heat, add the water which has soaked a bit of rennet about two inches square over night, and as soon as stiff cut with a carving or other knife; let it stand a few minutes, when you can put it into a cloth strainer, and lay by until you accumulate as large a curd as your hoop will hold, when you chop the whole, scalding with hot whey, just so it will give a creaking sound if chewed. Then add a little salt, sage, or whatever you like, and press. The whole operation need not require over an hour’s time.” D. C. ScorreLp writes to the Western Farmer: “Cheese is now being manufactured in the city of Elgin, Illinois, on a principle which prom- ises to give a reputation for excellence hitherto unknown. By this new method the whey and watery substances are entirely extracted from the curd, before it is subjected to the press, re- taining the entire richness of the cheese, and rendering it so pure that it will keep unchanged for years. The process is by placing the curd, when prepared for the press in the ordinary way, into a wire-sereen hoop, which is placed horizontally and set in motion of about one hundred .and fifty circuits or revolutions in a minute.” It would seem practicable and profitable for the dairymen of each State or section to unite in employing an agent in New York for the sale of their products intended for export or- otherwise, instead of trusting to the present hap-hazard way of reaching the consumer. ARCHITECTURE OF THE HOMESTEAD: Hovusss, Barns, AND FEncEs. FARMERS are, as a rule, miserably lodged. A majority of our rural habitations are un- couth and outlandish in the extreme, showing little evidence of good taste or refinement in the occupants—the whole group of home buiid- ings bearing an aspect of dreariness and incon- gruity. Architecture is almost entirely un- known in this country beyond the city limits, unless the gratifying improvement in the public school buildings that has taken place within fif- teen years, may be said to furnish an exception. In this matter of building attractively, farm- ers are really the most independent men in the world; for, while they have not alwéys a large sum of ready money in hand, they can gener- ally furnish much of their own stone and Jum- ber, do much of the work, and so build at a reduced cost. By bestowing some degree of simple ornament on their residences, they can make themselves more comfortable and their sons more contented to follow the ancestral calling. Beauty is a sort of physical morality, and the farmer who ignores or despises it, and is willing to drag out his days in a clumsy, ill- contrived dwelling, runs the risk of becoming a worse neighbor and father than if he had pleasanter surroundings. We do not intend to urge or suggest extrav- agance in this matter; economy is quite as needful here as elsewhere. It is only our pur- pose to deprecate the prevalent lack of refined taste in this department of farm life, and to call attention to the fact that a handsome house can be built as cheaply as a deformed and repulsive house. A residence may be rude, yet neat and shapely; it may be very plain, yet very at- tractive. This fact does not seem to be under- stood in our rural districts. “Joiners,” who have served an apprentice- ‘ship at the jack-plane, so brief that it would hardly qualify them to build a barn in England, are called upon to erect many of our largest and most complicated farm-houses, ‘“ Build (480) mine like neighbor Smrrn’s,” are their in- structions; “‘only put a window in here, and swing that room around so, and cut a door through there.” So the hybrid houses are mul- tiplied, and comeliness and symmetry retreat into the unhewn woods. This chapter will give some hints in regard to style, but the general theme of farm arehi- tecture must of course be very inadequately treated in the few pages at our command. We advise those who can, to look at some standard work before building, such as Downrna’s Cot- tage Residences, WHEELER’S Rural Homes, or Stoan’s Homestead Architecture; while all who contemplate a residence of much preten- sions should also consult a reliable architect. The cost of such professional advice is a mat- ter to be considered, and of this DowNING says: “Many persons within our’ knowledge have been deterred from applying to a professional man for advice in building a house, or laying out their grounds, from a mistaken idea of the enormous charges to which they would be sub- jected. In the hope of lessening this error we have applied to one of our ablest architects, for a general list of professional terms, an extract from which we shall here offer: “ Design for a gate lodge or small cottage, $50. “ Design for a church, $100. “Design for a villa residence of moderate size, $50 to $100. “Design for a villa of the first class (esti- mated at $15,000), including a visit to the site, $150. '“The foregoing are exclusive of the working drawings. “For five per cent. on the estimate of the whole cost at New York prices, the architect furnishes the design, including the elevations, sections, and working drawings, a complete list of specifications, procures an estimate, and gives an occasional superintendence while the building is in progress.” STYLE OF ARCHITECTURE—SUGGESTIONS FOR BUILDERS. This estimate was made twenty years ago, but we learn, upon inquiry, that the average charges are about the same to-day. Style of Architecture.—This should be adapted to an American landscape, and some of the neat and attractive composites scattered here and there through our States, are preferable for this purpose to any feudal importations. Downinc, ALLEN, and others agree that there is little place on this continent for the massive ancient orders ; the Doric, Ionic, Grecian, Tuscan, Egyptian; that these are su- perseded by the lighter styles whose charac- teristic is elegant variety; modifications of the Italian and Swiss, with projecting roofs and baleonies, the rural Gothic, with its sylvan arches and pointed gables, the animated French with its broken Mansard-roof and its airy aspect, or the Anglo-American cottage, with its neat- ness and modesty, which fit it to a quiet land- scape. These graceful forms will better adorn the hill-sides of America than anything more ostentatious. We earnestly second the sugges- tion of Downine: “For domestic architec- ture, we would strongly recommend those simple modifications of architectural styles, where the beauty grows out of the enrichment of some useful or elegant features of the house as the windows or verandas, rather than those where some strongly marked features of little domestic beauty overpower the rest of the building.” The style of architecture should also depend much on the location. The Swiss chalet seems most at home when it hangs like a bird’s nest in a gorge or on a mountain-side; a wooded vista should lie below the Italian balcony, the piquant Gothic should have rugged and rustic surroundings, always including ever- green-trees that shoot up higher than the build- ing. For an open plain, there is nothing like a simple winged mansion, or an adapted English cottage, suggestive of repose. How oiten we see these essential conditions inverted, and beauty wasted for want of harmony ! Farmers who aim at magnificence in build- ing, generally make wretched failures. Imita- tions of the castellated mansions of Europe, if not ridiculous while occupied by the builder, always become so within a generation; for property is not entailed. Convenience, dura- bility, utility, harmony—qualities which may be summed up in the word expression—should govern absolutely in forming an American home. ‘31 481 Suggestions for Builders,— The Site—The relative position of the house on the farm is a matter of much importance. Fitness is the first consideration. The resi- dence need not necessarily be located on the highest hill, though the ground should decline on all sides. “The house,” says ALLEN, “should so stand as to present an agreeable aspect from the main points at which it is seen, or the thoroughfares by which it is approached. It should have an unmistakable front, sides, and rear; and the uses to which its various parts are applied should distinctly appear in its outward char- acter. If a site on the estate command a pras- pect of singular beauty, other things equal, the dwelling should embrace it; if the luxury of a stream, or a sheet of water in repose, present itself, it should, if possible, be enjoyed;-if the shade and protection of a grove be near, its benefits should be included.” “In England,” says WHEELER, in Rural Homes, “it is very common to face the building, not due north and south, east and west, but to place it diagonally, so that the sun shall, in a greater or less degree, have access to each side of the house. This plan has advantages, which recommend its adoption in some cases here. Although the southern side of the house has, in warm weather, the sun upon its front for a longer portion of the day than any other, it is nevertheless the most desirable for occupancy. A breeze almost always, even in the hottest sunshine, rustles from the south, and the even, steady light, although bright and accompanied with Properly contrived blinds will sereen the sun, and due regard to heat, is cheerful. the position of doors, windows, and ventilating valves, will secure a constant change of air within the rooms. “As a general rule, the entrance hall should not open toward the north, but toward the east, south, or west; if, however, any local peculiar- ity compels the necessity of the northern side being chosen, take care that the hall door is sereened by a porch, closed toward the north, and open through on the two sides, as then, though the door be thrown back, the entrance of the cold air will he prevented.” The Surroundings. —In this country, the houses all seem to huddle upon the road. This habit, which resulted at first, perhaps from the unprotected and lonely condition of the early settlers, is perpetuated by the gregarious char- acter of our people. We crowd down upon the highway, that we may “see folks.” This 482 ARCHITECTURE OF tends to disquiet, while it sacrifices the inex- pensive beauty which a farm-house borrows from a spacious and well-kept lawn in its front. Moreover, a good house standing ten rods from the highway, with a pleasant grass plot inter- vening, will almost always sell at a higher price, and more readily, than a house precisely similar, located immediately upon the road, Another thing: no country house is fit to live in if it have not trees near it—the larger the better. We would rather occupy a cabin em- bowered in trees and evergreens, than such a stately mansion as we have seen, standing high and dry ona naked hill, freezing in Winter and broiling in Summer, looking as desolate as if it had been blown there by some malevolent hurricane, But trees should not be too near; when stand- ing so as to overshadow the house, they create an unwholesome dampness, not only injuring the walls, and roof, and making the cistern water impure, but impairing the health of the occu- pants. Close to the house, trees are pernicious ; at a little distance, they are wholesome, orna- mental, and desirable. They should never be near enough to intercept the rays of the sun; there is no more important curative agent, and some sunshine should be introduced, every day of the year, into as many rooms as possible. Small lattice-work before the door and around the windows, for creeping vines, add much to value and beauty. A neat, pleasant-looking place is always salable. Horticulture, especi- ally that phase of it which decorates the lawn, is the poetry of farming, and it is a poetry that returns compound interest. The Shape——A curve is the line of beauty; but, in architecture, ideal beauty is subordinate to the beauty of utility. So square houses, square doors, square windows, or at least, those constructed on right angles, proving generally the most useful, are therefore regarded as most comely. For the same reason, houses longer than they are wide, or rambling into wings, being found more economically divisable into well-lighted rooms, become the most agreeable to the eye. This diversity gives to a residence an animated and social appearance, and should not be disregarded. The Roof—Slate roofs are handsome and durable, and are now much used in the Eastern States ; their practicability in different sections of the country will, of course, depend on the cost of the material. As to form, the Mansard French roof is coming rapidly into favor, with such modifications as adapt it to American THE HOMESTEAD: houses without sacrificing its unique beauty. Searcely anything else is now used to cover houses in the vicinity of Boston. The upper roof is almost flat; the lower, nearly perpen- dicular. The Scientific American says: “All the new houses which have been built in New York re- cently, have what are.termed flat roofs; that is, the roof is nearly level and slants but slightly from one side tothe other. The old huge peaked roofs are fast disappearing; we wonder how they ever came into use. The inventor of them must haye been a man full of conical ideas. The flat roofs are covered with tin, and well painted. If a fire takes place in a building, it is easy to walk and work on the flat roof, so as to command the fire if it be in the adjacent building; this can not be done on the peaked roofs, Flat roofs are cheaper and more con- venient in every respect. We advise all those who intend to build new houses, to have flat roofs tothem. It is far better to have a flush story at the top of a building than a peaked, cramped-up garret which is only comfortable for traveling on the hands and knees.” The Color.—A. J. DowNn1NG protests heartily against the use of white paint on houses, as “entirely unsuitable and in bad taste.” He thinks that the glaring nature of this color, when seen in contrast with the soft green of foliage, renders it extremely unpleasant to an eye attuned to harmony of coloring.” But he will find many who will protest against his “protest.” If “harmony of coloring” in the sense of identity of coloring, be really desira- ble, why not paint all houses green—especially such as are to be oceupied only in the Summer ? Nothing could be in worse taste; green blinds are bad enough. It seems to us that white, as a color for houses, is often well chosen. This very “con- trast with the soft green of foliage” produces harmony in many landscapes. It is, perhaps, too generally used; with some surroundings the color will seem more in keeping, if toned down from the glare of white to some pleasant neutral shade. Straw, and the different drabs are agreeable to the eye, and are now much used. Flash is vulgar, and painting wood to imitate stone, is not only vulgar, but a fraud on art. Paint late in Autumn, not during the hot season. It will harden twice as well, and last twice as long. The Interior.—The sitting, or living room, should be the largest and pleasantest room in the house. It should always be located at the THE HOUSE, ETC. front, and on the side where the sun will enter the windows. All means should be employed to render it attractive, comfortable, and con- venient, for it is generally used for the dining as well as sitting-room, and is occupied for more hours a day than any other apartment. That indispensable nuisance, a parlor, may be a secondary consideration; it has an air of frigid propriety and disuse, and the north side of the house is good enough for it. The kitchen should be spacious, and the pantry and wash- room handy. There can hardly be too many closets. Every house where civilized beings live ought to be from nine to twelve feet be- tween joints. The Library.—Every house whose occupants pretend to any degree of refinement ought to have a room known as the library or study. Especially should every farm-house be so fitted. This room is quite as important as the parlor. Almost anything else should be sacriffced to it. It need not be lagge, but it must be comfortable and somewhat secluded, and it should be con- veniently furnished. Here there should be maps, shelves for the books, boxes or files for the agricultural papers, and a good desk with apartments for letters, memorandum books wherein to record farm experiments, and a blotter and ledger wherein to keep the farm accounts with animals, tields,and crops. Farm- ers ought to read more, write more, and think more; they have no business to be clods or boors. With such a room as this made attract- ive, farmer’s boys will be less disposed to stroll about during the long evenings of Winter, or spend their time in idle talk or bar-rooms, stores, and other places where the idle and un- cultivated assemble, and where they often ac- quire the first lessons in smoking, drinking, and gaming. And they will be far more likely to spend their lives on the old homestead, too. Size of Rooms.—Rooms ought to be of a size to fit carpeting. This point is uniformly over- looked by the hand-books of architecture. Car- peting is, ordinarily, a yard wide, and three- fourths of the patterns are so figured as to re- quire cutting by the yard to make them match, There is not only a sacrificing of harmony but a waste of dollars in carpeting every room whose width is not an exact multiple of a yard—either nine, twelve, fifteen, or eighteen feet. If house-builders and architects would remember this, it would save husbands much expense and housewives much annoyance. Light.—Do not so arrange your house as to violate God’s first command. Give it many 453 windows, and then, oh housewife, keep your blinds open during the day, and your curtains drawn aside. If you let in the sun freely, it may “fade the carpets ;” but if you don’t it will be sure to fade the children and their mother. The sun is a good physician; he has never had due credit for his curative qualities—for the bright eyes and rosy cheeks that come from his healing baths. Do you know how puny is the growth of a potato-vine along the darkened cellar wall? Such is the health of human be- ings living where sunshine is intercepted by the window’s drapery. So dark wall-paper is not only gloomy, but it is physically unwhole- Let in the sun!—for with it come cheerfulness and strength. A dark room is an enemy of good health, good temper, and good morals. some. Chimmeys.—The household calamity of smoky chimneys can generally be prevented in building new houses, by making a bulge in the flue, so that it will be smallest at top and largest in the middle. Thus, let the throat of the chimney be so constructed that immediately inside of it the space shall be abruptly in- creased several inches in length and breadth. Let it increase upward for two or three feet, and then be gradnally “drawn in” to the di- mensions necessary, and let the whele inside of | . . . the chimney be plastered with cement, which will harden with time. There should be a door opposite every fire- place. This diminishes the chances of having a smoky chimney, for in fire-time of year the cold air will be always entering the room at the crevices of the door, and in the direction of the fire-place, and upward through the chimney. The draught of a chimney may be increased by the simple expedient of cutting out a small part of the floor with a saw, so that it may be easily replaced after the fire is kindled. No chimney will “draw” well if there is any wall or other thing near which is higher than the chimney itself. A room that has a fire should always be well yentilated. An open door, connecting two rooms which have fires, will frequently cause one to smoke, the stronger fire robbing the weaker of its sup- ply of fresh air. So of two stoves on different floors, connecting with the same chimney; if there be a fire in only one, it will be likely to smoke, unless the other be nearly air-tight. The higher a chimney is, and the hotter its air-column can be kept, the better its draught. To prevent the wind from entering chimneys, 484 cooling the air and driving the smoke down, chimneys are sometimes surmounted with cowls that turn with the wind, and so assist the dis- charge of smoke. One of the latest plans is to construet the) chimney with an outer shell, so arranged that an air space is provided around the chimney, this space forming a kind of ventilating flue for the building. The shell has its upper end extended above that of the chimney, and pro- yided with openings, through which the wind may pass in horizontal currents. These cur- rents fall against the chimney, and are turned in an upward direction, and thus promote the draught. In building a chimney put a quantity of salt into the mortar with which the courses of brick are to be laid. The effect will be that there will never be any accuraulation of soot in that chimney. The philosophy is thus stated: The salt in the portion of mortar which is exposed absorbs moisture every damp day. The soot thus becoming damp falls down the fire-place, and may be remoyed with the ashes. Let every builder watch the carpenters and insist that they put no wood-work about chim- neys to expose the house to destruction by fire. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been lost by such carelessness. Chimneys, moreover, should always stand with a firm base on the ground, Cellars—We copy from the Herald of Health the following excellent counsel: ‘‘ Useful as they are, yet cellars are almost universally manulactories of foul air, which, finding its way upward, by means of doors, windows, stairways, and crevices in the floors, diffuses its noxidas elements through the rooms above, and so becomes a fruitful source of disease, besides affording a harbor for rats and mice. The sur- face of the earth is filled with decomposable substances, and whenever air is confined to any spot, it becomes saturated with various exha- lations deleterious to health. Means must be provided, therefore, for their thorough venti- lation, or cellars must be totally abandoned. A cellar, fully to serve its purposes, should be cool in Summer, impervious to frost in Winter, and at all times free from moisture. The walls should rise one or two feet at least above the surrounding ground, and should be laid in good lime-mortar, or at least pointed with it. The thickness of the wall should not be less than fifteen or eighteen inches; and if the house walls above be built of brick or stone, two feet is preferable. ARCHITECTURE OF THE HOMESTEAD: “The cellar should have a connecting drain at its lowest corner, which should be kept free from obstruction; and each room in it shonld have at least two sliding windows, to secure a good circulation of air. In very cold climates those portions of the wall above the ground should be double, either by means of a distinct thin wall, on the outside, or by lathing and plastering imside, and be furnished with double windows, as a further security against the frost. An outside door, covering a flight of steps, is desirable in every cellar, and especially in one connected with a farm-house. With proper care, all the walls and their connecting surfaces with the ceilings above, may be made so perfectly tight as to prevent the egress and ingress of vermin; and keeping the cellar clean from rubbish and decaying yegetable matter will insure neatness, sweetness, and | health.” Mortar for Cellar Floors.—A correspondent says: “Ihave seen a great number of plaster or mortar floors, but I never faw one equal to the one in my cellar, not only for hardness and durability but for cost of materials. It is without a single crack and as hard as a stone. It was made in the following manner: When the plastering of my house was finished I found a quantity of refuse lime, which had not slaked soon enough for them, thrown out of the box, and after lying there a few weeks had all become slaked, except a few lumps of unburnt limestone; the largest of these I threw out. I then cast the lime into a large box, or ‘mortar bed,’ adding a little water, and worked it well with the tools the plasterers had left The sand I used for plastering was colleeted from the roads, and consequently contained much small stone. The plasterers, of course, riddled it so that I had several loads of these small stones, ete., lying near the ‘mortar bed” TI threw this into the bed and mixed it with the lime; proportion, seven or eight parts to one of lime. I am aware that those who know nothing of the chemical affinity of lime for ear- bonic acid and silex, would think of improving their floor by adding a larger proportion of lime, especially if they had plenty of it at hand. This would ruin their floor; put it on the land, or let it lie a nuisance sooner than spoil the floor with it. “Make the mortar stiff enough to bear wheeling in a barrow, lay it about three inches thick, making it the whole thickness as you proceed, beginning at the side opposite “the door, and with a corn hoe held with the handle BALLOON perpendicular, hit it on the top gently, so as to level the surface, and unite each barrowful My cellar floor has been newly with the last laid. laid six or eight years, and, when washed, the small stones may be seen (worn off level) as close to each other as they would be in a bucket of water, and as firm as shells in a block of marbie.” Balloon Frames. — “Ballooning,” in architecture, is a term at first applied in de- rision to a cheap method of framing, believed to result in buildings frail and unsubstantial, and now applied technically to designate the same method, found to result in frames light and substantial. Balloon framing had no in- ventor; it grew from the sudden necessity of building rapidly and cheaply, in frontier States, where there was plenty of light lumber but few carpenters. A balloon frame is built wholly of studs, generally two by four inches, two being set side by side for the uprights at the corners, and the whole frame nailed firmly together. It built without a mortice or tenon, or pin or is brace; without an auger or chisel; generally, | also, without a joiner, for an intelligent man, who ean lay a right-angle with a square, and hang a plumb-line perpendicularly, can serve as his own mechanic. It is very simple. That which has hitherto called out a whole neighborhood to the “rais- ing,” and required a vast expenditure of labor, time, noise, and cider, can, in the adoption of the balloon frame, be done with all the quiet- ness and security of an ordinary day’s work. And a man and boy can now attain, with ease, the same results that twenty men could on an old-fashioned frame. We avail ourselves of quotations from an ex- cellent essay on this subject by GrorGr FE. Woopwarp, a New York architect: “The balloon frame fulfills all the neces- sary conditions of cheapness, protection, and strength. To these circumstances we must award the early conception of this frame, which, with subsequent additions and improve- ments, has led to its universal adoption for wooden buildings of every class throughout the States and cities of the West, and on the Pacifie coast. “The balloon frame has for more than twenty years been before the building public. Its suc- cess, adaptability, and practicability have been fully demonstrated. Its simple, effective, and economical manner of construction has very FRAMES. 485 materially aided the rapid settlement of the West, and placed the art of building, to a great extent, within the control of the pioneer. That necessity, which must do without the aid of the mechanie, or the knowledge of his skill, has developed a principle in construction that has sufficient merit to warrant its use by all who wish to erect, in a cheap and substantial manner, any class of wooden buildings. “Tike all successful movements, which thrive on their own merits, the balloon frame has passed through and survived the ridicule and abuse of all who have seen fit to attack it, and may be reckoned among the prominent inven- tions of the present generation—an invention neither fostered nor developed by any hope of great rewards, but which plainly and boldly acknowledges its origin in necessity, “The sills are generally three by eight inches, halved at the ends or corners, and nailed to- gether with large nails. Having laid the sills upon the foundation, the next thing in order is to put up the studding. Use four by four studs for corners and door-posts, or spike two by four studs together, stand them up, set them plumb, and with stay laths secure them in position. Set up the intermediate studs, which are two by four inches, and sixteen inches between cen- ters, toe or nail them diagonally to the sill. Then put in the floor joists for first floor, each joist to be placed alongside each stud, and nailed to it and to the sill, Next measure the height to ceiling, and with a chalk line wark it around the entire range of studding; below the ceiling line notch each stud @ne inch deep and four inches wide, and into this, flush with the inside face of the studding, nail an inch strip four inches wide. This notch may be cut before putting up the studs. If the frame be lined on the inside, it will not be necessary to notch the strip into the studs, but simply to nail it to the studding; the object of notching the studding is to present a flush surface for lathing,.as well as to form a shoulder or bear- ing necessary to sustain the second floor; both of these are accomplished by lining inside the studding. In this rest the joists of the second floor, the ends of which come flush to the out- side face of the studding, and both ends of the joist are securely nailed to each stud. The bear- ing of the joist below is close by the stud, and the inch strip rests on a shoulder or lower side of the notch cut to receive it. This bearing is so strong that the joists will break before it would yield. Having reached the top of the building, each stud is sawed off to an equal height; if any 485 are too short they are spliced by placing one on top of the other, and nailing a strip of inch board on both sides. The wall plate, two by four inches, is laid flat on top of the studding, UIT AT 77 LULU TL I NINE SSAA NIN AN S SIs S PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF THE BALLOON FRAME. and nailed to each stud; the rafters are then put on; they are notched, allowing the ends to project outside for cornice, etc. The bearing of each rafter comes directly over the top of each stud, and is nailed to it. “A balloon frame looks light, and its name was given in contempt by those old fogy me- chanies who had been brought up to rob a stick of timber of all its strength and durability by cutting it full of mortices, tenons, and auger holes, and thef supposing it to be stronger than a far lighter stick differently applied, and with all its capabilities unimpaired. “Properly constructed, and with timber adapted to its purposes, it will stand securely against the fury of the elements, and answer every purpose that an old-fashioned timber frame is calculated to fulfil. MANNER OF FRAMING PARTITIONS THAT ReN Two OR More Srorigs. “Tn the construction of balloon frame-houses, the studs for those partitions that run through ARCHITECTURE OF THE HOMESTEAD: the building are net cut separately for each floor, as in the old mode of framing, but are preserved entire, or spliced, when required, in the same manner as the outside frame. The studs pass between the joists of each floor, which rest upon a girt one by four inches, let into the studs. The joists are locked over this girt, by cutting an inch notch on the under side, and lap each other from eight inches to one foot, as shown in the preceding figure, Z “Houses and barns, and even warehouses, depots, and other buildings of a very large size, can be made stronger by using the balloon frame, instead of the heavy timber frame. Those who prefer to err on the right side, ean get unneces- sary strength by using deeper studding, placing them closer together, putting in one or more rows of bridging, and as many diagonal ribs as they like. In large buildings there is no say- ing in timber, only the substitution of small sizes for large—the great saving is in the labor, which is quite important. “The following are some of the adyantages claimed for the balloon frame: “1. The whole labor of framing is dispensed with. “2. It is a far cheaper frame to raise. “3. It is stronger and more durable than any other frame, “4 Any stick can be removed, and another put in its place, without disturbing the strength of those remaining—in faet, the whole building can be renewed, stick by stick. “5, It is adapted to every style of building, and better adapted for all irregular forms. “6. It is forty per cent. cheaper than any other known style of frame. j “7. It embraces strength, security, comfort, and economy, and can be put up without the aid of a mechanic.” A Cheap Brick House.— Tuomas Tasker, of Steuben county, Indiana, writes thus to the American Institute Farmers’ Club, telling how he made his own brick for his house: “T dug a cirele large enough for a yoke of oxen to work in. I then removed the loam, dug the clay one foot deep—any ordinary clay will answer. I treaded this clay with oxen, and added some straw cut three or four inches long. After the clay was well tempered by working it with cattle, the material was duly prepared for making brick. I then constructed a mold twelve inches long, six inches wide, and four inches thick. Two molds are enough, as one man will mold as fast as another man LABORERS’ will carry away. The bricks are placed upon the level ground, where they are suffered to dry two days, turning them up edgewise the second day; then packed in a pile, protected from the rain, and left to dry ten or twelve days. In all cases, before commencing the walls of the first story, dig down to solid foun- dation, and fill up with stone to at least one foot above the level of the surface of the ground; and if the stone of the foundation were laid with lime-mortar, so much the better, although mine is not laid with anything. are not burned in the sun. You can make your molds larger or smaller as you like. “T have built a house twenty-four feet square, with a wing twelve feet, and I would not trade it for any frame house of the same size that I have seen, and I am satisfied a house built of unburned brick don’t cost half as much as a frame, and any laboring man ean build his own house. I am satisfied that a house of un- burned brick ean be built for less than a log cabin of the same size, and it is worth five log cabins.” Artificial Stome.—One of the prospect- ive discoveries of the age seems to be that of artificial stone, by recombining the common elements of decomposed rocks, so as to form durable material for building, and other pur- poses. Experiments within a few years, en- courage the hope that the time will come when we shall have beautiful and durable material from sand and gravel, at cheaper rates than it can now be afforded in common brick. Al- ready one specimen of building block has been made by a hard-pressed compound of sand and lime; another by sand, plaster, and blood; another of sand and the silicate of soda, ca- pable of being moulded, either porous or com- pact. The Chicago Magazine says: “A chemist— Professor HarpINGE—has discovered a process by which all rock—whether granite or flint— can be turned into liquid at the rate of twenty- five tons in twelve hours—then colored and molded into blocks of any shape or size, for building purposes. The material is beautiful beyond description, cheaper than common brick, and after preparation becomes solid as iron.” It can not, we trust, be long before some hand- some building material can be produced from pulverized or liquefied rock; so cheaply as to be within the reach of all. Laborers’ Cottages,— There is no These bricks | COTTAGES. 487 more reason why a farmer should expect to board all his hired men than why a manufact- urer or merchant should. Why should a farm- er’s wife alone be made a drudge of, when plain cottages can be so cheaply erected for the oecu- pancy of the laborers who do the work of the farm? It is widely felt that the want of do- mestic seclusion and comfort occasioned by the apparent necessity of “feeding the hired men,” renders the farmer’s home unnecessarily re- pulsive to young people. Girls, especially, must regard with no little dread, a prospective life of drudgery in pro- viding three meals a day for five to twenty hungry, sweaty, and uncleanly men; in being compelled to incorporate them into the family, to give them a place at the evening fire-side, to do their washing and to furnish them with room night and day. They know very well from observation, that the wives of mechanies and shop-keepers often preserve the bloom and elasticity of youth, long after farmers’ wives of the same age have become pale, wrinkled and bent, under the accumulated labors of kitchen life. Rural Affairs says: “Having actually tried the experiment of separate cottages for twenty years, we earnestly commend it to others; and we are sure that if farmers’ daughters, before they give an affirmative answer to the young men who apply for their heart and hand, would require the erection of such cottages as a con- dition of matrimonial engagement, a reforma- tion would rapidly take place. There are many advantages in hiring men with families. They are generally more steady, reliable and uniform. They will usually take a portion of their wages in provisions for their family sup- plies. Their wives, having comparatively little to do, can provide their meals at less cost than the same can be done by the hired ‘help’ of the farmer, and consequently such laborers gen- erally charge but little more for their own board than the actual cost of the provisions.” No farmer with proper consideration for his wife, will, if it ean be avoided, introduce his hired men as permanent members of the house- hold, for it totally breaks up and destroys the family relation. The farm-house that should be and might be a happy home, becomes a mere boarding-house in which the natural relations are reversed, for the husband is steward, the wife cook, and the hired men and children the independent boarders. The employed become the served, and the employers the servants. Such a condition of things is intolerable to a 488 well-bred woman, and quite incompatible with the existence of genuine home comfort. For the highest personal comfort, the farm ought to be just large enough for the labor of the owner and his boys, and the farm-house just large enough for the occupation of a growing family, with a generous margin for hospitality. If the farm needs to be larger than this, let not the homestead be invaded by “the hired men,” but let them be housed and fed in cot- tages built for them. This arrangement will prove infinitely more agreeable to all; and more economical, too, for a married workman can board himself, in his own way, much cheaper than his employer can board him, while he can also keep the unmarried hired men on terms equally advantageous to all. While the practice we have deprecated exists, we shall not be surprised to see farmers’ sons rebelling against their lot and flying to cities, or the daughters of farmers setting their caps for merchants, ministers, doctors, lawyers, car- penters, teachers, tailors, tinkers—anybody but their agricultural neighbors. They see that, while their fathers have made money, their mothers are furrowed with premature age, be- cause they have been drudges all their lives, bent to a furious rotation of scrubbing, ironing, baking, stewing, sewing—two-thirds of it for) “the hired men.” Mr. Tuomas says he heard a most worthy and intelligent woman, who at fifty looked old enough for seventy, remark, that at a fair estimate she had cooked at least fifty tons of food for laboring men. What wonder that so many women think with a shudder of spending a life-time in the role of farmers’ wives? Is it not high time that agri- culture was made pleasant and attractive to young people, as it is in its nature, honorable and profitable? The wretched community system has pre-| vailed long enough in America, to the amaze- ment of foreigners and the disgust of our own people; it is high time that every farmer with a particle of personal sensibility or indepen- : : f Al dence, or with any respect for the rights of his) companion, should adopt a better way. Wher- eyer this system of separation has been tried, it has resulted in the increased thrift of the farmer, the emancipation of his wife, and an accession of comfort and self-respect to the laborer. A Few Brief Rules,—The following rules to be observed in building houses, may afford some useful suggestions to those about to engage in ech an undertaking: — }at hand. ARCHITECTURE OF THE HOMESTEAD: 1. Keep the cost within the means. It is better to have a small, plain house paid for, than a large, fine house, with a cupola and mortgage on it. Discriminate between rea needs and imaginary ones, 2. Select a convenient location rather than a showy one, if you can not combine the two. 3. Build of such good materials as are near An index is thus afforded to the re- sources of the region, with the addition of economy over the use of such as are “far brought and dear bought.” 4. Prefer lasting to perishable materials, even if more costly. A small well-built erec- tion is better than a large decaying shell. 5. Discard all gingerbread-work, and adopt \a plain, neat, and tasteful appearance in every part. Jar more true taste is evinced by proper forms and just proportions than by any amount |of tinsel and peacock decorations. 6. Where convenient or practicable, let, the plan be so devised that additions may be sub- sequently made, without distorting the whole. 7. In all country houses, from the cottage to the palace, let the kitchen (a most important apartment) always be on a level with the main floor. It requires more force to raise a hundred pounds ten feet upward, whether it be the hu- man frame or an assortment of eatables, than to carry the same weight one hundred feet on alevel. To do it fifty times a day is a serious task. Where the mistress superintends her own kitchen, it should be of easy access. 8. Every entrance from without should open into some entry, lobby, or hall, to prevent the direct ingress of cold air into rooms, and to secure suflicient privacy. 9. Flat roofs should be adopted only with metallic covering. Shingles need a steeper in- clination to prevent the accumulation of snow, leakage, and decay—more so than is frequently adopted. 10. Always reserve ten per cent. of cost for ornamenting the lawn. A hundred dollars in evergreens, grading, turfing, and rustic seats will add more to the market value of a place than thrice that sum expended on the house itself. Designs.—We present herewith a few de- signs for neat dwellings, aiming to select such as will be useful to those about to build. Dif- ferent styles and sizes will be found represented, and also different prices, from the plain and cheap to the moderately expensive, omitting, however, the very elaborate and ornate. For ” FARM-HOUSES, these our readers are indebted (with the ex- ceptions mentioned) to Tucker's Rural Affairs, Albany, an annual publication of the highest value to the farmer. Irauran FARM-Hovse. This design exhibits a dwelling expressive of an air of modest and refined neatness, free from any bold or prominent peculiarity of architec- ture. Its general air is that of the Italian style, presenting the varied outline and free- dom from stiffness for which this mode of building is distinguished, but without a rigid adherence to architectural rules. It is intended for a refined family in moderate circumstances, either as a farm or suburban residence. With- out any attempt at costly ornament, it aims to give atasteful exterior. A profusion of decora- 489 tion, or, as commonly termed, “gingerbread ” is one of the most common faults in our work, newer country dwellings, generally showing a want of architectural taste. If the family dine in the sitting or living- room, the dining-room given in the plan below may be omitted, or it may be pushed back twenty feet and divided into a dairy and wash- room—the living-room opening upon a small veranda. The second floor can be arranged to suit the judgment of the builder. VERANDA yoldvd Nv 1350798 Avina HHH “"NVTqd INQOUY 395vssvd eel WOOY ONIAN N3HOLID ONINIG WOOYONILUS | ‘oka House with Curn Roor. This cut is given by E. C. GARDNER, in Hearth and Home, as “a cheap dwelling- house.” The designer estimates that if the main building were 22 by 30 feet, wing 16 by 20 feet, first story 10 feet high, and second story 9, it would cost, in these high times, $2,500. @ e, ee: If the upper roof had a flatter pitch, it would represent, pretty accurately, the French-roof houses now (1869) so popular in the New England States. The annexed cut shows a very conyenient arrangement of rooms. The author says: ‘Two people dwelling to- gether in harmony do not more surely grow to 490 ARCHITECLUKE OF look alike than two apartments placed in close communication. This is one of the very few merits of folding or sliding doors. By ex- tending the hospitable table into the large bay-window, the sitting-room becomes a capa- cious dining-hall. Pantry, cellar-stairs, and back stairway are all handy, and, if desired, a nort]fvest passage may be made from the kitchen to the bed-room through the closet. Upon the second floor, which is of the same size as the first, there are four good chambers. Of closets there are four up stairs, the family bed-room rejoices in two—a luxury which one side of the house will surely appreciate; a china closet from sitting-room and cupboard from kitchen. Piazza and porches as may be needed.” "20014 aNooIg The FRONTISPIECE and accompanying plans of an IRREGULAR Country House are adapt- ed from CALVERT VaAvx’s work on “ Villas and Cottages,” a very complete and perfect treatise on the better class of country houses, and pos- sessing the rare merit of combining compact and convenient plans with neat and picturesque exteriors. In the plan of the first floor, the library may be turned into a family bed-room and nursery in those country houses where the latter seems to be more needed. : In the chamber plan will be found five bed- rooms, and the indispensable bath-room and water-closet; and in the wing two bed-rooms, a linen-press, and a housemaid’s sink. All these rooms are supplied with registers for the egress of foul air. In the garret over the bath-room is a large well-lighted linen-room , and as this THE HOMESTEAD: is planned on the half-landing, it is very easy of access from the chamber floor. This house can be built in these times for $3000 to $4000, according to finish. PeRsPecTIVE VIEW. In this design, GEorGE D. Ranp, of Hart- ford, furnishes the plan of a pleasant country- house, neither pretentious nor very expensive, but with large, airy rooms, and first-class ac- commodations, TERRACE VONYu3A V1vH Auvusil LXS) woow a3a jj ‘IVdIONIUDD is =I ° = m = *a00T] Tn its exterior this house is somewhat irreg- ular, yet so arranged that the parts harmonize a VA TINY VENTILATION, with each other, and join together without those expensive and troublesome gutters which are often the accompaniment of many stylish houses. The main hall and a portion of the kitchen are ina lean-to, which is carried forward far encugh to form the wide yeranda. A corner of the dining-room and the adjacent alcove, are formed in the same way on the opposite side. The remaining peculiarities of the design are read- ily seen from the accompanying plans. The author says: “This house ean be built for $2500 ’—but that was in 1859. PLEASANT CoTTAGE. We give one more design of a house cost- ing some $1200 or $1500, but which possesses | several important conveniences. It meets some | of the wants of refined domestic life, although in a small and humble way. LIVING.R, 15X15 CLOSET PrincIPAL Foor. CHAMBER PLAN. Ventilation.—If, as OLtveR WENDELL Hoxmes tells us, we inspire and expire forty hogsheads of air a day, rob it of some pounds of oxygen, and load it with other pounds of carbonic acid gas, we must need a very large | supply for our daily use. The ventilation of our houses, so as not to invite the opposite peril, draughts of cold air, is easily and cheaply accomplished; yet the lack of it is still the greatest fault of American country homes. It is a notorious and undeniable fact, that the old-time hardy race of New England farmers, who used to drink cider and crack nuts and ae * > % i 491 jokes around the old-fashioned mammoth fire- places, so vividly engraven upon our mind, have passed away and left a puny, pale-faced race sitting around the stoves of modern-built country houses, close-fitting windows, and listed doors, shutting out the pure air of heaven, while man within, after breathing carbonic acid gas for a whole evening, wonders what makes him feel so languid and unfitted for the enjoy- ment of social intercourse with his family; but, as he is unable to arouse his spirits, he retires to rest in a room heated to the same degree, and just big enough to contain himself and wife, and children, which he closes almost as tight as though it were hermetically sealed; then buries himself in the soft embrace of a feather bed and pillows, and after ten hours of thus tempting death rather than rest, he won- ders what on earth makes him “feel so poorly of a morning.” There has been immense improvement in this matter within ten years, especially in the cities, but much remains to be done. No room should ever be constructed without permanent provis- ion for ventilation. Open windows are not sufficient, even when hung, as they should be, with cords and weights. It is to be remem- bered that one opening will not properly venti- ate. You can not take air out at one place without admitting air at some other place. It is known to be impossible to draw water freely from a barrel by merely making one opening, and it is equally impossible to draw air from a room which has but one opening. Therefore to ventilate a room, there must be an opening to admit air to supply the place of that which you wish to remove; if these two openings are not provided, the regurgitition through one will be an operation miserably inefficient, ut- terly unworthy of being called ventilation. Moreover, the impure air does not always rise; the heavier impure gases settle to the floor. Sometimes it is found difficult to warm a room, because the heat can not penetrate the dense strata of impure air stagnating below. ‘Every room, therefore, should be ventilated by an aperture near the ceiling, and another through the wash-board, both supplied with valves and communicating with the exter- nal air. Tt should not be necessary here to dwell upon the fact that by the repeated passage of the same air through the lungs, it may, though originally pure and wholesome, be so strongly impregnated with carbonic acid, and lose so much of its oxygen as to be rendered utterly ‘ 49% unfit for the continued maintenance of the rating process; so that the individual who continues to respire it, shortly becomes asphyx- jated. There are several well known cases in which tne speedy, death of a number of per- sons confined together has resulted from the neglect of the most ordinary precautions for supplying them with air. That of the “Black Hole of Calcutta,” which occurred in 1756, has acquired an unenyiable pre-eminence, owing to the very large proportion of the prisoners—one hundred and twenty-three out of one hundred and forty-six—who died during one night’s con- finement in a room eighteen feet square, only provided with two small windows. On the night of the first of December, 1848, the deck passengers on board the Irish steamer London- derry were ordered below by the captain, on account of the stormy character of the weather, and although they were crowded into a cabin far too small for their accommodation, the hatches were closed down upon them, The consequence of this was, that out of one hun- dred and filty individuals no fewer than seventy were suffocated before the morning, simply by being compelled to breathe the same air over and over. Ruttan’s System of Ventilation—The principle that pure air can not enter a room until the impure air is expelled to make room for it, is that on which H. Rurran’s system of warm- ing and ventilation is based. Cold air is ad- mitted in abundance to the “air warmer,” where it is warmed (not heated red hot and its life- sustaining qualities vitiated) then rises and is diffused through the room or rooms, by means of transoms near the ceiling; while the cold air being heavier, falls to the floor and escapes at or near the bottom of the room, passes be- neath the floor, and is collected into the foul air shaft and escapes into the outer air. The accompanying cut will show the arrangement of a house built on this plan. It represents a transverse section of a build- ing through the cellar and two stories, showing the mechanical arrangement of the openings for the in-coming ‘and out-going air, as ar- ranged on Rurran’s system. At a glance it will be seen that the cold air is received through the shaft A, which passes from thence through the Air Warmer B and Floor Register D into the hall above, and into the rooms through the Transoms E, thence down under the floor through the Open Buse F, and in the second story, between the floor and ceiling (space G), to the Hollow Partition H, down ARCHITECTURE OF THE HOMESTEAD: under the first floor (space K), thence into the Gathering Duct or Foul Air Receptacle M, thence into the Chimney or Exhaust Shaft N, and out through the Ventilating Cap P, into the open air. 1 FE 4 SEXYEAINTURENT a Gf He i SEcTION OF VENTILATED BUILDING. _ Erplanation.—A—Cold Air Duct. B—Air Warmer. C— Smoke Pipe leading into Chimney. D—Floor Register. 1D) --Transonts through which Hot Air passes into Rooms. ¥—Open Base. G—Space between Floor and. Ceiling. H—Hollow Partition through which Foul Air passes downward to space under first floor. K—Space between lower floor and cellar ceiling, showing furings on joists. M—Gathering Duct, or Foul Air Receptacle, opening into Exhaust Shaft or Smoke Flue, N—Chimney, or Exhaust. P—Emerson's Ventilating Cap, through which Smoke and Foul Air passes. Professor J. A. SEwWELL, of Normal Universi- ty, Illinois, presents this method in the Illinois State Agricultural Report for 1866, and com- mends it strongly. “In a room thus venti- lated,” he says, “the air can not become impure, because, as we have before stated, the carbonic acid exhaled from the lungs, being heavier, falls to the lower part of the room and eseapes, while pure air from without takes its place. Here, then, we have a perfect system of venti- lation. We secure a completete supply of pure warmed air, but without strong currents being established, while the impure air flows out con- tinually. Another great advantage gained by this plan is the equality of the temperature of the air. Actual experiment shows that there is not more than five degrees Fahrenheit difference between the temperature at the ceiling and that near the floor; while, in a room warmed by a stove, the difference is from twenty to forty-five degrees Fahrenheit. “This plan of passing the foul air out at or near the floor is emphatically new. The purest and warmest air is always at the top of the room; while the coldest and most impure is always at the bottom. If we make an opening at the top of a room, the purest and warmest «® @ BARNS air will escape; if at the bottom, the coldest | and most impure will escape. It would seem that it is not difficult to determine which of these two plans is the sensible and true one. It scarcely seems necessary to claim more for this system. If pure air isso absolutely essen- tial to physical well being, and if we can adopt any means, however expensive, to secure it, we might rest satisfied. “But it is far from being expensive; while, on the contrary, a building, whether large or small, can be constructed as cheaply with such provision for ventilation as without it, and can be warmed at much less expense than by any other plan. The cost, as compared with that of heating by steam, is less than one-third, as I have clearly demonstrated by a series of careful experi- ments and observations. As compared with the ordinary hot-air furnaces, it is not more than one-half. As compared with ordinary stoves, it is decidedly less. In short, this system seems to possess every possible advantage. It is simpler, cheaper; and, best of all, it gives what is so much needed—a full, complete, and constant supply of pure air; and I honestly believe that, when this system is generally adopted in our country, the rates of mortality will indicate a marked decrease.” It is proper to add that some careful observ- ers, who have examined Rurran’s method of ventilation, express to us doubts of its uniform practicability. It should be adopted with cau- tion until its merits are more definitely settled. BARNS AND OUT-BUILDINGS. Barns.—We build larger and better houses than our grandfathers did; but the improye- ment in barns is even more striking. Perhaps Pennsylvania exhibits a better average of barns than any other State; but in New York, Ohio, and some adjacent sections, it is getting to be fashionable to have a first-rate barn, and the best farmers cherish a growing pride in their accommodations for stock. Throughout the Eastern and Central States, large and excellent barns have greatly multiplied within fifteen years, and many of them are planned and built upon principles of sound science and the most rigid business economy. In the West and South—Nothing so shocks a thrifty Eastern farmer, traveling in the West, as the general lack of barns and out-houses upon otherwise well-improved farms. “And these men without stables,” he exclaims in i AND OUT-BUILDINGS. 493 astonishment, “are the nation’s beef pro- ducers! These prairies without barns are the nation’s granary!” It certainly is a slovenly state of things, to be corrected as soon as possible. Barns, in the oak openings of the West, were at first dispensed with from appar- ent necessity, existing partly in the scarcity of lumber, partly in lack of funds, and partly in the facility of starting a large farm all at once. And thus, stacking out, threshing, out the grain in rude shelters, and leaving the neat cattle to stand in the lee of a rail fence, or to fight for the sunny side of a straw pile, assumed the form, and, in many cases, the inveteracy of a habit. It is true that some Western farmers have made commendable progress, and shown much enterprise, in the building of barns, sheds, and stables for the proper housing of crops and cat- tle; but it is equally true that the many are still lamentably deficient in these conveniences, and storing and are so accustomed to doing without them that they do not know how much they would add to their comfort and thrift—answering at once the demands of humanity and economy. In Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska, a majority of the barns are simple poles or boards, forming a skeleton frame, cov- ered with heavy masses of straw from the stacks, excluding nearly all light and air from the in- terior; and in these horses, cattle, and sheep lie upon their filth, until the-whole structure is a mass of rotten straw, mold, and reeking damp- ness. In some cases these rude hovels are ar- ranged with some regard to cleanliness and healthfulness of stock, but most of them are damp, noisome, and repulsive in the extreme. The business of stock-raising in the West can neyer be sufficiently extended or properly re- munerative, until more attention is bestowed upon barns and cattle-sheds, In the South it is a little worse, and only a little, with no barns or shelter whatever. Ina good Winter, in the lee of fodder-stacks, the protection of a forest, or the driest hummocks of a canebrake, the animal may seek the range in a medium condition. Says the United States Commissioner of Agri- culture: “The attention of Southern farmers is called to the urgent necessity for a better pro- vision of forage for horses and cattle. ‘The most disheartening reports of weakness and death from lack of nutrition have been received —in some instances of horses and mules drop- ping down exhausted in the furrows. The mill- ions lost by such indifference and inefticiency, 494 ARCHITECTURE in the sacrifice of flesh, health, and ability to fatten, are scarcely less than the heavy losses now incurred by actual disease.” The Utility of a Barn.—It seems not to be conceded by all that a barn is an essential, or even a useful appendage to farming operations— else why the extensive districts of country, even above 40°, where it is almost entirely dispensed with? The amount of waste and loss resulting from exposure, is overlooked by careless man- agers. Cattle have been found, by numerous experiments in different latitudes, to remain in better order and spirits when stabled than when exposed, on two-thirds the food—one-third being consumed in sustaining the animal warmth in openair, Milch cows, well protected, give about one-third more milk on the same feed. For a herd of twenty cows, therefore, about ten tons of hay would be saved every Winter, and at least twenty-five dollars worth of milk—total, one hundred and fifty dollars. That part of the barn occupied by their stables would not cost more than twice thissum. In other words, the stables would pay for themselves biennially. They would, in short, pay $1,500 in ten years, besides interest; or with interest, about $2,750— double the entire cost of a fine barn. Northern sheep-raisers find that the saving of life and the increase in the amount of mut- ton and wool, afforded by good shelter, will pay for the erection of buildings every two years. By continuing these estimates, it will be dis- covered that, taking everything into account, the farmer who neglects to provide good farm- buildings, sinks a handsome fortune every twenty years, greater or less, according to the extent of his operations. Hon. FrEepERIC Warts, of Carlisle, Penn- sylvania, writes:* “There is, perhaps, no sec- tion of country in the United States where agri- culture is pursued with such profitable results as in the southeastern counties of Pennsylvania, including Cumberland, York, Dauphin, Leba- non, Laneaster, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Bucks, and Berks, where farms rarely exceed one hundred and fifty acres, and upon each of which the bank [or basement] barn is deemed as absolute a necessity as the plow itself.” Cor- roborative testimony, showing that it pays to have a good barn, is furnished by the best farm- ers of every State, and the claim must soon be admitted and acted on by all. Comfort is the first thing to be considered by * Essay on ‘‘ The Pennsylvania Barn,” U.S. Agricult- ural Report, lst. OF THE HOMESTEAD: the farmer, and elegance the second—unless his means are adequate to both; in which ease we propose not to excuse the plain log cabin, for the family, or the meaner log barn for the dependent brutes, while thousands are ex- pended for the acquisition of new and unneeded lands. No man has a right to keep more stock than he can comfortably provide for; such extray- agance is both cruel and unprofitable; and this rule has only temporary exceptions—eyen among the frontiersmen who, for a few years, may be compelled to “rough it.” Every farmer ought to have a warm roof where all his stock may find shelter, instead of leaving the poor brutes unhoused, suggesting the forlorn picture of THomson: “Tn awful gaze The cattle stand, and on the scowling heavens Cast a deploring eye—by man forsook, Who to the crowded cottage hies him fast.” Location —A barn should always be located lower than the house to which it is an append- age, and when practicable, on a southern-sloping hill-side, at a distance of ten or twelve rods—a growth of choice fruit or shade frees between. It ought to have a basement, windowed upon the north, and opening wide to the south upon the barn-yard; and the site ought to be such that whatever drainage there is shall be upon the owner’s land. It is desirable that every yard should have a firm clay bottom, and thera should be an excavated basin just below it, to catch the drippings and accommodate the in- dispensable compost-heap. This basin should always be covered. The bleakest yards can be made permanently comfortable in a few years by planting a tree-belt around them, If they were so surrounded, the cattle would keep cheaper and be less liable to disease. Size—Farmers should remember that barns are seldom found too large, and that one spacioug barn is generally thought to be more eco- nomical than a small barn, with half a dozer rambling sheds and cow-houses adjacent. Mr, Warts, describing the Pennsylvania barns says* “There is a principle which should enter into the construction of every barn, that its size should be in its height, while its height shuld not necessarily increase the amount of labor requisite for its use; for it will be readily per- ceived how much the weight of the grain itself must contribute to the capacity of the mow which holds it. A few feet of additional frame in height adds but little to the original cost; while to extend the frame horizontally (costs the same, and requires additional roofing, BARNS AND OUT-BUILDINGS. and the advantage of weight is comparatively | lost. This height of barn, and economy of labor in using it, is attained by constructing the inner frame with two sets of floors, one above the other, using the upper one to drive into, thus reaching with the loaded wagon the height of the middle of the mow, instead of the bottom of it, and thus, too, superseding the necessity of pitching grain to any great height.” Cleanliness about Barns —There is no reason why the barn and its accessories should not be cleanly. The yard ought to be a slightly con- eave basin, from which the liquid manure should be drawn off into a vat for its retention, already described ; and the solid excrement of the stock should be gathered, as often as once a day into the compost heap. Moreover, barns ought to be so constructed that all the hay-mows, granaries, stacks, and stables shall be easily accessible without passing through the yard at all. In this matter, the course which is furthest from neatness is also the most unprofitable. There are men who always travel with the odor of the stable clinging to their boots, whose approach is announced by a prophetic odor, but whose departure does not remove the evidence of their late presence. Their houses, from gar- ret to cellar, are redolent of their occupation. A cleanly woman, in such a house, is an object of pity. Many such women have patiently borne what was to them a serious and real hardship, rather than, by complaining, incur the charge of discontent with their proper sphere of life, as though industry and filth were inseparable. This is entirely unnecessary. The stables) may be so ventilated and contrived, and the cattle-yards so drained, that this nuisance may be avoided, with profit at the barn, as well as comfort at the house. To disregard this inces- sant disgust of a sensitive woman, because the olfactories of her more stolid husband are not 80 acute, is scarcely less than brutal. We copy the following essay from TUCKER’s Rural Affairs, as being a compact and compre- hensive treatise on Barn Building: Estimating the Capacity of Barns.—Very few farmers are aware of the precise amount of shel- ter needed for their crops, but lay their plans of out-buildings from vague conjecture or guess- ing. As a consequence, much of their products have to be stacked outside, after their buildings have been completed; and if additions are made, they must of necessity be put up at the! expense of convenient arrangement. A brief | 495 example will show how the capacity of the barn may be accurately adapted to the size of the farm. “Suppose, for example, that the farm con- tains one hundred acres, of which ninety are good arable land; and that one-third each are devoted to meadow, pasture, and grain. Ten acres of the latter may be corn, stored in a sep- arate building. The meadow should afford two tons per acre, and yield sixty tons; the sown grain, twenty acres, may yield a corresponding bulk of straw, or forty tons. The barn should, therefore, beside other matters, have a capacity for one hundred tons, or over one ton per acre as an average. Allowing five hundred cubic - feet for each ton (perhaps six hundred would be nearer) it would require a bay or mow forty feet long and nineteen feet wide for a ton and a half to each foot of depth. If twenty feet high, it would hold about thirty tons. If the barn were forty feet wide, with eighteen feet posts, and eight feet of basement, about forty-five tons could be stowed away in a bay reaching from basement to peak. Two such bays, or eqniva- lent space, would be required for the products of ninety well cultivated acres. Such a build- ing is much larger than is usually allowed ; and yet without it thére must be a large waste, as every farmer is aware who stacks his hay out ; or a large expenditure of labor in pitching and repitching sheaves of grain in threshing. “Tn addition to this, as we have already seen, there should be ample room for the sheltering of domestic animals. In estimating the space required, including feeding alleys, etc., a horse should have seventy-five square feet; a cow forty-five feet; and sheep about ten square feet each. The basement of a barn, therefore, forty by seventy-five feet in the clear, will stable thirty cattle and one hundred and fifty sheep, and a row of stalls across one end will afford room for eight horses. The thirty acres each of pasture and meadow, and the ten acres of corn-fodder, already spoken of, with a portion of grain and roots, would probably keep about this number of animals, and consequently a barn with a basement of less size than forty by seventy-five would be insufficient for the com- plete accommodation of such a farm in the highest state of cultivation. “Form of Barn Buildings—It has formerly been a practice, highly commended by writers, and adopted by farmers, to erect a series of small buildings in the form of a hollow square, affording an open space within this range, shel- tered from severe winds. But later experience, . 496 corroborated by reason, indicates the superior- ity of a single large building. There is more economy in the material for walls; more in the construction of roofs—a most expensive portion of farm structures—and a saving in the amount of labor, in feeding, threshing, and transferring straw and grain, when all are placed more com- pactly together. The best barns are those with three stories; and nearly three times as much accommodation is obtained thus under a single roof, as with the old mode of erecting only low and small buildings. An important object is to avoid needless labor in the transfer of the many tons of farm pro- * ducts which oceupy a barn. This object is bet- ter secured by a three-story barn than by any other, where a side-hill will admit of its eree- tion. The hay and grain are drawn directly to the upper floor, and nearly all is pitched downward, If properly arranged, the grain is all threshed on this floor, and both grain and straw go downward—the straw to a stack or bay, and the grain through an opening into the granary below. Hay is thrown down through shoots made for this purpose to the animals below, and oats are drawn off through a tube to the horses’ manger. The cleanings of the horse stables are cast throug! a trap door into the manure heap in the basement. These are the principal objects gained by such an arrange- ment; and as the labor of attendance must be repeated perpetually, it is very plain how great the saving must be over barns with only one floor, where hay, grain, manure, ete., have to be carried many feet horizontally, or thrown up- ward, How to Plana Barn—tThe first thing the farmer should do, who is about to erect a barn, is to ascertain what accommodation he wants. To determine the amount of space, has already been pointed out. He should next make a list of the different apartments required, which he may select from the following, comprising most of the objects usually sought: 1. Bay or mow for hay. 2. Bay or mow for unthreshed grain. 3. Bay or mow for straw. 4, Threshing floor. 5. Stables for horses. 6. Stables for cattle, and calf pens, 7. Shelter for sheep. 8. Root cellar. 9. Room for heavy tools and wagons. 10. Manure sheds. 11. Gra- nary. 12. Harness room. 13. Cisterns for rain- water. 14. Space for horse power. “Tf these are placed all on one level, care should be taken that those parts oftenest used should be nearest of access to each other; and that arrangements be made for drawing with a ARCHITECTURE OF THE HOMESTEAD: cart or wagon in removing or depositing al] heavy substances, as hay, grain, and manure. In filling the barn, for example, the wagon should go to the very spot where it is unloaded ; the cart should pass in the rear of all stalls to carry off manure ; and if many animals are fed in stables, the hay should be carted to the man- gers, instead of doing all of these labors by hand. “Tf there are two stories in the barn, the basement should contain [this plan to be adapt- ed, however, to the predominant work of the farm]: 1, Stable for cattle; 2, shelter for sheep; 3, root cellar; 4, coarse tool room; 5, manure shed; 6, cistern; 7, horse power. The princi- pal floor should contain: 1, Bays for hay and grain; 2, threshing floor; 3, stables for horses; 4, granary ; 5, harness room. “Wor three stories, these should be so ar- ranged that the basement may be similar to the two-story plan, and the second story should con- tain: 1, Bay for hay; 2, stables for horses; 3, granary; 4, harnessroom, The third, or upper story, 1, threshing floor, 2, continuation of hay bay ; 3, buys for grain; 4, openings to granary below. “Tn all cases there should be ventilators, shoots for hay, ladders to ascend bays, and stairs to quickly reach every part. Every bin in the granary should be graduated like the chemist’s assay-glass, so that the owner may, by a glance at the figures marked inside, see pre= cisely ho many bushels there are. A black- board should be in every granary, for marking or calculating; one in the stable, and a third to face the threshing floor. Basements.—It may be laid down asa general rule, that every barn should have a basement. Its only cost is excavation and walls, The building need not necessarily be on a hill-side, as a moderate artificial mound and a short bridge will afford ready access by teams to the floor above. Ifthe basement walls be of stone, the security they afford the sills against moist- ure and decay will save enough to pay for ex- cayation and constructing wagon way.” Cost of Barns—The Annual Register, for 1865, gave the following as a general rule, to be modi- fied in different localities, according to the price of lumber, labor and economical manage- ment on the part of the builder: “ A common, well-built farm barn, not planed or painted, with stone basement, will cost $1, for each two and a half to three square feet. For example, a barn measuring thirty-five by fifty feet,-and thus containing 1750 square feet, will cost from BARNS. $585 to $700. If planed and painted, and cor- respondingly finished, $1 will pay for about two square feet ; and it would consequently cost about $875. Farmers who are about to plan and erect barns, will find this approximate rule, derived from a number of actual bills of cost, of considerable convenience.” “A Barn for Fifty Acres or Less.— The plan here given is suflicient for a farm containing fifty acres under cultivation, and yielding good crops, With general or mixed husbandry. Tor special departments of farming it must be mod- ified toapply to circumstances. The plan of the principal floords given below. Being built on a moderately descending side hill, the threshing floor is easily accessible through the wide doors -PERSPECTIVE VIEW. on the further side, and the wagon, when un- loaded, is backed out. These doors should be each at least five feet wide, so as to give an opening of ten feet; and about twelve feet high, to allow ample space to drive in a load of hay. The door at the other end of the floor is about five feet wide, and is used for throwing out straw. A nar- row window on each side of this door, and one with a row of single horizontal lights over the large doors, keep the floor well lighted, when stormy weather re- quires the doors to be shut. The bay, on the right, will hold at least one ton of hay for every foot of height, or some twenty or twenty-five in all. By marking the feet on one of the front posts, the owner may know, at any time, with some degree of accuracy, how many tons of hay he hasin this bay, after it has be- 32 Prinetwat Iroor. A. A trap door, for throwing down manure, B. Closet, for harness, saddle, buffalo skins, etc. C. Tool room, E. Trap door for roots, F. Ladder to bay V. Ventilator and hay shoot. 8. Stairs to basement. straw and ae is 497 come well settled. The upright shaft, V, serves at the same time to ventilate the stables below, and for throwing down hay directly in front of the cow stables. It should be made of planed boards inside, that the hay may fall freely, and for the same reason it should be It should have a succession of board doors two feet or more square, hung on hinges so as to open down- ward, through the openings of which the hay is thrown down for the animals. When not in use, these doors should be shut by turn- ing upward and buttoning fast. A register should be placed in this shaft, to regulate the amount of air in severe weather, This may be a horizontal door at the bottom, dropping slightly larger downwards. open on hinges, and shut by hooking up closely or partially, on, different pins. “The Granary eight by thirteen feet, con- tains three bins, which have a part of the front boards moyeable or sliding, so that when all are in their place they may be filled six feet high. They will hold, in all, about three hundred and fifty bushels. The contents of each bin may be readily determined by meas- uring and multiplying the length, breadth, and depth, and dividing the number of cubic feet thus obtained by fifty-six, and multiplying by forty-five. The result will be bushels. It will, therefore, be most conyenient to make each bin even feet. “The Basement. This needs but little explanation. The cows are fed from the passage in front of them, into which the hay-shoot dis- charges, in front of w a < bE 7) = ro] 3° BASEMENT. which a door opens to the shed, for the ready feeding of animals outside. The two inner stalls, shut with gates, serve for calf pens when needed. Coarse implements, as sleds in Summer, and wagons and carts in Winter, may occupy the inclosed space adjoining, en- tered by a common gate. If a lever horse- power for threshing is used, it may be placed in the ‘shed’ in the basement; but it would be better to use a two-horse endless chain power, which may be placed on the floor above, and used for threshing, cutting stalks, and other purposes. The farmer may thus do his own threshing in Winter, and on stormy days, with the assistance of a hired man, not only thus saving much expense, but turning out a fresh supply of straw whenever needed. The 498 ARCHITECTURE OF cost of this barn, if built rough, would be} about $500; planed and painted, $600 or $700. “Barn for Seventy-Five to a Hundred Acres. This barn stands on a slight declivity, and is so constructed that a wagon may be driven through it, obviating the necessity of backing out. Its size is forty-two by sixty feet. (Its capacity may be increased to any extent by greater length.) The main floor is lighted by BAY 16X60 iA} (TTD FLOOR 13 X60 A. Trap door and shoot for straw and chaff. G. Granary. VV. Ventilators and hay shoots. 8. Stairs to basement. a long horizontal window over each double door; the trap door for straw turns down and buttons up under the girth; if desired, two more may be placed outside the ventilators. A smooth planed shoot below allows the straw to slide freely in the root and straw cellar below, and a cart of roots is dumped down this shoot. Roots will keep finely if a foot of ‘straw is first thrown down, then several feet of roots, then a few additional feet of straw or chaff to protect them from freezing. “The plan of the baseinent nearly explains itself. There are a number of sliding board windows in the rear of the cow stalls, for throwing out manure, and over a part of them glass windows for admitting light. It will be observed how accessible the roots, straw, and hay are in front; and that the manure in the - rear is easily drawn off by a cart, without the necessity of resorting to the wheelbarrow, ex- cept it be in cleaning the cow and calf pens. THE HOMESTEAD: “There are over three thousand square feet of surface on the roof, and about two thousand barrels of water fall annually upon it, in the foym of rain, affording five or six barrels daily for watering cattle, if watered by it, all the year round. The cisterns should, therefore, hold not less than five hundred barrels. (This size will not be needed if there are other sup- plies of water—or if the herd is not large enough to consume so much.) If these are each twenty-five feet long and six feet wide, they will hold this amount. They should he well built, of masonry and water-lime, and arched over the top like a stone culvert, so that there will never be danger of the embank- ment falling in. A good well in the middle of the passage, with a pump, would obviate the necessity of these cisterns. STRAW & ROOTS 10X36 PASSAGE 6X60 Ss rezkaa LF] I COW STABLE12X50 SHED & MANURE 14x60 BASEMENT. A. A. A. A. Boxes or pens for calves and cows with calf, 6 by 10 feet each. C. C. Cisterns under the wagon-way or abutments, from which water for cattle may be drawn through a cock, “The cost of this barn, built with rough boards, would be about eight hundred or nine hundred dollars; planed and painted, eleven hundred to twelve hundred dollars.” Attention is called to the fact that an enlarge- ment of this barn, by increasing its length, would provide accommodations for any addi- tional amount of land. All the principal doors should be suspended on rollers, instead of hung on hinges. BARN For A WESTERN Stock Farm. Professor J. W. Hoyt, for many years Secre- | barn with plan. It is large but admits almost tary of the Wisconsin Agricultural Society, gives the above perspective of a model battened any reduction. We have modified the plan to give each part a more definite purpose. / BARNS. SPARE ROOM oR HOSPITAL AWM BWIY HORS: TABLES 5 s e HORSE NVYIN3 YOOTd NIVW POWER —= GROUND oO m There are many who prefer this arrangement of the farm buildings in a hollow square. By such an adjustment the main part may be built first, and the wings be added as they shall be needed, Every part of the sheds is entered from the barn and the lawn by the open alley, which passes around the entire length in front of the animal, instead of by wading through the manure of the yard. Says Professor Hoyt: “True, a barn after the above model, with roomy bays, and stalls contiguous, with separate apartments for imple- ments such as plows, harrows, planters, cul- Ce BAY 18X60 FLOOR 4 14x60 CARRIAGE ROOM | GRANARY GROUND PLAN, 499 SPARE ROOM ~ oR on in | HOSPITAL Sy E STABLES MACHINERY PLAN. tivators harvesters, corn and cob mills, ete., with spare rooms also for the sick—a thing quite as important, proportionally, as that we have them for ourselyes—and, withal, sur- rounded by sheds provided with mangers, and with ‘lofts’ for fodder can not be built with- out much labor and a considerable sum of money; still, if the farmer will wisely plan the operations of the year, economize time and retrench all unnecessary expenditures, there is not one in ten, who could not, in two years, sur- round himself with these convenient essentials, and feel that he has made so much clear gain.” This cut represents the barn of T. S. GoLp, the efficient Secretary of the Con- - necticut Agricultural Society. The barn is 50 by 60 feet, 18 feet posts, and a base- ment, with manure shed 14 by 36 feet. Its length is east and west, basement open- ing to the south; land inclining to the southeast. The basement walls are two feet thick, and laid below the frost. Stone pillars, besides these walls, sup- port the barn. The barn with matched ceiling, and painted two coats of light yellow; roof, matched spruce and slated. The frame is heavily timbered, the roof having two sets of is covered CELLAR 18 X36 STABLE} 10X18 ] FEED ROOM STABLES 4X14 MANURE SHED l4X36 BASEMENT, WITH MANURE SHED. 500 ARCHITECTURE OF THE HOMESTEAD: purline plates, the upper ones supported by posts standing on each side of the barn floor. There are three grain scaffolds over the floor. The storage capacity for hay and grain amounts to over 80 tons, at 500 cubic feet perton. The stables will hold 23 head of cattle, be- sides the open part of base- ment, 18 by 48 feet. The whole = was built of the best material, and in the,most thorough man- ner, and cost $2,500. The above is a cut of a barn built by Mr.}cover. The barn-yard is exactly south of the Morris, near Fair Haven, Connecticut, who|barn—contains 4,800 square feet—the barn cel- says of it: lar 3,200 square feet. The barn-yard wall is “The arrangements are entirely my own,|built of stone, 60 by 80 feet, with gate on each and I think very convenient. When you are|southeast and southwest corners—is 4 feet high, in at any door you are prepared to go into any |18 inches thick at top, 30 inches at bottom, laid part of the building without going from under|in lime mortar, the top cemented.” td fi ee BAY a i 25x27. 19 Ei =a e ee hee W. J. Morus’ Barn. Thi s = MANURE DRIVEWAY TO MANURE ail CELLAR.—a, hen house—b, calf pen—e, root bins—d, cis-; Principat, Fioor.—a, large tools and implements—d, tern under carriage lonse—e, underpinning to horse sta- | room for cntting feed—e, bay—d, small tools—e, carpenter ble—/, cow stulls, with stanchions—y g, pig pens—h, slide | shop—/, threshing tloor—g, grain bins—h, water closet- for cattle fodder, i, horse stables—k, carriage house. The annexed cut, from Rural Affairs, represents thesbarn of ALFrRep M, TREDWELL, of Morris Co., New Jersey. His fondness for horses and thorough- bred neat cattle, led to the 7 erection of this barn, which, however, was not com- menced until he had care- fully inspected many of the best farms of Pennsylvania and other States. He was ~ his own architect, and per- sonally superintended the work from its commence- ment. The cut fairly indicates the situation. | inches in thickness, the second story 14 inches, General Dimensions—The barn is 64 feet|and the third 12 inches. square. The first story, 8 feet high in the| Muterials.—The walls are of conerete—a clear; second, 10 feet; third, 16 feet, and roof| mixture of broken stone, cement, sharp sand 16 feet. The walls of the first story are 20|and water, and are built from the ground up- TuREE-STORY Barn. . . BARNS. ward without any special foundation; and strange as it may seem, the building has never settled perceptibly one quarter of an inch. A slight trench of the exact width of the wall is dug, the mixture is poured in, and the building is commenced. This hardens within a few hours, when boxes or frames are attached to the wall just completed, and another layer of conerete is poured in. While this is in turn hardening, the wall is started upon another side of the building, thus oceasioning no delay. The proprietor says it is cheaper than wood or brick. First Floor—tThe first story of this barn, al- though nominally a basement, is nevertheless free from the disadvantages generally connected with cellars, as it is wholly above ground, and separated from the surrounding bank. The floor of this story is of concrete—readily cleansed, and never decaying. Firsr Fioor ok BasEMENT. Exrtanation.—A.—Shed 17 by #4 feet; being a portion of the main building, its roof formed by the story above. 8B. B. B.—Cattle-stalls, varving in depth from 4 feet Sinches to 6 feet 6inchex. Two-thirds of these stalls are pio- vided with ordinary-cattle-chains; the remainder have upright shifting stanchions. cC. C. C.—Stalls for farm horses, with entrance at P., thus separating them entirely from the horned stock. D. D. D.—Hay and straw shoots. E.—Stairway connecting first and second stories. ¥. F. F.—Passageway in front of stalls. G. G. G.—Passageway in rear of stalls. J1.—Feed bin for horses. 1.—Water trough. J. J.—Pillars supporting rear of building. ix. K.—Koot cellars, each 11}4 by 20 teet, with 10 feet ceil- ing; total capacity 3,312 bushels. Tee lur ene passageway between main building and root cellars. M.- Cistern for liquid manure, receiving drippings from shed A and yard beyond. N.—Penstock, delivering water from neighboring spring. OQ. O. O.—Doors for hurned cattle. i 501 Second Floor.—The chief feature of the second story is its horse stable. The dimensions of the stalls, as indicated in the plan, are unusual ; but long experience, and at times a very expen- sive one, has convinced Mr. TREDWELL that a stall four feet wide will invariably prevent a horse from casting himself, although giving him ample room to lie comfortably, and that one eleven feet deep renders it very difficult, if not impossible, for horses, properly tied, to kick each other. Asa farther precaution, when the horses are all in for the night, a strong rope is passed through rings at the back of each stall, four feet from the floor, thus effectually boring each horse, and, in case any become untied, | preventing their leaving their own stalls and molesting their neighbors. Tim. Srconp FLoor. ExpiaNation.—A.—Approach to this story, being ona level with grounds in front of the barn. B.—Covered entrance. C.—Stairs leading to basement. D.—Haruess room, E.—Floor for harnessing and unharnessing horses. F.—Light wagons and carriages. G.—Granary 16 by 34 feet, with bins b, b, b, of various sizes, and filled by means of a shoot from above, where the grain is threshed. H.—Sliding door leading to horse stable. I. I. I.—Stalls 4 feet wide hy 11 feet deep. J. J. J.—Box stalls tor stallions and sick horses. K. K, K.—Hay and straw shoots. L. L.—Yrap doors for straw and manure. M.—Box for mixing feed, into which empty grain spouts from floor above. N.—Pump. 0. O.—Bays for hay—filled from third story. Py ussagewny to side door. Q.—Stairs to third story. Third Floor.—In the third story (whose plan is too simple to require illustration), the great floor, 832 by 64 feet, with immense bays on either side, isa prominent and exceedingly val- uable feature of the whole establishment, and furnishing ample room for many farm opera- 502 ARCHITECTURE OF THE HOMESTEAD: tions, which, for lack of suitable shelter, are | hay cutter, a cornstalk cutter and masticator, and seales. By nailing strips to posts support- ing the roof, more or less of this floor, as the requirements of the season demand, can be converted into mows for storing hay or grain. oftentimes necessarily performed during ex- treme weather out of doors. Here are a rail- way horse power, a threshing machine, a cir- cular saw, a grist mill, fanning mill, Daniels’ Donautp G. MircHeLL, author of “My Farm at Edgewood,” contributes to Rural Affairs the elevations and subjoined plans of a milk barn—in Jarge part an adaptation of existing build- ings. It meets the most mod- erm requirements of feeding and care. Mr. Mirewern says, in his description: “The boiler and fire room, it will be ob- served, are entered only by an exterior door, and steam is conveyed to the cooking tank through the wall. A manure cellar is under the ay TRAP FOR MANURE BOILER & Ff FIRE ROOM be OPEN CELLAR a UNDER HORSE STASLE BAsEMENT. » a North Elevation. Root Cellar. Mitk-Dairy Barn. eastern half of the stable, extending from a point indicated by the dotted lines on either side. A tram-way is provided, leading down the center of the stable, for the distribu- tion of food, and for the transport of muck from the cellar, partitioned from the root cellar for that purpose. The tram-way car should be furnished with a movable box for cooked food, another for muck, and a third and larger open frame for the reception of green fodder dropped through from the barn floor above. Water should pass in a trough—indicated by the two TOOL ROOM & SHUP J yA TRAP TO STEAM BOX. . WAGONS . OPEN SHED | —Tc stata | FOR CARTS rae oe ae ROOT CELLAR Se | Mary Froor. BAR lines with.n the feeding boxes—completely around the stalls. This trough should be coy- ered to exclude dirt, and provided with traps against every. manger—which traps the cows will easily learn to lift with their noses. The gutter for liquid manure may be made to dis- charge at any desired point into the cellar below. The upper floor is simply arranged, and will explain itself, when examined in con- nection with the basement and the elevations. “The farther trap upon the floor is for the discharge of chaff or muck, if desired, directly through the stable to the cellar below; on either side, under each bay, are indicated openings, through whieh the hay, when necessary, can drop immediately into the feeding trough; the two farthest to the east, and the two westero- most, serve also as veutilators, being joined at the peak, for connection with the exterior ventilators Mew above the roof. “ An exterior communication with the work- shop above the boiler room, is not shown in this elevation, but indicated in the ground- plan; it would be better, however, for the stairs to descend upon the north side. “The western front may be made much more effective, architecturally, if desired. I have consulted simplicity and economy only in the plans. Thespace to the right of the horse stable (marked ‘open shed’ in the ground plan and by error represented with door in the elevation) might, if desired—by glazing its southern front —be converted into an admirable poultry house, communicating with the open cellar below; or the cellar itself, with its southwestern frontage, would serve well for such purpose, while a por-| tion of the space above could be reserved for) nests or roosts. | “Tf a bull is kept—and unless a near one is available, such animal should be kept—quarters might be provided for him in the horse stable, or in the cellar under the southern wing. There is no provision for young cattle, as none are) supposed to be reared. Indeed, the plan has been arranged simply in view of the ordinary wants of a milk-farmer. I by no means pre- sent it as a model plan, but as offering a great many conveniences—securing great economy of labor—great compactness and opportunity | for full and free examination of all the animals.” The ground plan below represents the milk- barn built by the WELLEs brothers of Wethers- field, Connecticut. It is worthy of study. The ground on which it is built slopes moderately toward the east. This decline makes the NS. 503 concrete floor of the stable. Before this barn was erected the cows were stabled in the root cellar, the basement of the hay barn. By care- fully noting the decrease of milk from various causes, these farmers were convinced that the noise of the usual farm industries carried on over the stable, was the cause of considerable daily loss. When threshing, the falling off was as much as a quart to each animal, .This showed them the advantage of keeping their dairy in a separate building. Mirtk Barn oF WELLES Brotuers. No. 2, Boiler. No. 3, No. 5, Water Trough. No.3, Roor CeLrtar.—No. 1, Engine. Tank for Mush. No.4, Chimney. No. 6, Box for Steaming. No.7, Manure Gutter. Stable. No. 9, Water rough. Mr. WELLES says that in arranging his dairy- barn, he had five ends in view: “1. We desired to economize labor in all the various operations incident to the storage of the fodder and eare of the stock. “ By referring to the plan it will be seen how well we have succeeded. “2. To secure perfect quiet for the cows. “This is done by giving them a room where they are not disturbed by any business except ‘the necessary attendance at morning, noon, and night. “3. An abundance of light and fresh air, by means of large windows on three sides, three ventilators, and making the room ten feet high ‘between joints.’ The heat from the animals keeps the temperature up to “46° above zero in the coldest weather. “4. The buildings must be kept perfectly free from all odors arising from the manure. Tor this, the floor is of cement, the droppings are every day mixed with dry peat, and a shed built for the reception of the compost. “5, As the use of lanterns is necessary in the manure-shed two or three feet lower than the! ae Winter, the dfmger from fire, by accident or 504 ARCHITECTURE OF carelessness, is reduced to a minimum by taking away all necessity for going into the hay barn with a light, and by the cement floor.” The cow barn is 80 by 32 feet, with 22 feet posts. The upper floor is used, in Winter, for storing meal and corn; in the Summer, for dry- ing garden seeds. The basement is ten feet high, with a covered driveway, twelve feet wide, on the west side, The north and east sides are lined, and the space filled in with shavings. The floor is of cement throughout. The stalls are thirty-two inches wide, five feet, five feet six inches, und five feet nine inches from the gutter The gutter is one foot wide and The mangers are two feet in to the manger. ten inches deep. width. The partitions extend from the gutter to the front of the manger, thus keeping each cow separate. Water is supplied in cast-iron boxes, through galvanized iron pipes, one box serying two cows. \ By employing farm hands to do the rough work, and purchasing their materials at mod- erate prices, they were able to put up this structure for something oyer $2,500. Basement Wall— A correspondent of the Prairie Farmer writes: “After much bothera- tion and examination of authorities, I came to the following conclusions, and built accord- ingly: A wall against a bank eight to ten feet in height, requires a drain under it from two to three feet in depth, with proper inclination, and filled with small stones. Base of the wall three to four feet, and battened on the outside to width of the barn-sill at the top; laid in ime and mortar, with a little—say one-fourth rt—of water cement mixed with them, other- se if the hill above is pretty steep, the water Il ooze through the earth and the wali. It did so to mine, and I had to dig the earth again from the back of the wall, and cement it all over. See that the back of the wall is laid up smooth, as well as the front, so that the frost won’t get hoid of the uneven edges of the stones, and use them as a lever’to pry up the wall. To further protect the wall and keep it dry, and the occupants from suflering from dis- ease produced by dampness, put a drain the length of the wall five or six feet above it, to carry off the water from the hill. Have win- dows in every side, double on the north and west, and the inner ones arranged to lift and hook up.” Modern Improvements.—A writer in the Rural New Yorker, in view of the invention of ma- chinery for pitching hay and grain by horse THE HOMESTEAD: power, advocates the building of higher barns than those of the old style, which were built low on account of the difficulty of pitching to the top of a mow with a hand fork. With the power fork, height is said to be no objection, but rather a conyenience. Fourteen to sixteen feet was the usual height of posts for a hay and grain barn, and with this height it re- quired a tall and stout man with a long .han- dled fork to “pitch over the beam,” and great scrambling of the boy on the mow to stow away so as to fill up under the roof. With the power fork the product may be carried to any desired height with a trifling additional effort. For a large barn, it is more convenient to have two floors across the barn, than one floor through the length of it. You can drive in and out with more facility, especially when you are carting with two or three teams, and you have more convenient sized mows. It is not so well to have very large hay mows, and, as on most farms, there is considerable variety in the quality of the hay, we want it put into several different mows, for the different kinds of stock, and to be fed out at different times in the Winter. Also, on a farm where grain is raised, one floor is for threshing, and a part or the whole of the other can be filled with hay or other fodder, if necessary, after the rest of the barn is filled. It is very important that you have conyeni- ent passage through every part of the build- ing; no groping, no crawling through narrow passages, no climbing naked posts, no narrow, dark staircases. There should be plenty of doors and gates, easily opened from either side. It is desirable to be able to go from the house to the barn without going through the cattle yard, and also to go by a dry, clean walk. Stables should always be built high—especi- ally horse stables—for ventilation and safety from injury, Low doors and low beams in sta- bles are the most frequent cause of poll-evil in horses. With a low stable, some injury to the horse’s head is almost sure to follow. Ventilation. —If a barn be not well and thoroughly ventilated in its bay, floor, and sta- bles, it does not answer the purpose of its con- struction. A shed, loosely slabbed, and open on one side, is better for cattle than an air- tight stable in which carbonic gas and ammonia accumulate, rendering the air fetid. Cattle and their execrements exhale gases unfit to breathe, and it is only when there are open windows or other ventilation enough to carry these off, that the stock can remain in health. Ventilation is _— BARNS, as essential as warmth, and it is not difficult or expensive to combine the two. In England a temperature between 55° and 60° has been found most conducive to the health and fatten- ing of animals. The stables must also be kept dry, admit no dripping water through the walls. Cattle will do better out of doors than in a damp basement. The surface of the ground should slope away on eyery side of the build- ing. There should be plenty of windows on the wall side, as well as in front, for light and ventilation. The wall should be pointed—at least the upper part—that no currents of air get through. : Light—Mr. Wriuarp pleads for light in stables: “The ill effects of excluding the light from horse stables, as is known by the sad ex- perience of many, has caused blindness in valua- ble animals, and yet farmers are often ignorant of the true reason, and keep on in the same old routine. The fact is beyond dispute, that sun- light has an important influence on the health of the human as well as the brute creation. Even vegetable life that is excluded from the sun’s rays, is puny, sickly, and will not fully mature. In Paris, diseases of various kinds are successfully treated with sunlight alone. The hospital is constructed with glass roof, so as to secure a full share of the sun’s rays, and the! patients are stripped and lie exposed to sunlight. They call it taking a “sun-bath ;” and however simple this treatment may seem, it has effected some remarkable cures. We need not stop to inquire into the mysterious agency of sunlight, or its poteney in preserving health. The facts and the law are plainly indicated, and it is for us to make use of them in such way as will contribute to our happiness and prosperity. We believe, therefore, that the health of ani- mals will be promoted by having a large share of sunlight, and that stables should be con- structed with this view.”” The London Horse Book insists upon the necessity of plenty of light, with much earnestness. The Largest Barn in New York.—X. A. W11- LARD, of the Utica Herald, gives the following description of a barn recently erected on the farm of LyMAN R. Lyon, at Lyon’s Falls, in Lewis county. His farm consists of eight hundred acres of cleared lands, and he keeps a dairy of ninety cows. “The barn is two hun- dred and twenty feet long by forty-eight broad. It sits upon a wall twenty feet high, which con- | tains a thousand yards of masonry. The drive- way is thirty feet above the bottom, and twenty- one wagons can be unloaded at once from the 505 barn floor. The mows on either side of the drive floor have capacity for holding six hun- dred and fifty tons of hay before you get above the level of the barn floor, and it is proposed to have machinery driven by water power for catching up the whole load and dumping it into the bays at onee. The stables in the base- ment will hold two hundred head of cattle, and near by is an immense muck bed, where any amount of this material may be readily had for mingling with the manures or using in the sta- bles to absorb the liquid manures. There are thirteen ventilators running frem the stable to the top of the building, the height of which to the peak is eighty feet. In the basement it is proposed'to have a root cellar and machinery for doing all the work of threshing, cutting roots and feed, carried by water power which is conveniently near. This barn cost in the neighborhood of $12,000, and when completed, as to machinery, ete., will probably be the most, interesting barn structure in the State.” Horace Greeley’s Barn.—Mr. GREELEY says: “My barn is a fair success. I placed it on the shelf of my hill, nearest to the upper (east) side of my place, because a barn-yard is a manufactory of fertilizers from materials of lesser weight, and it is easier to draw these down than up. I built its walls wholly of stones gathered or blasted from the adjacent slope, to the extent of four or five thousand tons, and laid in a box with a thin mortar of (little) lime and (much) sand, filling all the interstices and binding the whole in a solid mass, till my walls are nearly one solid rock, while the roof is of Vermont slate. I drive into three stories—a basement for manures, a stable for animals, and a story above this for hay, while the grain is pitched into the loft or scaffold above, from whose floor the roof rises steep to a height of sixteen or eighteen feet. There should have been more windows for light and air; but my barn is convenient, im- pervious to frost, and I am confident that cattle are wintered in it at a fourth less cost than when they shiver in board shanties, with cracks between the boards that will admit your hands. No part of our rural economy is more wasteful than the habitual exposure of our animals to pelting, chilling storms, and to intense cold. Building with concrete is still a novelty, and was far more so ten years ago, when I built my barn, I could now build better and cheaper, but I am glad that I need not. I calculate that this barn will be abidingly useful long after I shall have been utterly forgotten; and that had eF 506 ARCHITECTURE OF I chosen to have my name lettered on its front, it would have remained there to honor me as a builder long after it had ceased to have any other significance.” Pig-Pems.—Every man who keeps a pig needs a pig-pen, and every pig-pen wants a building attached to it, large enough to house the pigs in “cold and stormy weather,” to set a kettle for cooking their food, and to store their corn, roots, ete., overhead. (It seems hardly necessary to say that grain for family use, or for market, should never be stored where it can absorb the effluvium of the pig-pen, but some farmers still indulge the filthy habit). sols cooking may be economically done with PRINDLE’S Cauldron, good. ‘The aecompa- nying cut represents a H convenient pig-sty ; but there should be a pen outside, where the ani- mals may disport in pleasant weather. A farmer in Niles, Michigan, writes: My troughs are one foot wide, by eight or ten inches deep; and in front of each trough is a ladder-like arrangement, with spaces twelve inches wide between each round, for each hog to put his head through to eat; (hogs when weighing 250 or 275 pounds, can easily eat through a twelve inch space; if heavier than this, would probably need more room). This plan I have tried for some years and find it does well, preventing all fighting during feed time, and giving the weaker ones an equal chance with the stronger. On each ladder is swung a trap-door, which may be fastened down with a bolt or button, to keep the hogs out until the feed is in the trough. In the corner of each enclosure is a box made seven feet square, and about seven inches high, for them to lay in, in which, if straw is put, they will always keep clean. I have used a pen something on the plan of this, but it is now too small for my purposes. This will easily accommodate forty hogs. I will add this rough estimate of the cost of such a building in 1865: 2,180 feet two-inch plank for flooring, at $20 1 320 feet inch boards, for siding, at $20. 9000) shingles, at $5 per thons and... Shee: ting-hoards, rafters, and joist: Carpenter's work, including hewing Total...... PLAN oF PicGery. THE HOMESTEAD: The cast-iron pig troughs are a great im- provement on the common mode of construction of wood; they are indestructible by teeth of time or oka; are easily kept clean and always “right side up.” A plank or stone floor is es- sential for the sleeping apartment at least, for the sake of cleanliness and ease in throwing out the manure, a ‘‘chore” which should be attended to daily. Corn-Cribs.—It is common, throughout the younger States of the West, to leave corn all Winter without proper housing, exposed to the elements. The Prairie Farmer thus speaks of the practice: “The condition in which a large portion of the corn crop of 1864 reaches market should convince all that it is a useless waste of money to leave corn exposed to the snow and rains of Winter and Spring. Make a water shedding of some sort for the corn- cribs. Even if corn is at a low price it makes a material difference whether it sells for No. 1, 6r stands No, 2 and rejected. One of the most absurd things in farming is to labor the season through to produce crops, and then throw away a large share of their value by thought- lessness and negligence.” A good corn-crib is almost as necessary on a farm as a good barn, It should be so constructed that the corn will not be at all exposed to storms, and also so that it will not mold, when not thoroughly matured. A thrifty farmer writes to the Country Gen- tleman: “TI give you a rough sketch of a corn- house, built three years ago, and there has not Corn-crIB. been a rat or mouse in it yet. You will see it is not connected at the bottom—consequently, we use the gravel fora floor to drive in on— the only way a crib can be built rat and mouse proof. It stands on 8 pillars, 4 on each side. They are 8 inches diameter, 2 feet 10 inches long—16 inches upper end is tinned—standing on stone blocks 2 feet square by 6 inches thick. On top of each post are saddles. It stands as CORN-CRIBS—DAIRY ROOM, firm as if it were on a wall. boarded up and down, with small rib slats over The sides are covered with slats They are each crack. 2} inches wide, with 3-inch cracks. put on up and down, from the projection to the under corner of the sill. Inside slats run the other way, horizontal. ‘There is a door in the center of each crib, made of slats, to put corn | jell [a Selle leet WAGON.WAY 18] |@ GROUND PLAN, in, to the depth of 5 feet. Then it is handed up from the wagon through the scuttle in the center of the upper floor, which is laid with slats except one end 9 feet square, which is a tile floor for a bin to hold shelled corn. The cribs extend up to the roof, with 3 doors to empty the corn (three on each side.) Stairs hung with a hinge so as to swing up and fasten; when down the lower end rests on the walk. The corn will not mold, if the floor is laid with slats 3 inches wide, put down with ? of an inch open space between each, to allow a free cur- rent of air upward. Such a house, 20 feet long, 7 feet wide, and 7 high, will hold five or six hundred bushels in the ear. A Dairy Room.—A farmer asks the Cultivator how to build “a milk room cheap, that will give the most cream in hot weather.” That journal replies that the cheapest milk room, in the long run, is one where the tem-| perature may be so completely controlled that | the cream may have sufficient time to rise, and by which the largest amount of butter may be VENTILATED SPACE j_ VENTILATOR OVERHEAD | i SHELVES. VENTILATED . SPACE MiLk-Darry Room. obtained from a given quantity of milk, The figure given above exhibits the pl, of a dairy room for a moderate farm. The dotted » £ —— “1 The ends are) 507 lines on each side under the shelves, are the openings from the cellar, and the ventilators consist of boards with hinges, closing or open- ing the spaces precisely like a trap-door, They should be about ten inches wide. Over- head there is another ventilator, closed by a |similar trap-door, six or seven feet long and a foot wide, opening upward to allow the heated air to pass out, which it does by its specific lightness. At the same time the cold air flows upward from the cellar to supply the space, in the same way that water rises to fill a pump when the air is drawn out above. Elevating sticks with holes or notches enable the attend- ant to raise or lower these ventilators to any desired degree. If the cellar is not sufliciently cold, keep a small vessel of ice in it, which will reduce the temperature as low as neces- sary. A ventilated space of one or two feet wide extends around three sides of the room and prevents the heating so often resuiting confined air in the walls. The double entrance door is placed in the fourth side, the outer one being tight to exclude the hot Sum- mer air, and the inner of wire gauze for the The not flat boards, but formed of two narrow strips of inch boards on edge, thus ad- mitting free circulation of air on every side of the pans. The accom- panying cut the shelves as completed. A space is left between them The strips are about one by two inches and eight inches from |ingress of cool night air when necessary. shelves are shows for the side windows. apart, or with six inches of clear space between them. The same paper gives a plan for a convenient cheese house. The annexed cut shows the CURING-R. ees SS 24X30 wocd ROOM 1BX24 ground plan: Where V is the vat or heater, P the cheese-press, E the eleyator for carrying 508 ARCHITECTURE OF the cheese to the curing room aboye, § the stairs, and B the cistern pump. The plan on the right is the upper or curing room, O O O being the openings with wickets, C the chim- ney, E the elevator, D door for delivering the cheese, A alley three feet wide, and W win- dows. The plan was furnished by X. A. WIL- LARD, who had a dairy of twenty-five cows on a good hundred acre farm, averaging four acres to each cow. The product in 1861 aver- aged 650 pounds per cow, and in 1862, 600 pounds per cow—that being a less favorable season. Poultry House.—The cut below repre- sents the elevation of a pretty and convenient poultry house, for which we are indebted to “The American Poulterers’ Companion,’ pub- lished by the HArprrs: ih il! : i ll — i OctaGcon Pouttry House. It is designed to accommodate from twenty- five to thirty common-sized fowls. The octa- gon was preferred on account of economy, as it takes less materials and labor to enclose a given number of feet in an octagon than in a square or oblong form. Where different vari- eties of fowls are to be kept separate, the apartments may be enlarged, and the yards ra- diating from each square of the building. The object of placing it on piles was to prevent the encroachment of rats, mice, and other vermin. Rats are particularly annoying, as they not only devour the grain, but suck the eggs and kill the young chickens. Where fowls were fed from a trough on the ground, we have THE HOMESTEAD: known rats to contend with and even drive the fowls from their food. This building is ten feet in diameter and six and a half feet high. The sills are four by four, and the plates three by four joists, halved and nailed at the joints. It. is sided with inch-and-a-quarter spruce plank, tongued and grooved, the joints battened on the outside. No upright timbers were used. The floor and roofing are of the same kind of plank. An eight-square frame, eighteen inches diameter, supports the tops of the rafters, leaving an opening of ten inches diameter, over which the cupola is placed fora vyentilator. In place of the cupola,a vitriolizedstone chimney, such as are used sometimes on cottages. The piers should be either cedar, locust, or chestnut, and at least two feet high, and set on flat stones. The internal arrangement is as follows: A post may be set in the center, under the cupola, for one end of the roosts to rest on, the other end to the wall. The first or lowermost one two feet from the floor, and the others eighteen inches apart, and rising gradually to the top in aspiral form, six feet from the floor. Un- derneath these roosts is a board floor, on an angle of about forty-five degrees, to catch and carry down the droppings of the fowls. This arrangement renders it much more convenient in cleaning out the manure, which should be frequently done—at least once a week. The space beneath this floor is appropriated to tiers, 18 inches wide, 18 inches deep, and 18 inches high. A correspondent of “ Rural Affairs” furnishes Section or HEN BUTS Freer Square. A. A.—Joists placed rafter-wise, Bby 4 inches, in which are holes for the poles for perches, which in this sec- tion are seen endwist, B. B. —Similar joists, which support the nests aaaa, etc.; the series of these also being seen endwise. b.—Pere v the young chicks, (Thes.* between the nests A, A, and the roosts B, B, is three-On(. half feet. The sp.» between the nests and the roof is six feet.] on Glnes uoor for entering beneath the roosts, for clear ing out guano, etc. neil - ICE HOUSE. D, D.—Places of doors, opening next the stairs on each side. These stairs serve to ascend to the nests above, and also contain themselves two boxes for nests be- tween each step, making 36 nests in the stairs, the openings to which are represented as round holes in the engraving. ‘hese, with the upper nests, make 182 in all, each one foot square. Thereare 12 perches, each 12 feet long, accommod asily 144 towls, al- lowing each one foot. Per may also be made under the stairs, sufficient for fowls in all, T. I.— Ventilators, which should be in the south and east sides. These will admit light enough for the laying anil setting departments. the foregoing design for a poultry house. He says: I built one last Summer, of brick, on a hill-side, with an eastern aspect, having an un- derground room, which is cool in Summer and warm in Winter, and which my fowls haying tested and highly approved, I now recommend as just the thing. I have seen more expensive and curious arrangements, but they proved to be inconvenient or were wholly rejected by the fowls. By constructing the nests in this man- ner, they may be easily reached, and setting hens and young chicks cared for as they should be to insure success. I have a dove-cote in the roof, which is also convenient and approved by the pigeons, Hee Hiouse.—lIce houses are no longer expensive luxuries. They now belong to the cheap comforts of every householder, and no farmer should be without his Summer supply. It is equally valuable to keep the meats and dairy sweet, to make ice cream, to cool our drinks and our custards. Ice can be made a famous auxiliary to the comforts and luxuries of the table of the rich and poor, especially in the rural districts, where other luxuries are not so plenty as in cities. A glass of iced milk isa greater luxury and more wholesome Summer beverage than the choicest wine, or the best distilled cup of tea or coffee; an absolute im- provement, in fact, upon pure cold water. The ice house should be located within two or three rods of the house, where it can be con- nected with the diary—by partitioning off a little room for the butter, if not otherwise. The drippings will furnish an unfailing supply of water for the poultry, if they have no other convenient resort. The building may be made an ornamental appendage, by surrounding it with morning glories, or some perennial climb- ers, to run up and help to shade its roof. Many farmers deprive themselves of the ad- vantages of ice in Summer from the supposed expense of constructing houses to hold it, and the difficulty of preserving it. Such should understand that there is little expense > 1 no mystery about it. A good ice house y 7 be the very cheapest structure. A board or slab shanty will answer an excellent purpose, and vee 509 with a good supply of sawdust, can hardly fail to keep ice well. A building of twelve feet square and eight or nine feet high, is sufficient for the wants of the most exacting family. It may be a frame building, entirely above the surface of the ground, and better if supported on posts ele= vated a few inches, to be certain of good drain- age, and to allow a free circulation of air under it. We have never seen ice better protected than in just such a rude building, without any internal shell. The square blocks of ice—and it is necessary that they be sawed square so as to fit tightly—were laid up ina solid cube in the center, on a foot of sawdust, and a space of a foot all around the sides closely packed with sawdust. The top was similarly covered, an opening of several inches in the horizontal boarding around the upper part of the building serving for thorough ventilation. Ice House. The above engraving represents a build- ing of a similar character, intended to be used for this purpose. The ice is passed in from the loaded wagon or sled through the door at the end. Plan of the inte- rior, showing theice in blocks surround- ed with sawdust, D being the door at the end. A rough loosely laid floor is best; allowing com- plete drainage through the stratum of sawdust which rests upon it. A house of this kind, large enough to keep ten or twelve tons of ice, may be built for $12 or $15 where the price for lumber is moderate. An Towa farmer keeps ice the year round by very simple protection. When he began, he selected the north side of his barn, threw down a foot of cornstalks and trash fifteen feet square, and covered with a foot of sawdust. The ice was hauled out of the river and placed up ten feet square, eight, feet high, pounded ice being filled in the cracks. The pile of ice was left Grounp Puan. 510 ARCHITECTURE OF standing outa month. He then built a frame of rough two by four inch sills and plates, board- ing it up rough, leaving two feet space all round, A shed roof, with some prairie grass thrown on it, to keep it perfectly tight, was put on, and between it and the ice filled with sawdust. The whole did not cost ten dollars, and has answered admirably as an ice and milk house and place for keep- ing fruit and butter. The same sawdust will answer for years. which was filled with sawdust. And, finally, here is a still simpler way: Take two or three sugar hogsheads, always to be had of the merchants at half the cost of the material composing them, and selecting a con- venient place, place them close together upon bearings laid upon six or eight inches of straw or coarse litter. Now, during the freezing weather, as leisure occurs, pour in a few inches of water at a time and let it freeze solid; then pour in some more, and continue to replenish at intervals until the hogsheads are full and frozen solid. Then form, with a few stakes and strips of board, a roof and a side entrance, covering the whole with a load of clean straw or forest leaves, packing closely. As the ice is needed during the Summer it can be chipped out with a sharp pointed iron and a mallet, The farmer who tries this once will not be likely ever again to be without the cheap luxury of ice in summer time. Cisterns, Pumps, etec.— Every house and eyery barn, where much water is used, should have a cistern and an effective pump attached, driven either by hand, horse-power, or windmill. In the driest parts of our West- ern prairies, enough water falls in the course of a year on the roofs of the farm buildings, to meet the average aggregate wants of both fami- lies and stock. Size.—The quantity of water that falls annu- ally on a given area of roof is usually under- estimated. More than four hundred hogsheads fall every year ona thirty by forty foot roof; and the one hundred feet square of aggregate barn-roofs which many farmers own, will furn- ish seven thousand barrels. A hogshead holds about sixty-four pailfuls, and so the four hun- dred hogsheads that would fall on the thirty by forty foot roof would be sufficient to water twenty head of stock the year round, even if they should obtain no water elsewhere, allow- ing to each four pailfuls a day. If a cistern is to be drawn from daily throughout the year, it need not, of course, be so large as if intended THE HOMESTEAD: for filling in the rainy season and using only in time of drought. Having fully settled the capacity required for cisterns, it is next desirable to ascertain the required dimensions, The foilowing is a sim- ple rule for this purpose: Find the depth and diameter in inches; square the diameter and multiply the square by the decimal .0034, which will give the quantity in gallons for one inch in depth. Multiply this by the depth, and divide by 31}, and the result will be the num- ber of barrels the cistern will hold. By this rule it will be found that a cistern ten feet in diameter will hold 183 barrels for every foot in depth, and if ten feet in depth, it will hold over 180 barrels. For each foot in depth, the number of barrels answering to the different diameters are: For 5 feet diameter.... ~ 4.68 barrels. : us 5 8 “ “ 9 “ “ 10 “ By the rule above given, the contents of barn- yard cisterns and manure tanks may be easily calculated for any size whatever. Mode of Construction.—A house cistern should have a filter, for it is cheap, and on some parts of the prairies almost indispensable. . The most inexpensive may be thus constructed: The cistern may be divided by a partition-wall of soft, porous brick through the middle, and near the bottom of the wall a box of sand and chareoal for the water to filter through. Into one of these apartments the water should be conducted from the eaves, but should be drawn out as used from the other; the one into which the water falls being a few inches deeper, that all impurities and sediment may settle to the bottom, and not be allowed to get into the other apartment, by which process there will always be clear water for drinking, culinary, and all domestic uses. Or, the filtering cistern may be made as in the annexed plan, with a partition wall (a) pierced at the bottom with sev- eral apertures.— Z A wall (b) on Vz each side of the Zz, partition affords a space to be Z filled with pure broken charcoal, alternating with clean gravel. The water first enters one compartment of the cistern, and is pumped out of the other. A level is, of course Beet HOUSE CISTERN. maintained on both sides, without a violent, current through, the filter, or danger of over- But it is difficult to change the charcoal or to restore il, if dis- placed, except when the water is low. A plan, better on some accounts, is to have the rain enter the cistern through a cask or box, sunk in the ground, having a pipe from its bottom, the orifice of which is covered by wire gauze, or a coarse sponge, with charcoal kept in place by gravel over it. Or, the whole may be made a little more substantially, as shown in the accompanying eut. The Country Gentleman says: “ We would not recommend plastering on the earth, but! greatly prefer building a good stone wall, or | one of hard-burnt brick, laid well in the mor- | tar, and afterward plastered with three coats.” A cistern requires the very best quality of hy- draulic cement, and the cleanest, sharpest sand; and it should be laid on by the best mason, paid by the day. flow in heavy showers. House CIstern. Water is sometimes filtered by laying a net- work of porous cement pipes in the bottom of the cistern. When the filter is effective, the water comes up cold, clear, and sparkling, as from a common well, and as much better as ean well be imagined. The most important argument in favor of the habitual use of cloud water, next to its being accessible where no other water exists, is to be found in its healthfulness. Hard water, for cooking and drinking is bad. Rain water is both a restorer and preserver of health, as well as a preventive of many diseases. This important fact will not be unheeded by the wise and thoughtful in arranging and furnish- ing comfortable and tasteful dwellings, whether in city or country, in destitute or watered sec- tions, in shop or stable; for in this respect, as Yn ee 511 well as for convenience, it is everywhere alike valuable and pleasant. Protection from Frost—When a cistern for stock is provided for Winter use, it should be placed, if convenient, under the barn and sunk well into the ground, and always arched over, and a neck turned like the neck of an enor- mous gourd, so that it will admit of no drain- age from the stables or yard; and if necessarily out of doors, it should be well banked over with refuse hay, straw, and coarse manure from the stables, to keep the water as much above the freezing point as possible. And the pump may be effectually kept from freezing by build- ing a large box or crib around it, reaching quite over the top and filling it with coarse manure, leaying an opening in one side, just sufficient for the handle to play in, and adding a continuation to the spout through the pro- tecting mass. Freezing may also be prevented by winding the pump with hay ropes, or by letting the water out of the pipe when not in use, below the level of frost: If the cistern is built in the bank by the side of the barn, its position will generally obyiate the necessity of a pump—the water being conveyed to the cat- tle troughs or stalls in a pipe kept above the freezing point. Introduction of Spring Water—Frequently the farm buildings are so located that water may be brought in a covered pipe from a well or a spring, or a stream, that comes to the sur- face on higher ground. In this case the con- ductor may be made of round tiles well ce- mented at the joints, or of lead pipe, or a con- tinuous tube may be cheaply made uf cement that will last an age. S. E. Topp describes the manner of making such a conductor: First he dug a narrow ditch about four feet deep, terminating in a bottom only four inches wide. Then he made the material of hydraulic cement and sharp sand, in the pro- portion of one part cement to three parts sand. A turned stick, one and a quarter inches in di- ameter and five feet long, very round, smooth, and straight, was required to make the water- course. The prepared cement was laid in the ditch about two inches deep, the rod laid on and pressed carefully down into it about half an inch, and covered an inch or two with ce- ment and troweled off smoothly. The rod is allowed to remain a few minutes, for the ce- ment to harden around it. About four inches has been left extending beyond the cement, to enable a person to grasp it and draw it nearly out of the first section, when another section is 512 : formed around the rod, and so on to the end. As the cement sets rapidly there is little danger, if care is observed, that the orifice will be closed by the settling of the upper side. The rod may be turned in the orifice from time to time, to keep it detached. The earth must be carefully returned to the ditch, so as not to in- jure the pipe by dropping stones on it. Such a conductor will be found very cheap and durable. Use of a Syphon.—Water may be carried over a small hill by the means of a syphon, without a pump, except temporarily to start it. The end of the pipe that delivers the water should be a little smaller than the rest. If the pipe be of good size, the water will probably move with force enough to keep the bend free from a col- lection of air; if it be small, or have slight ve- locity, J. P. Jay, of Mason county, Kentucky, recommends the adjustment of a vertical branch on the highest part of the bend, supplied with a funnel and two stop cocks, as shown in the engraving. A Sypnon RELier. To start the syphon, stop both ends and fill with water through the vertical branch; then turn the cocks so as to cut off communication “with the air; open the upper end of syphon first, and then the lower end, and water will run freely. of the syphon, by opening the cock B the air will ascend in the pipe at C. Then close B, open A, and pour in water to fill the part C. In this manner the air can be taken out with little trouble. Care should be taken in joining the branch to the syphon that the end does not go inside at all. In case the branch might freeze, it may be joined at D with a screw so as to be removed. The Drive or Tube Well.—This is an Ameri- can invention, and has already wrought quite a revolution in some sections, in the methods of obtaining water. It consists simply of a gas- pipe, or similar iron tube, sharpened at the lower end and perforated just above it, driven perpendicularly into the ground, and attached Now when air collects in the bend | ga ARCHITECTURE OF THE HOMESTEAD: at the top to a pump. Considerable soil is drawn up at first, which leaves a cavity, or well, around the lower extremity of the tube, which remains filled with water at once clear and cool, of course below the level of frost. To protect the pipe against too great an en- trance of earth, the perforated terminus is gen- erally covered with a layer of wire strainer, and that covered with zinc, pierced with holes to correspond with the holes in the pipe, and soldered down tight. The pipe is driven down with a sledge-hammer, and a piece of tough wood is held on the top of the pipe to prevent crushing the thread. The length of the pipe required will of course depend on the location and the soil— varying from five to thirty feet. In some places, as in quicksand, the drive-well seems to be almost entirely impracticable. If rock offers an impediment, the tube can be with- drawn in a few minutes, and tried elsewhere. On the whole, the drive-well is one of the most economical and convenient of our recent labor- sav ing contrivances, ge rying Water Up a Slope-—Water may be carried up a moderate slope, either by force or suction, by driving or drawing. The hydrau- lic ram is one of the most popular and econom- ical agents, and is now used in every State for this purpose. In some places water is thrown a mile by it up a grade of a hundred and fifty feet—one-eighth of the water that run€ through the ram being lifted by the other seyen-eighths. The hydraulic ram is adapted to almost any place, where there is a slight fall, and cost from 38 (for a ram adapted to a brook furnishing 3 quarts to 2 gallons of water per minute—hay- ing a j-inch drive-pipe, and §-inch discharge) to $150 (for one adapted to a flow of 25 to 75 llons per minute, having a 4-inch drive-pipe and 2-inch discharge). B. Douguass’ is one of the best. Water may be drawn up a small ascent by a suction pump, as illustrated by the following cut—the syphon being used to collect it in a Suction Pump. reservoir, beneath the pump. Explanation.— Lay the pipe in the direction A BC D, or in — ~ FENCES any other direction touching ACD. C being lower than A, water will not flow back to it. Lay below frost. A, spring—D, pump—dotted line, level. How to Cleanse a Cistern.—Many persons who know how annoying the stagnant and odorous water of cisterns sometimes become, will be glad to know that it may be purified in a few hours by the use of two pounds of caustic soda. Concentrated lye may also be used with a good result. Either may be obtained of any drug- gist, and used moderately, the water will not injure clothing. * FENCES—THEIR COST AND CON- STRUCTION. The Law of Fencing.—During the last fifteen years, our most intelligent farmers have earnestly agitated and debated the question, “Can not roadside and division fences be dis- pensed with? Am I bound to fence against other peeple’s stock?” An affirmative answer to the first inquiry would effect vitally the farm- ing interests of every State; it would cause a complete revolution in the methods long prac- ticed in all sections of the country. Cost of Fences—Since the examination began much light has been thrown upon the question. Farmers have been startled to discover that their fences cost more than all their other ex- penses, including taxes. A writer in the IIli- nois Agricultural Report for 1864 says: “That the fences of the United States have cost more than the houses, cities included; more than the ships, boats, and vessels of every de- seription, which sail the ocean, lakes, and riy- ers; more than our manufactories, of all kinds, with their machinery; more than any one cfass of property, aside from real estate, except, it may be, the railroads of our country.’ This may seem like an exaggerated statement, but a little estimate will show that it is not so extray- agant as would at first appear. The first cost of the fences of New York State was between one hundred and one hun- dred and fifty million dollars. Roprnson gives it as 144,000,000. Assuming this to be approximately correct, and estimating the first cost of the fences of the other States on the same basis, we have, as the total first expense of the fences of the whole country, the vast sum of $1,296,000,000 ! This requires to be renewed once in ten 33 THEIR COST AND CONSTRUCTION. 513 years—giving $129,600,000 as the annual cost, to which should be added, however, at least half as much more for repairs, making the ag- gregate of $194,400,000 as the annual national expense—a sum, we believe, below the actual figures, yet quite beyond comprehension. NicH- OLAS BIDDLE estimated that the “fence tax” of Pennsylvania was ten million dollars a year. General JAmEs T. WoRTHINGTON, of Ohio, says that there are 18,000,000 acres of land in Ohio enclosed with 45,000 miles of fences, at a prime cost of $115,000,000, and at a yearly expense for for repairs, ete., of $7,680,000. If roadside and boundary fences can be dis- pensed with, half the cost of fencing will be saved. That cost isnow an annual tax of $1 50 on every acre of improved land in the United States—the “fence tax” being twice or thrice as great as the aggregate of the State and local taxes combined. Why can not a large portion of this outlay be saved for some profitable investments? Every dollar rescued from fences may be added to productive wealth. Fences are dead capital; they pay no interest, and are a constant drain upon the pocket. As Mr. GREELEY says: “We poison our land with fences; they are a shelter for weeds, as well as a vast and useless > The indirect waste which they in- A Virginia zigzag fence occupies five acres for expense.’ flict is almost as great as their direct cost. every hundred enclosed—thus imposing a five per cent. tax on the market value of the soil—a tax that would be felt to be oppressive if it was for the payment of the national debi, in- stead of to shelter a growth of weeds. Shall We Fence Stock Out or In?—There is no doubt that our people now expend four times as much money to fence stock out as would be required to fence it in. Our present custom, which commands universal fencing, is the worst blunder the practical American people ever made, Enterprising and original in many matters, they are here following slavishly, gen- eration after generation, the habit of the earli- est English eolonies—following it, though very expensive and very inconvenient, because it is “the good old way.’ Europe has learned a more rational method. ‘There are ten times as many fences in Illinois as there are in Ger- many; and Duchess county, in New York, has more than all France. In France, Germany, and Holland farmers hold their lands in com- mon, with only narrow paths between. The continental system of having few or no fences is evidently the best ; and even exclusive 5 514 ARCHITECTURE OF England is slowly adopting it. inevitably follow, for economy, taste, thorough tillage, fair play, and good sense command it, and the time will come, before many years, when the absence of farm fences will be a sign of progressive culture, The immense cost of sustaining fences; the inconvenience of having them always in the way of thorough tillage, and of easy ingress and egress to the premises; the impassable snow-drilts accumulated by them; the shelter they afford to weeds and briars; the protection they afford to many of the worst animal pests of the farm, and their unsightly appearance generally throughont the country, as the recep- tacle of stone heaps, piles of brush and dead trees, to say nothing of the countless acres rendered worse than useless by their occupancy, would seem sufficient reasons for disposing of fences wherever not indispensable for purposes of pasturing. Effect on the West.—The necessity of enclos- ing with a fence is the bane of Western farm- ing. A man buys a quarter section, and is com- pelled to make either one or two miles of fence—the quantity depending on the circum- stance whether he “joins fences” or not. He may wish to raise wheat and keep no stock; but he is compelled to fence just the same, to defend himself against his neighbors’ cattle. If they have not more than fifty head, it will be cheaper for him to go upon their farms and enclose their pastures, than to build his own boundary fence. The squatter finds to his amazement that his fence will cost five times as much as his land did—not less than four hundred dollars a mile. He has teams, tools, and boys sufficient to raise fifty to a hundred acres of wheat, but not hay- ing money enough to fence it, is driven to the alternative of renting of others, and Jetting his own rich land lie idle. Farmers can about as well afford to pay ten.dollars per acre fora farm, and be obliged to fence only enough to restrain their own stock, as to pay five dollars per acre, and be compelled to fence against the stock of the State. Many men rent all their lives, who would buy land and pay for it, were it not for the se- rious expense o/ fencing. The writer in the Illinois Report, already quoted, says: “ About three-fourths of all the ‘ cussin’’ in Illinois may be fairly charged to the practice of fencing crops, rather than stock. Had Illinois passed a law thirty, twenty, or even ten years since, that stock should be fenced, or otherwise taken America will | THE HOMESTEAD; care of by its owners, I do not believe there would be an acre of good prairie uncultivated in the State. I know this is astrong statement when we think how many acres of the best land in the world are yet ‘lying out,’ but those who have lived in the State but the last ten years have seen miles of prairie’come under the plow right around them, even under the crop-fencing incubus. During the wheat mania of a few years since, a large portion of the prairies of central Illinois would have been turned bottom-side up, had it not been for the expense of fencing. * * We have spent millions of dollars in Michigan pine to keep our corn and wheat from going off our farms to prey on our neighbors’ hogs and cattle!” Under a uniform law compelling every man to take care of his stock, and insuring him against harm from his neighbors, it is certain that the population of the Western States would have been some millions greater than now, while their wealth would have proportionately increased. Moreover, the farms would have been better cultivated, the houses better built, the barns larger and more comfortable, and the average stock of purer breed and higher quality. Let every legislature say to every settler, “Take care of your own stock, and we will see that your neighbor takes care of his,” and two farms will be opened along the frontier where one now is. The West seems to be per- versely blind to its own interest in this matter ; but it will not much longer be “the poor man’s asylum,” unless it shall open its eyes, and, by relieving him of the onorous ‘‘fence tax,” place the virgin soil within his reach, Injustice of the Present, System.—The proof of the bad economy and the bad policy of our present system of fencing, has suggested, also, its injustice. To compel A to fence against B’s cattle, is morally and socially wrong. It in- verts the relation of things. It takes property from A without rendering to him an equiva- lent. Corn, wheat, oats, fruit trees, vegetables, stay at home quietly, trespassing on nobody, and interfering with nobody. Shall we put the onus of fencing on stationary or on locomotive property? Shall we burden with the cost of fencing the man whose property stays where it is put, and can not get away? or on the man whose property has legs, horns, and grinders, with a graniverous appetite? The writer in the Illinois Report asks: “Is there any good reason why one man should be compelled to build from one to ten miles of fence to protect his crops from his neighbors’ | FENCES—THEIR COST stock, when such neighbors might do it with one-tenth the fence? good reason why the law should be that a man shall stand guard over his one hundred and sixty acres of grain, rather than his neighbor over his one cow? Does, or does it not, seem right that every man shall take care of his own stock? On this hinges the whole question. My idea is that every man shall take care of his own stock; and, as a corrollary, that he shall be compelled to make only so much or so little fence as is necessary to do that thing.” The Tiee of Fencing. Law,” says BuacK- STONE, “is a rule of society, authorizing what is right and forbidding what is wrong.” shall not expect to find the law, in the present ease, commanding what has been shown to be flagrantly unjust. The common law does not require any man to fence against stock. Its spirit is to make every owner of stock responsible for all depredations that it shall commit. Highway Fences. —The land occupied by a highway is still private property in most if not all of the States. Ifa public road is opened through a farm, the public acquires no right Can any one give me a We are not disappointed. except to make and repair a road and travel | The owner reserves all rights not} incompatible with the public right of way, and | the same. may maintain trespass for eutting timber, carry- ing off stone, or pasturing cattle on such road— for his land is assessed and taxed without any reference to the thoroughfare through it. He can also, in most of the States, maintain tres- pass and collect damages for animals entering his field from the highway, without being re- | If a| statute law were enacted authorizing A’s cow to enter upon B’s garden and devour his vege- | quired to show that it is fenced at all. tables, unless she were kept off by B, it would be taking one man’s property and transferring it to another—an act opposed to the funda-, drovers. mental principle of law. There is no law requiring a fencing or au- thorizing a pasturage of the highway, except indispensable. the law of custom, unless it be some “town | So we) AND CONSTRUCTION. 515 ‘enacted absurd Jaws requiring division or boundary fences between farms, and throwing half tie expense on each of the adjoining pro- prietors—with the result that has been already seen. Some States have gone so far as to re- quire highway fences also, and then to prescribe what shall be considered a “lawful fence.” The usual “laws regulating enclosures” any sane man would haye entitled “An Act to Authorize the Trespass of Cattle on Neighboring Proprie- tors, and to prevent any Indemnification there- for.’ By such a law, the whole State is de- arable surface as has a line of fortifications around it. Even if he faithfully complies, the farmer is not guaranteed against loss; for admitting that he can construct a fence, every yard of which he be- lieves to be sufficiently strong to withstand high winds and storms, and to defy the most perse- vering assaults of breachy cattle, whose ener- gies are quickened by famine—yet despite of his efforts, trespassing stock do make their way into his corn. What is his recourse? He brings asuit; obtains from a magistrate an order for the survey of his fence; the owner of the stock se- cretly makes gaps in it, and the owner of the corn is beaten, and adds the costs to the first damage! Our fence laws are laws to encourage pillage, and they ought to be repealed, or else be called by their right name. The great West, espe- cially, ought not to delay action in a matter so |vital to its own interests. As soon as the op- pressive fence laws shall be abolished, there |will be hundreds of thousands of poor men who will stake out their claims on the prairies and fearlessly put in their crops. The State that shall learn wisdom first, will receive the greatest accession to its population. It is objected by some that highway fences are indispensable for the accommodation of Even if this were so, what justice lis there in compelling the farmer to build them |for the drovers’ sole benefit? But they are not Drovers have no great trouble Experience has dem- in France or Germany. vote,” which, as it is not generally authorized onstrated that there is less danger of trespass by any statute law, and is directly opposed to ‘by such stock where there are no highway the letter and spirit of the common law, is null | and void. and hogs upon the street are plunderers and pirates, and the owner is no better than his, It is high time for the prominent | fences with an occasional gap. farmers of every county to unite and co-oper- brutes. ate, in compelling custom to conform to law. Boundary Fences.—Most of the States have The law protects property; cattle |fences than where they exist; and drovers droves securely past farms where there are no ‘highway fences than where there are such The advantages of the proposed system are (pore and obvious. It would not only save millions of dollars every year to every State, but jclared a common, except such portions of its - 516 ARCHITECTURE OF it would improve immeasurably the character of stock and secure purity of breeds, by preventing contact with scrub bulls; it would enable every farmer to regulate the time of calving, thereby greatly increasing the number of animals raised ; it would enable him to avoid the losses sustained by animals straying; it would give a delightful sense of security, saving to every farmer many anxious days and sleepless nights, and finally, it would do much to promote good neighbor- hood. Fences make more rustic quarrels than whisky does. The farmer would not need necessarily to fence his stock; he could herd it, soil it, or stake it out—any way to restrain it. It is believed that great good would result if each State would pass a law providing that every man be responsible for all damages done by his cattle without regard to fences, and pro- hibiting any farm stock from running at large, under a penalty. Some of the most enterprising farmers in New York, Wisconsin, and other States, have clubbed together in a number of towns adjoining, and entirely removed their highway fences, holding stock-owners responsible for all trespass. They have been sustained by the courts in every case where litigation has resulted. We trust they will persevere in their work of reform. The public apathy on this subject is incompre- hensible. A tax not one-hundredth part as oppressive as this fence tax, nor half as inex- cusable, lighted the flames of the Revolution, and separated the American colonies from Great Britain. But for the present, fences will be built, and we must tell how to build them. Varieties of Fence.—There are five kinds of material used in this country for making fence, as follows: 1. Stone, in some States. 2. Earth, thrown from a ditch and raised into a regular embankment on one side, 3. Wood, of various construction. 4. Iron wire. 5. Hedges. The location of the farm and its resources, will indicate the kind of fence most desirable to build. A good fence is always to be pre- ferred to an imperfect one; it will generally save the extra cost, and twice the amount in vexation. Poor fences make breachy cattle. Stone Walls.-—Over large sections of New England, the stone wall is about the only fence seen. In those locations where surface stone abounds, especially if it appear in the form of boulders, or manageable fragments, THE HOMESTEAD: stone fences, broad and high, are the most du- rable, while they are at the same time the most economical. They should be set a foot below the surface of the ground to be secure against the action of frost, and then they should be well built. No other sort of fence is so valuable as a good stone wall, or so worthless as a poor one. To begin with; the surface of the ground should be renjoved, and the foundation stones, broad enough to reach across the wall, should be laid on solid earth. If, as is generally the case, the wall is built of small, irregular stones, they should be bound to- gether by large flat stones, or ties of some tough wood, laid across at intervals. The builder should be careful to break joints well—that is, to make one stone overlap another—as seen in the cut of the wal] well laid. Where this precaution is not at- tended to, as is seen in the cut of the wall badly laid, in which long perpendicular seams appear, the weather will soon tumble the structure to the ground. It is common, where stone is not so plenty as to be an ineumbrance, to lay up the wall some three feet, inclosing posts at convenient distances, and adding two rails to the top. Stone fences, in most of the States, are wholly impracticable from lack of material, Watt Wer Lar. ANNE ww Een ae Ke ANY Watt Bapry Lar. Mt Ditches are not much relied on. In the first settlements, to secure the crops, the ditch- and-sod fence has been somewhat used in the deep prairie land; but the friable soil erambled under the action of frost and rain, and the treading of cattle, and it proved an expensiye and perishable structure. Wooden Femnces.—A great majority of the fences in this country are of wood. Of these, there are several kinds. Zigzag Rail Fences.—The first fences built in America were doubtless zigzag rail or log fences because these are the simplest, and, where wood and land are abundant, they are still the cheap- est and best. This kind of fence costs in con- struction only, including the cutting, splitting, hauling, and Jaying it up, when the rails are within half a mile of the fence to be railed, at FENCES—THEIR COST AND CONSTRUCTION. 517 the very least fifteen dollars per thousand; or,|the zigzag fence up hill, instead of down; this for a twelve-foot rail with a five-foot worm | will leave the rails more nearly level, and the F (and six is better), seven to eight rails high, with two rails for lock at each corner—thirty eentsa rod. Then the young timber must be added to the cost, and this depends entirely upon its market value where the fence is located. Season for Cutting Rails—From August to October is the best time for cutting rails or any timber that is to be exposed to the weather. “When Autumn comes, and leaves are dry, And rustle on the ground, Aud chilling winds go whistling by, With nioaning pensive sound, Cut timber then for posts and beams and rails, For tongues and thills, for whiffletrees and stales.” Epwarp Topp, in his Young Farmer’s Man- ual, says: “Late Autumn is the best time for cutting timber for almost any purpose.” Albu- men hastens decay, and there is less in timber at that season than at any other. They ought to be split as soon as cut, and set up at onee, or piled to season for the Winter. The Cultivator says: “The best time to cut and split rails is at midsummer, as we have learned by repeated experiment; the softer woods, as basswood for instance, lasting more than twice as long before decay sets in, as when cut in Winter or Spring. We have therefore preferred paying a higher price for the work in Summer that at other seasons.” Moore’s Rural New Yorker says: “It is a pretty well established fact, that timber is more durable, cut in the Autumn or early part of Winter, than if taken from the stump in the Spring when every pore is full of sap.” JoHN Y. Smirn, a good authority, differs from the Cultivator, for he says: “Cut your rail and building timber, your hop poles, and even your bean poles in the Winter. Nature has favored you by making the most convenient time the best time.” We think Fall is the best time for almost any timber. If the reader is in doubt, let him experiment. How to Make Rails.—Rails should be twelve feet long, unless the log be black ash, elm, but- tonwood, peperridge, or some other tough wood, compelling shorter cuts. It isquitea “knack” to split logs enconomically into rails, posts, ete. The wedges should always be first entered at the smaller end, and it is generally better to follow old checks, if there are any, than to split across them. If the log is very perverse, it is advisable to slab it, rather than to try to bring all the rails in triangles from the center. Rails should be peeled as soon us split, for if this is neglected, the bark becomes the nest of worms that greatly promote decay. Always remember to build fence will stand much firmer. There are some obvious objections to zigzag fences in the older settled and sparsely-wooded States. They are offensive to the eye in a cul- tivated landscape. They require more wood than any other fence. They are obtrusive, oc- cupying a strip of land twelve feet wide around every field—some two or three hundred thou- sand acres in the State of Pennsylvania. This is a severe tax—not less than two per cent. on all inel.jsed land. Straight Rail Fences.—A straight rail fence is cheaper than the zigzag, requiring a little more labor to construct it, but saving nearly half the rails. It is made with parallel stakes driven into the ground, as represented in the follow- ing cut, these being set just far enough apart to admit of laying the rails between them. Each pair of rails is laid on a block of wood or a stone, as shown in the figure, a larger stone be- ing set for the foundation. The posts are fast- ened together with a pin, or with a band of wire at the top This is the cheapest fence that can be made, and one of the most durable and efficient. It is neat and strong and requires little room, Srraicur Raw Fence. A straight fence is sometimes economically made by hewing the ends of the rail to a wedge and nailing them on the opposite sides of asingle line of posts. This is less durable than the last mentioned. Then there are the pole fence, the side-hill fence, the stake-and-rider fence, the post-and- bar fence, the leaning fence, supported by stakes, and other varieties, all of which are clumsy and inefficient, or else like the bar-post fence, too expensive for general adoption. Board Fences and Posts.—Board fences cost from one dollar to five dollars a rod, and are used chiefly for the inclosures immediately ad- joining the house. In selecting material for posts, it is a good rule to take the timber that you have the most of and can spare the best. Of course, other things being equal, the most durable should always be chosen; but other 518 ARCHITECTURE OF things are not equal, for red and white cedar,* locust and white oak, sometimes bring a high price for other purposes, and can not be spared for posts. Chestnut is generally used in New England and the Middle States. When it is practicable, fence posts should be set in well- drained land, as they will last longer than on wet fields. For this reason good fence-builders no longer fill the post holes with stones—for these give free passage to wateygand hasten de- cay. It is better to pound the earth firmly around the post, adding only a few inches atatime and using an iron-shod rammer to harden it. A great variety of “portable fences” have been patented, but they are generally quite too portable, being carried off by a good strong wind. Posts for board fence should be set eight feet apart, and the boards should be sixteen feet long, four and a half or five inches wide, and an inch thick. Five boards high, with a cap or roof-board, are ample for a good fence, How to set Posts Firmly.—Take equal quan- tities of waterlime and quicklime, and mix with sand as usual; put two or three inches of mortar and coarse gravel in the bottom of the hole, so that the end of the post will not come to the ground; ther set the post in, top-end down; fill in several inches of coarse gravel ; pound it down; then mortar and more gravel, and so on until the cement is raised above the ground several inches around the post. Slant it away from the post in every direction, so as to turn off the water; then take coal tar and a brush, paint around the bottom of the post, and fill the interstices between the post and the cement with coal tar. Only mix enough mor- tar for one hole at a time. The post will be as solid as if set in stone; it don’t heave out with _the frosts and sag around and pull the boards off, as the water and air can not get to it. Charring the lower end of the post will add to its durability. Imbedding in ashes, char- coal, or lime will also have a good effect, and salt has great preservative power if it be con- cealed in an auger-hole and plugged in, so as to be out of the reach of hogs, sheep, etc. Kyanizing posts consists in soaking them in some mineral solution, such as sulphate of iron, blue vitriol, creosote, etc., until the wood is saturated. The process keeps wood perfectly sound for a long time, and has been * A Maryland journal says: “‘ At the head of one of the gvavesin ‘Old St. Mary's,’ there stands a cedar slab, which, as the inscription indicates, was placed there in 1717, and is still perfectly eound,”" THE HOMESTEAD: found, in many instances, to pay the expense, especially for sills, bridge timbers, railroad sleepers, etc. Experiments prove that the ends of posts and stakes dipped in hot coal tar and then coveted with coarse sand, are rendered quite indestructible for a long time. Wood put in crude petroleum, and allowed to remain in ita few hours, is said to become exceedingly durable, Gates versus Bars.—Every field on the farm should be entered by a good self-shutting and self-fastening gate. A proper inclination in hanging will secure the former requisite, and a good latch, properly constructed, the latter. Each field should be numbered, and the num- ber painted on the gate-post. Let the farmer who has bars instead of gates, make a trial of their comparative convenience, by taking them out and replacing them without stopping, as often as he does in one year on his farm, say about six hundred times, and he can not fail to be satisfied which is cheapest for use. Remedy for Sagging Farm Gates—Have two latches, or rather one latch above and a sta- tionary bar below projecting like a lateh, which rests on a support cut in the are ora portion of a circle, that is secured to the post in same manner as the catch of the latch. When the gate is swung to, the stationary bar on the gate strikes on the circular support on the post and raises the gate to its place, and supports it so that there is no bearing or strain on the latch or hinges. Wire Fences.—It now seems quite pos- sible that these may become the general substi- tute for other fences. A wire fence can be con- structed for a dollar a rod, or less, and, con- sidering its durability, it is now one of the most economical fences for those who have to buy their materials and pay for the labor, The price of wire, moreover, is decreasing year by year, and will probably become much farther reduced, whereas all other kinds of materials are becoming scarcer and higher, as settlement becomes denser. Wire is especially effective on lawns as a de- fense for evergreens and hedges. Even small sizes will serve an excellent purpose. The accompanying cut repre- @ 6 sents some of the different sizes of wire, the largest, No. 3 wire, 3 being exactly one-fourth of an [) © inch in diameter, and No.11,one- “9 wt Sizes or Wier. eight. FENCES—WIRE. Wire fences are as substantial as those of | any other material; yet in hundreds of in- stances where they have seemed to be well built they have proved an entire failure, and the experimenters reported that such fences could not be relied upon for protecting cul- tivated fields from unruly cattle. SoLton Ros- INSON suys ‘‘the wire fence has not proved a If made cheap, it is not effectual; if We be- lieve that this opinion is not well founded. success. made effectual, it is not economical.” Properly erected, they are at once economi- eal and impassable. The first mistake making such barriers exclusively of wire. When three or four wires are strung up across a field, looking “like the shadow of nothing,” as a farmer expresses it, with no top rail to notify stock of an obstruction there, young animals may plunge and dash against them, and some- thing must give way. But if a good deep fur- row be turned up against the posts on either side, and a stout rail be pinned along their tops, the line will be so thoroughly marked that no cattle, unless they be absolutely wild, will attempt its passage. Wire purchased by the farmer is generally annealed ready for use; if it be not, let him build a bonfire, throw the coil on, and heat it to a red heat. This will make it tough and pliable. The size of wire to be used depends on circumstances. The price increases with the size. Topp advises against the use of No. 3 or 4 wire, and similar large sizes, for ordinary fences. ‘For fencing against small peaceable animals, like sheep,” he says, “No. 12 or 13 wire is sufficiently strong; and No. 9 will turn horses and anything that wears horns. Any animal that will thrust into a fence, when it is properly made, with force enough to break a sound No. 11 wire, should not have liberty in an open field.” Two sizes of wire may properly be used in a fence; the smaller at the bottom. In fastening the wire to posts, either at the ends or intermediate, sharp corners should be avoided. At the terminus it may be put through the post and fastened; being attached to other posts by staples, or let into a notch and held there by a strip of wood nailed across. Or, the wires may be threaded through holes in every post. The posts may be made smaller than for a board fence; but none should be less than 3 by 4 inches at the lower end, and 2 by 3 at the top. is in te and ingenuity are essential to the construction of a good wire fence; yet the s 519 method is simple enough when once under- stood. A single reach of wire should never be more than fifty rods—thirty is better. At one end of this should be the anchor post, where the beginning of the wires is fastened; at the other, two firmly set straining posts, twice as large as the intermediate ones. At the end of every reach of wire should be the permanent straining posts. Mechanical appliances are necessary to draw the wires to a uniform ten- sion, after their ends are strung through two- inch holes in the straining post; these appli- ances consisting of a round two-inch stick of tough wood ior each wire, turned in the holes of the second post, at right angles with the wire, with a wrench applied to its square end. The wire is wound upon this stick as upon a small reel, as shown in the accom- nying cut, strained by means of the wrench, and when perfectly taut, the stick is driv- the square hole in the side post, and thus the wire kept permanently stretched. The illustration represents the lower wires stretched, and the upper wire undergoing the process. The side post may be dispensed with, if square staples are driven firmly into the main post to hold the straining stick, In warm weather the wires expand with heat, and they should then be drawn tight; but they should be loosened a little in the Fall to allow for the contraction in Winter. The wires may be fastened at every post by driving the staples tight or plugging the holes; but it is generally considered better to fasten at every + eighth or tentl: post. To prevent animals from 9 ~ putting their heads through between the wires, e they are sometimes stayed with small well- annealed wire, bound up and down midway between the posts. A tree at each end of the reach of wire is much better than posts; it is very difficult to make posts sufficiently firm. In applying the wire to the fence, unroll it by trundling the eoil along, this will prevent kinks. Wire fences of this kind can be made for twenty-five cents to one dollara rod, Hon, H. F. Frencw made seventy rods, which proved effective, be- tween his corn and pasture fields, of No. 9 wire, at twenty-three cents a rod. en into SrRAINiING Posts, 520 ARCHITECTURE OF HMledges.— Among the most picturesque, durable, and economical fences, are hedges made of living plants, usually of thorny varie- ties, disposed to grow ina close and impervious manner. Hedges form one of the most strik- ing features of the European landscape, fre- quently dividing the estates from each other. In the moist English atmosphere they attain a deep green, which they never exhibit in this country, and the hawthorn and buckthorn be- come remarkably tough and sturdy. It is asserted and widely believed that hedges have proved a total failure in this country; but, while it is known that there are thousands of miles of hedges that will effectually turn every kind of farm stock, the fact will be con- sidered worth at least as much as the theory. There are thousands of farmers who are certain that hedges make the very cheapest and most durable fence in those sections where stone and wood are scarce. The causes of the numerous failures generally lie either in the choice of a hedge-plant not adapted to the latitude, or in an improper treatment at the time of trans- planting, or insufficient care afterward, neglect to cultivate, timidity in pruning, impatience to wait four years, and scarcity of labor. The English thorns generally fail as hedges in this country. Evergreen hedges of arbor- vite, red cedar, or Norway spruce, are best adapted for shade and ornament here, but they are not so well calculated to resist stock as the deciduous thorn bushes, the Osage orange, honey locust, thorn locust, barberry, privet, ete. The Osage Orange, or Macluva.—The Osage orange is the hedge plant of the United States, It has often faiied; but the failure has usually been the fault of the hedger, not the plant. With proper culture, it will, in three or four years, grow a hedge so compact that no stock will pass it. Wii1i1Am Nerv, of Cincinnati, Ohio, one of the pioneers of hedging, affirms that “if rightly managed, it makes the best and cheapest fence in the world, without any special objection whatever.” In the beauty of its foliage and fruit, its habit of spreading near the ground, the quickness of its growth, the stubbornness, elasticity, and density of its branches, the sharpness of its thorns, and im- munity from insect attack, it is unrivaled. It is tolerably hardy, but winter-kills in the lati- tude of upper Wisconsin and Minnesota. The Iowa Homestead, of a recent date, says: “A million Osage orange plants were sold and delivered in Madison county last fall. There are upwards of two hundred miles of Osage- THE HOMESTEAD: orange hedge set out in that county alone, dur- ing the last three years, and there is a good prospect of seeing a hundred miles more set out this Spring.” In Iowa, [linois, Indiana, and Ohio, there are five times as many miles of Osage orange hedge as of all other sorts put together. Fifteen Osage orange plants, costing thirty cents, will make a rod. C. W. Mars states in the Prairie Farmer that, sixteen years ago, he set out two thousand plants, making eighty rods of fence. A proof of the good manner in which the work was done is fur- nished by the fact that all are growing to-day except two. He says he has exercised the same care that he should give in raising a good crop of corn. In five years an efficient hedge was formed, and it is now eleven years since the line was turned out as a fence, and no horse or horned animal has ever been through it in that time. One end has been used for the last three years as a fence for hog pasture, since which time no hogs or pigs have ever been through it. The cost has not been twenty-five cents per rod. The Honey Locust (Three-thorned Acacia.)— The honey locust is indigenous to this coun- try, and is hardy, being somewhat introduced for hedges north of the line where the Osage thrives. It is common in the Western forests, and attains the height and size of a tree if left to its own habit. It is armed with long ugly thorns, and when properly dwarfed and com- pacted by vigorous pruning is imperyious to stock. As Dr. WARDER says: “ Vineyards and orchards enclosed with the three-thorned acacia would need little guarding against dep- redators.” It grows very rapidly and strongly, survives the most relentless trimming, and tends to stout laterals, armed with menacing spikes, Timidity in pruning has been the chief cause of failure with the locust hedge—as, in- deed, with all others. But it is doubtful if any plant, whose natural growth is from twenty to fifty feet high, can be kept down within the bounds of an ordinary hedge, and retain a healthy state. The Barberry.—This is a natural dwarf, and is one of the very hardiest of wild shrubs, adapted to the extremities of our northwestérn climate. It is highly ornamental, and bears crimson berries that make a grateful acid jelly, grows freely, is easily propagated from seed, does not sucker from the root, is sufticiently thorny, cattle will not eat it much, and mice and insects not at all. It is recommended for hedges by the Wisconsin Horticultural Soeiety, : — FENCES—HEDGE. 521 and is being tried in that State. It will not grow so compactly as the Osage hedge, but will probably make a good substitute in the higher latitudes where that fails. The Wi%s- consin Farmer says: “The several examples of barberry about Laneaster, from five years old up to fourteen, are, so far as we know, the best in the Northwest, as indicating what it will amount to for usefulness. The lots, fourteen years old, are about ten feet high, and would defy all the stock in the country, and we can hardly see how a regiment of infantry armed with bayoneted muskets could break through. The lots five to seven years old, about seven feet high, are hardly so impenetrable as the elder, but would certainly turn any kind of stock. Perhaps the best method of starting a barberry hedge would be, to plant the young stools three feet apart and fill up by layering between.” The Oneida Circular says: “ We have a bar- berry-hedge on our grounds at Wallingford, Connecticut, twenty-five rods long, and nine years old from the seed. This hedge has been clipped a little two or three times, to keep it even, und is now six to ten feet high, with a firm, compact base, perfectly impervious to the smaller animals, and stout enough to turn cat- tle.” The canes of each stand ultimately number seventy to one hundred, thrown from a single center, just as the twenty to thirty rye straws proceed from a single grain. These canes rise in a curve at first, then assume a perpendicular, the top of the common stand rising each year, till a height of eight to ten feet is attained, after which there appears no further increase of the height. P. Attyn, of Benton Harbor, Michigan, writes: “One fact.is worth half a dozen guesses. Four years ago I planted ten rods of small bar- berry plants fora hedge on my place. That hedge now appears. much like a perfect fence. Man or beast would try more than once before passing through it. Two years more of such growth as it had last year would make it hog- tight, horse-high, and bull-strong. Ido fully believe that the barberry is yet destined to be- come the gfeat hedge plant of America.” 'The new American Cyclopedia, in speaking of the burberry, says “it lives for centuries,” This is probably the hardiest plant now used in America for hedges. The notion that the barberry communicates fungus abe diseases to wheat, which has prejudice many farmers against it in the West. is a {Oolish fiction, without a shadow of founda- as x tion in fact. It is one of the healthiest and toughest of plants. The fungus that sometimes grows on it, is not communicable. Other Kinds of Hedge—The English haw- thorn is said to make good hedges in Canada; but being a native of a more humid clime than ours, it usually sheds its foliage in our dry Summers, making it much less attractive and protective. The cockspur has been used to some extent; not enough to test its general adaptation to our needs. There are certain black thorns, native to the Western States, that make a good hedge when properly trimmed and cared for. The buckthorn succeeds well, and is considerably used; it bears close prun- ing, and is possessed of remarkable vitality. Taking all things into account, the American arborvite is the best evergreen hedge plant. No matter how old it is, it has always a ten- dency to keep furnished with foliage to the ground, which is essential to a good hedge plant; and as it grows slow, and conically, it can be kept in trim with little care or cost. The Norway spruce makes an admirable pro- tective evergreen hedge, if allowed to have about four feet of a base, and trained to a truncate form, as indeed, all evergreen hedges should be. The Cherokee rose has been extensively grown for hedges in Georgia, Alabama, Missis- sippi, and Louisiana, thriving as far north as Memphis. M. W. Puiuures, the veteran edi- tor of the Southern Farmer, says: ‘“‘The Chero- kee rose is a pure white fragrant flower, single, with bright yellow center, and the foliage is a rich bright green.” It is an easy matter to get a fencing of this rose started. Take the runners, cut them in pieces about a foot long, lay these in a furrow, with one eud protruding, and tread the earth down, They will be almost certain to grow. In four years you will have an impenetrable fence, which fire only will be able to destroy. Says Mr. Puriuies: “ My plan is—I throw up aridge with four or six furrows of the turn- ing plow, having laid off a row to bed to; I then harrow down fine with an iron-tooth har- row; I then stretch a line, make holes slanting under the line with a dibble, and then insert the cuttings some six inches deep, and press the earth firmly on them. My plants are put in about one foot apart.” Out of a mile of hedging set out, nine out of ten cuttings lived, The great difficulty with this rose for hedging is to keep it in due bounds, Cultivation of Hedges—In planting for the . ’ 522 ARCHITECTURE OF Osage orange, great care should be taken to select good seed. The best method of sprout- ing the seed is as follows: Soak them in warm water from thirty to forty hours; then put them into shallow boxes not more than four or five inches deep; to every quart of seed add a pint of sand, then mix thoroughly, keep in a warm place, and wet it as often as twice a day with tepid water. Seeds attended to as above, would sprout sufficiently in eight days to sow in the ground. If it is preferred, however, plants can be purchased at very reasonable rates. Much care should be taken in the selection of the ground for theseed. It should be fertile, and as free as possible from the seeds of grass and weeds. It should be mellow and incline to moisture, but not subject to bake. In removing the plants—in Spring or Fall— a subsoil plow should be used, the share of which should be steel, quite large, and as flat as possible. The plants should be cut off eight or ten inches below the surface of the ground. Preparatory to setting a hedge, the ground should be thoroughly broken up to the depth of twelve to fourteen inches, the “lands” being at least eight feet wide. By setting the plants in the center of the “lands,” there would be left spaces four feet wide on each side to culti- vate. After the ground has been fully pre- pared, the row should be staked off and a line stretched along its length to work by. The holes for inserting the plants may be made with a stake about two feet long, rounded and sharpened at the end. These holes should be about nine inches apart for the smaller plants, into which the quicks should be inserted about an inch deeper than they grew in the nursery. This being done, the earth should be well packed around the roots. Next comes the operation of cultivating, hoeing, plowing, ete. The spaces on both sides uf the hedge require thorough cultivation, and the ground kept clear of grass and weeds during the season. No plants should ever be set in a hedge nearer than nine inches apart, while the red cedar should be twenty inches, and the honey locust three feet. Overcrowding has spoiled many hedges. It is better to set the Osage orange in two parallel rows, a foot apart, and the plants eighteen inches apart in each row, having a quincunx arrangement, thus: ca % a a % it % i a % Surzt Foster, of Towa, remarking that shading is absolutely necessary for the young plants, says that at DovGuass’ nursery, at & THE HOMESTEAD: Waukegan, three modes are adopted: 1. Strips of building lath are nailed on two narrow strips of boards, so as to make screens four feet square, which are easily handled—the spaces between the lath admitting only one-half or one-third of the sun’s rays. 2. Cross boards are nailed horizontally, seven feet high, on tall posts, and brush worked in below the cross boards. 3. Brush is stuck up at the south side of the beds. Mulching is also resorted to successfully in the West; even the most careless hedger should throw down some refuse straw on the north side of his young hedge to catch the snow. A hedge, to be of any practical use, must be thick at the bottom, and therefore should be closely cut back while young, and often pruned, in order to force out lateral shoots Conical forms are now gen- erally sought for hedges. The next Spring after transplanting the plants must be cut off near the ground, below all the buds, just above the top of the roots. The roots then swell and put out a number of strong shoots. The hedge needs cultivation until the middle of June, when it should have another trimming, within two inches of the first. Thesecond Spring it should be trimmed eight inches above former cutting, and in June After this it needs but near the ground. eight inches higher. trimming once a year. “Tn March, before your hedge is three years old, plash it, 7. e. cut half off close to the ground every first and second plant, leaving each third one standing, trimming the limbs off of the third, leaving it like a stake, then take the top of the plants that are cut half off and bend them lengthwise with the hedge, weaving them together on alternate sides of the uprights, after the manner of basket-making. By this method you ean have a fence that will turn.any kind of stock at four years from plant- ing, by taking proper care of it.” Dr. WARDER thinks “plashing is a barbarous process, to be practiced only under a pressing necessity.” It is strongly recommended by some experi- enced hedgers to apply the shears to the young hedge during the year of planting, but Dr. WARDER deprecates this, and thinks that “oreat risk will be run of injuring the strength of the plant, by commencing the decapitation too soon.” We ought here to say that the first and most imperative step for any man to 4 who is about hedging his lands, is to procure the ad- mirable work on Hedges and Eyergreens, by — FENCES—HEDGE. Dr. Jonn A. WARDER, of Cincinnati, editor | of the Western [Horticultural Review. To that, complete treatise our readers are indebted for | some of the best suggestions of this article. We copy from Rural Affairs the accompany- ing illustrations of the growth of a hedge plant, and methods of prun- - ing it from the time of transplant- ing until it arrives at the perfection of a complete hedge. The dotted lines which we have Firsv-YEAR— A the immature Transpiant- indicated Ep Quick. plants show where the clipping across See: JUNE OF Seconp YEAR. should be done at the different stages of growth. The angle gef, in the eut of “Spring of Fourth Year,” and the angle ghf, in the cut of “End of Fourth Year,” «also repre- SSSSNV TT Sprine or Fourrn Year. uN DK Pe W427 ow a07Z— Enp or Fourtn Year—Compiere Hepner, sent the lines of trimming as the plant ap- proaches maturity, while the final trimming brings it to the desired form of the Gothic arch. The pruning, as indicated, must be re- lentless, or the result will be an unshapely hedge. The lines of pruning are all repeated i 523 “Bnd of Fourth Year.” This method of pruning, which is also recom- mended by Dr. WARDER, does not contemplate ‘ not in the cut the operation of “plashing,” which is adapted to all hedges. During this year, or the next at latest, the protective fence may be removed, and the fence |may be turned out to cattle and all farm stock. Even after this time the hedge must receive attention and an occasional day’s work. Ifa point gets weak, it must be protected by a fence while new quicks are set, or the old plants shorn off at the ground and trained anew to fill the gap. The operation of “ hedge, already described, may be practiced with plashing,” or lopping a excellent effect in the renovation and recon- struction of a hedge whose proper pruning has been neglected—and of these there are hun- dreds of miles the West. There are, in every State, hedges six to ten feet high that have practically had their own way, and now long rows of trees, a barrier against cattle, but These in no obstruction to the smaller farm stock. ought immediately to be plashed—very early in Spring—by cutting the plants half off and bending them down with a pitchfork, length- wise of the hedge to an angle of 45°, or even lower. New shoots will soon grow from the stock and push up through the old tops, forming an impenetrable hedge that should be rigidly pruned according to the method already given. Cost of Hedging—Professor J. B. TurNER, of Jacksonville, Illinois, has his farm of a hun- dred and fifty acres surrounded and subdivided with four miles of hedges of the Osage orange, and he declares he will never allow another board or rail to be brought on his land for fences. He estimates that ordinary rail fences would cost $300 a mile, while hedge would not cost “ more than $25 a mile.” This would give a clear saving of $1,000—whose annual interest will hire a man to attend to the hedges. To add to the comparative value, the-fences would all the while grow poorer, while the hedges eon- stantly grow better. E. Minirr, of Waverly, Illinois, says that “a good fence can be grown on good ground at filty cents per rod,” and Henry Suaw, of Tazewell, says: “Had I time, I would agree to fence the whole Mississippi Valley for twenty-five cents a rod for one kind, and fifty cents a rod for the other kind of hedge—to perfect them in three or four years.” It will pay for an unskillful farmer to employ a professional hedger. THE WORKSHOP: Toots AND ImpLEMENTs—Wuat Kinps To Get, AND How 70 Usr Tuem. The Home Workshop.—Every owner of a house, who has much use for tools, should have a workshop or room where they may be stored and repaired, and where in lei- sure hours he can, if he be ingenious, mend tools, renovate broken pieces of household fur- niture, and even construct rustic chairs and lounges for the lawn, or footstools, ottomans, camp-chairs, picture-frames, and other articles of household use and adornment. As an Edueator.—If he have children, wheth- er boys or girls, he should include in their edu- cation some instruction in the handy use of ear- penter’s tools, for such knowledge will be of real service during their lives; and the best legacy any man ean leave to his children is to show them how to help themselves. Then, if they are not well served, it will be their own fault. Rural Affairs thus concludes: “A young man, whose natural ingenuity is so developed by practice that he can at any moment repaira rake, adjust a scythe, fit in a new hoe-handle, set a clock in running order, sew a broken harness, make a door-latch fasten easily, set a gate in good swinging condition, sharpen a penknife, give edge to a pair of scissors, mend an umbrella, repair a cistern pump, whitewash a ceiling, paper a room, stop a leaky roo’, make a bee- hive, bottom a chair, and cobble and black his own boots, will pass through the world more comfortably to himself, and profitably to those around him, and be far more worthy of the hand of the finest young woman in the country, than the idle and sluggish pretended gentle- man, with pockets full of cash earned by his father, and who is obliged to send for a ine- chanic for all these services, which he is too helpless to perform himself.” As a Convenience.—Every farmer worthy of the name, will say “amen” to the last para- graph; and if the son follows his father’s foot- steps, with such a workshop as we suggest always accessible, he ought soom'to be able also (524) to set an ax-helve, make a saw-horse, construct a harrow, strengthen a plow with a new beam or handle, hew out bar-posts, supply an ox- yoke with bows, hoop or head a barrel, and do a hundred other things that demand immediate attention on every farm, and that rainy days furnish the opportunity for doing. Garden Tools.—Every dweller in city or vil- lage, who has a garden, especially if he also have something of an orchard attached, should provide himself with a decent set of horticul- tural implements of approved kinds. One great reason why gardens are so wretchedly cultivated, why weeds are permitted to out- grow and smother valuable plants, why fruit trees become barren and decay, is the want of a good set of horticultural implements with which to guard against these evils. How frequently does the gardener in a lei- sure hour observe the wants of a favorite tree, that it needs pruning, that his hedge needs trimming, that a favorite fruit should be bud- ded, or a hundred other things which should be attended to but are not, because the suitable tools are not within reach. The work of the garden may be greatly lightened and facilitated by the use of tools of the best materials and construction. A spade, with a sharp edge, or better still, a spading fork with stiff steel tines, is all-important in the early processes of the garden. A pointed shovel with a long handle, saves a good deal of back work in transplanting shrubs and fruit trees. A sharp steel hoe, with a light, smooth handle, or what is better for many kinds of work, a prong-hoe, such as is often used for harvesting potatoes, is indispensable all through the season. The former is preferable for cut- ting off the stems of large weeds and hoeing corn and potatoes, the latter for covering the same at planting, as it loosens the soil to a considerable depth with ease and rapidity, and is not liable to clog in moist ground. WORKSHOP—CONSTRUCTION AND OUTFIT OF. For weeding, where the ground is not too rocky or uneven, a scufile-hoe is advisable. It goes by pushing, instead of drawing, as the common hoe. There are several new varieties of this kind of hoe. Another inplement, always in requisition in garden work, is a steel-tooth rake. The teeth should be pretty close together, and not of great length, as they are liable to break. Such a rake may be used, not only for raking off seed beds, and clearing them of weeds and stones, but also for destroying small weeds when they are just peeping above the surface. It will be found as well adapted for this purpose as is the brush harrow in field cultivation. Hoes and spades should be kept sharp. They may be ground on the grindstone, or sharpened by arasp or file. The latter may be carried with you in the garden, and used as occasion requires, just as the rifle to whet a scythe. Thus treated, they may not last as long as if never sharpened, but if one will make the trial of a dull hee and of a sharp hoe, he will be sur- prised at the difference. No wonder it has passed into a proverb, “As dull as a hoe,” when the operator never had wit enough to give an edge-to iton agrindstone. The short time and slight expense required for sharpen- ing a hoe, not less than a scythe, if it enables one to do more and better work with the same expenditure of strength, are not to be named in comparison with the benefit. Construction and Outfit of Work- shop.—tTo a farmer, such a workshop as we have suggested is well-nigh indispensable. It may be a building erected on purpose, or par- titioned off from the carriage-house, the corn- house, wood-house, or barn. Let it be neatly made, and not unpleasantly situated, for it should be attractive and not repulsive to those for whom it is intended. It should be tight and light, and furnished with a small stove, so as to be comfortable in Winter. It should not be less than fifteen feet square—twenty is better. Along one end should be hung, on pins suit- ably adjusted, the farmer’s smaller tools—his hammers, hatchets, buck-saw, grafting tools, trowel, axes, etc., each one in its place, where the hand may always be laid on it in a moment. Along one side of the room should the coarser tools of the farm be similarly arranged. Nearly every tool can be hung on aspike or a pin, or between two. If hung perpendicularly, they will be most accessible, and will occupy the least room. The following cut shows how these ii 525 tools will look when thus neatly and com- pactly stored. In order that each implement may always be in its place, the plan devised by Townsend SHARPLEss, of Philadelphia, is INTERIOR OF Toot Room—LARGE Toots. the best. Hang each tool in its position; then draw its outline accurately on the board-wall with pencil or chalk; then, with a brush dipped in some dark-colored paint, make a distinct representation of the shape of the tool. These outlines will not only show where the tool should be put, but show at a moment if any has been left out of place. The consciousness that there is such a tell-tale in the tool room, will stimulate any careless laborer to return every thing which he takes ont. Every man ought to be willing to lend a tool to a neighbor, in a pinch (excepting his tooth- brush and razor), but the borrower should be given to understand that its prompt return is expected. If he fail to bring it back, the owner should go for it the moment it is due, and express his unwillingness to have it out of place. If this is done with decision and kind- ness, it will probably insure punctuality next time. With such a room, properly kept in order, the farmer will be saved hours of searching, many weary steps, and much vexation every year; and, besides this personal wear-and-tear, he will save greatly in the increased durability of his tools. On the opposite side of this room, under the window, should be the principal feature of the shop: The Work-Bench.—This should be ten to twelve feet long, two feet and a half or three feet wide, and about two feet nine or ten inches high—this last depending on the average height of the persons who are to use it. Any farmer can make one if he knows how to use a saw, plane, and chisel. The top should be made of three-inch plank of some hard wood; and the frame of timbers morticed solidly together and 526 braced. The vice should consist of two jaws of hard timber, four by five inches square, hav- ing a hinge near the floor, and extending six inches higher than the bench, the tops being protected with iron caps. The bench should also be furnished with a sniall iron dog, or plane-hook, movable, to catch the end of a board and hold it while it is being dressed on its side, and also a rest to hold it firmly on its edge. Back of the bench, on wooden pins, should be hung three different-sized planes, a saw-set, graduated augers, and hand-saws, a drawing- knife, a mallet, a wrench, a square and a tri- square, and a brace, below which there should be a tool rack, for holding a variety of chisels, bits, files, gimlets, scratch-awl, ete. Every chisel, file, and bit should have its place; so should the screw-driver, and the places never should be changed. There should be drawers under the work-bench, or against the wall at its end, or a large box with a bow-handle, subdi- vided for nails and screws of various sizes, nuts, bolts, rivets, brads, tacks, ete. Here should be found whitewash, paints, oils, and brushes; ce- ment, pruning, and grafting tools; syringes for irrigating plants; glass, glue, nails, screws, putty, glazing tools, whetstones, and, indeed, every article that may be required in keeping the premises and apparatus of the farm in a state of complete repair. A part of these tools will be sufficient to be- gin with; indeed, the bench can be decently fitted up for from ten to twenty-five dollars, and other things can be added, when conve- nient, from time to time. If the farmer have many hoop-poles to make, a shaving-horse for using the drawing-knife will be requisite. It will also be desirable to have an anvil; if he can not purchase an old one, any heavy piece of iron will answer. ; Value of a Workshop.—It is always perplex- ing and unpleasant, and not unfrequently a cause of much expense, to be compelled to run to the carpenter or blacksmith every time a linge is replaced, a wheelbarrow injured, or a strap broken. A little skill in the use of tools— and this any person of moderate capacity can readily acquire—will enable one to save many dollars annually, besides furnishing pleasura- ble and profitable employment for many an otherwise idle, and, perhaps, painful hour. One of the component parts of a good farmer is mechanical ingenuity. Some lose half a day’s valuable time, for want of knowing how to re- pair a breakage which an imgenious person THE WORKSHOP: could do in five minutes. A team and two or three men are sometimes stopped a whole day, at a critical season, for want of a little mechan- ical skill and a few tools. After a brief experience at the bench, an en- terprising farmer will repair some of his imple- ments better than a mechanic would. But he must learn not to be satisfied with botch-work, Better never have a work-bench, even ifit were given to him, than to use it, as some farmers do, in patching their implements clumsily. Get the Best Implements.—Every farmer should not only aim to provide a complete set of farm- ing implements, but that set should be of the most approved construétion and the best quality. It is wretched economy to place awkward, un- wieldy tools in the hands of laborers, when light, convenient, and equally durable ones may be had for the same price. Even if the best cost a third more, they are almost always cheapest, for they not only spare the backs of the workmen, but secure a greater amount of work. With what care should the farmer select his plows! How earnestly endeavor to procure those of the lightest draught and easiest man- agement! The comfort of his horses demands this, and the extra amount of time and money expended in the selection will be more than repaid by the better condition of his horses or oxen, and the superior manner in which the work is done. No sign denotes a good farmer more certainly than the pattern and condition of his implements. Especially is there an in- fallible test of his thrift in his Care of Tools.—Every teamster who is fit for his business, when he puts up his team after a day’s drive, will take care not only to see that they have a suitable supply of feed and water, but will rub them down, clean and dry, and make them externally comfortable, because he knows it to be essential to their health, vigor, and continued usefulness. The engineer, when he stops his engine, will pursue much the same course with the iron muscles of his ma- chine. He will rub them dry and bright, and forestall the mischievous tricks of old oxygen by oiling every part exposed to air or water. The carpenter does the same with the imple- ments of his art, and the mason never lays down his trowel for a single hour without first wiping it dry and putting it in a dry place, or thrusting it in and out of the mortar, and thus giving it the defense of the lime. Of all the implements of human effort, none are so commonly and so sadly neglected as idiom CARE OF TOOLS. 527 those of the farmer, while none need more} The wood and unpolished iron work of all yal- vigilant care in order to secure their durability and efficiency. Very commonly the hoe is left with the blade covered with damp earth and resting on the ground for days and perhaps weeks together, and the same with the spade and shovel. The plow is left at the end of the last furrow in the field, half beam deep in the ground, or thrown out beside the fence, or left out in the barn-yard, until it is next wanted. Scythes and pitchforks, and even reapers and mowers, drills and cultivators, wagons and earts, too often fare similarly, and their tallic portions are left to oxydize, and the wood me- parts to crack in the sun and rot by the moist- ure to which they are exposed, and when next wanted, are in wretched condition for use. We haye seen an expensive reaper standing two) feet deep in snow in midwinter. It was safe to infer that the owner’s farm was mortgaged, or else that he worked unnecessarily hard to keep out of debt. Let any one take a hoe or a spade, for in- stance, that is black and rust-eaten, and work with it for an hour, and then try one that has been kept bright and clean, and he will see the difference. When an implement of this kind has once become rusted over, it may be par- tially recovered by scouring in use at a great expense of extra labor, but it will never be! what it once was. A saw or a trowel, when once badly rusted, is as good as ruined. You may scour it as long as you will, it will never again work smoothly and easily as one will that has been kept bright and free from rust. Ii is just so with any polished metallic surface used in farming. It is eaten full of little cayi- . . . . . | ties which will secrete dirt and moisture, and keep up a corrosion which defies all efforts at arresting or rubbing it out, and it is a heavy, drageing tool forever afterward; no matter whether the surface be that of a hoe, a spade, a plowshare or a journal and box, it will ever be a drag on man or beast. Everything of this kind should be cleaned and wiped dry every night when in use, and not left exposed even to the dew ofasingle night without being first rubbed over with fresh grease, and when done with for a time, should be oiled and stored in a dry place. Especially is it unpardonable to leave the more expensive kinds of machinery exposed to the weather. They are liable enough to injury by unavoidable exposure in use, but when they are left to stand out for months, exposed to sun- shine and rain, it is a reckless waste of money. | uable machinery on the farm should frequently /receive a fresh coat of paint, as from the nature |of the service it is liable soon to wear off, and an occasional coat of yellow ochre—which is ‘cheap and durable, and will not cause the wood to warp—will save its small cost many times over. Whenever a machine is laid by for the season, every journal and box should be care- fully cleaned and supplied with fresh oil. An occasional coat of linseed oil upon hoe, fork, | spade, and shovel handles will have nearly the same preservative effect as paint, and add much to their agreeableness to the hand. Linseed oil is not used freely enough by farmers or even by mechanics. Every farmer should have a can of oil and a brush at hand, and whenever he buys a new tool should satu- rate its wooden parts well with the oil, and dry it in by the fire, or in the sun, before using. By this treatment the wood is toughened and strengthened, and rendered impervious to wa- ter. Wet a new hay-rake and dry it, and it will begin to be loose in the joints. If we oil it the wet will have’slight effect. Shovels and forks are preserved from creaking and crack- ing in the top of the handle by oiling. The wood becomes smooth and glossy by use, and is far less liable to blister the hand when long used. Ax and hammer handles often break off where the wood enters the iron, This part particularly should be toughened with oil, to secure durability. Oiling the wood in the eye of the ax will prevent its swelling and shrink- The tools on an extensive farm cost a large sum of money. They should be of the most approved kinds. ing, and sometimes getting loose. It is poor economy, in times of high prices of labor, to set a man at work with old-fashioned implements. Laborers should be required to return their tools to the convenient place pro- vided for them, after using. They should be put away clean and bright. The mold-boards of plows are apt to get rusty from one season to another, even if sheltered. They should be brushed over with a few drops of oil when put away, and they will then remain in good order till they are wanted. Preservation of Wood.—The following appli- cation is used in Germany for the preservation of wood: Mix forty parts of chalk, forty of resin, four of linseed oil, melting them to- gether in an iron pot; then add one part of native oxide of copper, and afterward, with care, one part sulphuric acid. The mixture, while hot, is applied to the wood by means of THE a brash; when dry, it forms a varnivh hard as wlone, The following is recommended for dry-rot in timber, so a4 to make it indestructible by waters Melt twelve ounces of resin in an iron pot; add three gallons of train oil, and three or four volla of brimetone; when the brime plone and resin are melted and become thin, add ae much Spanish brown, or red and yellow ochre, ov any other color required, first ground fine with some oil, ax will give the whole a shade of the depth preferred; then Jay it on witha brish ae hot and thin as possible; some tine affer the fit cout in dried, give it a see. ond, ‘This preparation will preserve planks for ager, and keep the weather fron driving through briek work, Polishing Plows bow grease, liberally ap. plied, ought to keep « plow from rusting much; but on coming from the fleld every plow should be touched np with some sort of fresh greave. A mixture of three parts lard and one part renin, melted together, forma one of the beat coutings for all ateel ov iron implementa, The lard wakes the resin wolt, while the latter ia a sure preventive againal rusting. But sometimes, in the hands of a careless or a lazy man, a plow will get rusty; then it should be cloaned immediately, The tom Journal siggesta that if those who Wish to spare themselves the trouble of polish. ing © rusty moldehoard, will have recourse to muriatic ncidequite a cheap article-=they will find that the acid will not toueh the iron, but Will render the rust soluble and easily removed, No farmer should allow the surface to remain mola with any eid for twenty-four hours, Murintio acid will do the work in five minutes, and should be either washed off, or cloansed by running through the soil, without delay. Nails, cut or wrought, may be rendered al- mont lmporishable, by heating them nearly red« hot in a fireshovel, and then dropping them into a flaged veuwel containing train ofl, They absorb enough oil to enable them permanently to vesing nual, Or ent nails may be properly ane nonled by heating red-hot, and cooling gradu. ally in the fire while it burna down and goes out, One wueh nail, well elinehed, will be worth, for mending implernenta, half a dozen vnannented, To Sow Tron: Heat it toa white heat, put it in a vieo, and it will saw off like wood, Using of a Wreneh—Thowe who would keep their buggies and carriages, or even their field . WORKSHOP: machines, in good order, should place a wrench on every nut at least once a month. This will sive nuts, save bolt, and prevent rattling, and wear and tear, We have sometimes known nute on threshing machines, cireular paws, ete, to be found so tight that no wrench would remove them. This wan because they had been held in the hand, or the pocket, GIL they became warm, and being then applied to very cold serews in Winter they contracted by cooling after on, and Chis held the screw with an immovable grasp. Alwayaavoid pulling © warm nut on a cold screws; and, to remove it, apply a large heated ivon in contact with the nut, so a8 to heat and expand it, and it Will loogen at once--or a cloth wet with boiling water will necomplish the same purpose, If you have a serew rusted into wood, or anut ona bolt that will not readily turn, pour on ita little kerosene and let it remain, Ina little while the oil will penetrate the interstices xo that the serew or nut can be easily started, A nut that will not yield to the leverage of the wrench, may sometimes be started by a sudden blow with a hammer againat one corner, while an ax-head is pressed against the corresponds ing side of the corner dingonally opposite, Care of HarnesieVhe Rural World saya: “Tlow litthe care is bestowed upon harness! How it is thrown about anywhere and every- where! [tis not oiled or washed from one year’s end to another, Consequently, the leather soon becomes votten, and the harness worthless, IHTarnoss is now very high, and it behooves farm ors to take the beat of care of it, It needs but little oiling or greasing--one or two applicutions a year being enough. Butevery two or three weeks it should be washed with strong caatile sonpeuds, There is enough oil in the soap to keep the harness in good condition, If oil in applied = neat’sefoot oil in considered the hoateit should be used after washing the harness with the castile soap, say a couple of hours afferward, TTave a nice snug place in which to hang your harness; and always put it in its place, so that you ean put your hand on it at night as well as by day,” The Prairie Parmer suys: “After oiling, filla sponge with the white of eggs, and again rub the entire harness; this will impart a gloss soarcely attainable in any other way without injury to the leather,” Bo sure und coyer the bits of your bridles with leather, to prevent the frost from making the mouths of your horses sore, It is down- SILARPENING right eruelty to put an iron bit into a horse’s mouth on a cold morning. If you doubt it, bit yourself some cold day when the merenury stands below zero, Sharpening Hage Toolks.—More than one-half of all the wear and tear, and break- age and bother of dull tools comes from a lack of proper knowledge and practice in grinding. Good tools are the offspring of a good grind- stone and skill in using it; a poor prind- stone is an almost infallible aymbol of a bad farmer, The grindstone should neither be too hard nor too soft “upon ily proper grit depend its efli- cieney and durability, Itehould be firmly hung | on a long shaft, with the crank at least two feet from the stone, so a4 not to interfere with the operation of grinding an ax, seythe, or knife It should yun perfeetly true. If or be of a cutter, the shaft be not precisely in its center, not exactly at right angles to the plane of the atone, it will be impossible to grind properly oreasily upon it, After being accurately hung, the stone should be sheltered, for the weather ia welleground seythe, | will greatly affect ity quality, , Varving the Stone.—When your grindstone is, of w perfectly straight face across the stone, take a little good tar, and make a ring around the slone in the center, and it will cause ib to ridge up in the middle, so a8 to be more con- ; venient for grinding a perfect edge on a tool, You need not tell your careless neighbor to please lo grind on the edge of the stone, for he can not grind in the center—the tar will pre- | vent him from gouging out the middle and, leaving the face irregular, How to Hold the Vool—Vhe manner of hold- ing the tool on the stone depends, of course, on the kind of tool, and somewhat, also, upon ite temper. Whether it should lie square, or diag- onally aerows the stone, is held to depend alto~ gether on whether it is intended to cut witha direct or an oblique stroke—or, technically, Mechanics with a crushing or a sliding stroke, who are adept in the art of grinding, hold square across the stone those implements that cut with a crushing stroke, and apply diagonally those which cut with a gliding or drawing stroke. The sliding stroke is far more effective, and belongs to the seythe, sickle, and razor, and partially, also, to the ax, shaving-knife, pocket. knife, and straw-cutter. The crushing siroke belongs to the mortising chisel, plane, auger, cold chisel, mower and reaper-cutters, shears, and, many other common implements. B4 ii ‘of the blade, 529 EDA TOOLS, The edge of tools that cut with a ermshing stroke should usually be ground keener and on a more obtuse angle; while the edge of toola that cut with a sliding stroke muy be coarser and thinner, The tool with a sliding stroke really euta by sawing, and is most effective when its thin edge bears a slight serrature or indentation, searcely vinible to the naked eye, but standing out uni- formly under a microscope, ‘These denticles should lean, at a alight angle, in the direction the tool ia to glide in cutting, like the teeth of a well- KeL BW, To secure this edge, all sliding toola should be applied to the stone obliquely, #o that the seratehes of the grit’ shall appear diagonally across the basil of the blade, and thus lay the serrature in that direction, In a seythe, the edge should be ground diagonally from heel to point, as shown in BAe, wy the annexed eut, rep- fy resenting # section of microscopically exhibe ited, the side are produced The seratehes on by grinding, and result ‘ the tweth visible at the top or edge The letter a indicates the end toward the point, In grinding a seythe, hold the heel farthest from you, and the edge toward in fine jyou, and apply the blade so that the stone will revolve toward the edge, instead of from it. It requires almost ax much care and skill to whet a seythe well as to grind it well, The rifle should be of fine grit, expecially if your blade isa little soft, and it should be handled dexterously and laid flat on the baail at every stroke. Don’t whet too often, or your neigh bors will rightly conclude that your tool ia poor, or, more likely, that you ave either unslkillful in whetting or indolent in mowing, Better wear out your seythe with the grass than with the rifle. We have used the seythe for our illustration, notwithstanding that it is becoming rapidly obsolete, because it is a representative of other edge tools that require similar treatment, The Angle of the Hdge-—Vhe angle to whieh the edge of tools should be drawn, depends, as already intimated, upon whether they have the sliding or crushing stroke, The Young Parmer’ Manual, a book which every farmer ought to aspire to own, states the obvious fact that “the more acute the angle of the basil is, the leas will be the force required to make it 530 cut,” and represents that “the angle of the basil of a scythe is usu- ally about five. de- grees—very acute,” the angle of a cold chisel fifty degrees, the angle of draw- ing-knives and 30° 20° straw-cutter knives to° twenty degrees, and framing-chisels, plane-irons, and mower and reaper-knives, twenty degrees or a little more. Scissors should be ground at an angle of sixty degrees; as should also all tools that are to cut iron, for this is “the angle of strength.” We have no room for instructions in sharpen- ing mower and reaper-knives, chisels or augers, or in filing or setting saws. The farmer, if he be ingenious, will readily acquire skill in either. Sharpening Tools Chemically—The following is translated from a German scientific journal, for the benefit of mechanics and laborers: “It has long been known that the simplest method of sharpening a razor is to put it for half an hour in water, to which has been added one- twentieth of its weight of muriatic acid, then lightly wipe it off, and after a few hours set it onahone. The acid here supplies the place of a whetstone by corroding the whole surface uniformly, so that nothing further than 4 smooth polish is necessary. ‘The process never injures good blades, while badly hardened ones are frequently improved by it, although the cause of improvement remains unexplained. Of late this process has been applied to many other cutting implements, The workman, at at the beginning of his noon spell, or when he leaves off in the evening, moistens the blades of his tools with water acidified as above, the eost of which is almost nothing. This saves the consumption of time and labor in whet- ting, which, moreover, speedily wears on the blades. The mode of sharpening here indica- ted would be specially advantageous for sickles and scythes.” Old saw files may be renewed by cleaning them of grease and putting them in a dilution of sulphuric acid—one ounce to a pint of water, till the acid has brought the teeth to an edge. List of Farming Tools.—We give here a list, prepared by J. J. Tomas, of the principal implements and machines needed to furnish a hundred and fifty acre farm devoted THE WORKSHOP: to mixed husbandry, and their approximate cost: 3 plows fitted for work (steel plows are best) l subsoil plow; 1 double Michigan plo 24 00 1 one-horse plow ; 2 cultivato 22 00 1 harrow, $12; 1 roller, Sl 22 00 lcorn-planter; | seed-drill 15 00 1 wheat-drill, $65; 1 fanning-mill, 90 00 1 root-slicer; 1 straw-cutte 20 00 1 horse-rake ; 2 hand-rakes 10 00 2 farm wagous; lone-horse cart 190 00 Hay-rack; harness, etc., for cart. 338 00 1 sled and fixtur $30; | combined mower and reaper, S12. 155 00 2scythes; 1 grain-cradl Oi G1) 1 shovel; 1 scoop-shoyvel ; 5 00 2 manure-forks; 4 ha 6 00 1 horse-fork for hay 11 00 l pick; 1 crow-b 3 00 2 ladders; 2 sheep-shears 5 00 Large and small steelyards, $8; half-bushel, $1 400 } maul and wedges; 1 ax; | wood-saw 400 | 1 wheelbarrow ; | grindstone,....... . 8 00 Haud-hoes, baskets, stuble lantern, currycomb, hammer, etc... i 5 00 chine 1 endless-chain horse-powe and separator. 1 circular saw.. Modern Inventions.—We have said that the scythe is becoming obsolete. So are many other tools familiar to every adult farmer, and only a few years ago, deemed by him quite indispensable. Nothing shows pro- gressive agriculture in a more striking light than the rapid change in farm implements, More labor-savying machinery has been in- yented and brought irto practical use upon the farm during the generation in which we write, than in all the previous history of the world! Compare the old wooden mold-board bull- plow with the modern self-polishing cast-steel counter-draught, or with the rotary plow that seems likely soon to hold the field against all rivals; the old-fashioned flail with the horse- power threshing-machine; the clumsy methods of sowing with the improved drill; the ancient scythe that could lay two acres a day at the expense of considerable cider and a lame back, with the mower that cuts ten times as much; | - Mavup Mutter’s drowsy rake, with the revoly- ‘ing horse-rakes that are driven by farmer’s daughters across the prairies, sweeping up the windrows like the wind! An all-absorbing en- terprise and a brisk utility seem to be driving meditation from medern life. If there is any pastoral poetry left, it is laughed out of pro- priety by the patent-tedder skipping glibly about the field like an industrious grasshopper, or drowned in the hum of the reaping-machine that ‘* — cuts the bearded grain at a breath, And the flowers that grow between.” The following cuts represent some of the an- cient methods of sowing and harvesting, among TOOLS—THE BEST ARE THE the Normans, the cut being made from a de- lineation in an old manuscript: Reaping. Threshing. Norman AGRICULTURE. Whetting Scythe. Without the improved machinery of the present day that performs the labor of so many men, it would be quite impossible to gather the harvests of this year. The farmers of New England, compelled to till rocky and rugged land, and accustomed to small holdings, are not, generally, aware of the complete revolution wrought by improved machinery on the great Western prairies. ‘“ Now,” says S. E. Topp, “the infirm and the invalid, the lame and the lazy, who could never plow the fields, harvest the grain, or make the hay of a small farm, can ride to plow the land; ride when putting in the seed; ride when scattering their fertilizers ; ride when cultivating the growing crops; ride when mowing or harvesting ; ride when raking, and ride in an easy seat and accomplish more hard work in one hour than could be done in ten hours a few years ago, even by laboring with all the might of a strong man.” We saw recently a corn-field on the Grand Prairie, in Illinois, in the plowing, planting, cultivating, and harvesting of which no man walked a step. A rotary spader, drawn by four horses and driven by a man upon the box, plowed the field toa uniform depth of eight inches, and gave such thorough tilth that it was not necessary to use a harrow at all. A corn- planter, drawn by two horses and driven by a man upon the box, next planted the seed. A cultivator, drawn by two mules, one walking on each side of the knee-high corn, and driven by a man upon the box, completed the culture of CHEAPEST. 531 In the tool-house lay another machine, also to be driven by a row at a single operation. horses, which was to cut down the corn when it was ripe, and still another machine to do the husking at the rate of fifty bushels an hour! What were the dear old fairy stories to this? When it is remembered that the farmer who follows « common plow, or cultivator, during a long Summer’s day, performs a march of from ten to fourteen miles, it will be seen what a boon is the machinery which relieves him from this toil. The farm of which this corn-field was a part, had seven hundred acres ina single field of timothy. Of what use would this be if it had to be cut by hand? But half a dozen harvest- ing machines suflice to cut it all in good time, and will do, without groaning, the work of half a regiment of men; patient horse-rakes gather it up; and two hay-presses upon the place compress it into bales fit for transporting. Seventeen and a half miles of board fence in- close a little more than Half of this farm, which has, as part of its furniture, comfortable sheds for ten thousand sheep, a corn-crib, rat-proof, holding fifteen thousand bushels of corn, and extensive stabling for horses. The Best Tools are the Cheapest.—The best farm implements are always the most profitable to buy ; to express it paradoxically, the dearest are generally the cheapest. The amount of capital invested in them by our citizens is be- yond comprehension ; J. J. THoMAS, in an ex- cellent essay in thé United States Agricultural Report, for 1862, put it at five hundred million dollars! How.much of this is invested in poor tools? and all poor tools are a bad investment, because they result in a loss equal to ten times their cost. The best steel hoe, light and well hung, may enable a laborer to doa fourth more work than a heavy and clumsy one, and this will amount in a season, to several days’ work—many times the difference in expense. Coxiins’ cast-steel plow may cost five dollars more than a coarse cast-iron one, but it will last thriceas long and perform one-fifth more work with the same power. A laborer shoveling earth with a shovel only one pound heavier than a neatly- made light shovel, will exert strength to no purpose sufficient to throw up one pound of earth at every shovelful, which would amount to several tons in a short period of time. So of mowers and reapers, rakes and threshers ; a machine that will perform one-fifth more work than another, with the same power, is 532 ~ usually worth twice as much, while the differ- ence in price is but a mere fraction of the dif- ference in value. In agricultural dynamics, the effective force of a horse, or a horse-machine, is computed to be equal to the power of five strong, active la- borers. So a mowing-machine, drawn by two horses and driven by a. man, should be, and a good one actually is, equal to the work of eleven men. From this calculation, it follows that a machine that will cut one-tenth more grass than another, is worth enough more to pay through the haying season the board and wages of one man. Our best mowers and reap- ers, horse-rakes, hay-tedders, horse-forks, and threshing machines, possess wonderful efli- ciency, and in some instances so far exceed this standard of merit that comparison makes the standard appear insignificant. Mr. Topp, already quoted, estimates that an average day’s work for a man, in flail-thresh- ing and cleaning grain, is as follows: “Seven bushels of wheat, eighteen bushels of oats, fif- teen bushels of barley, eight bushels of rye, or twenty bushels of buckwheat.” For a thresh- ing machine he makes the following figures : “Tn order to labor economically and adyan- tageously with a threshing machine, two horses, at least, and three men ure necessary. In most instances four or five men will be re- quired, which will make a force equal to fifteen men with flails: Such a gang of hands, and two good horses, with such a thresher and cleaner as HARDER’S, are capable of threshing and cleaning, of the same kind of grain to which allusion has been made, one hundred and seventy bushels of wheat, three hundred and twenty-five of oats, two hundred and twenty of barley, one hundred and eighty of rye, or two hundred and sixty of buckwheat.” The farmer who buys the poorest machinery because it is the cheapest at first cost, makes the same mistake as the gardener who bought poor seed because it was “ cheap,” or the team- ster who favored his sick horse by giving him the short end of the whiffletree. We shall refer briefly to some of the recent improvements in Farm Machinery, premising that this short treatise is only intended to be suggestive, not exhaustive. Every year brings enough additional improvements to make a volume. The change wrought in implements of pre- paratory tillage are fewer than those in the de- partments of culture and the harvest, yet they are sufficient to justify a running historical THE WORKSHOP: sketch. First in order, as first in the field in Spring, is The Plow.—The plow, in its primitive form, must have been one of the earliest imple- ‘ments fashioned by the human hand. We can searcely be certain that Cary had a plow, when, a young man of a hundred and fifty, he farmed it in the suburbs of the city of Enoch, “to the eastward of Eden;” but even ADAM might have survived to see one, for he is said to have lived the best part of a thousand years, and doubtless saw the sparks fly from the anvil of TuBaL Cay, his blacksmith descendant of the fourth generation. Both Moses and Samvet speak of a plow, which, like the modern plow, was drawn by a yoke of oxen, as it was forbidden by law to yoke an ox and an ass together. The early Greek plow had a wheel. Most of the old rustic authors referred to the plow; Virerm wrote of it in the Georgies; Homer sang of it; and Puryy, Hesrop, and Srrazo spoke of the methods of making it. WARRo mentions a plow with two mold boards. Ancient Plows.—The first plow of which we have any delineation is figured roughly on the monuments of Egypt. Figure 1 is be- lieved to represent the original of all plows. Fig. 1—Ancrent Piow. It was sometimes formed of the limb of a tree, and sometimes of the body and tough root of a sapling; the lower end being hewed to a wedge. The plowman occasionally worked the imple- ment by himself, applying his foot to the pro- jecting pin, like a spade; but was oftener as- sisted by a team composed of a grown daughter and her mother, or it may be her grandmother attached to it by rawhide or hempen thongs. This same contrivance, shod with iron, is at the present day used for a plow in the Hebrides. The plow still in use in Palestine (figure 2,) is made entirely of three sticks, adjusted to support each other, as shown in the illustration. This is "i8- 2--Patestive Prow, ——S=S=> PLO drawn by a cow or an ass; sometimes by a camel and buffalo yoked together. Fig. 4—MAnGAtoreE Prow. Figures 3 and 4 exhibit the plows of China and the East Indies. These do not seem ever to have improved or changed in any important Fig. 5—Roman Prow. respect Figure 5 represents the earliest Ro- man plow, which had hardly a rival in sim- plicity and rudeness. It appears to have been fashioned on the principle of the pickax. In {farmer until he could make his own. later times was much improved. Fig. 6—Norman Prow. Figure 6 is an engraving of a Norman plow and plowman, from a sketch found in an an- ecient British manuscript. The plowman car- ries a hatchet to break the clods; and the faulty perspective shows it to be about as large as his team. : The plow of the ancient Britons was very rude; no man was regarded as fit to be a i WS. ox The custom was to fasten the plow to the tails of the horses or oxen, and compel the beasts thus to drag it through the ground. An act of the Trish legislature was passed in 1634, entitled, “An act against plowing by the taile,” which forbade the cruel custom; but it was still prac- ticed in some parts of the island until the pres- ent century. The draft-pole was lashed to the tail of the horse, and as no harness was em- ployed, two men were necessary, one to guide and press upon the plow, the other to direct the horse, which he did by walking backward before the miserable animal, and beating him on the head on either side, according to the direction required. The old Scotch plow was thirteen feet long; the iron part proper being over four feet. Modern Plows-—JETHRO TULL, an enterpris- ing Englishman, in the early part of the last century, paid considerable attention to improv- ing the plow, and advocated deep tillage as necessary to good husbandry. The Dutch, however, were the first to bring the plow a little into its present shape. A century ago JAMES SMALL, an ingenious Scotchman, was fashioning the first cast-iron mold boards at his factory in Berwickshire; and twenty years later, RoBERT RANSoME added cast-iron shares, and soon learned to case-harden them. A few years later, in 1797, CHARLES New- BOLD, of New Jersey, obtained a patent for the first cast-iron plow, but the farmers were so overwhelmingly in favor of the old wooden “bull plow,” that he had to succumb to the op- position, after spending a fortune to introduce his invention. About the same time THomas JEFFERSON published a scientific treatise, de- scribing a plow of which he demonstrated that the shape of the mold-board was mathematic- ally correct to obtain a perfect furrow with the lightest draft. But to JerHro Woop, of Cayuga county, New York, more than to any other man, does America owe a debt of gratitude, for his ener- getic labors and sacrifices in perfecting, and bringing into general use, the cast-iron plow. He was opposed with the greatest bitterness and vigor; was charged with trying to ruin the wood-plow makers and to “poison the soil” with his mysterious cast-iron; but he never turned aside. It is said of him that he whittled away bushels of potatoes, before he was able to bring out a minature form of a plow that suited him. Large potatoes were whittled into almost every conceivable form 534 before the present convenient and efficient curve of the mold-board was attained. Although Mr. Woon was one of the greatest benefactors of mankind by this admirable invention, he neyer received, for all his thought, anxiety, perplex- ity, and expense, a sum of money sufficient to defray the expenses of a decent burial. Through the genius and unflagging zeal of JeTHRO Woop, and of those who have suc- ceeded him, the cast-plow was introduced upon every farm in the Union, and has been the means of effecting a pecuniary gain, in the ag- gregate, of several hundred million dollars. What is a Good Plow 2—America furnishes a great variety of good plows, calculated for hill and plain, for all sorts of soil, and for every breadth and depth of furrow. For an intelli- gent farmer to select a good plow from among these is not difficult. We need not remind the reader that one plow will not do all kinds of work, any more than one auger will bore holes of all sizes. Every farmer buying a plow, should insist on taking it on trial; this is far more satisfac- tory than a warranty, because the implement may be really a good one, but not adapted to the soil or the work required. Let the buyer make sure that its shape is such that it will turn the soil well; that the wing is wide and cold chilled; that the mold-board is high enough and twisted enough, even if the plow runs a foot deep, to fling all the earth out upon the slice, instead of spilling it over into the furrow; and that it is easy of draft. The Universal plow, invented by Governor Horsrook, of Vermont, and manufactured by Nourse, Mason & Co., of Boston, is a valua- ble invention. It admits of a ready replacing of one mold-board by any other, according to the intended purpose or variation of the soil, several mold-boards belonging to each plow. This is one of the very best of cast-iron plows. Several manufacturers of cast-iron plows in this country produce 4 great variety, in no less than a thousand different kinds and sizes—as the Peekskill Works at Peekskill, New York; Remineton & Co., of Ilion, and ALDEN & Co., of Auburn, and Ames & Co., of Boston. Sheet-Steel Plows. —On the prairies of the West, and in other rich, adhesive molds, cast- iron plows are impracticable; they scratch, and will not scour orrun clear. So, at an early day, it was found necessary to introduce steel. The first steel plow was made, some forty years ago, by Jonn LAne, near Lockport, Illinois, by welding together saw-mill saws in a sheet THE WORKSHOP: fora mold-board. This was found to be an immense improyement on cast-iron, and sheet- steel plows have since generally been used in the sticky soils of the West. But even these have failed to answer per- fectly. To produce a uniform temper has been found quite impossible ; so that, while one plow works admirably, the next, from the same maker is good for nothing—either it will not properly scour, or will soon wear out in gritty soils. The fiber and grains of the steel are often injured in the process of rolling and bending; and only a moiety are brought to the requisite temper for- a good scouring plow. For years there has been an impatient demand for a better and more reliable steel implement. And at last the demand has been answered. Tue CoLiixs PLow. The Collins Plow.—In 1860, F. F. Smarry, an ingenious mechanic of I}linois, disheartened in a prolonged effort to produce a sheet-steel plow of uniform excellence, made his appearance at the Collins’ works, in Hartford, Connecticut, a corporation already celebrated in the manufae- ture of axes and other tools—told what sort of a plow he thought was needed on the prairies, and said he believed he could make it. The company cordially joined him, and the result was a plow, cast solid, in iron molds, from molten cast-steel—the first ever made. It was found equally adaptable to turf, stubble, and fallow; and those who have used it in the West, aver that itywill easily scour and polish in any soil; that it takes less friction and draws lighter than any other plow of the same furrow ; that it will plow perfectly from three to twelve inches in depth; that it will last five times as long as the cast-iron plow, and twice as long as the sheet-steel. Moreover, these plows are of uniform excellence. Another palpable adyan- tage is, that any section of the plow ean be du- plicated at any time at a trifling expense in ease of damage. The share can be sharpened by any blacksmith, qs it is perfectly malleable; and cold and cabinet chisels, cork-screws, and knives, have been repeatedly made from frag- ments of these plows in different parts of the country, to test the steel. Of some such stuff PLOWS. must the plows have been made that turned up the valley of JeHosAPHAT; for Joe (chap. ili, verse 10) calls upon the farmers to forge them into swords. One hundred of these plows were made, and sold with great difficulty, in 1861. Now fifteen thousand a year are turned out, and an aggre- gate of fifty thousand are inverting the sod of the West. Indeed, this cast cast-steel plow seems likely to supersede entirely the sheet- steel, wherever the iatter has superseded the cast-iron. New Double Furrow Plow—A new plow, in which some novel points of construction are worthy of remark, has lately been introduced in Great Britain. It turns two furrows at the same time, one share being slightly in advance of the other, and is claimed to save so much draft as to be able thus to accomplish double work with only the usual expenditure of power —requiring two or three horses, according to the nature of the soil. Without an illustration it is difficult to describe it very clearly, but as appears from a small engraving before us, it has two wheels, one in front and one in rear, both set at such an angle and so shaped as to run against the side as well as on the bottom of the furrow—the one in advance running at the right in the furrow previously opened, and the back wheel at the left in the last furrow made by the plow itself. The landside and sole of the ordinary plow are wholly dispensed with, the wheels answering, thé purpose com- pletely, and sustaining the whole thrust caused by lifting and turning the furrow-slice. This substitution of a rolling for a dragging friction, and the manner in.which it is accomplished by the position and form of the wheels, effect the saving in draft which enables two furrows to be turned at one operation. Subsoil Plows.—The subsoil plow is drawn in the furrow made by the common plow. Its office is to break up the compact and imper- vious substratum of heavy soil, generally leay- ing it in the furrow where it is broken up. In regard to advantages of this, we quote from the essay of Mr. THomas: A considerable diver- sity of opinion prevails as to the value of these plows. As it usually happens in such cases of diversity, all are more or less in the right. Farming, as much as any occupation, requires a constant exercise of the judgment, or a com- bination of sound reasoning powers with expe- rience and observation. The farmer must vary his practice with circumstances: 1, A soil al- ready deep and loose does not need subsoiling. —— 535 A ‘eravelly bottom to the furrows would be lit- tle better after the passage of this implement. 2. A sterile subsoil supporting a rich topsoil would only serve, when loosened, asa regulator of moisture, receiving water like a sponge dur- ing the time of heavy rains, and retaining it for periods of drought. It would not, of course, add to the fertility of the bed in which the roots of the crop extend themselves. 3. A heavy and undrained soil would be benefited only temporarily. The first heavy soaking it received would settle the whole mass back again nearly to its original degree of compact- ness. 4. But for any hard subsoil, whether sterile or not, if naturally or artificially under- drained, subsoiling can scarcely ever fail to be substantially useful, and its benefits last some years without a repetition of the process. If the subsoil is sterile, as already men- tioned, it becomes « reservoir or sponge, and tends to prevent both drowning out and drought ; and the gradual deepening process, | which the best farmers desire, may be effected | through its assistance, by permitting the com- mon ortrench plow to run a little deeper into the mellowed bed each successive year. There is nothing which will enable that form of the trench plow, known as the Double Michigan, to do its work in the most satisfactory manner better than a previous loosening by the sub- soiler, whether it be done one, two, or three years previously. Where both surface and under soil are naturally fertile, its advantages are rendered eminently conspicuous, and in such a case the trench plow may be used to its full depth without fear, the mixing of the two portions proving usually of great advantage. Soils so treated have frequently contributed to a greatly increased growth of wheat, and inva- riably to larger crops of carrots and beets. The observing farmer will readily determine which of these different circumstances are his own, and act accordingly. The object being merely to loosen up the under soil, a slight elevation of its substance, by means of the passage of a horizontal acute wedge a few inches below the bottom of a com- mon plowed furrow, is all that is necessary. The shank connecting this horizontal wedge with the plow-beam should be thin, that it may pass easily forward through the subsoil. A good subsoil plow has no mold-board nor land- side. The implement is properly a pulverizer. Plowing with Three Horses Abreast.—This is somewhat practiced, and with certain advan- tage. Farmers have long since observed in 536 practice, that a horse will exert much more force when placed near the plow, sled, or vehicle to be drawn, than can be brought to bear when a long draught-chain placed the team more remote. An experienced stage pro- prietor has given it as his opinion, that three horses placed abreast will draw his vehicle as well as four with two leaders in advance, in the usual way. Experiments in plowing point to nearly the same conclusion, and it is accord- ing to the principles of draught. The new center of draught can be adjusted by a clevis bent several inches to the left side of the beam. Three horses are driven by the plowman with the same facility as a two-horse team, and do not require an additional driver, as becomes necessary with four. As a deeper cultivation would improve the character of farming, in all places where the quality of the soil properly admits it, there is no doubt that the general adoption of the three-horse system would be- come a considerable agent in improved agri- culture. Steam Plowing.—In the benefits of the activ- ity of agricultural invention, the plow has not fully participated. From the old bull-plow to the CoLuriys or Comstrock’s Rotary Spader, there is nothing like the stride that there is from the sickle to the Buckeye reaper. A new plow is now needed as much as a new reaper was. The old depth of cultivation ought not to be longer continued. Men have learned that a wealthier Republic underlies the present Republic; that three thousand million dollars are buried within six inches of the present depth of culture. But this treasure can not be economically mined except by the power of steam to propel the plow. It can not be that the means of doubling the present depth of plowing are more difficult of attainment than the reaper, the sewing-machine, the loco- motive—yet the steam plow is as important as either. Half a dozen steam plows have been pat- ented every year in this country for the last ten years; yet none have proved successful. The inventors generally retain thg principle of dragging the plow through the soil, though all experience has tended to show that the im- plement that is at last to succeed will stir the earth by a rotary motion. The only steam plow that has practically proved successful to any considerable extent, is Fower’s traction-gang plow—an English in- vention. These plows have been in use in England for fifteen years, and four thousand of THE WORKSHOP: them are at work there. .The Viceroy of Egypt has also four hundred of them in use in his dominions; and the result is a vast im- provement in culture, and a remarkable in- crease in the cotton crop. There are now (1869) only four of FowLrEr’s plows in use in the United States—one in Louisiana, one in New Jersey, and two in Illinois. By the plow now working in Louisiana eight acres of ground per day are broken up, being plowed fourteen inches deep through a soil of unsurpassed toughness; after which the steam cultivator is used, which occupies a place be- tween a large harrow and a subsoiler, piercing the ground to a depth of sixteen to eighteen inches, and operating as a great pulverizer. This plowing is accomplished at a cost of $2 25 per acre; the cultivator preparing twelve acres per day, at a cost of about $1 50 per acre. In England it is held, upon compe- tent authority, that, including interest on the investment, depreciation, and repairs, the aver- age yearly cost of maintaining a set of steam- cultivating machinery, breaking and cultiva- ting two thousand acres; ten or twelve inches deep, is not more than five hundred dollars, or seventy-five cents per acre. Commissioner Horacr CApPRoN says of the New Jersey plows (Colonel PATTrERsoN’s) whose working he witnessed; “The gang of plows consisted of twelve, six operating at a time, driven by two fourteen-horse power en- gines, one at each end of a series of sixty-xod furrows; the breadth enltivated at one move- ment was seventy-eight inches, the depth eight inches, and the furrows were laid with fault- less regularity, at a rate of speed which would insure the perfect plowing of at least eighteen acres per day, and under yery favorable cir- cumstances, twenty-five acres. The machine was guided easily by one man, and reversed at the end of the furrow without a moment’s loss of time. The surface was rough, though the soil was a sandy loam, easy of cultivation.” Tt can not be that this is the Coming Plow, for it seems a clumsy deyice to station an en- gine at each end of the field, to drag the plows alternately by wires—it involves a waste of power not worthy of the ingenious age we live in. Perhaps the phrase “steam plow” is ill- chosen; for it seems certain that, when steam is generally adopted as the motor, the plow, as such, will be dropped. The rotary motion seems to accord more with the genius of steam, anda rotary spader, like Comstocn’s, is likely to be ' HARROWS—CULTIVATORS. adopted as its servant—some instrument that will thorougly pulverize the soil, but not invert it. We coincide with M. L. Dunxap, of Cham- paign county, Illinois, in the conclusion he has expressed in the United States Agricultural Re- port, that plowing with a steam traction engine is out of the question, for the following reasons: 1. This machine can not pass over soft land, whether wet or cultivated, as the soil yields to the motion of the drum or driving wheels, and, instead of carrying the machine forward, excayates a hole into which it sinks beyond its own power of rescue. 2. When loaded with a half day’s supply of water and fuel, it is incapable of drawing the} plows. 8. It can not rise the ordinary grades of the| rolling prairie with the plow at work. 4. On level land it can not do the work as) cheaply, under the most favorable conditions of water and fuel, as animal power. The fact that these obstacles have not been overcome, accounts for the failure of the Amer- ican steam plows thus far introduced—of Bur- RIpGE’s, Haw’s, Hussry’s, Fawkes’, and Warers’—some of which exhibited great inge- nuity, and created much enthusiasm during their early experiments. » The Harrow.—Next to the plow, the harrow may be said to be the oldest agricultural implement. It is represented on the most ancient sculptures of Egypt, and it seems not to have materially changed its form. The great use of the harrow is in pulverizing the earth, tearing out and freeing the soil from the roots of weeds and grasses, and covering seeds when sown. A good harrow ought not to cost more than ten dollars, even where a joiner is employed to make it. The best white oak is not too good, and the frame should be of 3 by 4 timber. The teeth need not be more than an inch square. If the harrow be square, thirty-two teeth are a common number; if it be triangularly winged, folding on hinges in the middle, twenty-four will be enough. The Shares’ or coulter harrow is somewhat used; and, when the teeth are of steel, it is a most perfect implement for pulver- izing the freshly inverted surface of sward land, to a depth two or three times as great as the common harrow can effect. The teeth be- ing sharp, flat blades, cut with great efficiency; and, as they slope like a sled-runner, they pass over the sod, and, instead of tearing it up like the common harrow or gang-plow, they tend to 537 keep it down and in its place, while the upper surface of the sod is sliced up and torn into a fine mellow soil. No person who prepares sod for corn should be without this efficient pul- verizer. There is also a rotary harrow in market, which is thought by some who have used it to be a decided improvement over any other har- It is very efficient in pulverizing, leveling, and working itself clear of clogs. It is circular, built somewhat like a: star-fish, and is drawn by a pivot in the center. An iron weight is borne in a box on one side, and kept row in use. in place by being supported by the frame in which the revolves. This weight presses the teeth under and near it into the ground, which partially arrests their motion, and causes the harrow to rotate. This gives to every tooth in the harrow a eycloid motion, that harrow is, they describe successive segments of circles, which segments are constantly crossing each other at various angles, so that the ground is really cross-harrowed as it moves straight for- ward. J. J. THomas, the accomplished editor of Rural Affairs, has invented a harrow which has recently elicited inuch inquiry. It is made of pieces of plank, hinged together so as to fit un- even surfaces, and through these pieces a large number of spikes are driven, constituting the teeth. The teeth slant backward at an angle of about forty degrees, which cleans them of all rubbish, causes them to pass freely over stones or other obstructions, and prevents their tearing out the plants of corn, wheat, and other crops, Which they are used to cultivate. Atthe same time they mellow and smooth the surface, and destroy all young weeds which are just making their appearance. This harrow has been successfully used for harrowing wheat in Spring, brushing in grass- seed, mellowing the surface for receiving tur- nip and other small seed, smoothing ground intended for meadow as a substitute for the roller, and for destroying or preventing weeds among corn and other cultivated crops. It promises the ngpst important valne for the last- mentioned purpose, being likely to supersede entirely the labor of hand-hoeing. Besides the varieties of harrow, there are large numbers of clod-crushers, manure-sowers, and other machines used in tillage, which we can not describe in detail. Cultivators.—The cultivator is one of the most valuable of the farmer’s labor-saving 538 machines, far surpassing the standard of use- fulness given in a previous paragraph. The importance of a constant use of cultivators during the growth of drilled crops is not suf- ficiently appreciated. The remark has been made, and no doubt justly, that one day’s work with horse and cultivator in a corn-field is worth ten with a common hand-hoe. A crop of corn may sometimes be doubled by a thorough dress- ing once a week with a good cultivator. A serious defect in American cultivators at present is, the lack of rapidity and accuracy. Almost all crops ought to be planted with a drill, with such care that the rows shall be pre- cisely parallel, and at a distance apart mathe- matically uniform, Then the cultivators should be so constructed as to finish two rows at once, and to run close to the plant without covering it. The perfect implement can not be very distant, for improvements are rapidly making. By reference to the Patent Office Reports for three years, at random, we find four hundred and filty patents for plows and cultivators. ALDEN’s thill-cultivator, for one horse, is much used and valued. The thills, under its motion, are more steady than that of the com- mon cultivator, and the handles enable the operator to press it to the right or left, so that he may cut as closely to the rows as he desires. Formerly the teeth of cultivators were mostly made of ecasttiron; now all the best ones are of steel plate. Thesteel are lighter, keep clean better, keep sharp, and last longer. In working with this cultivator, let the driver throw the reins over his head, and let one line rest upon his shoulder, the other passing under his opposite arm, when he can guide the horse by merely turning his body in the direction required, much easier and more efficiently than by holding a rein in each hand. The undivi- ded use of the hands is required to hold and properly guide the hoe, to do the best work. There are also a multitude of sulky-cultiva- tors, drawn by two horses and carrying the driver, the plows or teeth being directed by the feet of the rider, or by a hand lever. Drilis and Planting Machines.— The rapidity and precision with which small seeds are distributed and covered by the use of seed-drills, renders them absolutely necessary to the successful raising of such crops as carrots, turnips, beets, onions, ete., in fields. They are also coming considerably into use for the sow- ing of wheat, and the profitableness of the drill system is becoming more and more apparent. THE WORKSHOP: These drills are of many varieties, and our limits preclude a notice of even a few of the best. The general principles on which they operate, the regular and measured distribution of the seeds, by means of revolving cylinders furnished with small cavities, or by the vibratory motion of perforated plates, and the passage of the seed down_ into the mellow earth through a hollow coulter, where it is immediately buried by the earth falling back upon it as soon as the coulter has passed—these principles of construction are adopted in all, and are familiar to all who use them. The depth should be carefully adjusted by the operator, and he should remember that seeds are much olftener sown too deep than too shallow, It is estimated, by some of our most snecessful farmers, that by the use of the grain- drill they save from half a bushel to a bushel of grain per acre, and the yield per acre is several bushels greater than when the seed is scattered broadcast by hand. There are numerops machines for planting potatoes, Indian corn, beans, peas, flax-seed, cotton-seed, and almost all kinds of vegetable seeds that are grown in rows or drills. At most agricultural warehouses hand-planters, costing three or four dollars each, can be ob- tained. These small planters are adapted to distributing only the seeds of carrots, beets, turnips, parsnips, ete. At a higher price can be procured horse-drills, adapted to large farmers. At the West, Indian corn-planters, drawn by one or two horses, are extensively usec; most of the corn in Illinois is planted in this way. Sometimes four-horse corn-planters are used. At the East, hand-planters have generally failed to give satisfaction, on account of the rocky and uneven character of the ground. There are some hill-sides with which we are acquainted, where a musket, loaded with flint- corn, is the only “machine” with which it could be planted to advantage. A reliable cotton-planter is manufactured at Hawkersville, Georgia, It is constructed some- what like a small wheelbarrow; the hopper holds about a bushel and a half of seed; with curved bottom of sheet-iron, and made into two parts, capable of being compressed or separated by rods and screws, The wheel has a crank and connecting rod, which give a reciprocity motion to about half a dozen long teeth that pass just through the division of the box. The two sides can be screwed together so as to put half a bushel or less of the seed to the acre; or J a MOWERS the orifice can be opened so as to sow three bushels or more if desired. The long teeth pull down the cotton-seed as they move to and fro, and secure its dropping regularly. TRUE’s potato-planter is now much used. The machine is supported on two drive-wheels, sim- ilar to the driving-wheels of a mowing machine, and these work the dropping and cutting appa- tus. In the bottom of the hopper which con- tains the potatoes to be planted, there is a sink on each side of a slide, which is worked back and forth by means of a crank or pitman. One or more potatoes drop down into the recess, when the slide forces the potato against a knile, which cuts off all that extends below the knife. After it is eut off, the piece or pieces drop down into the furrow that is opened to receive the seed, mold-board plow, and the seed drops directly behind it, before the soil has time to fall back into the furrow. follows the plow, and fills the furrow with mel- The furrow is opened by a small double A seraper of peculiar form low soil, covering the potatoes as neatly as it ean be done by hand. Immediately in the rear of every other part of the planter there is a cast-iron roller, which rolls every row. The drive-wheels make marks sufficiently distinct, where the land is well prepared, for a guide, when returning, to enable the operator to plant the rows the desired distance apart. Mowers and Reapers.— Soitomon was evidently more than half right when he said there was “nothing new under the sun.” Many suppose the mowing and reaping ma- chine, at least, to be a comparatively recent in- vention. Yet grain was reaped by machinery as early as the time of Pirny the elder, who lived in the days of Jesus of Nazareth, more than 1800 years ago. This historian said, as translated by Purnre Hoxnzanp, of London, in 1601: | “As touching the manner of cutting down or reaping corne [wheat], there be divers and sundry devices, In Fraunce, where the fields be large, they used to set a jade or an ass unto the taile of a mightie great wheelebarrow, or cart, made in manner of a van, and the same sei with keene and trenchant teeth sticking out on both sides; now is this cart driven forward before the said beast upon two wheeles into the standing ripe corne (contrairie to the manngr of other carts that are drawne after): the said teeth or sharp tines fastened to the sides of the wheelebarrow or cart aforesaid, catch hold of the corne ears and cut them off; yet so as they ‘ AND REAPERS. 539 fall presently into the bodie of the wheele- barrow.” PALLADtIus, an Eastern ecclesiastic, also de- scribed the Gallie reapers in 391 A. D. They | had apparently received some improvement, as the writer speaks of “the driver regulating the elevation gnd depression of the teeth with a lever.” These reapers seem to have fallen into disuse for a thousand odd years, to be revived by some ingenious student of history in Great Britain in 1785. In the details of this machine, a drive-wheel, pulleys, pinions, tooth-wheels, and iron-combs or teeth are mentioned. In 1799, an- other reaper is spoken of as being propelled by fa horse hitched behind it, which cut and laid the grain in a swath on one side of the reaper. | A boy could manage this machine, and a horse could draw it, cutting a swath about two feet wide, or rather more than could be reaped in the same time by six men, with sickles. In 1806, Mr. GLADSTONE produced a reaper for cutting grain, delivering the straw into gavels to be bound. The machines were still pushed ahead of a horse or ox. The next year, Mr. PLUNKET? adjusted the gearing so that the horses dragged it against the grain. Thenceforth, patent followed patent rapidly, and the clumsy machine became more shapely, though the present adjustment of knives had |not yet been attained, and the finger-bar was /not yet invented. In 1815, a citizen of Deans- ton, in England, who comes down to us under the generic designation of “Mr. Smrrx,” in- vented a reaping machine, “which,” says JoHNn- Son, “in some experimental trials, appeared to perform its work exceedingly well; but, upon longer trial, has not answered the favorable Ws NN AWN Smiru’s Rearer—isi5. expectation formed of it.” The reason of its failure is disclosed by the cut of the machine. It was pushed against the grain, which was reaped and carried to the stubble by a vertical ‘cylinder, with an edged flange at the bottom, 540 revolying rapidly. A Mr. Writson introduced this invention into the United States, but even with his “improvements” it could not succeed. Tt was not until 1826 that Rev. Parrick Bett, of Carmylie, in Scotland, introduced his invention of the reaping machine. This caused a complete revolution in the metheds of har- vesting, for it was a vast improvement on all that had gone before, and became the. model for those which followed. The arrangement of the cutting gear was similar to that of the machines of the present day. This reaper could cut ten acres in ten hours, and sold for $250. Several were constructed and operated on his plan, and four of them are said to have found their way across the Auntie, The in- ventor received a prize of £50 from the Highland Society, but seems to have obtained no other compensation for his labor and ingenuity. He was said to be still living in his parish last year. A testimonial from the mower-and-reaper man- ufacturers would be the most appropriate recog- nition that he could receive for his valuable publie services. bi Ozep Hussry, of Baltimore, afterward of Cincinnati, was the first American to improve on the invention of Parrick Beif. He im- ported the English machine, and bettered it, and a large number were manufactured by his brother, T. R. Hussey, at Auburn, New York. We present a cut of this machine, in action, as Onsen Hussey’s Reapen—810. printed in the New Genesee Farmer of May, 1842. Accompanying it is the inyentor’s statement, minutely describing the machine, und gravely informing the public that “by several years experience, I have been enabled to add much to the durability of the machine, which I appre- hend can now receive but little improvement fur- ther than I shall make this year!’ The machine looks clumsy enough, but it was an efficient implement, being “‘‘ warranted to cut fifteen acres of the heaviest wheat in a day, and save it much cleaner than is usually done by a good THE WORKSHOP: eradler, and to cut the whole season without sharpening.” We need not say that it some- times fell below the warranty. Its price was $150. Soon after this, the celebrated McCormick reaper entered the field, astonishing Americans as well as the farmers of the Old World. It was cheaper, lighter, and every way better built and more effective than anything that had pre- ceded it, and has, since its auspicious debut, undergone constant improvement. From that time to the present day, reapers and mowers of innumerable forms have come into existence, many of which have ended in totab failure, while others have resulted in as signal success. Soton Rogpryson, in the Tribune, considers himself able to state “that the number of reapers and mowers manufactured in this coun- try in the year 1864, was between 85,000 and 90,000 machines. In 1865 the number built did not vary 5,000 from the number in 1864, The total number built each year should have inereased largely since that time, but we will not attenipt even approximately to estimate it, * The manufacturers of the Woop self-raking reaper and mower, claim to have sold, in the aggregate, more than one hundred thousand machines. Mr. Topp says: “I ascertain that in 1864, more mowers and reapers were manu- factured in the county of Cayuga—and most of them in the city of Auburn—New York, than in any other city or county in the world.” We have now a score of mowers and reapers that work beautifully. Fortunes have been: expended in bringing some of them to their present state of perfection; no time or money have sbeen spared to turn out a perfect labor- saving implement. According to the reports of committees, where the most extensive trials have been had, the Buckeye stands at the head; while at its side stand the Clipper, Wood’s, and Kirby, and following closely are the Clough, Manny, New Yorker, Champion, Climax, War- rior, Quaker, Syracuse, Marsh harvester, and numerous others. At the national contest for “the champion- ship”? at Auburn, New York, in 1866, there were more than fifty entries of mowers and reapers—probaply a larger number than ever competed at any other single trial. The con- test continued for two weeks, and the great gold mgdal was awarded to the Buckeye, and the. second prize to the Clipper. Other fairs have confirmed the justice of this preference, One machine excels in one point, and another in another; the Buckeye was awarded the prize ‘ or SELF-BINDING REAPERS. for superiority in the greatest number of points— quality of work, easy of draft, durability, side draft, and portability. The Marsu Harvester has a narrow platform upon which two men stand and bind the grain as it is delivered to them on a revolving apron. All these ma- chines are made stronger than formerly, lighter, more durable, more efficient, and of easier draft; and, what is not least in importance, the besf ones cut as perfectly when moying at the rate of one mile per hour as when going three or four miles as was formerly necessary. In 1868, Mr. Roperr Strong, of Fulton, Wisconsin, cut thirty-two acres of wheat with a CLow reaper, and deposited it on the ground with one of CRAWFCRD’s droppers, between sunrise and six o’clock, P. M.—the thermome- ter standing at 90° degrees in the shade, A good mowing machine ought to cut a thou- sand acres of grass before wearing out, and at a cost of about twenty cents a ton, while mow- ing by hand costs at least fifty cents a ton at moderate wages. The horse-tedding and raking are effected with still greater compara- tive economy. Self-raking reapers, are common and are growing in favor. There is also a wide demand for a good one- horse mower, that can be adjusted to serve as a reaper. There are thousands of moderate farmers in every State, who are not able to pur- chase separate machines to mow their few acres of grass and to reap their few acres of grain. The machine that will adapt itself to the various kinds of work to be done on a small farm, is an implement that will always be largely in request. A machine that a farmer can work alore in grass and grain is a labor-savying machine of great value. The implement that is simple, * cheap, and, within its smaller range, as effective as more expensive machines, is the machine for the million. The committee on mowers and reapers at the National trial at Auburn, gave considerable at- tention to the comparative merits of wooden and iron frames, and they give the preference to the former for the following reasons: “1, The iron frames are more easily, and, therefore, more frequently broken than wooden ones; weak spots and flaws are more easily concealed from the knowledge of the manufacturer and the purchaser ; 2, if the wooden ones are broken the broken part is more easily and cheaply re- placed than when made of iron, workmen in wood are also more easily accessible than work- men in iron; 3, the elasticity of wood is more Ni . 541 favorable to the successful working of the ma- chine than the rigidity of iron; 4, it makes less jar and noise, and the nuts do not work loose so quickly; 5, it is lighter, and, therefore, draws easier.” Self-Binding Reapers.— There is now an earnest demand for a reliable binder- attachment. The Cultivator speaks of a self- raking and binding harvester, invented by J. F. Gorpon, and adds: “The only question that arises is, whether a machine as rigid and complicated as one-would suppose such a ma- chine must be, can stand the work without fre- quent repairs. That it will cut, rake, and bind wheat at one operation, and do it well, is an undoubted fact.” W. W. Burson, of Rockford, Illinois, also made a binder some years ago, but it was not a success because it had to be operated by hand. Carpenter’s Automatic Binder.—This self- binding reaper, invented by S. D. CARPENTER, of Madison, Wisconsin, has already worked two seasons in the field, and although certain defects in the gearing still need to be remedied, the machine works so beautifully and promises such compltte success, as to justify a deserip- tion. The sickle and cutter-bar are constructed in the usual way, but here all comparison with other harvesters ends. The reel has a raking device attached, which is operated by a simple wooden cam and tyo elbow-levers, so arranged that the rake comes down in front of the sickle, performing the office of a “ beater ”—dividing the bundle in the standing grain. As the rake swings around to the point where the grain is cut, it remains rigid, while the arms that sup- port it being freed from the cam, are allowed to fall gradually, so as to be at right angles with the vertical arms of the reel, and, by means of guide rollers, to pass along on ways, nearly parallel to the inclined platform, thus pushing the bundle endwise to a rear platform. The loose bundle now appears spread par- tially under the automatic binder, which is lo- cated behind the driver’s seat. A rake pushes across the platform, and returns with the gath- ered straw, releasing it to a hedge of curved fingers. These draw it half round and up- ward, compressing it between converging bars more firmly than any manual power could do, and giving it the form of a sheaf. While in this grip, a rotating arm, to which a shuttle is attached, passes around the bundle with one - end of the wire until it meets the main wire, 542 when the ingeniously-contrived “twister” wheel within the shuttle, engages with a cir- cular rack, which gives the wire four twists. The wire is eut by automatic shears, and the finished sheaf, tight and firm, drops of its own weight. The whole operation is done without any human assistance, and the team moves fif- teen féet to each bundle. The machine binds a bundle the size of a man’s arm as firmly as one a foot through. 552 at the corners after a time, and the letters are defaced. Tin plate is much better, but it is difficult to cut the letters in it. Thick sheet- lead is, however, just the thing, and any person who can use a knife may cut the letters through it after they have been accurately marked . An Ox-Bow Fuastener—An excellent substi- tute for a bow-pin is represented in the accom- panying cut. A common butt or small hinge is used for this purpose, and is screwed by one wing on to the top of the yoke, so that its moy- able wing may cover about one-fourth or one-fifth of the hole. A notch is cut into the bow to corres- pond with this pro- jecting edge of the hinge. On inserting the bow, this half of the hinge is thrust upward, but drops and secures it as soon as it reaches the notch. Tinkering.—A gun will not need cleaning for years, if the muzzle is kept tightly corked, and a piece of rubber kept upon the tube under the hammer, while standing idle. The sharp corner of a common Indian ar- row-head, or flint, will cut glass quite effect- ually. For wheel-grease, take two parts hog’s lard, by bulk, and one each of black lead and wheat flour. We have heard wagons a mile off, on a still morning, uttering the most dismal sounds from the want of a little of this, material, and which a very little imagination translated into words—“ meeze-e-ry, meeze-e-ry, meeze-e-ry !” When you cut India rubber, keep the blade of your knife wet, and you can then cut it without difficulty. Every farmer ought to know that cut nails, heated red-hot, and dropped into cold water, will clinch as well as wrought nails. The Scientific American says that animal fats are much better than vegetable oil for all kinds of agricultural machinery. Household Implements. —Inven- tion is relieving domestic drudgery almost as smuch as it modifies the toil of the field. The Yankee baby sets itself seriously at work to improve its nursing-bottle, and devise a more convenient cradle. And its ingenuity is pro- lifie of results. The loom and spinning-wheel are now things of tradition—standing like skeletons of Silurian monsters in the back- ground of the ancient kitchen. Before the THE WORKSHOP: : spirit of Ingenuity we are becoming terribly practical, and our household and neighborhood amusements are passing away. Once we had the sewing-circle and the quilt- ing-bee, but both are scattered now; the omniy- erous sewing-machine devours cloth and thread to come forth garments; and across the pateh- work-quilt a girl pushes rapidly back and forth a toy-cart of glittering steel, and the quilting is done! We had the apple-bee, faces chatted busy hands, and the necessary initials always came forth at command from the coil of apple-par- where pleasant across ings; but now a machine is advertised where the apples are poured into a huge hopper to re-appear flayed, cored, and quartered, ready for pies! The knitting-needle and darning-needle will soon have to retire from business, and the old lady knitting in the corner will live only on the artist’s canyass; for the new knitting- machines will produce a web either tubular or flat, single, double, or ribbed, finishing a stock- ing from top to toe in fifteen minutes, and turn- ing off twenty or thirty pairs a day. Then there is the carpet-sweeper, the washing-ma- chine, and clothes-wringer, the “lightning meat- chopper,” and innumerable other agencies of relief. Even the baby born behind “ brown- stone fronts” is rocked by clock-work ! All this is well, and foreshadows a better time. Invention is the mother of Opportunity. The opportunity may not always be well im- proved; the thriftless, sluggish, dissolute man, the frivolous, thoughtless woman, may waste or misuse it; but in the aggregate, the hours that are saved from the earthly struggle for food and clothing, go to promote the intelligence, comfort, and well-being of our race. In the whole domain of industry, the truth is now placed beyond controversy that ma- chinery has proved the best friend of the work- man. It has immensely increased both the number of the employed and the rate of their remuneration. Every wheel and leyer, every cog and shaft and belt that takes the place of a human hand, adds to the aggregate not only of national wealth but of human comfort. The natural effect of this substitution of me- chanical for muscular power in agriculture is to make husbandry a less precarious and a more scientific and lucrative pursuit. It tends to transfer human labor from the ruder pro- cesses which can be better performed by. ma- chinery, to the more refined operations which - ss HOUSEHOLD IMPLEMENTS. 553 ‘demand the intelligence of the human mind ‘wilted, and a better paid class of laborers than and the dexterity of human fingers. Machin- existed in our fathers time. No machinery ery can dig and reap, and weavé and sew, but “supersedes human toil; but only transfers it to the supreme and superintending brain of man a higher plane. Invention is the handmaid fs still indispensable. The mower, the binder, lof general enlightenment, and THE PROGRESS tke thresher, the steam plow will demand for or KNOWLEDGE IS THE EMANCIPATION OF their direction a better instructed, a quicker-| LABOR. hen»! : 7 FARM ECONOMY: Practicat Directions AnD Usrrut TABLES. UNDER this head, we shall group many in- teresting and yaluable facts and suggestions relative to the management of a ‘farm, that have not seemed to find place, naturally, in the special departments of this, work. To make Farming more Attrac- tive.—We have already treated this matter in our first chapter, but its varied lessons can not be too earnestly enforced : 1. By better implements. Labor-saving ma- chinery is doing more to make farming popular than all other influences combined. 2. By less hard work. Farmers often un- dertake more than they can do well, and con- sequently work too early and too late. 3. By more system, Farmers should have a time to be in, and stop labor. They should put more mind and machinery into their work. They should theorize as well as practice, and let both go together. Farming is healthy, moral, and respectable; and, in the long run, may be made profitable. The farmer should keep good stoek, and keep out of debt. The farm is the best place to begin and to end our days, and hence so many in the cities and pro- fessional life covet a rural home. 4. By taking care of health. Farmers haye| f a wholesome variety of exercise, but too often neglect cleanliness, omit bathing, eat irregu- _larly and hurriedly, sleep in ill-ventilated apartments, and expose themselves to cold. Nine-tenths of the human diseases arise from cold or intemperance. Frequent bathing is profitable; so is fresh air, deliberation, and cheerfulness at the dinner-table, and rest after a meal. 5. By adorning the home. Nothing is lost by a pleasant home. Books, papers, pictures, music, and reading, should all be brought to bear upon the in-door family entertainments. and neatness, comfort, order, shrubbery, flow- ers, and fruits should harmonize all without. (554) Home should be a sanctuary so happy and holy that children will love it, women delight in it, manhood crave it, and old age enjoy it. There would be less desertion of old home- steads, if pains were taken to make them agree- able. Ease, order, health, and beauty are compatible with farm life, and were ordained to go with it. When to Buy a Farm.—All know that cultivated fields show to the best advantage in Summer time; yet few seem to realize that July and August are the best months in the year in which to select a farm. At this season one can judge, without chemical analysis, whether the land can produce good crops, for if it be covered with waving grass or grain, and if there is “an abundance of choice fruit,” the occular demonstration will be accepted as a sufficient voucher. ; Book Farmers.—The man who sneers at “book farming” and derides the idea that agricultural journals can throw light upon his labors, will never attain to eminence in his oc- cupation. He may, by stinginess and hard knocks, manage to feed his family without a farm-book or paper; but they are quite indis- pensable to rapid progress. SamMveEL WILLIAMs, of Waterloo, New York, says: “I know a farmer who has paid over three hundred dollars for a private library, and who takes both the Albany Cultivator and Genesee Farmer. In proof that he is something more than a theoretical farmer, he sold the surplus products of his farm last year for over fourteen hundred dollars, and he paid out of the same but ninety dollars for hired help—he has no children old enough to work in the field. It is hardly necessary to gay that he is le up to the improvements of the age.’? Mitton J. Ross, of Allen county, Ohio, says, in the Ohio Cultivator: “This year I had . DOES FARMING PAY? twenty bushels of wheat to the acre, from a field of forty acres—which for this region is a re- markable crop—and I attribute the extra yield entirely to knowledge I have obtained by reading. When I commenced farming,‘twelve years ago, my wheat crop was only six to eight bushels per acre.” * * “Mr. Bust, in his life-time, furnished me information, through his ‘ Culti- vator,’ in relation to making and using manures, that is worth to me, at least five hundred dollars.” How many hundreds of thousands of dollars have been saved and earned, in all the Middle States by information obtained through Moore’s | Rural New Yorker and the Agriculturist /— and how many fortunes in the West has the Prairie Farmer been the key to! Says Horace GREE- LEY: “There are at present some fifty or sixty periodicals published in our country devoted to farming—as many, I presume, as in all the world beside. They have been built up ata great expense of talent, labor, and money ; for when Colonel SKINNER started the first of them at Baltimore, some forty years ago, the idea of teaching farmers anything in that way was hooted by them as ridiculous, and he found it hardly possible to give his early numbers away. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent in these publications; and they are this day, in my judgment, doing more to promote the true growth of the country, and the sub- stantial, enduring welfare of our people, than Congress and the army and navy, for the sup- port of which they are taxed some forty mill- ions per annum.” Pennock Pursey, of St. Paul, Minnesota, gives in the Chicago Post, an account of the ex- perience of Oxtver Datrympe and others} who have followed farming on a large scale for a few years past, in that State, adding some | remarks to the effect that farming, with the) same amount of capital, study, energy, and business sagacity that other kinds of business employ, can be made to pay as well as the best, | and to rank with the highest in point of respect- ability, agreeableness, and certainty of profits. Mr. DaLRyYMPLE does not scorn ‘ book farm- ing,” but eagerly makes himself familiar with the best methods, deduced from the aggregate experience of others, and the result is, that though a lawyer by profession, he makes farm- ing pay munificently. In 1867, he grew seven- teen hundred acres of wheat, averaging twenty- one bushels to the acre, or a total of thirty-five thousand seven hundred bushels. He con- tracted for the transportation of his crop in bulk to Milwaukee, for twenty-one cents per 7. ; bushel, where he realized from $1 60 to $1 85 per bushel, netting about $1 50 per bushel, or an aggregate of $53,550. In consequence of the extremely high prices which had ruled the preceding «year—seed-wheat costing $2 50 per bushel, with corresponding disbursements for first breaking and other expenses — the net profits were somewhat less than one-third of the total receipts; but a clear profit was real- ized of about 314,500. : In 1868, his crop averaged twenty-three bushels per acre, aggregating thirty-nine thou- sand bushels, and leaving him, when sold, a net profit of more than $20,000. His crop for 1869 was nearly fifty thousand bushels. Many other farmers in other States bear equally eloquent testimony to the value of “book farming.” Does Farming Pay ?—100=15,000, divided by 60= Again: The price per cental being given, to find the price per bushel multiply the price per cental by the number of pounds in a bushel, and divide by 100. Example: At $2 00 per cental, for oats, what is the price per bushel of 82 pounds? 20032—6400, which, divided by 100, gives 64 cents, the price per bushel. The cental system gives, no doubt, the true standard of measure, and it ought to be adopted universally in the United States. It is hoped we shall never re- 564 lapse into the almost obsolete “shilling” tem of values, but count our money by tens and twenties; the practical introduction of the de- cimal system in measures would be as happy a relief. What is a Bushel?—The following table shows the number of pounds which constitute a Jawful bushel in several of the States—and the measurement in the States. not mentioned is substantially the same: sys- ARTICLES. “pur Broom corn-s Buck wheat. Corn (shelled) ble WALT Thy Ba core Corn meal Flax-seed Grass- seed, B oe Clover.. “ “ Es * Orchard, S ** Red-top,. a ia OEDY Hemp-seed... Lime (unslake nd). a Potatoes (Irish). (Sweet) Stone coal Turnips Wheat White Capacity of Various Measures. — The United States standard bushel, now adopted in most of the States, is 2150.4 cubic inches. Its dimen- sions are eighteen and a half inches diameter inside, and eight inches deep, and when heaped —as it should be, in measuring fruit, vegeta- bles, coal, ete—the cone must be six inches high = 2747.70 cubic inches, including the full cone. The United States standard gallon is 231 cu- bic inches. The dry measure gallon, without heaping, is 268.8 cubic inches. The imperial, British, gallon, is 277.274 cubic inches; a gill is 8% eubie inches; a gallon of flour =7 tbs.; ale gallon = 282 cubic inches; a chaldron (coal), = 36 bushels, = 57.25 cubic feet. A lime bushel is 13} inches diameter at bot- tom, 15 inches at top, and 13. 47 inches deep. FARM ECONOMY: Any box or measure, the contents of which are equal to 2150.4 cubic inches, will hold a bushel of grain when struck level. In meas- uring fruit, vegetables, coal and other coarse substances, one-fifth must be added. In other words, a peck measure five times even full makes one bushel of these. The usual practice is to “heap the measure” four times full. In order to get on the fifth peck, measures must be heaped as long as what is to be measured will lie on. A “quarter of wheat” is an English meas- ure of eight standard bushels; so, if you see it qnoted at 56s. a quarter, it is 7s. a bushel. A shilling is twenty-four cents; multiply. by seven and you have $1 68, But in the Liver- pool Price-Current, 70 Ibs. are estimated to a bushel of wheat. A box 24 inches by 16 inches square and 28 inches deep will contain a barrel, or five bush- els, or 10.752 cubic inches, A box 16 inches by 16.8 inches square and 8 inches deep will contain one bushel, or 2150.4 cubie inches, A box 12 inches by 11.2 inches square and 8 inches deep will contain half a bushel, or 1075.2 eubie inches. A box 8 inches by 8.4 inches square and 8 inches deep will contain one peck, or 537.6 cubic inches. A box 8 inches by 8 inches square and 4.2 inches deep wilt contain half a peck, or 268.8 cubic inches. A box 7 inches by 4 inches square and 4.8 inches deep will contain half a gallon, or 184.4 cubie inches. A box 4 by 4 and 4.2 inches deep will con- tain one quart, or 67.2 cubic inches. A Scotch pint is equal to four English pints. A Scotch quart is 208.6 cubic inches. A commercial bale of cotton is 400 pounds. The American quintal is 100 pounds. To find the area of a circle, multiply the di- ameter by itself and then by the decimal .7854. To find the contents of a sphere, multiply the cube of the diameter by .6236. A hempen rope, one inch in diameter, will support a weight or force of 5,000 pounds, but in practice, should not be subjected to more than one-half this strain. A rod of good iron is about ten times as strong as the best hemp rope of the same size. The French gramme is 15.44 grains, and the kilogramme (1,000 grammes) is two pounds three ounces five dranis. GuNTER’s chain, used by surveyors, is sixty- WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. six feet long, or four rods, and each link is 7.92 inches. One acre contains 43.560 square feet, and the side of the enclosing square is about 208 feet 83 inches. A fathom is six feet. A cubit is two feet. One cord contains 103 bushels—128 cubic feet. A cord of fresh dung tons—don’t overload. It takes about four and a half bushels of fair wheat to make a barrel of flour. The usual estimate of “‘fiye bushels to the barrel” is too great. , Measuring Coal—By applying the following rules purchasers may determine whether they weighs four or five receive the full weight or measurement of coal to which they are entitled. The rules were furnished by a coal-dealer of twenty years’ ex- perience: An ordinary flour barrel holds three bushels of coal, egg, stove, or nut. Red ash coals, of the above sizes, eight bar- rels, or twenty-four bushels to the ton. Lackawanna, nine barrels, or twenty-seven bushels. Lehigh, seven barrels, or twenty-one bushels. Schuylkill, about seven and a half barrels, or twenty-one and a half to twenty-three bush- els. Every coal-dealer knows this, and every consumer has within his power a positive check against robbery. Another test is to measure the coal-bin, allow- ing thirty-six cubic feet for a ton of coal. Mul- tiply the length, width, and height of the bin together, and divide by thirty-six, and the re- sult will be the capacity of the bin, Measuring Corn in a Crib.—The following rule for acertaining the quantity of shelled corn that may be expected from an average crib of corn in the ear, is from the Southern Agricul- turist: Having leveled the corn in the house so that it will be of equal depth throughout, as- certain the length, breadth, and depth of the bulk; multiply these dimensions together, and their products by 4, then eut off one figure from the right of this last product. This will give so many bushels and a decimal of a bushel of shelled corn. If it’ be required to find the quantity of ear corn, substitute 8 for 4, and cut off one figure as before. Example.—In a bulk of corn in the ear, meas- uring 12 feet long, 11 feet broad, and 6 feet deep, there will be 316 bushels and 8 tenths of 565 a bushel of shelled corn, or 663 bushels and 6 tenths of ear corn, as: 12 12 il 1L 132 132 6 6 792 792 4 38 316,8 623,6 Measuring Wheat in Bulk.—To reduce solid feet to bushels, multiply the number of solid feet by 45 and divide the product by 56; the quotient will be the number of bushels. Ex- ample: How many bushels in a box or crib 8 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 2 feet deep? Maullti- ply the length by the width and depth, and the product by 45, which divided by 56, gives 513.7; the number of bushels which the box contains. Weights of Various Substances—A cubic foot of loose earth or sand weighs 95 pounds. A cubic foot of common soil, weighs 124 ibs. = , strong soil, ae “ “ clay, “ 135 “ bi UG mason’s work, “ 205 $5 cS us distilled water, “ 62.5 zs sf A cast-iron, pT ea OAO} eae i cs steel, U9 Abe He) se sf © lead, Se c0oto oe “ ee platina, AWA Wisi S § copper, Grating tC “ ‘ cork, “ 15 “ vs “tallow, ey Ge) # “ “ oak, “ 7315 “ “o “ brick, “ 125 “ if e air, ee 0.0753 “ About 16 cubic feet of sand, 18 cubic feet of earth, or 17 cubic feet of clay make a ton; 18 cubie feet of gravel or earth, before digging, make 27 cubic feet when dug; or the bulk is increased as three to two. Therefore, in filling a drain two feet deep aboye the tile or stones, the earth should be heaped up a foot above the surface, to settle even with it, when the earth is shoveled loosely in. Weighing Cattle by Measwrement.—Many ex- periments have been made by graziers and salesmen toascertain the net weight of cattle by measurement, and a number of rules and tables have been formed of the results obtained, one method having already been given under the head of live stock. None, however, can be re- garded as absolutely correct. With the most accurate measuring is required a practical ac- quaintance with the points and forms of ani- mals, and allowance must be made according to the age, size, breed, mode and length of time 566 of fattening, etc., conditions which require a practical eye and a long experience to appreci- ate. The following method will lead to ap- proximate accuracy in weighing by measure: Measure carefully with a tape line from the top of the shoulder to where the tail is attached to the back; this will give the length. For the virth, measure immediately behind the shoulder and forelegs. Multiply half the girth by itself in feet, and the sum by the length in feet, and the product will give the net weight in stones of eight pounds each. For example, with an ox or cow five feet in length and seven feet in girth the calculation will be as follows : Multiply half the girth by itselfin feet... Multiply by length im feet......:ccreseseeerseretsnntesesens Weight, in StOMP8. PRESERVING sugar as it is used for the table. Moreover, fruit kept in a proper quantity of sugar, is less apt to be “leathery.” 4. The filled bottles are then placed in a steaming box—best when made throughout of wood—the bottles rest on a false bottom of nar- row slats, covering the steam-pipe—cold water is then let into the box until the bottles are two-thirds covered; the fruit is then gradually heated to the boiling point by letting steam into the water, through a pipe leading from the en- gine-room in another portion of the building. It requires from fifty-five to sixty minutes to properly heat or cook most kinds of fruit. They are commonly allowed to boil five min- utes, but in some instances are taken out of the steam-box before they reach the boiling point. In the absence of a steam-box, of course, the cans may be heated in any kettle of boiling water. 5. Corks are made sufficiently flexible by steaming them twenty minutes with the fruit. They should be large enough to fill the neck of the bottle tightly, and require some force to crowd them in. Formerly one cork, as pro- cured of dealers, was made to stop two bottles, but it is now considered better to use a whole eork for each bottle. 6, Until last year the Community used for sealing-wax a compound of the following pro- portions: One pound of resin, one and a half ounces tallow, three ounces beeswax; but com- mon boat-piteh is now used, and is found to answer quite as well, and is much cheaper. It is prepared by first being boiled a few minutes, and then heated every time a batch of fruit is to be sealed. 7. The fruit being sufficiently heated, the corks steamed, and the boat-pitch ready, the bottles are taken successively to a table and quickly corked. The corks may be forced in by a blow from a mallet, or better by a small lever arrangement, or best by such a machine as that used here, and in other fruit establish- ments, which, worked by hand and foot, per- forms this operation easily and rapidly. The portion of cork remaining above the bottle is pared off with a sharp knife, and left in con- vex form. 8. Some fruit preservers, at this stage, pack their fruit away, laying the bottles down on the side and trusting to the cork, thus kept moist, to exclude the air, and 3ealing the bottles when they fill orders for the market, and when they are less hurried; but the Community have always sealed their fruit immediately after it is AND CANNING, 613 corked, which is done by dipping the mouth of the bottle in the melted sealing-wax or Then transfcr it toa basin of cold water, dipping to the same pitch, so as to cover the bulb. depth, to cool the wax. If the dipping is car- ried below the bulb or rim at the mouth of the bottle, there is danger of cracking the glass. Now, examine the sealed part to see if the wax has formed blisters. If there are blisters rub them away with the finger, using a little tallow o1 931 to prevent sticking. 9. The operation is now completed, and the fruit ready to be packed away on shelves or in chests, in a cool,-dry cellar. If placed on shelves, a cloth should be hung before them to exclude the light. In a few days after packing away, inspect the bottles to see if any show signs of fermentation, which may be detected by a foamy appearance of the fruit. If this is observed in any bottle, it denotes either a crack in the glass or that the sealing was imperfect. The bottle should be opened and examined, the contents scalded, and the process of sealing re- peated as before. In some eases during the season a little vegetable mold may be seen to gather on the surface of the fruit in the bottles, but this is not to be regarded, as it can be read- ily separated on opening the bottles, leaving the mass of fruit uninjured. To save time, when there is a large quantity of peaches, quinces, or other fruits to put up, it is usual to pare and stone them; and let them come to a brisk boil in a preserving kettle, with as little stirring as will prevent them from scorching ; the cans being already warmed by standing in hot water, are then filled from the boiling-kettle (which must be kept on the fire while the cans are being filled) and sealed im- mediately. This takes less time than filling with cold fruit and heating the can up in boil- ing water; and the fruit is as good, though more broken than when put up carefully. Canning Tomatoes.—There is a variety of methods practised in preserving tomatoes.. An excellent process is to scald and peel them, and then place them in a steam-boiler, where they are boiled from twenty minutes to half an hour. The bottles are filled directly from the boiler— having been previously heated in the steam- box, so as to avoid the danger of bursting, and are then ready for sealing. Or, a cheaper way is to dip from the boiler into tin cans, and get a tinker to seal. Some slice and can with syrup made from sugar—a quarter of a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit. Tomato Preserves.—Take the round, yellow 614 DOMESTIC variety of tomato, as soon as. they are ripe; scald and peel; then to seven pounds of toma- toes add seven pounds of white sugar, and let them stand over night. Take the tomatoes out of the sugar, and boil the syrup, removing the scum. Put in the tomatoes, and boil gently fifteen or twenty minutes; remove the fruit again, and boil until the syrup thickens. On cooling, put the fruit into jars, and pour the syrup over it, and add a few slices of lemon to each jar, and you will have something to please the taste of the most fastidious. Tomato Figs.—Collect a lot of ripe tomatoes, about one inch in diameter, skin and stew them in the usual manner; when done lay them on dishes, flatten them slightly, and spread over them a light layer of pulverized white or best brown sugar; expose them to a Summer’s sun, or place them in a drying-house; when as dry as fresh figs, pack in old fig or small boxes, with sugar between each layer. If properly managed, the difference can hardly be detected from the veritable article. Sweet-Corn.—The Oneida Community eyery season puts up a few thousand cans of sweet- corn, It was formerly thought difficult to pre- serve this article, except by drying. There are now establishments which put up sweet-corn very extensively. One in Camden, New York, employs ninety persons, and puts up mainly corn, beans, and fresh meat. The process there followed is to put the corn in cans imme- diately after it is cut from the cob, seal it up, and then boil it in the cans five hours; then punch a hole in the top of the cans, to let out the steam, and then seal up again, and pack away. , The following directions are followed at Oneida: Cut the corn raw from the cob, and put it into tin cans, and add cold water to fill up the interstices, and seal up with solder. Punch a small hole in the top and solder that up. Put the cans in a boiler and boil them two and a half hours. Then take them up one at a time, and melt the solder from the small puncture, and let the steam blow off while boiling hot, and again solder up the hole. Return them ‘to the boiler and boil them two and a half hours more. There are two other methods of keeping corn; by drying it by sun or fire, Indian fash- ion, and by salting down—but either is inferior to the above process of canning. ' The Prairie Farmer commends the follow- ing: “Plant corn in the ordinary way, about the 15th of July, giving it the usual care. | ECONOMY: About the time for early frost the corn will be suitable for table use, when cut up the stalks, and shock it in the field. When needed for the table in Winter, open a shock, take ont as much as wanted, and then close it again. This will furnish green corn in perfection.” Apples.—Apples are put up, by some of the best manufactories, in fresh apple juice, and are thought to be much better than when put up in water. At Oneida, during the month of October, the preserving group is engaged in bottling apples. One might at first question the expediency of bottling so common a fruit; but doubt on this point disappears when it is considered that the labor of preserving apples in this way is scarcely more than the labor of preparing them for sance or pies; or cooking them in any form—that it is even less than the labor of drying them—that the bottled apples are just as good as green apples in their best condition—much better than green apples that have been kept a few months—altogether pre- ferable to dried apples, which are never of first-rate flavor, and are often damaged by par- asites ; and, further, that by this means Fall apples, and such fruit as would soon decay and become worthless, are made just as available in future months as the best keeping varieties. Apple Preserves.— Almost everybody can make apple-sauce very good; but this dish, for a va- riety, is quite a treat. Pare and core the apples, cutting them in halves or quarters, as you like. For every pound of apples take three-quarters of a pound of sugar and make a syrup, by adding water sufficient to keep it from burning, while heating it over a slow fire. When the syrup is boiling hot remove it from the fire, put the apples in and let them stand one night. This will tonghen and prevent them from falling to pieces. Then boil them over a slow fire until they are cooked tender. Tf loaf sugar is used the preserves will be very clear and handsome. If the syrup is made of brown sugar, it should be well skimmed before ~ putting in the fruit, and also while cooking, Canning Cherries—Take the common sour cherries, stone them, fill your cans or bottles, set them into warm water, heat until air is ex- pelled, and cork as before directed. Tt will be necessary to have some reserved cherries to fill the bottles, as they shrink very much, and there must be no space between the frnit and the cork. Stoning the cherries is quite a tedious process, but the rest of the work can be done very rapidly. There is no frnit keeps better than cherries, and, after being pre- PRESERVING AND CANNING. pared in this way, they are much better, when stewed with half a pound of sugar to one pound of fruit, than the richest preserves boiled in sugar syrup pound Tor pound. To Preserve Citron.—Prepare the rind, cut into any form you desire; boil very hard thirty or forty minutes in alum water, tolerably strong; take the pieces from the alum water, and put into clear cold water; allow them to stand over night; in the morning change the water, and put them on to boil; let them cook until they have entirely changed color, and are quite soft; then make your syrup, allowing one and a half pounds of white sugar to one pound of fruit; then add your fruit, which needs but little more cooking. Mace, ginger, or lemon flavors nicely. To Preserve Citron for Cake—Take a common- sized citron and cut it in four pieces ; to every six pounds of citron take a piece of alum the size of a hickory nut, dissolved in water. enough to cover the citron. Boil until tender in the water, and then preserve your citron the same as for any use, “pound for pound.” When boiled sufficiently in the sugar, take the pieces out on a plate, and let the syrup boil down as Put the citron in a moderate warm oven, and pour the syrup over it. As it dries, some add cloves and cinnamon. Canning Gooseberries.—Gooseberries, and all other berries, may be canned with excellent results by the process we have given as that in vogue at Oneida. The ripe gooseberry, how- ever, is apt to lose its form. This is remedied by modifying the canning formula as follows: Pour boiling water over ripe berries; have the cans ready and warm; lift the berries out of the water, and put into the cans immediately ; pour boiling water in until the can is full, and seal immediately. The fruit will remain per- fectly whole. ’ Carrants.—Currants may be canned as di- rected, or they may be preserved as follows: ake ripe currants, free from stems; put a tea- eup of sugar to each pound; boil the syrup until it is hot and clear; then turn it over the fruit; let it remain one night; then set it over the fire, and boil gently until they are cooked and clear; take them into the jars or pots with askimmer; boil the syrup until rich and thick; then pour it over the fruit. Currants may be preserved with ten pounds of fruit to seven of sugar. Take the stems from seven pounds of the currants, and crush and press the juice from the remaining three pounds; put them into the hot thick as possible, without burning. 615 |syrup, and boil until thick and rich; put it in pots or jars, and the next day secure as directed. Spiced Curvants—Take four quarts of cur- rants deprived of the stem, one pint of vinegar, two pounds of crushed sugar, one tea spoonful each of allspice, cloves, and cinnamon, pow- dered fine. Boil all together until about the consistency of jelly, then remove from the fire and put away in closely covered jars for use. Cucumber Preserves. —Cucumbers that have gone to seed, may be made an excellent use of in the following manner: Pare them and scrape the seeds out; then slice them into strips, and boil them till they are a little tender; then lay them on a cloth to drain an hour or more; after the water is out, pack them down in a jar, treating each layer with a slight sprinkling of sugar and powdered cinnamon and cloves. Cover them with vinegar, and in twenty-four hours they are fit for use, and good enough for an epicure (if he be not a dyspetic). Grapes. — Grapes may be kept for many months, preserving even their bloom, by gath- ering when fully ripe, and packing in triple layers in outs, previously scalded and dried, letting the oats at top and bottom be at least four inches in depth; keep in a cold dry room. Grapes may be canned according to the direc- tions we have given for canning fraits. They are said to be better if the seeds are taken out and the skins left. Pumpkin Butter—Wash the pumpkin clean, take out the seeds, and scrape the inside out with a strong iron spoon. Boil till soft, and rub through a coarse sieve. When strained, put into a kettle, and boil slowly all day, stirring it often. Putina large handful of salt. When nearly done, add a pint of molasses, or a pound of brown sugar to each gallon of pumpkin. Before it is quite done, add allspice, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, one or all, as you may faney. Put it into jars when done—large ones are best, Tie it up tightly, and it will keep until April or May, in a cold place, if you scald it when Spring comes on. It is a good sauce for table use, and is always ready for pies, with the usual addition of eggs and milk. It is much less trouble and far better than “dried pumpkin.” Peuches.—Can peaches as follows: Remove the skin of the peaches by pouring hot water upon them, and afterward wiping them with a coarse cloth; put them into glass or earthen jars, cork them up, and fasten the corks with wire or strong twine; then place the jars ina kettle of hot water until the atmospheric air is 616 DOMESTIC expelled from the jars; after which seal them up tight with wax. Peaches prepared in this way retain their original flavor, and are equally as delicious, when cooked in the ordinary man- ner, six months or a year after being put up, as if just taken from the tree. Preserve peaches thus; One pound of sugar to one of fruit; put on the sugar, let it come to a boil, have the fruit cut and pared in large pieces, let them boil till thoroughly done, but not too soft; drain the fruit from the syrup, and place on flat dishes in the sun until they) harden; then boil the syrup till thick, and pour all into a jar; add a little mace, and tie) up closely. A piece of writing-paper, cut to. fit the jar, steeped in brandy and put over the | fruit, will keep them, The following recipe results in a superior) article of dried peaches—far better than by the | common method: Take the freestone peach | when not too ripe, peel and halve them, taking out the stone, fill the cavities with sugar, and | dry in hot sun or a warm oven. | Pears.—Pears, plums, and quinces require) the same treatment as peaches in canning, ex-| cepting that some very hard ones need longer | heating to exclude the air. Rhubarb (Pie-Plant)—Prepare the rhubarb | as follows: Take one pound of the stalks after | they are pared, and cut them into short lengths, | and put them into a quarter of a pint of water, | previously boiled with six ounces of loaf sugar, and simmer the fruit in it for about ten minutes. It will then form a sort of compote, which is preferable to the undressed rhubarb for Spring | tarts. Strawberries will more successfully preserve! their color and flavor by canning them than any | other way, but they require at least a pound of sugar (white sugar is best) to a gallon of fruit. Some prefer two pounds of sugar to a gallon of fruit, but we believe one pound asa rule will be sufficient to preserve them when canned. To preserve them without canning, it will require at least a pound and a half of sugar to a pound of fruit, to prevent fermentation, and they should be kept in a cool dry atmosphere. An important item in canning the strawberry is to have them thoroughly heated before put- ting in cans, and the sooner they are sealed after being sufficiently heated, the better they retain their color and flavor, If heated in the cans, it requires a constant filling up, and when the cans are full, the fruit at the bottom of the cans is often stewed instead of being well heated, which is all it requires, We think it desirable ECONOMY: to make a syrup of the sugar. A pound of sugar to a gallon of fruit, in which it is thor- oughly heated before putting in cans, sealing as quickly as possible afterward. Strawberries are excellent dried in sugar. A pound of sugar toa gallon of berries. Always select the smaller for drying and the larger for canning and pre- serving, as the smaller or even medium-sized strawberries will dry nearly as soon as the raspberry, if sprinkled with the sugar and laid on earthen plates in a moderately warm oven. They stew easily and regain their color and flavor when stewed, Raspberries ave more easily canned than strawberries, and require only half the quan- tity of sugar, but need the same attention to heating, sealing, ete. They also are excellent dried, and many prefer the dried to the canned raspberry, as they are always convenient, are easily stewed, and their flavor and color are superior to the canned raspberry. They can be dried either in the sun or in a warm oven, but should be dried as quickly as pos- sible, and placed in strong cotton or paper bags (paper is best) and kept in dry paper or wooden boxes, or on shelves in dark closets, or almost anywhere where flies will not disturb them, Molasses to Preserve Fruit.— The following process will render molasses much better suited for that purpose than a syrup prepared from the best loaf sugar, as it is not so liable to candy, nor if well prepared, to ferment. Take eight pounds molasses, bright, New Orleans, or sugar- house, eight pounds pure water, one pound coarsely-powdered charcoal, boil for twenty minutes, then strain through fine flannel double, put it again ina kettle with the white of an egg, and boil gently, till it forms a syrup of proper consistency, and strain again, To Clarify Sugar*for Preserves. — Break as much as required in large lumps, and put a pound to half a pint of water, in a bowl, and it will dissolve better than when broken small. Set it over the fire, with the well-whipt white of an egg; let it boil up, and when ready to run over pour a little cold water in to give it a check; but when it rises a second time, take it off the fire, and set it by in the pan fora quarter ofan hour, during which the foulness will sink to the bottom, and leave a black scum on the top, which take off gently with a skim- mer, and pour the syrup into & vessel very quickly from the sediment. Pickles.—Pickle-making is carried on as i PICKLES. 7 61 an extensive business by many farmers in dif- the salt, and thus a strong, fine brine is formed, ferent parts of the country; and if rightly man- The fruit itself will shrivel, but the plump- aged, it is very profitable. A farmer in Illinois ness will be restored as soon as it is put into grew sixty acres of cucumbers in a single year, vinegar, from which he put up sixteen hundred barrels} When you wish to prepare them for table of pickles—more than twenty-six barrels per use, soak them in a succession of clear water These cost him, delivered in Chicago, until free from salt. Then green them with about sixty cents a barrel; and he sold them grape leaves, in alum water, simmering them x : : | : . ; for $18 a barrel—the total yield amounting to slowly. Scald them in strong vinegar for ten ucre. more than $28,000—$480 an acre. To Make Pickles Green without Poisoning.— | Brass and copper vessels should not be used in pickling. Cooks frequently put pickles in them that they may acquire a rich green color, which they do by absorbing poison. Families have often been thrown into disease by eating such dainties, and have died in some instances, with- out suspecting the cause. Sour-krout, when permitted to stand some time in a copper ves- sel, has produced death in a few hours. From these metals comes a green substance; the car- bonate or protoxide of copper; and from ves- sels glazed with lead comes the acetate of lead, equally poisonous. It is well to know that pickles may be made green by merely steeping the leaves of the grape-vine, or those of spinach or parsley, in the vinegar. Cucumber Pickles. — A satisfactory price for | cucumber pickles depends upon their small size. Large pickles will not sell. To be sala- ble, the cucumbers should never exceed four inches in length; three inches is still better, and from that down to two inches is preferable to a larger size.e It may, at first, seem that by | pickling when so immature, the crop will be} greatly reduced; but it is not so, for the vines will produce a vastly greater number of small than of large cucumbers. There is extra work in picking, but this is thrice offset by the dif- ference in price. Gather small cucumbers, and put them up in good condition, and there is always a market for them at paying rates. Cut the cucumbers from the vines with scissors ; | a knife will disturb the vines, and pulling off | ) | | minutes, and tie up closely in jars. After a few days pour off this vinegar, and pour on them strong boiling vinegar, with spices, horse- radish, mustard, pepper, or anything you like, strewed between the pickles in a jar. The following is the recipe for cold pickles: Let your pickles wither after gathering. Have your vinegar salted agreeably, and strongly spiced; and cucumbers, nasturtiums, peaches, and many other fruits, pickled without scalding. |time for perfection. Cucumber and Onion Pickle—To a dozen fine cucumbers allow three large onions; pare the cucumbers and peel the onions, and cut both into thick slices; sprinkle salt and pepper on them, and let them stand till next day. Drain them well, and put them in a stone jar; pour boiling vinegar on them, close the jar, and set it ina warm place. Next day repeat the boil- ing vinegar, and cork the jar. Next day re- peat the boiling with a bag of mace, nutmeg, and ginger. Green Pickle—One peck of tomatoes, eight green peppers to be chopped fine, and soaked twenty-four hours in weak brine; then skim out, and add one head of cabbage chopped fine, and seald in vinegar twenty minutes. Skim it out, and put in a jar, and add three pints of grated horse-radish and spices to suit the taste. Pour over cold vinegar. Ripe Cucumber Pickle—Take large and ripe are nicer for being The pickles require ‘eucumbers before they become soft; cut in rings, pare, divide in smaller pieces, and re- move the seeds; cook the pieces very slightly in water salted just enough to flavor well; drain will lacerate the vegetable; leave half an inch and put in a stone jar. Prepare a vinegar as of stem. Rinse but do not wipe them. Keep) follows: Two pounds of sugar to two quarts of kegs or jars ready to receive your pickles as vinegar; a few slices of onion, some cayenne- gathered, Those of no peculiar flavor, such pepper, whole allspice, whole cloves, cinnamon as cucumbers, melons, ete., can be put together. according to one’s judgment and taste. Keep them in strong brine, a coarse cloth spread, To Pickle Onions.—Get white onions that are over them, and a weight, on a board, keeping not too large, cut the stem close to the root them under brine all the time. ‘with a sharp knife, put them in a pot, pour on Another method for making pickles is to put boiling salt and water to cover them, stop the the cucumbers in a barrel, and sprinkle freely pot closely, let them stand a fortnight, chang- with fine salt, The moisture within dissolves ing the salt and water every three days; they 618 DOMESTIC ECONOMY: must be stirred daily, or those that float will|¥ew eschalots. Boil these ten minutes, and become soft; at the end of this time take off the skin and outer shell, put them in plain cold vinegar with a little tumeric; if the vine- gar be not very pale, they will not be of good color. . To Pot Lobsters—Half,boil them, pick out the meat, cut it into small bits, season with mace, white pepper, nutmeg and salt; press close into a pot and cover with butter; bake half an hour; put the spawn in. When cold, take the lobster out and put it into the pot with a little of the butter; beat the other butter in a mortar with some of the spawn, then mix that colored butter with as much as will be sufficient to cover the pots, and strain it; cay- enne may be added, if approved. Pickled Eggs.—At the season of the year when eggs are plentiful, boil some four or six dozen in a capacious sauce-pan, until they become quite hard, Then, after carefully removing the shells, lay them in large-mouthed jars, and pour over them sealding vinegar, well seasoned with whole pepper, allspice, a few races of gin- ger, and a few cloves or garlic. When cold, bung down closely, and in a month they are fit for use. Where eggs are plentiful, the above pickle is by no means expensive, and is a relishing accompaniment to cold meat, Stuffed Pepper's.—Take large bell-peppers and cut off the tops, and take out the seeds; have ready a quantity of finely-cut cabbage, scraped horse-radish, white mustard-seed, and if, con- venient, nasturtium-seed; stuff each pepper and sew the cover on; put in each pepper two or three whole cloves and allspice; then put them in salt and water, and Jet them stand twenty- four hours. Place them in stone jars and cover them with scalding vinegar, keeping them closely covered. The peppers will be milder if soaked in the brine before being stuffed. Pickled Walnuts.—Gather them dry, prick them with a large pin two or three times, put them into salt and water, shift them every three days for a fortnight, put them into a sieve and let them stand a day in the air, and then put them into an earthen jar. Boil as much vine- gar as will cover them well; pour it boiling hot over them; let them stand three days; then put them into a sieve and let them stand in the air another day; then take to every quart of fresh vinegar that may be wanted half an ounce of black mustard-séed, half an ounce of horse- radish cut into slices, a quarter of an ounce of long pepper, three cloves of garlic, a dozen cloves, four or fiye pieces of raw ginger, and a pour it boiling hot over your walnuts. Let it stand a fortnight; then put them into bottles corked close, and cover the corks with resin, They will keep for years. Pickled Cauliflower.—Have a kettle of boiling water, and put in one at a time, with top down, unless the kettle is large enough for more, and boil it until tender. Have ready a jar of cold vinegar, with cloves and mace; drain the eauli- flower well, and put into the vinegar while hot. Cover tightly, and it will be ready for use in a week or ten days. Picealilli—Ot cut cucumbers, beans, and eab- bage, each four quarts; of cut peppers and onions two quarts each; celery and nasturtiums four quarts each. Pour on boiling vinegar, flavored strongly with mustard, mustard-seed, and ground cloves. ; Tomato Chow-C how.—One-half bushel green tomatoes, one dozen onions, one dozen green peppers, chopped fine; sprinkle over the mess a pint of salt, let it stand over night, then drain off the brine; cover it with good vinegar, let it cook one hour slowly, then drain and pack in a jar; take two pounds of sugar, two table- spoonfuls of cinnamon, one of allspice, one each of cloves and pepper, one-half cup of ground mustard, one pint of horse-radish, and vinegar enough to mix thin; when boiling hot, pour over the mess packed in the jar, and cover tight. Then it is ready for use and will keep for months. Cabbage chow-chow may be made by substituting sliced cabbage for tomatoes. To Pickle Cubbage—Take a firm, fresh cab- bage, remove the whole of the outer leaves, keeping the ball entire. Cut it into four quar- ters, and, subsequently, into strips, and place them on a hair-sieve or a clean, dry cloth, and sprinkle with salt. Let them remain for three days to allow the brine to drain off. After they are thoroughly drained, put them into a clean jar. Take as much vinegar as will cover them, and let it simmer over a slow fire, with allspice, whole black pepper, coarse brown gin- ger, and a little pimento, When the vinegar is sufficiently flavored let it cool, and pour it over the cabbage in the jar, which must be stopped down for use, and kept for three months, Sour-Krout,—Take solid heads of cabbage— the Drnmhead Savoy is best, though the com- mon drumhead will answer well, and is larger— cut up the heads as for cole-slaw, though not so fine, A good way to do this is to put the heads into a clean barrel, and chop them with a com- SWEET PICKLES. mon spade, ground sharp. Put a few broad leaves at the bottom of the barrel in which you are to make the sour-krout, and sprinkle with fine salt. Now put in a layer of cut cab- bage, about six inches thick, and sprinkle with fine salt; with a wooden pounder compact it firmly together until the juice begins to show itself on the surface; then add another layer, and so on until the cask is full. Cover with leaves and a board or barrel-head, upon which place a clean stone of twelve or fifteen pounds weight. About three pints of salt is enough for a barrely The barrel must be perfectly tight, so the juice will not leak out, else the krout will spoil. In the course of a week, the scum that rises to the top should be removed. Remaining from four to six weeks undisturbed, it is fit for use. The vessel should not be used for any other purpose, and each year thoroughly cleaned, so as to be free from any odor. The best place for keeping it is a cool cellar, but not so cold as to freeze. Pickled Beans.—Procure your young beans from a late crop; boil them in water, slightly salted, till tender; throw them in a colander, with a dish over to drain; when done dripping lay them out on a dry cloth and wipe. Pour boiling vinegar, spiced, over them, and you have an excellent pickle—these are. delicate for tea. Sweet Pickles.—Cherries, peaches, raspberries, tomatoes, plums, and crab apples may be made into very delicious sweet pickles, by adding something like half their weight of sugar to their full weight of spiced vinegar, when the spices are boiling in it, and pouring it over them while boiling. Peaches are soaked in lye and rubbed free of fur; pears are peeled; plums pricked with a fork; cherries and grapes with their stems, are laid in jars, the cherries with their leaves strewed between. One correspondent gives the following recipe: “For seven pounds of fruit allow three pounds of sugar, one ounce of cinnamon, and one- quarter ounce of cloves, both unground. Put in a stone jar a layer of fruit, then one of sugar and spice, then fruit again, and so on until the jariefull. Fill the jar with good cider vine- gar, and set it into cold water. Let it heat slowly at first. When the fruit seems to be cooked, take it out, and when cool it is ready for use. An easier way, and one that is equally good, is to boil the vinegar, sugar, and spice together, and pour boiling hot over the fruit. 619 The next day pour it off, boil and put it on again. Do the same the third day.” Another: “If peaches, they are better to be mellow and nice for eating; peel, pack in a jar, and turn the pickle on boiling hot, but I never boil the fruit. For pears, pickle the same as for peaches; peel and steam the pears; |pack in jar; pour the pickleon hot. I use the same pickle for seed cucumbers; to prepare the cucumbers, peel, cut open, scrape out the seeds and pulp clean, and cut into pieces of a conven- ient size; make a weak brine in a porcelain kettle; boil till the fruit looks clear; take out as fast as it gets done, into a colander to drain; pack in a jar; pour the pickle on hot. Green tomatoes make an excellent pickle, but require |good sharp vinegar; less sugar makes them good. Plums and cherries are also delicious pickled; they require no cooking—only pour the pickle on hot, the same as for peaches.” Sweet pickles must stand several months before they are first-rate, and years only im- prove their quality. If you would make them quite plain, and cheap enough for every-day use, take but a quarter of a pound of sugar to a pound of any fruit; this will make a good but not very sweet pickle. Pickled Plums.-—“ After weighing, place the plums in a jar or crock, a layer at a time; be- tween each layer scattering a few cloves, stick cinnamon, and allspice. Then to three pounds of fruit allow. one pound of sugar, and vinegar enough to moisten nicely ; boil and pour over; set the jarin a kettle of warm water, and let the water boil till the plums are soft, or drain them and pour over again till the juice will cover the plums.” Sweet Tomato Pickle—The following recipe, handed us by a friend, and thoroughly tried, is recommended as making the best sweet pickle we have ever tasted. Take eight pounds of green tomatoes, and chop fine. Then add four pounds of brown sugar, and boil down some three hours. Add a quart of vinegar, a tea- spoonful each of mace, cinnamon, and eloyes, and boil about fifteen minutes. Let it cool and put into jars or other vessel. Try this once, and you will try it again. The following-is another tomato pickle—not so sweet: Slice one gallon of green tomatoes, and put a handful of salt to each layer of toma- toes. Let them stand twelve hours, then drain off the liquor, and add to them two green pep- pers, and from two to four onions sliced. Take two quarts strong cider vinegar, a little more 620 DOMESTIC than one-half pint of molasses, and two table- spoonfuls of whole mustard, and a tea-spoonful of allspice, same of cloves, and heat until it begins to boil. Then put in tomatoes, onions, and peppers, and let them boil ten minutes. Pour them into a stone jar, and seal tight, and put them in a cool place for a fortnight, after which they will be ready for use, and will keep a year without scalding. Sweet Pickled Peaches. —‘‘ Pare clingstone peaches, just ripe. To four pounds of fruit allow two pounds sugar, half a pint of cider vinegar, one table-spoonful of cinnamon, and one of cloves, tied in a thin rag. Use a por- celain kettle. Boil the vinegar, sugar, and spice until the sugar is melted; then add the fruit, and boil until tender. Remove the fruit with a skimmer, and boil the liquor to a thick syrup; return the fruit, and simmer until done; pour out and let stand till cool; then seal up tight, removing the spice.” Spiced Plums.—Take one pint vinegar, and add three pounds sugar, one tea-spoontul each, of cloves, cinnamon, and allspice; boil all together; have ready four quarts of plums; repeat the boiling of the liquor each day for nine days, and each time, while hot, pour on the plums. Vimegar.—The appetite for acids is quite as general, and also quite as natural and health- ful, as that for sweets. There should be at least two vinegar barrels in every household—one in which vinegar is always making, another in which vinegar is kept for use, and the last should be constantly replenished from the first. The barrel for making vinegar, as it is intended to be a perpetuity, if not a fixture, should be stout, sound, iron-hooped, and painted, as it should stand through the warm months out of doors, as vinegar forms much more rapidly in thesunshine. In Winter the process will go on much more slowly in a warm room or cellar. This barrel shou!d have a close-fitting cover; in this cover, or near the top of the barrel, should be bored a number of auger holes, or the barrel may be laid on its side with the bung out. These are to promote free circulation of air; over them tack a fine wire gauze or cloth to exclude the gnats and insects which swarm around such attractions. The liquid should be agitated by a dasher, or by shaking the | barrel frequently. The philosophy of vinegar- making is simply the exposure of a liquid that is predisposed to sour to the influence of light and atmospheric air, a ECONOMY: Cider Vinegar.—We give several different recipes: 1. Fill a barrel three-fourths full of jcider; set it in the sun; leave the bung out and shake daily, and you will in time have vinegar of such strength as will need weaken- ing for use. A bucketful of strong vinegar, or a couple of gallons of molasses, will hasten the process. When strong enough, rack off—stop closely, and set in a cellar that will not freeze. 2. Have a vessel large enough to hold the pomace when you have been cider-making, and as much water as you have pressed cider from it. It is best to use warm water. Stir up the mass at least every day, the oftener the better. When it is soured, but not rotted, press it out and treat as directed in making cider vinegar, This vinegar will make sooner than the pure cider, and it is called, for distinction, apple vinegar; of course it is inferior in strength, but it is the article nearly always sold as cider vinegar. The pomace of grapes will make vinegar by the same process. 3. “Common dried apples, with a little mo- lasses and brown paper, are all you need to make the best kind of cider vinegar. And, what is still better, the cider which you extract from the apple does not detract from the value of the apples for any other purpose. Soak your apples a few hours—washing and rubbing them occasionally, then take them out of the water and thoroughly strain them through a tight-woven cloth; put the liquor into a jug, and add a pint of molasses to a gallon of liquor, and a piece of common brown paper, and set in the sun, or by the fire, and in a few days your vinegar will be fit for use. Have (wo jugs and use out of one while the other is working.” Molasses Vinegar.—In a common barrel, three-fourths full of rain water, mix four gallons of molasses and a bucket of strong vinegar or a gallon of whisky. Expose to the sun, or keep in a warm cellar, and shake frequently, This isa pure and good preparation, and the most common in market, except chemical prepara- tions, which exercise as deleterious influence over health as drugged whisky. The Vinegar Plant.—The vinegar plant be- longs to the genus of fungals (Penicilium glau- cum), and is easily propagated by following the annexed recipe: Take a half pound of brown sugar and a half pint of molasses; simmer them in three quarts of water till well dis- solved, then place the mixture in a wooden or stone pot, cover it over, and place behind the stove in a warm situation. In about six or HAMS. seven weeks you will find floating on the top a tough, fleshy substance—this is the vinegar! plant; the mixture will have turned to vinegar, but of a poorer quality than will be manufac- tured with its aid. Now prepare a mixture as before, and when coolish, lay over it the vinegar plant. A bit of lathing or shingle should be laid upon the mixture before placing the plant over it, as the vinegar is of a purer quality if the plant does not lie wholly upon it. Set it behind the stove or beside the range, covering it closely, and in two weeks or more, taste it; if sharp vinegar, bottle it, and continue your manufacture. The vinegar is of a dark color, but of far better quality than what is bought generally for cider vinegar, but has never seen apples. It is probable that what is termed the “mother” in vinegar is closely allied to this plant, and might be employed by those who desire to produce a “vinegar plant” without delay. The cost of vinegar made in this man- ner is extremely small, and as it is a condiment 50 universally employed in culinary matters, we recommend it to our readers, We do not think that there is anything deleterious in its properties, and it would certainly give many families a large supply of vinegar, who would be unable to procure it in any other manner, Asmall wooden butter firkin would be an ex- cellent utensil for the preparation, as it could be covered tightly. Corn Vinegar.—Boil a peck of shelled corn in ten gallons of water until reduced half— strain off the liquid, mix with it a half gallon of molasses and as much good vinegar, and expose to the sun and air as you were directed for cider. Beet Vinegar.— Wash a bushel of sugar-beets, then grate and press out the juice; put this into an empty barrel, cover the bung-hole with gauze and set in the sun. In a fortnight it will be fit for use. Tomato Vinegar.—Mash the tomatoes in an open tub, and add a quart of molasses to each bushel. Let the pomace ferment until it begins to have a decided vinegar odor, stirring it fre- quently during the several days it stands. Then strain the juice from the pomace, and put into casks, and let it stand until the process is com- pleted, which will be greatly facilitated if you can add one gallon of good cider vinegar to every ten gallons of tomato juice. Strawberry Vinegar.— Pour one quart good vinegar on two quarts very ripe strawberries, and let them stand three days. Then drain the vinegar through a wire strainer, or a jelly F 621 bag, and pour it on to the same quantity of fresh berries. Repeat this the third time, then add a pint of sugar to the strained juice—boil it a few minutes, and when cool, bottle and cork. A table-spoonful in a glass of watet makes a delicious cooling drink. Raspberry Vinegar. — Red raspberries, any quantity, or sufficient to fill a stone jar nearly full; then pour upon them sufficient vinegar to cover them. Cover the jar closely and set it aside for eight or ten days, then strain through flannel or muslin and add to the clear liquor three-quarters of a pound of sugar to each pint; place over the fire and boil gently for a few minutes, then allow it to cool and bottle for use. This makes, when mixed with water, a delight- ful Summer drink; also, very beneficial for convalescents. Currant Vinegar.—About a bushel and a half of ripe currants well pressed, and the juice put into a molasses or syrup barrel, with six quarts of syrup, and filled up with water, will make a barrel of excellent vinegar. Aromatic Vinegar.—Dissolve two ounces pul- verized camphor in one pint strongly concen- trated vinegar, and half an ounce each of oils garden lavender, cloves, and rosemary. Keep it in small phials with glass stopples. HWiamas.—The ham is one of the most yal- uable parts of the hog, and, if properly cured, may be preserved almost any length of time, retaining its fine qualities. The hams most esteemed are made from hogs which are al- lowed considerable exercise, and are fed on solid food, corn being the best—animals which do not weigh more than two hundred or two hundred and fifty pounds, and which have a large portion of muscular or lean flesh in their structure. When taken from the hog, the edges should be rounded off, or trimmed, and the first step in the preparation is the pickling or salt- ing. To do this almost every farmer or butcher has his own way, some applying the salt dry to the ham, and repeating the operation of rub- bing in until the requisite saltness is attained, while others prefer making a brine and salting the hams in that way. Each method has its advocates, and many of which do not essentially differ from each other. We shall give a few of the processes that have become the most noted, that the farmer may. choose the one he shall deem most proper or convenient: 1. The Westphalian hams are much esteemed, and the pickle in which they are prepared is 622 essentially as follows: “Boil together over a| gentle fire six pounds of good common salt, two pounds of powdered loaf sugar, three ounces of saltpeter, and three gallons of spring water. Skim it while boiling, and when quite cold pour it over the hams, every part of which must be covered with the brine. Hams in- tended for smoking will be sufficiently salted in this brine in two weeks; though if very large, more time may be allowed. This pickle may be used repeatedly, if boiled, and fresh ingre- dients added. Hams, before they are put in the pickle, should be soaked in water, all the blood pressed out, and wiped dry.” 2. A correspondent gives the following, after twenty years practice: “J measure a bushel of salt, spread it upon a tabie, weigh a pound of saltpeter, pulverize it carefully, and mix thor- oughly with the salt. This mixture is sufficient for one thousand pounds of small meat or eight hundred of large, to be well rubbed on’ every piece und more especially on the fleshy surface. If the weather is mild and the meat small, four weeks will be long enough for the pieces to be packed; but if the weather is cold and the meat large, it should be taken up at the end of four weeks, well rubbed again with salt in case the first has dissolved, and lie two weeks longer.” 3. Jonn Cockrity of Woodland, Alabama, in the Southern Cultivator, thus describes his method of curing hams: “ My rule is to make a strong tea of red peppers, then to mix salt and hickory ashes, say one-fiith ashes; then moisten the mass with the pepper tea, and rub the hams and shoulders on the skin side with about a tea- spoonful of saltpeter to each joint; I then rub in the salt well, then rub the flesh side and pack it with salt, and place the pieces in a trough or tub. I let it remain undisturbed for six weeks; when } knock off the loose salt, take fine pea meal, and rub it completely over the flesh side and hang it in the smoke-house. The meal will form a close crust and keep off the skipper fly” 4. The following is one of the easiest and most expeditious methods of curing and smok- ing hams, and we know makes a very respect- able article. Take a good tight barrel, white oak is the best, take out one head, and invert it over a pan or kettle in which a smoke of lard wood chips, or cobs, is to be kept up for eight or ten days. Water must be kept on the head of the: barrel to prevent it from drying. A pickle is made of six gallons of water, twelve pounds of salt, twelve ounces of saltpeter and | DOMESTIC ECONOMY: two quarts of molasses, dissolved together in a kettle, boiled, and the scum taken off. The hams are packed in the barrel, the brine, cold, is turned on to them, and in one weelwthe hams are fit for use. 5. What is termed the Virginia mode, or in some places, the dry method of curing, as the hams do not lie in pickle at all, is as follows: For each ham take a spoonful of saltpeter (a large tea-spoon will do), pulverize it finely and apply it; rub each piece with salt well on both sides, and pack them in hogsheads with holes bored in the bottom to let off the brine. Let them remain five or six weeks; then take them out, brush off the salt, rab each well with hick- ory ashes, and hang each piece in the smoke- house. 6. The celebrated pickle called the Empress of Russia’s Brine, and much used in Europe for curing hams: Six pounds of common salt, two pounds of powdered loaf sugar, three ounces of saltpeter, and three gallons of spring water, are boiled together, skimmed, and when quite cold, poured over the meat, every part of which must be kept contantly covered. In this pickle hams of medium size are cured for smoking in two weeks. 7. As soon as the hog is cold enough to be cut up, take the two hams and cut out the round bone, so as to have the ham not too thick; rub them well with common salt, and leave them in a large pan for three days. When the salt has drawn out all the blood, throw the brine away, and proceed as follows: Have two hams of about eighteen pounds each, take one pound of moist sugar, one pound of common salt, two ounces of saltpeter; then put them into a vessel large enough to contain them in the liquor, remembering always to keep the salt over them; after they have been in this state three days, throw over them a bottle of the best vinegar. One month is requisite for the cure of them; during that period they must be turned often in the brine; when you take them out, drain them well; powder them with some coarse flour, and hang them in a dry place. The same brine can serve again, observing that you must not put so much salt on the next hams that you pickle. This method has been tried, and pronounced far better than the West- phalia.” 8. A French chemist strongly deprecates the use of saltpeter in curing meat, and recommends sugar as more wholesome and equally effica- cious. He attributes scurvy, ulcers, and other diseases to which mariners, and other persons HAMS. living on cured provisions are subject, entirely to the chemical changes produced by saltpeter. He calls attention to the fact that meat may be preserved in the most perfect manner by molasses alone. It has an agreeable flavor; it produces no scurvy, or other disorders which result from the use of salt food, and it may be prepared at a moderate price. The process consists simply in cutting the meat into pieces of moderate size, and dropping them into mo- lasses, or rubbing them frequently and thor- oughly with molasses, until some of the lighter juices of thé meat pass out and the molasses is absorbed in their place. The ham, or meat, is then thoroughly washed and hung in a current of air to dry. 9. A farmer contributes his method of curing hams with dry sugar, as follows: “To cure a ham of fifteen pounds weight requires one pound of good brown sugar, two ounces refined and ground saltpeter, and a half pound ground seasalt, First application—saltpeter and cover the face of the ham with sugar a quarter of an inch thick; on the fifth day, rub the skin side with sugar. Second application—saltpeter and mixture of three parts sugar and one part salt ; on the seventh day, rub as before. Third ap- plication—half sugar and half salt; in seven days, rub as before. Fourth application—same as last; in seven days, rub with sugar and salt. Fifth application—good molasses as long as the meat will absorb it.” Weak stomachs, that reject salted hams, often find them palatable) and delicious when cured with sugar. Smoking Hams.—Much of the goodness of a ham depends on the manner in which it is smoked or dried. If the process is carried for- ward too rapidly; if the meat is not a sufficient distance from the fire; if, from any cause, such as want of ventilation, dampness of smoke- house, ete., the meat is kept moist on the sur- face, and in a wet or dripping state, it is idle to expect good or fine-flavored hams. In Vir- ginia the best hams are not considered thor- oughly smoked in less time than two months, not keeping a smoke under them day and night for this time, but making a good Smoke under them every morning, or daily. In this way they are cured by the smoke gradually and thoroughly. Indeed, the great art in smoking seems to consist in drying the meat by the smoke and not by heat. Hams may be smoked ina much less time than this, but they will not be of as fine a quality, nor will they keep as well. Nothing but materials that will produce smoke free from all unpleasant odors should be used 623 for smoking hams. Hickory or maple are first- rate; oak or ash will do very well; and the cobs of sound, well-cured Indian corn make a good penetrating smoke. Hams are frequently injured by being too much exposed to too much heat in the process of smoking. To avoid this, at Hamburg, the smoking establishments, for both hams and beef, are in the upper stories of three or four-story buildings, and the fire for producing the smoke is in the basement part of the building. The smoke is conducted in tubes, and every precaution is used that the smoke shall be thoroughly cooled in its passage. In hanging up hams for smoking, care must be taken that they do not touch each other, and they should invariably be suspended so that the small part of the ham shall be down, as this will prevent the escape of the juice by dripping. Smoke-houses should be so constructed that the smoke is admitted at the top of the build- ing; the hams being near a dry floor, the smoke settles on the meat after being cooled. Hot smoke should neyer touch meat. Smoke very slowly, using green hickory, or seasoned corn- cobs, smothered with sawdust. Hickory, white oak, or maple sawdust is preferred.» Sassafras fuel is said to render hams very savory. Pep- per vines or red peppers thrown on the fire will warn off the bug and fly. Keeping Hams.—Various methods have been recommended for the preservation of hams, such as packing them in cut straw, the tow of flax, ashes, fine charcoal, and many other ways. The great object is to keep them cool and dry, and away from flies. Tow will effectually ex- clude flies; charcoal assists greatly in preserv- ing them sweet ; and ashes secure their dryness ; but all these plans are open to the objection of making the ham dirty, or leaving it liable to mold. A good method is to place each ham in a bag of cotton cloth, closely tied up and white- washed, and hung up in aclose and dark smoke- house. Flies will not infest any place from which light is wholly excluded, and if a smoke is made under them once a week, it will greatly aid their preservation. Another mode is to bury them in oats or some other grain, but they are more apt to become injured from want of ventilation. Whatever mode is adopted, it is of vital importance that the work is done early in the Spring, before the flies are stirring. The following is an excellent method: Make bags of unbleached cotton cloth, put the hams in, and then put in a layer of fine soft hay all around them, so as to make a stratum of hay 624 DOMESTIC between the cloth and the hams. If merely bagged the flies will thrust their ovipositors through the cloth and sting the meat; but the interposed hay keeps them off, and if hung in a dry and cool place, the preventive will never fail. There is no method of keeping that is superior to this. A Kentucky lady gives this as her way: “After hams have been smoked, take them down, thoroughly rub the flesh part with mo- lasses, then immediately apply ground or pow- dered red or black pepper, by sprinkling on as mueb as will stick to the molasses, and rub some red pepper on the hock, when they must be hung up again to dry. Hams treated in this manner will keep perfectly sweet for two or three years.” To Keep Hams for Frying—Some housewives, instead of preserving the ham whole, by any of the above methods, slice it up as if for cook- ing, remove the rind and the bones, and fry partially; then pack closely in a stone jar, from time to time pouring in the hot grease, to fill all the spaces and exclude the air. When the jar is full, cover with hot lard or the grease from the ham, and set away for use. When opened, the space made by taking out the meat should be filled with melted grease. Avoid the danger of molding by using no grease from which the water has not been thoroughly boiled. Some people pack the raw meat in the same manner—but experience indicates cooking to be the better way. Of course this only applies to hams intended for frying. Any housewife will appreciate the convenience of having the meat ready to put in the pan, when break fast or dinner must come in a hurry. Perhaps all of our readers are not aware that steak (pork and beef), sausages, puddings, ete., can be kept fresh the “year round” by frying and seasoning when fresh, the same as for the table, packing down in crocks or lard cans, and pouring hot lard over them, covering about one inch. When needed, scrape off the lard and heat through. Packing Beef and Pork.—The usual method is to set a strong, clean, and well-hooped barrel under a beam in the cellar; then cut the meat into convenient pieces and pack it closely in layers on the edges, with salt and sugar or mo- lasses in the bottom and between the layers. The meat should be pounded down so as to ex- clude the air. Many farmers use from half a bushel to a bushel of salt to a barrel—but this is quite too much; it tends to toughen the meat. One more reasonable farmer says: “ For one ECONOMY: hundred pounds of beef, mix four quarts fine salt, four ounces saltpeter pulverized, and four pounds brown sugar.” Another recommends: “Six quarts of good coarse salt is full enough for a barrel of family beef put down in the Fall, together with three-quarters of a pound | of saltpeter, and three pints or two quarts of molasses. Repacking in the Spring used to be the old style, but it is unnecessary. It is surprising that one-half the people will throw on a bushel of salt for the purpose of making their beef as hard as a lapstone, when with no more expense it may be kept as tender as a fresh steak.” The Country Gentleman says: ‘‘ By most of the modes now in use, the beef becomes too much impregnated with salt, and is not, as a consequence, so fine for eating. By the follow- ing process this difficulty is prevented, and the beef will keep till the following Summer: To eight gallons of water add two pounds of brown sugar, one quart of molasses, four ounces of niter, and fine salt till it will float an egg. This is enough for two common quarters of beef.” Cleansing or Renovating Brine.—TYo five gal- lons of brine, add one egg, broken and stirred in, and then bring to a gentle boiling and skim and cool for use. Sualtpeter added to brine, at the rate of two to four ounces to the one hun- dred pounds of meat, gives it a fine reddish color. } a F | Fe | Be 2 z= es =) S Antictes or Diet. = Bavuleeie 3 | 2s |s2 2 S > KS re ee) a pee pele Ge Hours seegateeee So aaa 3 Boiled 1.00 92 Boiled 1.00 “- y Boiled 1.00 |. Eggs, whipped Kaw 1.30) le ee Trout, salmon, f Boiled 1.30 mo Trout, salmon, fre: Fried 1.30 was "Soup, barley wt... Boiled 1.30 te Apples, sweet, mellow Raw 1.30 10 Venison steak ... Broiled 1,38 22 iD animal. Boiled 1.45 abe s Boiled 1.45 83 Boiled 2.00 ee Boiled 2,00 54 Boiled 2.00 13 4 4 Broiled 2.00 ae Eggs, fresh... Raw 2.00 ese Codfish, cu boiled 2.00 oe sour, mellow Raw 2,00 ose with vineg Raw 2.00 ons Raw 2.15 7 Rogstad 2.15 ae oaste wie Turkey, domesti Boiled phi oat Gelatine.. Boiled 2,30 et Turkey, domesti Roasted 2.30 os Goose, wild Roasted 2.30 ae Roasted 2,30 on Broiled 2,30 oo Warmed 2,30 vee Boiled 2.30 36 8 Baked 2.30 ag arsnips ... Boiled 2.30 oes Potatoes, li Roasted 2.30 26 Potatoes, Tris Baked 2.320 on Cabbage, head... Raw 2.30 7 marrow, anima’ Boiled 2.40 ses a, full grown Fricasseed 2.45 27 BUATU...esccreceseners Baked 2.45 ove Beef, with salt only Boiled 2.45 on Apples, sour, hard Raw 2.50 aie Oysters, fresh. Raw 2.55 Roe Soft boiled 3.00 ore Broiled 3.00 20 Roasted 3.00 29 Broiled 3.00 ans recently sa Raw 3.00 oe Pork’ recently salte Stewed 3,00 at Mutton, fresh. Broiled 3.00 oe M utton, fresh. Boiled 3.00 ave Soup, bean... Boiled 3.00 oe Chicken sou Boiled 3.00 Dumpling, app Boiled 3.00 ides Cake, corn Baked 3.00 fe Oysters, fr * Roasted 3.15 oo Pork, Broiled 3.15 oe Pork ste: Broiled 3.15 ave Mutton, Roasted 3.15 30 Bread, corn. Baked 3.15 80 Carrot, orang Boiled 3.15 13 Sausage, fresh Broiled 3.20 +8 Flounder, fr ried 3.30 f Fried 0 ro Stewed os Roasted 26 Boiled 0) ase Melted 0 96 Raw 0 8 gee Mutton. Boiled : aes Sugar and syrups. Raw 30 6 Oyster SOUP wc. Boiled 30 12 Bread, wheat, fresh Baked 30 80 ‘Turnips, flat.. Boiled 0) i Potatoes, Ir Boiled 28 ges, tresh.. Hard boiled | 3.30 one gas, fresh. Fried 3.30 eis Succotash Boiled 3.45 ane Bvets . ccc Boiled 3.45 iW Salmon, Boiled 4.00 4. Beef... Fried 4.00 ios Veal, fre: Broiled 4.00 25 Fowls, domes Boiled 4.00 te Fowls, domestic. Roasted 4.00 a Ducks, domestic... Roasted 4.00 on Soup, beet, vegetables, and Dreads ec ccencs sadaaseceaatooneunss Boiled 4.00 - WASTE IN COOKING, Dr. Beaumont’s TABLE CONTINUED. q 2 5 g 22 | 37 4 Se | 38 =.5 ARTICLES .F Diet. ce Po Ze z Bay lice & S35 5 ES Bie |= Heart, animal... Fried cas Beef, old, hard, saltec Boiled see Pork, recently ‘salted Fried cee Soup, marrow bones Boiled ae Cartilaze.. Boiled one Pork, recent Boiled cnn Veal, fresh Vried as Ducks, wild. Roasted oo Suet, mutton. Boiled oe Cabbage... . | Boiled 7 Pork, fat and lear Roasted 24 Tendon Boiled =, Suet, beef, fresh Boiled cnn ATVOW TO0t. steseesee 81 Butchers’ meat 29 Bread, stale. a 76 . St Lenti S4 Wheat meal, mush 85 Corn meal, mush. 90 Oat meal, mush ol Sugar candy 89 Such a table may be studied with interest and profit. It will be seén that a dollar’s worth of meat, at twelve and a half cents per pound, goes as far as fifty cents worth of butter at twen- ty-five cents per pound; and that three pounds of flour, at four cents per pound, furnish about the same amount of nutriment as nine pounds of beefsteak, costing twelve and a half cents per pound; anda loaf of good home-made bread, of the same size, contains as much nutriment as a leg of mutton, A pint of beans, weighing one pound, and costing four or five cents, contains as much nutriment as three pounds and a half roast beef, costing at least from forty to fifty cents; and an Irish potato is better than a pound of pork. Of all the articles that can be eaten, the cheapest are bread, butter, molasses, beans, and rice. A pound of corn meal goes as far as a pound of wheat flour, and ordinarily costs not more than half as much. If corn and wheat were ground, and the whole product, bran and all, were made into bread, fifteen per cent. would be saved pecuniarily, with a much greater per centage in healthfulness. Flesh-pro- Warmth- ARTICLES. ducing. | giving. , 10 40 10 1 1 2 10 7 ei 10 27 Fat pork... 10 wl Cow's milk. Ww 30 10 46 10 50 10 57 10 57 10 6 Ww 115 10 123 Buckwheat. i 10 130 From Lresie we give the above table, based 633 on the human milk imparting flesh-producing: principle. The following table shows the relative value of the several kinds of food in flesh-producing and oxygen-feeding, or warmth-giving ingre- dients: ten parts of the g, and forty of the warmth-giving = Suppiy To Bopy. ic] & ArticLes oF DIET. Flesh-form- | Heat-forming = ing principle. principle. th. 100|/Turnips. i jRed Bi Carrot Potato: Bread, |Wheat mea Beans . Oat mea oe Waste in Cooking.—Having sufficiently indi- cated the relative digestive properties of food, their flesh-producing and warmth-giving con- stituents, a few hints on the thoughtless waste and reckless extravagance practised in the kitchen, may not prove altogether unprofitable. In one sense, nothing is wasted; as all matter is returned to the inorganic world when it is unfit for longer use in organized forms ; and all the materials of all structures are indestructi- ble. But, in many families, there is a pecuniary waste, an unnecessary using up of fruits, vege- tables, and manufactured articles, which would render comfortable many homes now suffering for just such things as are misused. We know a family of two persons, in which is daily cooked food enough for twice that number. The surplus stands about the pantry, exposed to flies, dust, heat, frost—any casual- ties — or it is recooked, at twice the original cost; half of it to be eaten, and the remainder, with vegetables, moldy bread, and fruit, ete., to be consigned to the pigs. Here is a waste of food which requires a pretty long purse to husband and wife are constantly complaining of hard times; they lack money, and fear positive want. Weill they may; for if anything is sure to bring want, it is waste. When the flour empty, the molasses keg drained, the sugar spent, and other things gone, neither husband nor wife seems to think that an unnecessary part of the whole has been devoured by pigs, nor that, if Mrs. Eve would have but one kind of food for each meal, and put on the table only half the usual quantity at once, they both maintain. Yet both barrel is 636 would enjoy their meals far better, and have the surplus in good condition, to be relished at future meals. Nobody relishes bread that has been handled, broken, or rejected. But, newly- cut and wholesome looking, it is always en- joyed by the hungry. A meal consisting of but few kinds, is more enjoyed, as well as more healthful, than if composed of more kinds. Profusion is as unfayorable to enjoyment as it is to the health and the purse. Simplicity and economy insure domestic comfort and prosper- ity; but a thriftless wife brings sure ruin. Don’t laugh, Mrs. Eve, saying, “I wonder how neighbor SHoworF would like that !”—it means you, you. We need in our country something like the Norwegian felted boxes, which are beginning to be used in England. When a leg of mutton is to be boiled, instead of its being kept on the fire for three or four hours (on the good old English method, which wastes fuel and hardens the meat), it is sufficient to keep it boiling for only ten minutes; and when it has been boiled for that time the fire is no longer needed, but the sauce-pan containing the meat is to be in- closed in the felted box till three or four hours later, when dinner-time arrives. The heat in the sauce-pan is prevented from escaping, as it can not pass through the non-conducting felt, and the process of cooking, therefore, goes on gently for hours, with no new application of heat. A. leg of mutton has been kept quite hot three hours and a half after it was taken from the fire and inclosed in the box; and it is said that a leg of mutton was carried from Paris to London, in a Norwegian box, without getting cold on the journey. Such boxes are coming into use for the luncheons of shooting parties and picnics, and of persons engaged in business. A gentleman takes with him to his office a small box, which looks like an ordinary dispatch-box; but it is a Norwegian felted box, which he opens at the time of his meal, and finds to contain hot food. This ingenious contrivance is admirably suited to the wants of the poor. Every poor woman makes a fire in the morning to boil the water for breakfast. That same fire may suflice to begin the cooking of the good man’s dinner, and it may be kept hot for him, in one of these cheap boxes, under the hedges, while he at- tends to his work, till the hour for his meal arrives, Hot food is not only more palatable, but far more digestible and strengthening than cold food. Captain Warren’s “Cooker,” an English THE KITCHEN AND DINING-ROOM: patent, is an admirable contrivance. The food in the patent sauce-pan, or “ cooker,” is cooked by the heat of steam, but without any contact with it. There is, therefore, no dilution what- ever, nor any’waste. When the meat is done, the meat and the gravy together are the exact weight of the raw joint. It is cooked in its own juices, so that its full flavor is retained, and as the temperature does not rise quite ta the boiling point, the fiber is not rendered hard and indigestible by excessive heat. “Tn our food,” says Mrs. Saran J. HAs, “the proportions of human milk are the best we can aim at; it has enough of flesh-produe- ing ingredients to restore our daily waste, and enough of warmth-giving to feed sthe oxygen we breathe. To begin with the earliest making of dishes, we find that cows’ milk has less of oxygen-feeding ingredients, in a given measure, than human milk; a child would, therefore, grow thin upon it, umless a little sugar were added; wheat flour has, on the other hand, so much an excess of oxygen-feeding power as would fatten a child unhealthily, and it should, therefore, have cows’ milk added, to reduce the fattening power. “The same sort of procedure applies in greater or less degree to all dishes. Veal and hare stand lowest in the list for their oxygen- feeding qualities, and on this account should be eaten with potatoes or rice, which stand high- est, and with bacon and jelly, which furnish in their fat and sugar the carbon wanting in the flesh. With the above table before us, and keeping in mind the facts already detailed, it is clear that cookery should supply us with a mixed diet of animal and vegetable food, and should aim so to mix as to give us for every ounce of the flesh-making ingredients in our food, four ounces of oxygen-leeding ingredi- ents, It isclear, also, that the most nourishing or strength-giving of all foods are fresh red meats; they are flesh ready-made, and contain, ‘besides, the iron which gives its red color to the blood, being short of which the blood lacks vitality, and wanting which it dies. “To preserve in dressing the full nourish- ment of meats, and their properties of digest- iveness, forms a most important part of the art of cooking; for these ends the object to be kept in mind is, to retain as much as possible the juices of the meat, whether roast or boiled. This, in the case of boiling meat, is best done by placing it at once in briskly boiling water ; the albumen on the surface, and to some depth, is immediately coagulated, and thus forms a WASTE IN COOKING. kind of covering which neither allows the water to get into the meat, nor the meat juice into the water. The water should then be kept just under boiling until the meat be thoroughly done, which it will be when every part has been heated to about 165°, the temperature at which the coloring matter of the blood coagu- lates or fixes; at 133° the albumen sets; but the blood does not, and therefore the meat is red and raw. 2 “The same rules apply to roasting; the meats should first be™brought near enough a bright fire to brown the outside, and then should be 637 that the stomach can not make, nor the body do without the least of them. “Tt is an established truth in physiology, that man is ominiverous—that is, constituted to eat almost every kind of food, which sepa- rately nourishes other animals. His teeth are formed to masticate, and his stomach to digest flesh,* fish, and all farinaceous and vegetable substances—he can eat and digest these even in a raw state; but it is necessary to perfect them for his nourishment in the most healthy man- ner, that they be prepared by cooking—that is, softened by the action of fire and water. allowed to roast slowly. | “In strict accordance with this philosophy, “Belonging to this question of waste and| which makes a portion of animal food neces- nourishment, it is to be noted that the almost sary to develop and sustain the human consti- eyerywhere-agreed-upon notion that soup, which tution, in its most perfect state of physical, sets strong jelly, must be the most nutritious, |intellectual and moral strength and beauty, is altogether a mistake. The soup acts because we know that now in every country, where a it contains the gelatine of glue of the sinews, mixed diet is habitually used, as in the tem- flesh, and bones; but on this imagined richness perate climates, there the greatest improvement alone it has, by recent experiments, been proved | of the race is to be found, and the greatest en- that no animal can live. The jelly of bones | ergy of character. It is that portion of the boiled into soup, can furnish only jelly for our! human family who have the means of obtain- bones; the jelly of sinew, or calf’s feet, can form ing this food at least once a day, who now hold only sinew; neither flesh nor its juices set into dominion over the earth. Forty thousand of a jelly. It is only by long boiling we obtain a! the beef-fed British govern and control ninety soup that sets; but in much less time we get all the nourishing properties that meat yields in soups, which are no doubt useful in cases of recovery from illness; but jelly is oftentimes unwholesome, for it loads the blood with not only useless, but disturbing products. Nor does jelly stand alone. Neither can we live on meat which has been cleared of fat, long boiled, and has had all the juice pressed out of it; a dog so fed, lost in forty-three days a. fourth of his weight; in fifty days he bore all, the appearance of starvation, and yet such meat has all the muscular fiber init. In the same way, animals fed on pure casein, albumen, fibrin of vegetables, starch, sugar, or fat, died, with every appearance of death by hunger. “Purther experiments showed, that these worse than useless foods were without certain matters which are always to be found in the blood; namely, phosphoric acid, potash, soda, lime, magnesia, oxide of iron, and common salt (in certain of these, we may mention, by difficulty of digestion and poor nutriment qual- ities.) These salts of the blood, as they are termed in chemistry, are to be found in the several wheys and juices of meat, milk, pulse, ‘and grain. Here, then, was the proof com- plete, that such food to support life must con- tain the several ingredients of the blood, and millions of the rice-eating natives of India. “Tn every nation on earth the rulers, the men of power, whether princes or priests, al- ‘most invariably use a portion of the animal |food. The people are often compelled, either ‘from poverty or policy, to abstain. Whenever |the time shall arrive that every peasant in Europe is able to ‘put his pullet in the pot of a Sunday,’ a great improvement will have taken place in his character and condition; when he can have a portion of animal food, properly cooked, once each day, he will soon become a man. “Tn our own country, the beneficial effects of a generous diet in developing and sustaining *Some determined advocates of the yegetable system maintain, that the teeth and stomach of the moukey c respond, in structure, very closely with those of man, y it lives on fruits—therefore, if man followed nature, he would live on fruits and v ables. But though the ana- tomical likeness between man and monkeys is striking, yet it is not complete; the difference may be, and doubt- less is, precisely that which mak difference of diet necessary to nourish and develop the: issimilur natures. Those who should live as the monkeys do would most closely resemble them. + There is danger in extremes. ‘‘All medical men agree,’ ays Miss CatHerine E. Beecner, ‘that, in America, far too large a portion of the dict consists of animal food. Asa nation, the Americans are proverbial for the gross and luxurious diet with which they load their tables ; and there can be no doubt that the general health of the nation would be increased by a change in our custom in this respect. To take meat but once a day, aud this in small quantities, compared with the common practicg, is a rule, the observance of which would probably greatly reduce the amount of fevers, eruptions, headaches, bilious | attacks, and the many other ailments which are produced or aggravated by too gross a diet.” 65 THE KITCHEN AND DINING-ROOM: the energies of a whole nation, are clearly evi-|should be put in while it is boiling, so as to dent. every kind which were requisite to subdue and obtain dominion of a wilderness world, could not have been done by a half-staryed suffering people. A larger quantity and better quality of food are necessary here than would have supplied men in the old countries, where less action of body and mind were permitted. “Still, there is great danger of excess in all indulgences of the appetite; even when a present benefit may be obtained, this danger should never be forgotten. The tendency in our country has been to excess in animal food. The advocates of the vegetable-diet system had good cause for denouncing this excess, and the indiscriminate use of flesh. It was, and now is, frequently given to young children—infants before they have teeth—a sin against nature, which often costs the life of the poor little suf- ferer; it is eaten too freely by the sedentary and delicate; and to make it worse still, it is eaten, often in a half-cooked state, and swal- lowed ‘without sufficient chewing. All these things are wrong, and cught to be reformed. - “Tt is generally admitted that the French excel in the economy of their cooking. By studying the appropriate flavors for every dish, they contrive to dress all the broken pieces of meats, and make a variety of dishes from veg- etables at a small expense.” In the preparation of food, it should be the constant aim of the good housekeeper to unite the promotion of health, the study of economy, and the gratification of taste. Hard and Soft Water in Cooking.—The effects of hard and soft water on vegetables vary ma- terially. Peas and beans cooked in hard water containing lime or gypsum, will not boil tender, * because these substances harden vegetable case- in. In soft water they boil tender and lose a certain rank raw taste which they retain in hard water. Many vegetables (as onions) boil nearly tasteless in soft water because all the flavor is dissolved out. The addition of salt often checks this (as in the case of onions), causing the vegetables to retain the peculiar flavoring principles, besides much nutritious matter which might be lost in soft water. Thus it appears that salt hardens the water to a de- gree. For extracting the juices of meat to make broth or soup, soft water, unsalted or cold at first, is best, for it much more rapidly penetrates the tissues; but for boiling meat where the juices should be retained, hard water or soft water salted is preferable, and the meat The severe and unremitting labors of ,seal up the pores at once. How to Beat Whites of Eggs.—On breaking eggs, take care that none of the yolk becomes mixed with the whites. A single particle will sometimes prevent their foaming well. Put the whites into a large flat’dish and beat them with an"egg-beater made of double wire, with a tin handle, or with a cork stuck crosswise upon the prongs of a fork, Strike a sharp, quick stroke through the wnole length of the dish. Beat them in the cellar or in some other cool place, till they look like snow, and you can turn the dish over without their slipping off. Never suspend the process, nor let them stand even for one minute, as they will begin to turn to a liquid state, and can not be restored, and thus will make heavy cakes. Substitute for Eggs.—The volatile element ir fresh snow renders two table-spoonsful of i; equal to one egg in any compound that requires lightness rather than richness—thus, to a small loaf-cake, ten table-spoonsful of snow. For cooking purposes, one table-spoonful of corn starch is said to be equal to one egg. How to Save Shortening. —Mix one-fourth corn meal with wheat flour, and your pastry will be lighter and more wholesome, besides considerably less shortening is required. Saleratus—As an article of cookery, it is un- questionably bad, very bad. Canker in the mouth, ulcerated bowels, weak stomachs, and bad blood are its ordinary effects. The best raising materials for those who will use acids and alkalies of any kind are supercarbonate of soda and sour milk. Good fresh snow, in its season, is probably the most natural yeast ever used, supplying atmosphere wherewith to puff up the dough, whereas other methods only supply carbonie gas. Bread thus made is delicious and whole- some. Hasty Cream.—Take a gallon of milk warm from the cow, strain and set it over the fire; when it begins to rise, take it off and set it by; skim off all the cream and put it on a plate, then set the stew-pan over the fire again; as soon as it is ready to boil, take it off and skim again, repeating the skimming until no more cream rises. The milk must not boil. Thus cream may be provided when needed for prompt use. To Keep Cream Sweet.—Cream may be kept sweet twenty-four hours, by simply scalding ° it, without sugar; and by adding as much powdered lump sugar as will make it quite ERRORS IN COOKING—CULINARY COUPLETS. sweet, it may be kept for two days in a cool place. Househoid Measures.—As all families are not provided with scales and weights referring to ingredients in general use by every housewife, the following may be useful : Wheat flour, one pound is one quart. Indian meal, one pound two ounces is one quart. Butter, when soft, one pound one ounce is one quart. Loaf sugar, broken, one pound is one quart. White sugar, powdered, one pound one ounce is one quart. Best brown sugar, one pound two ounces is one quart. Eggs, average size, ten eggs are one pound. Sixteen large table-spoonsful are half a pint, eight are.one gill, four half a gill, ete. Twenty-five drops are equal to atea-spoonful. A common-sized tumbler, ‘half a pint; a com- mon-sized wine-glass, half a gill. Errors in Cooking—The late Dr. Danten Drake, of Cincinnati, in his Treatise on the Principal Diseases of the Interior Valley of North America, gave the following enumera- tion of the vicious modes of cooking which pre- vail in the valley: 1. With the mass of our population, bread of every kind is apt to be baked too soon after the flour or meal has been wetted—that is, be- fore there has been sufficient maceration. But what is still worse, it is scarcely ever baked enough. 2. Biscuits, as they are called, are baked in close ovens, by which process the fat they con- tain is rendered empyreumatic and indigestible. 3. When the dough for leavened bread, by excess of panary fermentation, has been charged with acetic acid, that product is not in general neutralized by the carbonate of potash or soda, but the bread is eaten sour. 4. Pastry, instead of being flaky and tender, is often tough and hard, sometimes almost horny. 5. Meats are often baked and fried, instead of being roasted or broiled, whereby they be- come impregnated with empyreumatic oil, and not unfrequently charred on the outside. In general, they are overcooked. 6. Fresh meats, and especially poultry, are commonly cooked too soon after death. 7. Soup is often prepared from parts defi- cient in gelatine, and abounding in fat, which swims upon the surface, and is much more indigestible than the meat would have been, if eaten in the solid form. 639 8. Eggs are generally boiled so hard as to render them tough, and many are in fat, to a still greater degree of induration. Fried bacon and eggs, eaten with hot un- leavened biscuit, containing lard, and then buttered, is a favorite breakfast in many parts of the valley. 9. Vegetables, abounding in fecula, such as potatoes, rice, and pulse, are often boiled so little, that all the starch grains are not burst open; while those containg albumen, as cab- bage, are boiled until that element is firmly coagulated and deposited in the structure of the leaf. Culinary Couplets.—We close our general remarks on cookery by the following apt and suggestive culinary couplets by an anonymous writer : often fried Always have lobster-sauce with salmon, And put mint-sauce your roasted lamb on, Veal cutlets dip in egg and bread-crumb— Fry till you see a brownish red come. Grate Gruyere cheese on maccaroni; Make the top crisp, but not too bony. In venison gravy, currant-jelly Mix with old Port—See Francatelli. In dresssing salad, mind this law— With too hard yolks use one that’s raw. Roast veal with rich stock gravy serve}; And pickled-mushrooms, too, observe. Roast pork sans apple-sauce, past doubt, Is ‘*‘ Hamlet’ with the Prince left out. Your mutton-chops with paper cover, And make them amber brown all over. Broil lightly your beefsteak—to fry it Argues contempt of Christian diet. Kidneys a finer flavor gain By stewing them in good chanipagne. Buy stall-fed pigeons. When you've got them, The way to cook them is to pot them, Wood-grouse are dry when gumps have marred ’em— Before you roast ’em always lard em, To roust Spring chickens is to spoil ’em— Just split ’em down the back and broil ’em. It gives true epicures the vapors ‘To see boiled mutton, minus capers, Boiled turkey, gourmands know, of course, Is exquisite, with celery-sauce. The cook deserves a hearty cuffing, Who serves roast fowls with tasteless stuffing, Smelts require egg and biscuit powder. Don’t put fat pork in your clam chowder, Egg-sauce—few make it right, alas! Is good with blue-fish or with bass. Nice oyster-sauce gives zest to cod— A fish, when fresh, to feast a god. Shad, stuffed and baked, is most delicious— ’Twould have electrified Apicius, ‘Roasted in paste, a haunch of mutton, Might make ascetics play the glutton. But one might rhyme for weeks this way, And still have lots of things to say. And so I'll close—for, reader mine, This is about the hour I dine. 640 THE KITCHEN New Frocess of Meat-Preserv- img.—For scores of years have ingenious men sought for some method of preserving meat, which should supersede salting, jerking, freez- ing, canning, cooking, and other processes, all of which tend to deprive the flesh of its natural flavor. The research of PastEur, Liesic, PoucnEr, Sreso~p, MoreGan, and others seems likely to be amply rewarded. A process has at last been discovered and put in practical operation by Professor Joun GAm- GEE, which promises to confer the greatest benefit upon mankind. It is as simple as it is effective, and will be likely to come into gen-| eral use in every country of the temperate zone. GAMGEFr’s process is now owned by the GAMGEE Meat-Preserving Compary, of Mid- dlefield, Connecticut, and it consists in prevent- ing putrefaction by the use of carbonic oxide and sulphurous acid gas. Agents are using the | process in Ohio, and negotiations are pending for the other Western States. After treatment by this method the meat of any animal may be kept for months, and, when eaten, it proves as juicy, sweet, and succulent, as when entirely fresh. In fact, the process instantly suspends the work of decomposition, and preserves the flesh with all its original flavor and of a deep rich color. “Tn January, 1866,” says Professor GAMGEE, “T made the first considerable series of experi- ments on the feeding of animals with peculiar products, so as to render the flesh much less perishable, and some remarkable results were obtained with oak bark. We learned in the Summer of 1867,” he continues, referring to his brother and himself, “that meats preserved in cans, by the combined action of carbonic oxide and sulphurous acid, would cross the Atlantic if packed in simple brown paper, and from that day to this, my operations have been directed to the preservation of the entire carcasses of ani- mals, which require, according to their size and thickness, from five to twenty days for their complete preservation. Such meat keeps many months, and may be preserved anywhere, at any season of the year, and when other modes) of preservation, such as salting, are impractica- ble. There are conditions to be observed, ac- cording to the surrounding circumstances ; but, anywhere and every where animals can be cured, | by the dozen, fifties or hundreds; and the cost, | in any part of the American continent, can not exceed, including all possible expenses, a dol- lar for a bullock, and ten or twenty cents for a sheep. AND DINING-ROOM: “We have packed meats in Chicago and New York which have been eaten in the hottest parts of this continent; and we are resolved on following up asuecess which is quite unprece- dented in the art of fresh-meat preservation, and demonstrates that the problem which the Old World has studied for years, and which the New has so much interest in unraveling, is finally, definitely, and irrevocably solved.” Colonel MArRsHALi P. WILDER thus testifies in the Massachusetts Agricultural Report, for 1869: “The Massachusetts Agricultural Club was honored, in the early part of last April, with the presence of Professor GAMGEE as a guest, when he presented us with a fine leg of mutton, cooked at the Parker House, which he informed us had been preserved in London in October, and came out in a dry box, without any other preparation or care, to New York. We had on the table, the same day, a very fine leg of mutton of our own growth; and, to our astonishment, that of Professor GAMGEE’S was more juicy, was riper than the other, and was, in fact, a first-rate leg of mutton, in perfect preservation. It had a deep, florid, beautiful color, surpassing that of the fresh leg. It was more juicy than ours; and, in a word, we should have taken it to be a ripe, mature leg of mutton, just fit to eat.” Prof. AGAssiIz said at a subsequent meeting: “May I add another testimony? I was not present at that meeting, but a friend of mine, the French Consul in Boston, who was there, told me of that mutton. He has been used to dining at the best restaurants of the Palais Royal for years; and he told me that he never ate better mutton than he ate that day, from that lee, prepared in London in October, and eate in Boston in April. There is nothing more practical than the most advanced science.” It seems likely that this method will achieve the great success that is predicated for it ; if so, it will revolutionize the provision and market system of the world, Sualt-junk, that arch- enemy of human life, will be banished from barracks and shipboard. The store-room of the whaler and merchantman will be fragrant with savory broadsides of beef. The traveler, the emigrant, the private soldier on an inacces- sible post, will taste delicious chops and steaks, fresh and dripping, brought a year before frem the hill-sides of home. And, better yet, through the long Winters, the farmers of every land, instead of feeding on abominable salt pork, and thus providing for unborn genera- tions a heritage of cancers and scrofula, will BREAD. find upon their dinner-tables the fresh roasts and rounds of the beeyes they killed in the Fall—no tenderness lost in the meantime, and no extraneous flavors or odors acquired. To the jarmers of the West, generally dis- tant from the butcher’s stall, are the advances in the art of fresh-meat preservation of the highest moment. If they reap the advantages foreshadowed in the discovery, not only will their own tables have an unfailing supply, but their prairie farms will more economically and more humanely Supply the tables of the East. No more living flocks and herds on a thousand miles of railroad, reeling with agony, feverish and fainting, starving and stifling in over- crowded cars ! It is probable that instructions may be made so clear and minute that they can cure their own meat, for the process appears as simple as it is inexpensive; but, if this shall not at once seem practicable, it is not too much to hope that Meat-Preserving Factories may be estab- lished through our States that will do the work for a slight commission, on the principle-of the cheese-factory system. That day will be the beginning of meat-luxuries for the tables of the poor, and the end of the cruel, savage sys- tem of live-stock transportation. Bread.—The Bible tells us that “bread strenetheneth man’s heart,’ and that “bread is the staff of life.’ From the third chapter of Genesis, where the word first occurs, it is used in the Scriptures more than a hundred times, mostly as a common term signifying food in general. It is not known when raised bread first came into use; but the fact that Mosrs, at the institution of the Passover supper, com- manded the Jews to abstain from Jeayened bread, and eat only unleavened, proves that they were accustomed to fermented or raised bread. History informs us that the Greeks were taught the art of bread-making long be- fore the Romans, who took from Macedonia Grecian bakers into Italy; and from Rome the art gradually found its way over considerable portions of Europe. How to Select Flowr.—First, look at the color; if it is white, with a slight yellowish or straw- colored tint, buy it. If it is very white, with a bluish east, or with white specks in it, refuse it. Second, examine its adhesiveness; wet and knead a little of it between your fingers; if it works soft and sticky, it is poor. Third, throw a little lump of dry flour against a dry, smooth, perpendicular surface; if it falls like powder it 41 641 is bad. Fourth, squeeze some of the flour be- tween your hands; if it retains the shape given by the pressure, that, too, is a good sign. Not so with that which has been adulterated ; its ad- hesive property is weak, and it falls to pieces immediately ; nor is its whiteness any evidence of its goodness, for the different materials used in its adulteration have a tendency to whiten it. Fifth, place a thimbleful of it in the palm of the hand, and rub it gently with the finger of the other hand; if it smoothes down under the finger, feeling silky and slippery, it is of infe- rior quality, though it may be of fancy brand, high-priced, and white as the virgin snow- drift. It has been either too low ground, or made from damaged wheat, or, perhaps, hav- ing an unusual percentage of gluten, murdered with dull burrs, and will never make good, light, wholesome bread; but if the flour rubs rough in the palm, feeling like fine sand, and has an orange tint, purchase confidentially. Flour that will stand all these tests, it is safe to buy. These modes are given by old flour deal- ers, and they pertain to a matter that concerns everybody—the staff of life. To Tnprove Poor Flour.—When families have the misfortune to get poor flour, which, when used for bread-making with yeast, will sour before it is ready for baking, the difficulty may sometimes be remedied by mixing a little finely- pulverized saleratus with the dry flour, and then add the yeast, and it will make sweet bread. Saleratus, however, is unwholesome— the less used the better. Graham Flour and Bran Bread.—If the whole product of wheat and corn, bran and all, were made into bread, fifteen per cent. more of nutri- ment would be added. Unfortunately the bran, the coarsest part, is generally thrown away; the very part which gives soundness to the teeth, and strength to the bones, and vigor to the brain. Five hundred pounds of fine flour give to the body thirty pounds of bony element; while the same quantity of bran gives one hun- dred and twenty-five pounds. This bone is lime—the phosphate of lime; the indispensa- ble element of health to the whole human body; from the want of the natural supply of which multitudes of persons go into a general decline. The reason why brown bread is considered more healthful and more nutritious than when made of superfine flour, is because the outer portion of the kernel of wheat contains the greatest proportion of oil and gluten; and this is the reason why bran possesses such fattening 642 qualities. The best fine flour contains about seventy pounds of starch to each hundred. The residue of one hundred pounds consists of ten or twelve pounds of gluten, six to eight pounds of sugar and gum, and ten to fourteen pounds of water, and a little oil. Lirezie says: “The separation of the bran from the flour by bolting, is a matter of luxury, and injurious rather than beneficial as regards the nutritive power of the bread.” It is only in more modern times that sifted flour has been. known and used, and the cus- tom has been followed by the poor, to imitate the luxury of the wealthy, at the expense of their own health. Certain it is, that where whole meal is used as bread, the population have better digestive organs than where it is not. It is gratifying to observe that all over our country, at the hotels, boarding-houses, res- taurants, on steamboats, and at the tables of the rich and poor, Graham, or brown bread is found, and is constanly growing in demand and esteem. When Graham flour can not be had conven- iently, an excellent substitute may be produced by mixing two-thirds common flour and one- third bran, unsifted. Corn Meal.—Indian meal may be much im- proved for cooking by being kiln-dried. This is easily done—spread it on a dripping-pan, and heat it in the oven. The peculiar proper- ties of Indian corn render it desirable for fre- quent use. Corn meal is conceded by all to be better for digestion and general health than fine flour, except for some invalids. Being capable of various forms of preparation, it has become a favorite with many good housewives, and should always be found in the store-room, Indian corn is indigenous to this continent. Old-country pebple do not have it, and on first being made acquainted with it at our tables, stare in astonishment at the rapid disappear- ance of delicious steaming ears of sweet-corn, huge slices of hot johnny-cake, and the tender delicate brown muffins of the tea-table. But they soon learn to like what is good, as well as ourselves. In the Southern dwelling of aristocracy, as in the humble negro hut, corn meal has always taken a conspicuous place at the family meal, and there it is, one will find it prepared in the greatest variety and perfection. A lady who was for three years a resident in a wealthy and genteel family in the far South, says she never THE KITCHEN AND DINING-ROOM: sat down at table without finding some dainty form of corn bread. Wheat bread also graced the board, but was not as much desired. Methods of Making.—Good bread is indeed the staft of life; it contains one-third more nourishment than butcher’s meat, though it is less stimulating, and less easily digested. The amount of injury done to the tender stomachs of young children, invalids and sedentary per- sons by eating bad bread day after day, from one year’s end to another, must be enormous. A cook who can not make good bread of every description, ought not to be allowed house- room for an hour; and that mother is erimi- nally negligent, whatever may be her position, who does not teach her daughter to know what good bread is, and how to make it. Alum is used to give whiteness, softness, and capacity for retaining moisture. Lime could be em- ployed with equal effect, having the advantage of correcting any sourness in the bread or stomach ; besides affording an important ingre- dient for making the bones strong. Every housekeeper ought to know how to make at least two or three kinds of good’ bread. Bad cooking produces the most unhealthful kinds of food, such especially as sour and heavy bread, cakes, pie-crust, and other dishes ecom- pounded of flour, fat, rancid butter, and high- seasoning generally. The starch, gluten, and saccharine matter, all properties of flour, act upon each other, in raising the dough. Carbonic acid gas, formed by the action of the yeast on these properties f the flour, is the air which puffs up or swells out the dough, and forms what is called raised bread. When the dough stands too long, the fermentation destroys the sugar, acts on the starch, and produces acid. As long as the fer- mentation is confined to acting upon the sac- charine matter, the other properties of the flour are uninjured; further fermentation must be arrested by the heat that bakes it into bread. If the fermentation acts upon the mucilage and starch, the acid must be neutralized by saleratus or soda. By this process we may have bread free from acidity, but in a short time the bread is apt to become dry and tasteless. Ii the dough becomes acid, the best and most suecess- ful way of adding the alkali is at the time of molding the dough into loaves, just sufficient to correct the acidity, Much care and judgment are required in applying this, or the bread will be clouded with yellowish spots, or assume a sickly appearance all oyer, The surest way se VE BREAD. is to dip the fingers into the solution and thrust them in every part of the dough as it is worked over. To make good bread, a great deal of pains should be taken, after selecting good flour and sweet yeast, in working up and kneading the dough. Itis not enough to stir the ingredients together, so as to get through the business as soon as possible; but it must be thoroughly worked together with the hands, that the yeast may penetrate"every particle of flour. The, second working, previous to"putting into pans, should be attended with still greater care; it should be kneaded until perfectly smooth and of a flaky appearance. No more flour than is, necessary to keep it from adhering to the board and hands should be used, else the bread will be too hard and dry. Soft water is preferable to make dough. Some persons prefer milk, or milk and water, though, with some, the animal taste produced by milk is objectionable. Poor bread often comes of poor yeast, which, by long, keeping, dampness, and other causes, lose some | of its properties, and fails to make a light, white, and sweet baking. Good Yeast—1. Take a large handful of | hops, tied up in a bag made of musketo net-| ting, and boil them in two quarts of water till | the strength is fully extracted. Grate into a} tin pan about eight common-sized potatoes, and | add a tea-cup of sugar, a spoonful each of table- | salt and ginger; and then pour the hop water on the whole, and place the pan on the stove to | boil about ten minutes; then add a pint of good | hop yeast; set it away till worked or nearly so, then put*it into a jug, and leave the cork out, the jug to be set ina pan to catch what may) work over; and, when done working, cork it up | and keep it in a cool place. A tea-cupful is sufficient for three good-sized loaves of bread. | Yeast made in this way will keep from four to six weeks. 2. Yeast for hot seasons, or warm climates, | may be made by boiling two ounces of best hops in four quarts of water for half an hour; | strain it, and let the liquor cool down to a new- milk warmth. Then put in asmall handful of salt and half a pound of brown sugar; beat up one pound of the best flour with some of the liquor, and mix all well together. The third day add three pounds of potatoes, pared, boiled, and finely mashed, and let it stand until the, next day; then strain, when it is ready for use. Stir frequently, and keep it near the fire while making, and then put it in a cool place, when it , 643 . will keep in good condition two or three months. Stir well before using. 3. Peach leaves, from their earliest appear- ance in the Spring till spoiled by the Autamn frosts, boiled up, make an excellent yeast decoe- tion, to be used each time as wanted; or the decoction may be thickened with Indian meal and dried for Winter use. Peach yeast pro- duces quick and beautiful rising, and those who once use it prefer it to hops. Yeast or Emptying Cakes.—1. Take half pound of hops, twelve peeled potatoes, boiled in two quarts of water with the hops; strain the water upon one quart of flour, mash the potatoes and add to the flour, and, when cold, add one tea spoonful of molasses, two table-spoonsful of salt, one of ginger, and one tea-cup of yeast (or five yeast cakes, dissolved in water); when it rises, stir in corn meal to make it stiff enough to roll out. Cut into cakes half an inch thick. 2. The Hungarians thus prepare yeast that keeps a whole year: Boil a quantity of wheaten bran and hops in water; the decoction is not long in fermenting, and, when this has taken place, throw in a sufficient portion of bran to form the whole into a thick paste, which work into balls and dry by a slow heat. When wanted for use they are brokén and boiling water is poured upon them. Having stood a proper time, the fluid is decanted and is in a fit state for leavening bread. Yeast Powders.—Take two pounds of pulver- ized cream of tartar, sift it through Swiss mus- lin; one pound of carbonate of soda, pulverized and sifted inthe same manner, to be well mixed with a poynd of twice-sified buckwheat flour. Use two heaping tea-spoonsfal to a quart of flour. Directions for Baking—The housewife who would bake her bread or biscuit without a dry, hard crust, can do so very readily. Just before placing her bread in the oven, she has only to rub its‘surface with butter or lard. This will |elose the pores, preventing the escape of the gas which is produced by the yeast, and the eseape of the steam which is produced by the moisture of the heated loaf. Bread thus baked, will be almost ecrustless. Indeed, so long as the moisture is confined, it will be difficult to burn the loaf to any great depth. The large vacui- ties in the bread will be less numerous, though, as a whole, it will be more porous, and there- fore lighter. Yeast bread, when two or three days old, becomes crumbly, and in appearance, though not necessarily in fact, dryer than when . 644 it was at first baked. This apparent dryness arises, not from a loss of moisture, but from a chemical change in the arrangement of the bread molecules. Put the bread into an oven, heated to a point slightly below boiling water, so that the moisture of the bread may not be turned into steam and escape, and its original softness will at once be restored. Wheat Bread.—1. For four large or five good sized loaves, proceed in this way: Scald one tea-cup of Indian meal, by pouring over it boil- ing water, and stirring it to keep it from being lumpy; when it is cool, grate in‘ four boiled potatoes, add three pints of tepid water, and stir in sufficient flour to make a soft batter, add a tea-cupful of home-made yeast, and set it to This is the sponge. When it is light, which will be in about six hours, or over night, put seven pounds of flour in a bread bowl (sifting it first), make a hole in the center, put in a table-spoonful of salt, pour in the sponge, add one quart of tepid water, and work it with the hands into the rest of the flour till you have rise. a soft dough, then knead it thoroughly, till in turning it over it does not adhere to the bread bowl. Let it rise again, and when light, it will have increased nearly three times the size when it was made. Now mold it lightly into loaves, put them in buttered pans, and set the pans in awarm place. As soon as the loaves rise a little, so as to begin to crack, put them in the oven. If they rise too much, the bread will be tasteless; if not enough it will not be sufficiently light. ‘Try whether bread is done by inserting a broom splint or wooden skewer; if withdrawn without any dough adhering, the bread is done. The heat of the oven can be judged by practice. 2. A writer in Hearth and Home says, bread should never be put to rising over night, as changes of atmosphere affect it, and must be carefully noted. Early in the morning, make up your bread with lukewarm water or milk, and good home-made or baker’s yeast—never brewer’s. Knead it well, and set it in rather a warm place to rise. No sponging before- hand—it is wholly unnecessary, and only an- other opportunity given to become sour. In four hours, if kept sufficiently warm, it will be light enough to put in pans; let it rise in them twenty minutes—no longer, for here the trouble generally lies—for it is allowed to rise, and rise, till it cracks and runs over. Put it into the oven as soon as it begins to rise in the pans. If the oven is so hot that the loaves become browned or crusted over the first half hour, they can not rise as they should. After the “THE KITCHEN AND DINING-ROOM. first half hour, increase the heat enough to give them a beautiful light brown. Good-sized loaves should be an hour in baking. 3. JAMES Rocage, long a celebrated bread- maker, of Baltimore, says: Take an earthen ~ vessel larger at the top than the bottom, and in it put one pint of milk-warm water, one and a half pounds of flour, and half a pint of malt yeast ; mix them well together, and set it away (in Winter it should be in a warm place), until it rises and falls again, which will be in from three to five hours (it may be set at night if wanted in the morning); then put two large spoonsful of salt into two quarts of water, and mix it well with the above rising; then put in about nine pounds of flour, and work your dough well, and set it by until it becomes light, Then make it out in loayes. The above will make four loaves. As some flour is dry and other runny, the above quantity, however, will be a guide. The person making bread will obserye that runny and new flour will require one-fourth more salt than old and dry flour. The water, also, should be tempered according to the weather, in Spring and Fall it should only be milk-warm ; in hot weather cold, and in Winter warm. 4, Prof. E. N. Hosrorp, in a recent lecture before the American Institute’s Farmers’ Club, on the “ Philosophy of the Oyen,” gave the fol- lowing recipe for making good bread: Take fresh ground wheat flour; boil thoroughly, with theig skins on, in.a quart of water, potatoes enough to make a quart of mashed potatoes ; peel the potatoes and mash and add a quart of flour, then let cool to eighty degrees. Add then one pint of brewer’s yeast and set aside to raise. Then add half a pint of water or milk to seven pounds, salt and knead thoroughly. This will make four small loayes; put them in tin pans larger than the loaves, cover them with tin or stiff paper, in an oven heated to 212°. When nearly done, remove the cover to allow the crust to brown. Sweet- Potato Bread.—Boil potatoes thoroughly done, peel them, and mash them up fine; add a suflicient quantity to your yeast and flour, make into dough and bake. This makes a most delicious bread, much superior to that nade of the common potato. The toast made from this bread is much softer, sweeter, and superior to that from bread made in the ordi- nary manner, Sweet-potato biscuit are excel- lent, but not so healthy as bread. , Buttermilk Bread.—The sponge—Take three pints of buttermilk (it does not matter how sour BREAD. it is), and put it in a sauce-pan to boil; take one pint of flour and put it into a bowl or jar, with half a tea-spoonful of salt. When the buttermilk is boiling, pour it over the flour, stirring quickly that the whole may be scalded. Let it stand until it is but milk-warm, andadd a half pint of yeast. This should be done over night. In the morning take flour sufficient for three large loaves, and upon this pour a pint of water nearly boiling hot, mix well; then add the sponge; knead thoroughly and mold into loaves, putting them into buttered pans to rise. In two hours they will be ready to bake. Milk-Rising Bread.—Take two cups of boil- ing water, two cups of new milk, and one tea- spoonful of saleratus—make a batter of it, and put it in atin pail to rise. Keep the water a little more than lukewarm. The cause of its turning acid is not being kept warm enough, and letting it stand too long. This will be found upon trial to be a capital article. Dr. Hall’s Bread.—Dr. HAtt, of the Journal of Health, recommends the following as the very best mode of making good, cheap, and health- ful bread: To two quarts of Indian-corn meal, add one pint of bread sponge, water sufficient to wet the whole; add one half pint of flour, and a tea-spoonful of salt. Let it rise, then knead well—unsparingly—and for the second time. Place the dough in the oven, and let it bake an hour and a half. Pumpkin Loaf—Take a good flayored pump- kin, or Hubbard squash, cut it up fine, and stew it down with a little water until it becomes yery rich and consistent; mix rather less white corn meal, with sufficient sweet milk to make a consistent dough ; make it up in dodgers three- fourths inch thick, and bake in a hot ovén. Eaten with good butter and milk, nothing is more palatable. To Make Old Bread New.—If the loaves are a week old, steep for half a minute in cold water. Then put the loaf in the tin it was first baked in, taking care to take it out of the oven when nicely heated through. Or, if dry or sour bread is cut into small pieces, and put in a pan and set in a very mod- erately warm oven until of a light brown, and hard and dry in the center, it can be kept for weeks, Whenever you wish to use a portion of them for puddings or griddle-cakes, soak them soft in cold water or milk, If the bread is sour, use sufficient saleratus or soda to destroy the acidity of it in making the pudding or cakes. With proper care, there need be no waste of even poor bread. 645 Unfermented Bread.—1. No kneading is neces- sary nor time required for the dough to rise; and it has, moreover, the merit of keeping much longer than raised bread without becom- ing sour or moldy. Common bread, in weak stomachs, is very liable to turn sour, producing heartburn and flatulency, and to aggravate cases of dyspepsia; but, when manufactured by this improved process, it is altogether free from these baneful effects. Its daily use in health prevents these symptoms, and in many cases it corrects that morbid condition of the stomach and intestines on which these symp- toms depend. It is useful in assisting to restore the biliary, and especially the renal secretions to a healthy condition, as well as in the treat- ment of various cutaneous eruptions originating in disorder of the digestive functions. In the Pharmaceutical Journal, several excel- lent recipes are given for the manufacture of unfermented bread, from which we select the two following, which we deem the most simple and best. The first is by Dr. Smrru, of Leeds: Five pounds of flour, one-half ounce (apothe- cary’s weight) of sesquicarbonate of soda, one- half dram sesquicarbonate of ammonia, four drams or tea-spoonsful of common salt. Mix these intimately together, and then add the fol- lowing solution: Fifty ounces or two and a half pints of clean cold water, five drams of hydro- chlorie acid. Then follows the recipe of Mr. H. DEANE: Take four pounds of flour, one-half ounce (ay- oirdupoise weight) of bicarbonate of soda, four and a half fluid drams of hydrochloric acid, one-quarter ounce of common salt, forty fluid ounces or two pints of pure cold water. Mix the soda perfectly with the flour, and the acid with the water, then the whole intimately and speedily together, using a flat piece of wood for the purpose. It may then be made into two loaves, and put into a quick oven immediately. It will only require about one and a half hours to bake. In this kind of bread kneading will prove injurious, by making the mass too heavy, as the dough must not be too stiff: 2. Dr. R. T. TRALL, in his “‘ Gospel of Health,” gives the following still more simple mode of making unfermented bread, without the soda, ammonia, and acid, which are objectionable to dyspeptic stomachs: “ Mix unbolted meal of any grain preferred, or a mixture of two or more kinds, in any proportions which may be preferred, with pure water, either cold or hot. Tf cold water is used, the meal and water should 646 be mixed to the consistency of thick batter; then beaten or stirred a little with a spoon or ladle to incorporate more atmospheric air, after which more meal is to be added, until the mass becomes as stiffa dough as can well be kneaded. Knead the dough for a few minutes, (and the more the dough is kneaded, the more brittle and tender the bread will be), cut into pieces or cakes half an inch or more in thick- ness, and about two inches in diameter, and bake in a quick oyen as hot as possible, without burning the crust, which must be carefully guarded against. It is better to moderate the heat of the oven a little after three or five min- utes. If hot water is used, it should be boiling hot, and the meal and water stirred together very quickly with a strong spoon—the dough not quite as stiff as for ordinary loaf bread made of fine flour. It is then to be cut into pieces or cakes, and baked as above. Either form of bread may be made into larger or smaller cakes, or into loaves of any convenient size to bake, and baked ina gas, wood, coal, or kerosene stove, or in an oven; and the crust must be rendered as soft and tender as may be desired, by enveloping the cakes or loayes a short time in wet cloths, immediately on being taken from the oven. The small cakes, when made with hot water, will soon become tender, by being kept in a covered earthen crock, as even the toothless may desire; or they may be rendered as hard and solid as the soundest teeth can require, by leaving them uncovered in a dry place.” Meal of corn or wheat stirred up according to the foregoing directions, with the addition of three or four eggs, and then cooked with steam, instead of baking, and eaten with some kind of sauce, is simple, wholesome, and yery pleasing to the palate, and good for a change.” 3. Gems.—Stir together Graham flour and cold water to about the consistency of ordinary cup-cake batter. Bake in a hot oven in small tin patty-pans, two inches square and three- fourths of an inch deep. This makes delicious bread. It may be im- proved by beating the batter in the same man- ner as eggs are beaten, for five, ten, or fifteen minutes; the longer the better, No definite rule as to the proportions of flour and water can be given, owing to the difference in the ab- sorbing power of various brands of flour. Many persons have failed of success in mak- ing this bread from neglecting one very essen- tial requisite—the size of the pans in which it is baked. If they are larger than the dimen- THE KITCHEN AND DINING-ROOM: sions given, the bread will be heavy. If small- er, it will be dry and hard. But made this size, and filled evenly full, if the batter is of the right consistency, and the oven very hot, they will rise one-half, and be almost as light and porous as sponge-cake. 4. Diamonds.—Pour boiling water on Grahara flour—stirring rapidly till all the flour is wet. Too much stirring makes it tough. It should be about as thick as ean be stirred easily with a strong iron spoon. Place the dough with plenty of flour upon the molding board, and knead it for two or three minutes. Roll out one-half an ineh thick, and cut in small cakes If a large quantity is required, roll about three-fourths of an inch thick, and eut with a knife in diamond shape. Bake in a very hot oven forty-five minutes. Graham or Coarse Wheat Bread.—Two-thirds unbolted wheat flour, one-third corn meal, a little molasses; mix with warm water. One large cup of potato yeast will make two good- sized loaves. Mix and let it rise over niglit, and your bread will be ready to mold and put in your pans before breakfast. Do not let it rise too long the second time—mueh bread is thus spoiled. Brown Bread.—Two cups of Indian meal, one of Graham flour, two cups of sour milk, one of sweet, one small tea-spoonful of soda, one of salt, and two table-spoonsful of molasses or sugar. Place it in a tin pail or steamer well closed, which set in a kettle of boiling water. Steam three hours; some steam five hours. This may be varied; some prefer it made of Indian meal, without flour. Where milk is not at hand, sour batter will answer the purpose. Boston Brown Bread.—One heaping quart of rye flour, one quart of Indian meal, one quart of Graham flour, scanty quart of milk, same quantity of warm water, coffee-cup of molasses, one penny’s worth of baker’s yeast, or one cof- fee-cup home-made yeast, tea-spoon of salera- tus, dessert-spoon of salt. Grease an iron kettle, put in the mixture, and place immediately in a slow oven. Bake six or seven hours. Buckeye Brown Bread.—Take a pint of new milk, warm from the cow, add a tea-spoonful of salt, and stir in fine Indian meal until it be- or rolls. comes a thick batter; add a gill of fresh yeast, - and put in a warm place to rise; when it is very light, stir into the batter three beaten eggs, adding wheat flour until it has become of the consistency of dough; knead it thor- oughly, and set it by the fire until it begins to rise; then make it up into small loaves or te BREAD. cakes, cover them with a thick napkin, and let | them stand until they rise again; then bake in | a quick oven. Buttermilk Brown Bread.—Buttermilk, the day it is churned, four tea-cups; soda, one tea- spoonful; stir together, and pour in sufficient brown flour to make a Gough as stiff as can be stirred and laid flat in a pan with a spoon; one large table-spoontul of sugar in flour before ’ the milk. Bake in deep pan, well buttered, in cool oven, two hours; best when cold. Corn bread made in this way is very nice. Corn and Bran Bread.—Two quarts of corn meal, two quarts shorts or bran, one tea-cup | Stew a squash molasses, one tea-spoon of salt. or pumpkin in water enough to wet’ this mass; mash fine and pour it boiling hot over the meal. Stir it well, and when cool enough add a pint of yeast, and two quarts wheat flour. This will make four loaves; when light, bake three hours. Wheaten Grits Biseuit or Thin Bread.—Mix with yeast and water into a thin dough; let it stand a few hours till light; spread about an inch thick or less into pans, and bake well; to be eaten while fresh. Rye and Oat-Meal Bread.—Rye is seldom made into bread except as mixed with wheat flour or corn meal. Unbolted rye or oat meal, or both together, stirred into cold water, and made into rather soft dough, kneaded for five or ten minutes, and baked in a hot oven from thirty to forty-five minutes, makes excellent and wholesome bread for those who like the peculiar flavor of those grains. Rye and Indian Bread.—For a good, thick loaf, take one pint rye flour to three pints of corn meal, one-half tea-cup molasses, or brown sugar, scald with boiling water—be sure to stir in water enough to thoroughly seald it—cover it up and let it stand till cool, then reduce with cold, sweet milk until thin enough to pour into your pan; bake all day, let it stand in the oven all night, and in the morning you will have the best loaf of bread you ever tasted. If your crust is too hard to eat, remove it, soak in water, and add to your next loaf. It will be richer than the first. Corn Bread.—1. For plain corn bread, six pints of meal, one table-spoonful of salt, four pints water; thoroughly mixed with the hand, and baked in oblong rolls about two inches thick. Use as much dough for each roll as can be conveniently shaped in the hand. Many persons use hot water; in Winter it is certainly best. The bread is better to be made half an! 647 The oven must be tolerably hot when the dough is put in. All kinds of corn bread require a hotter oven, and to be baked quicker, than flour. 2. Take half a pint, good measure, of white Indian meal, which should be rather coarsely ground, Mix it thoroughly in a large bowl with one pint of fresh milk, and don’t imagine, be- cause it seems so thin, that a mistake has been hour or more before it is baked. made in the directions, but do as you are bid. Put in what salt is necessary, and into the batter break one fresh egg, and with a kitchen fork beat the whole together quickly and _thor- Have your oyen pretty hot, but not Into a splayed-sided round tin pan, oughly. scorching. of say four inches in diameter at the bottom, and two and a half to three inches deep, pour your batter (which will about half fill the pan), and put it into the oven instantly. It ought to bake, if the heat is properly regulated, in about half an hour, It must be perfectly done to be good. Don’t be discouraged with the first attempt; it requires some practice to hit it precisely, but when this is done, it is “good enough to make a man hit his father.” It is to be eaten hot, before the upper crust falls. In making this bread, remember that no sal- eratus, soda, or yeast, of any kind, is to be used. Astor-House Corn Bread.—One quart of but- termilk, two eggs, two ounces butter, one-fourth ounce saleratus, and stir in meal till the mix- ture is about as thick as buckwheat batter. Bake in square tin pans an inch thick, half an hour, in a hot oven. Steamed Corn Bread. —Pour boiling water over two quarts of Indian meal, enough to just wet it; when cooled a little, add one pint of sour milk, half a cup of molasses, one tea- spoonful of ‘soda, one pint of Graham flour, and salt to suit the taste. Mix well; put the mixture into a two quart basin, after it has been covered, steam it three or four hours. This bread can be warmed very soon by replac- ing it in the steamer for ten or fifteen: minutes. If preferred, a half pint of sweet milk and a half pint of yeast can be used instead of the sour milk and soda. Water-Cure Corn Bread.—For making Indian cake, bread, mush, or pudding, the fine meal should never be used. It will not cook as lightly, nor be as sweet or palatable. What is called coarse meal should always be selected; and it should always, if possible, be fresh - ground. -This may be wet up with warm water, sweetened moderately or not, according to taste, 648 and raised with sour milk and supercarbonate of soda. It must be well baked. Unleavened Corn Bread.—Stir thoroughly to- gether one quart sweet milk and one quart corn meal—which is much improved by faithful beating—and a little salt. These proportions, owing to the difference in corn meal, will not hold good in all cases; a little practice and observation will set the matter right. This unleavened corn bread, upon fair trial, will be found to be more palatable, nutritious, whole- some, and economical than raised bread, and can be made much more expeditiously. Hoe-Cake and Corn-Dodger.—The hoe-cake is nicest baked before the coals—that is, a la mode. It is simply a mixture of salt, meal, and water, made thick, and can be baked in a frying pan. The dodger is the same, only thinner, and fried brown in a skillet or spider. The knack is to turn smoothly. If the meal is good, one gets in these mixtures a peculiar flavor and sweetness not discernible with the addition of other com- pounds, Johnny-Cake.—1. Seald coarsely-cround yel- low corn meal, stir in an even table-spoonful of salt, and two spoonsful of any cooking fat to each pound of meal. Make the batter so stiff that it will lift heaping on a spoon. Have a dripping pan as hot as it can be handled, and well greased. Lay in the batter an inch thick, and bake in a quick oven till the crust is a rather dark, rich brown. 2. One cup sweet milk, one cup buttermilk or sour milk, half cup molasses, one cup flour, two cups meal, one tea-spoonful of salt, one tea-spoonful of saleratus, one tea-spoonful of caraway-seed, mix them all together, and bake quick in a hot oven, twenty minutes, or longer if necessary. Wedding Johnny-Cale.—One pint sour cream, the same of sweet milk, half a cup butter, three eggs, table-spoonful of salt, same of soda, one quart of meal, one pint of flour, one pint of raisins, half pint of citron. This makes a very large cake, and is delicious; and if one does not marry more than once in a life-time he can well afford to make it. Rye and Indian Johnny-Cake.—Two cups each of rye flour and Indian meal, a small tea-spoon- ful of saleratus, a little salt, with sufficient sour milk to make a stiff batter. Bake in cakes on a griddle; split open and butter them, and send to the table hot. ’ Biscuits, etc.—Under ims general head we shall give directions for making the various THE KITCHEN AND DINING. ROOM: kinds of warm table bread, known as biscuit, rolls, buns, rusks, muffins, short-cakes, crullers, crumpets, lunns, puffs and pop-overs. Good Biscwit—Two tea-spoonsful cream of tar- tar, one table-spoonful soda, half table-spoonful of salt, rubbed fine, and well mixed with one quart of flour. Rub iri a piece of butter the size of an egg, mix up soft with thick sour milk or buttermilk, and bake quickly. f Soda Biscuit—One quart of sifted flour, a lit- tle salt, a table-spoonful of butter, well rubbed through the flour, two small tea-spoonsfal of cream of tartar, sprinkled through the flour dry, one tea-spoonful of soda, dissolved in hot milk or water, and as inuch milk as will make it a soft dough. Knead it upon the pasteboard for five minutes, cut them out, and bake in a quick oven. Fancy Bisewit.—Reduce one pound of blanched almonds to powder, and moisten with orange- flower water until you have a smooth paste; add a little fine flour and mix well, and then place in a pan over a slow fire; stir the mass constantly to prevent burning, until it becomes hard enough not to stick to the fingers; then mold it into various sorts of fancy shapes. Now make an icing of various colors and dip your forms to suit color and taste, and set them upon a clean sieve to dry. You may make them still more fanciful, by strewing over them different colored pistachio nuts. To be served with nuts and cakes, at evening parties, or any other extraordinary occasion. Cream Biscuit.—Break six eggs, separate the yolks and whites, beat the former with six ounces of powdered sugar, and the same of flour; whisk the whites, and then mix them together; add to it whipped cream in proportion to the sugar and flour, stir it carefully; pour this into molds or paper cases, and bake. Sugar Biscuit—Three pounds of flour, three quarters of a pound of butter, one pound of sugar, one quart of sponge. Rub the flour, butter, and sugar together, then add the sponge with as much milk as will soften the dough. Knead well and replace it in the pan to rise. This must be done in the afternoon; next morn- ing knead lightly, make it into small cakes, about the size of a silver dollar, and half an inch in thickness; place them on slightly but- tered pans one inch apart each way, set them in a warm elevated place to rise; when done wash them over with a little water, not haying the brush too wet, and let them remain in the tins until cool. Egg Biscuit.—Beat separately the whites and BISCUITS—ROLLS. yolks of twelve eggs; mix, and add one anda half pounds of powdered white sugar; whisk all into bubbles; add one pound of flour and the grated rinds of two lemons, Fill buttered tin molds; grate sugar on top; bake one hour in a quick oven. Squash Biscuit—One tea-cupful of strained squash, two table-spoonsful of sugar, one table- spoonful of melted butter, a little salt, one tea- spoonful of soda, one cup of sour milk; flour to roll ont. Serve hot for tea. French Tea Biseuit—Two pounds of flour, two one egg, half ounces butter, half a pint of milk, a cup of sugar, and one cup of yeast. Graham Biseuit—1. Take a quart of Graham or unbolted flour, and mix it to the consistency of drop-cake with buttermilk or sour milk, an even tea-spoonful of butter, a tea-spoonful of soda, and drop the mixture on a shallow pan; bake in a quick oven fifteen or twenty minutes. 2. Make Graham mush as for the table. When cool, mix with it Graham flour sufficient to roll well. Knead for a few minutes, roll three-fourths of an inet thick, cut with a com- mon biscuit cutter, and bake in a hotoven from thirty to forty-five minutes. 3. Stir into cold water, Graham flour enough for a rather soft dough; knead it for five or ten minutes, and bake. When these have become a little dry or hard, ent in small pieces, cover with cold water, soak till thoroughly soft, when the water should be all absorbed. Strain through a colander, mix Graham flour sufficient to roll and bake in the same form as at first. This is even superior to the original bread. Rye Biscuit—One eup of wheat flotr, two cups of rye flour, four table-spoonsful of mo- lasses, half a tea-spoonful of saleratus dissolved in the molasses, two tea-spoonsful of yeast- powder, put into the rye and wheat flour a little salt; mix with milk; set through the night, and it is ready to bake in the morning. Elegant Breakfast Rolls—Take one pint sweet milk; two pints of flour; two table-spoonsful of butter; four table-spoonsful of yeast, and | half a tea-spoonful of saleratus. Beat thor- oughly, and let it rise all night. Pour into shallow pans, and bake about half an hour. French Rolls —Add two ounces of butter and a littlesalt toa pint of milk; while tepid, sift in one pound of flour, one beaten egg, one table spoonful of yeast—beat these well to- gether; when risen, form the rolls with as little handling as possible, and bake on tins. Flannel Rolls—One cup sweet milk; whites 649 of two eges, two-thirds cup butter, flour to make a thick batter, half cup yeast, and two table-spoonsful sugar. Raise over night, add- ing the eggs and butter in the morning. Potato Rolls.—Boil two pounds potatoes, pass through a colander, or mash them well; add two ounces butter and a pint of milk, a little salt, one gill yeast, and as much flour as will make a soft dough; set them to rise. When light, cut them in cakes; let them rise one hour, and bake. Sweet potatoes make beauti- ful biscuits mixed as above. Corn Rolls.—Take a quart of meal, a spoon- ful of lard, and two spoonsful of yeast; mix with warm water until the dough is quite soft. Sef it in a warm place at night to rise, and bake it in a pan or in cakes in an oven for breakfast. Banbury Buns —Prepare some dough with two table-spoonsful of thick yeast, a gill of warm milk, and one pound of flour. Let it work a little, and mix with it one-half pound of currants washed and picked, the same weight of candied orange and lemon-peel, cut small; one-quarter ounce of allspice, and the same of ginger and nutmeg; mix all together with one-half pound of honey. Put it into puff paste cut in an oval form; cover it with the same, and sift sugar over the top. Pake these cakes for a quarter of an hour in a moderate oven, Philadelphia Buns.—One pint of milk, one cup of butter, one pint of yeast, three cups of sugar, one egg, make a soft dough at night. Early in the morning add not quite a tea- spoonful of soda and two tea-spoonsful of am- monia. Now put in a little more of flour, mold it well, and return it .to rise. When light, make into cakes, and Jet them stand half an hour, or till light enough, then bake them. Vea Table Buns.—“ Buns that are buns” may be made as follows: One pound of flour, three lemon rinds grated fine, half a pound of butter, melted in a coffee-cup, a tea-spoonful of yeast, three eggs well beaten, half a pound of finely- powdered white sugar. Mix and work it well; let it stand until raised, and then make out three dozen buns; bake and eat, when you will say they are good. Rusk.—1. Beat together two cups sugar and two eggs; heat a pint of new milk with a small piece each of butter and lard; pour it boiling hot over the eggs and sugar; half a nutmeg; add flour enough to stiffen it; raise with yeast or bread sponge; bake as other rusk. 2. One pint of milk, one tea-cupful of but- ter, one cup of sugar, one cup of yeast; mix 650 stiff, and set in a warm place to rise for three hours. 3. One quart of sweet milk, lukewarm ; cup of melted butter, one cup of sugar, one cup of yeast, nine eggs; set to rise until quite light, then knead them down with sufficient flour to make a lof; then set to rise again; when raised until quite light, make out in small rolls; let them stand until again light, then bake fifteen minutes in a quick oven. Dried Rusk.—Take sugar biscuits which have been baked the day previous, cut them in half between the upper and under crusts, with a sharp knife. Place them on tins, and soon after the fire has ignited, put them in the oven, and as the heat increases, they become grifdu- ally dried through. When light brown, they are done. These are universally liked by the sick. Mufins.—1. To two and a half cups of flour, one pint of milk, two table-spoonfuls of melted butter, the yolks and whites separately, and putting in the white portion just before placing the muf- fins in the oven. 2. Take one egg well beaten, a piece of butter an inch square, one cup of milk, one table- spoonful of soda, and two of cream of tartar; stir in flour till it is a stiff batter; pour it into rings, or into a flat pan cut into squares, ‘8. One quart of milk made a little warm, four or five eggs, a piece of butter the size of an egg, yeast and flour; to be set at night for the next afternoon, if your yeast will not rise quick; if your yeast rises soon, set in the morn- ing—bake in rings on the griddle. Water- Cure Mufjins for Tea.—Take one pint of morning’s milk and cream from a two-quart basin, two eggs; thickening with superfine flour, Graliam, or corn meal, to the consistency of griddle cakes; give the whole a good beating, and bake in iron muffin pans, placed upon the stove and heated quite hot, previously to put- ting in the batter; then bake in a brisk oven fifteen minutes. Not good in tin. For Plainer Ones.—One pint of water, one egy, unbolted flour; same consistency; give them a good beating to introduce the air, which insures lightness. Corn Muffins. —One quart of Indian meal, one quart of sweet milk, one table-spoonful of butter, one of molasses, and a littie salt; a ‘tea-cup of home-brewed yeast, though more will not hurt it, Let it rise not less than four or five hours, if for tea; but set at bedtime, if for breakfast. Bake in greased rings in the oven instead of on a gridle, as many do. one and a little salt, and two eggs, beating THE KITCHEN AND DINING-ROOM: Or, one pint of fine Indian meal, one of wheat flour, four eggs, one gill of yeast, a little salt, as much warm milk as will make the whole into a thick batter. Mix the Indian and wheat flour together, stir in the milk, then the yeast, and lastly the eggs, after they have been well beaten. When the batter is light, grease the griddle and muflin rings; piace the rings on the griddle; pour in the batter, but do not fill them; bake them brown on both sides, and serve them hot. If for breakfast, set to rise the night previous; if for tea, about two o’elock. Mush Mufins—Make mush as you ordinarily do, and when cold, thin it with one quart of milk, and stir in a few handfuls of wheat flour, seven eggs, and butter the size of an egg, also some salt. Bake in rings. Rye Drop-Cakes.—Rye drop-cakes are an ex- cellent and healthy bread for breakfast. Here is a simple rule: Beat three eggs very light, add one quart of milk, a large pinch of salt, stir in a handful of flour; then rye till the mix- ture is stiff enough to hold up the spoon; pour it into a French roll pan, or into muffin rings, and bake fifteen minutes. Little Short-Cakes.—Rub into a pound of dried flour four ounces of butter, four ounces of white powdered sugar, one egg, and a spoonful or two of thin cream to make into a paste. When mixed, put currants into one-half, and caraways into the rest. Cut them as before, and bake on tins. Delicious Breakfast-Cake.—One quart of sweet milk, two eggs, a small tea-spoonful of salt, and one pint of sitted corn meal. No more nor less. Bake forty minntes in a quick oven. It will take an hour if baked in a slow oven. Strawberry Short-Cake—Into three pints of flour, rab dry two tea-spoons heaping full of cream of tartar; add half a cup of butter, a little salt, one tea-spoon of soda dissolved in a pint of milk ard water. Mix quickly and thor- oughly, roll to an inch in thickness, and bake twenty minutes in a quick oven. Take a quart of strawberries, and add cream and sugar to make a sauce. For this purpose, small sized, rather acid berries, with sprightly flavor are preferable. When the short-cake is done, di- vide it in three layers, butter them, and spread the strawberries between. Eat while warm. Or, make nice biseuit dough, roll it out large or aoa to suit the size of your family. Bake in a quick oven, then split it open, butter, and spread thick with strawberries and sugar, and put on the upper crust. Have sweet cream in a pitcher for those who like it. Raspberry Short-Cake.— Make in the same way as for a strawberry-cake, only cooking the berries a little while with sugar, before spread- ing them on the cake. This is delicious, and more healthful than pie. Potato-Cakes.— Take two pounds of very mealy boiled potatoes, mash them very fine| with a little salt, mix them with two pounds of flour, and milk enough to make this into dough, | beating it up with a spoon and put in a little yeast. Set it before the fire to rise, and when) it has risen divide it into cakes the size of a muffin, and bake them. These cakes may be cut open and buttered hot. Oaten Bunnocks.—Oaten bunnocks are’ made by mixing the meal with water and a little salt, | and baking in little patty-pans about twenty minutes, or they may be baked on a griddle. Oat Meal-Cake-—Wet meal with water. Cut | in small shapes, with a cooked raisin in the middle. Bake in the oven. Crullers.—Four heaping, large spoonsful of sugar, four of melted butter, two or three eggs, one cup of sour milk, one even tea-spoontul of soda, with a little salt and spice to your taste, and as much flour as needed to mix up soft, and bake. BISCUITS—-CRACKERS. | . ° as that will make it tough. 651. Add to the yolks half the milk and half the flour, stir it well until the batter is smooth, then add the remainder of the flour and milk. Warm the butter and stir in, and beat the bat- ter thus made till it is light and full of bubbles. Stir in the saleratus, and lastly the whites—but do not beat it after the whites have been added, Butter tea-cups or an earthen mold, pour in the batter, and bake it in a moderate oven. Serve with butter and sugar, or any kind of sauce which may be pre- ferred. They require from half an hour to three-quarters to bake. Indian Puffs—Into one quart boiling milk stir eight spoonsful of Indian meal, and four spoons{ul of sugar. Boil five minutes, stirring constantly ; when cool add six well-beaten eggs. Bake in buttered cups half an hour. Pop-Overs. —Four eggs, four cups each of milk and flour, melted butter the size of two nutmegs, and a little salt. Bake in small tins, and eat with sauce, Water Cure Wheat-Meal Crisps—Make a very stiff dough of Graham flour and cold water; knead thoroughly, roll as thin as possible and bake for twenty minutes in a hot oven. Crackers.—1. One quart of flour, with two Crumpets.—Make two pounds of flour into a dough with some warm milk and water, adding | a little salt, three eggs well beaten, and three table-spoonsful of yeast; mix well and add | sufficient warm milk to reduce to the consist- | eney of thick batter. Place it before the fire to | rise, and bake in rings on the top of the stove. | Sally Lunn Tea-Bread.—Take a stone pot, | pour in one pint bowl of sweet milk, half a tea-cup of baker’s or other yeast, one quarter of a pound of melted butter, a little salt, and three beaten eggs. Mix in about three pint. bowls of flour. or other tin pans, in which it should again rise up before being shoved into the oven, to be “brought out” and presented to your friends as the beauty and belle of the evening. Or, two eggs, one cup of milk, one cup of sugar, three of flour, butter the size of an egg, three tea-spoonsful cream of tartar, and one and a half tea-spoonsful of soda, Bake in little round tins, and eat hot for tea. German Puffs.—One pint of milk, three eggs, one pound of flour, one dessert-spoonful of dis- solved saleratus, a tea-spoonful of butter, a salt- Let it stand several hours, or | . . . . . | until quite light; then put it into Turk heads ounces of butter rubbed in; one tea-spoonful of saleratus in a wine-glass of warm water; half a tea-spoonful of salt, and milk enough to rub it out. Beat half an hour with a pestle, cut it into thin round cakes, prick them, and set them in the oven when other things are taken out. Let them bake till crisp. 2. One pint of water, one tea-cup of butter, one tea-spoonful of soda, two of cream of tartar, flour enough to make as stiff as biscuit. Let them stand in the oven until dried through. They do not need pounding. Plain Crispy Crackers——Make a pound of flour, the yolk of an egg, and some milk, into a very stiff paste; beat it well and knead till quite smooth; roll very thin, and cut into bis- cuits. Bake them in a slow oven till quite dry and erisp. Hard Crackers—Warm two ounces of butter in as much skimmed milk as will make a pound of flour into a very stiff paste; beat it with a rolling-pin, and work it very smooth. Roll it thin, and eut it into round biscuits; prick them full of holes with a fork. About six minutes will bake them. Tea Crackers.—Three tea-cupsful of flour, one spoon of salt. Beat the yolks and the whites of the eggs separately. The yolks must be as thick as batter, and the whites perfectly dry. of lard, one of water, a large tea-spoonful of salt; mix all together, put it on the pie-board ‘and work it well, adding flour until stiff, short, 652 TUE KITCHEN AND DINING-ROOM: and perfectly smooth. Roll out as thin as a|with as much flour as will make a thin batter. knile-blade, prick it with a fork, and bake well but not brown. Soda Crackers.—Take flour, two quarts; but- ter, one cup; water, one pint; cream of tartar, three tea-spoonsful; soda, one and a half tea- Mix the cream of tartar thoroughly with the flour, then rub in the butter, and add the water and soda together. Knead about Roll out a little more than the eighth of an inch thick, eut in Bake ina spoonsful. the same as pastry for pies. squares, and prick them all over. hot oven about twenty minutes, or until dry. Wash the oven bottom clean, and put the crack- ers on it, for they will not bake well on tins. Sweet Crackers. — One tea-cupful of coarse | wheat meal, one of sour milk or buttermilk, three-fourths of a tea-cup of sugar, half a tea- spoonful of pearlash; made hard, rolled thin, and well baked. Graham Crackers.—Mix cold water and Gra- ham flour together, a little salt, and knead very thoroughly—their good ‘quality depending al- most entirely upon the thoroughness of knead- ing or pounding. Batter Cakes—The griddle may be pre- pared for baking cakes without the use of grease. Cut a turnip in two parts and pass one over the warm griddle. It answers the purpose of grease, without its disagreeable smell. A soap- stone griddle may be rubbed before every batter of cakes with a salted rag. Pan-Cakes.—Put in a basin, one-fourth pound of sifted flour, one egg, one-fourth gill of milk; stir to a smooth paste; then add one gill and three-fourths of milk, two ounces of fresh but- ter melted, and a small pinch of salt; mix well, and if lumpy, strain this batter. Put a small piece of butter in a pan-cake pan; when melted, pour in two table-spoonsful of the batter, spread it so as to cover the pan entirely; fry till col- ored on one side, then toss it over and cook the other side, and turn the pan-cake out on a dish. When all the batter is cooked in this way, sprinkle the pan-cakes with sugar, and serve on a yery hot dish, with a cut lemon, Pan- cakes should be eaten as soon as fried. New England Pan-Cakes.—Mix a pint of milk, five spoonsful of fine flour, seven yolks and four whites of eggs, and a very little salt; fry them very thin in fresh butter, and between each strew sugar and cinnamon, = Buttermilk-Cakes.—Two cups of buttermilk or sour milk, one cup of sugar, one piece of butter the size of a walnut, a tea-spoonful of saleratus, Spice to your taste, and bake. Bread Griddle-Cakes.—P lace dry bits of bread in a tin pan with sweet milk; place it on the |stove and let it soak until very solt; strain ‘through a colander, add three or four beaten eges to each quart of the soaked bread, and a little sour milk, salt, and soda; thicken with flour sufficient to bake on a griddle. Bring them to the table while hot, and serve with butter and sugar or molasses. It is a very eco- nomical way of saving the dry pieces of bread, Soda Griddle-Cakes—One pint of milk, two tea-spoonsful of cream of tartar, one tea-spoon- ful of soda; flour to make a thin batter. Fry on a griddle. Strawberry or Huckleberry Gridd!e-Cakes.—Stir an even tea-spoonful of soda into two quarts of sweet milk, one tea-spoontul of salt, one pint of ripe berries, with flour to make a thick batter; bake on a griddle as other cakes. otato Grriddle-Cakes.—One quart of milk, six |eold boiled Irish or sweet potatoes grated, two eggs, and flour sufficient to make a batter. Rice Griddle-Cakes.-—Stir a pint of soft-boiled rice into a pint of milk, with two well-beaten eggs; mix with corn meal or wheat flour till stiff enough to fry. By adding another egg, and sufficient flour, the mixture can be rolled out, cut into cakes, and baked. Rice Patties—Mix the rice which may be left from dinner with a little egg and flour, make into patties with the hand, dip them into a beaten egg, and roll them till thoroughly coated in Indian meal, and fry in the skillet. They make an excellent change for the breakfast table; or a nice dessert, served with sauce, or cream and sugar. Rye Batter-Cakes.—Six heaping table-spoons- ful of rye and six of Indian meal, three of flour, with two tea-spoonsful of cream of tartar, mix well, then add two table-spoonsful of molasses, a tea-spoontul of ‘salt, and a tea-spoonful of soda in a scant pint of water; stir well, and if this quantity of water does not thin the batter sufficiently, add a little more. They are very nice made of sour or buttermilk instead of cream of tartar and water. They should be about as thick as the batter for pan-cakes. Grease the griddle well to prevent them from adhering, and fry to a nice brown, Very nice for break- fast or supper, and may be eaten with butter or syrup. ’ Corn Meal Griddle-Cakes.—Take, at night, one quart of Indian meal, about half seald it with boiling water, then cool it with cold water so BATTER CAKES. as not to kill the brewer’s yeast, one tea-spoon- ful of which is stirred in, with a teaspoonful of wheat flour, and a tea-spoonful of salt. Suffi- cient water must be put in to make a thick bat- ter, and left to rise till morning; then add saleratus enough to sweeten the mass. Two or three eges beaten and stirred in is an improve- ment. Then bake on a hot griddle, and you have breakfast cakes fit for a queen. Mush-Cakes.—Beat the yolks of six eggs very light, add onegpint of milk, two pints of mush almost cold, one and a half pints of flour, one tea-spoontul of salt, three table-spoonfuls of melted butter. To be well beaten together. Just before frying them, whip the whites to a strong froth, and stir it lightly into the batter. One spoonful in each cake. Do not let them touch in baking. Hominy-Cake.—Mix with hominy an equal amount of wheat flour until perfectly smooth ; add a tea-spoonful of salt, and thin off with buttermilk into a pan in which a tea-spoonful of soda has been dissolved; when of the con- sistency of griddle-cakes, add a dessert-spoon- ful of melted butter, and bake brown on the griddle. With maple syrup, or sugar and cream, they are delicious; and the absence of eges will not be missed. Buckwheat-Cakes.—A lady of culture, refine- ment, and unusual powers of observation and comparison, became a widow. Reduced from affluence to poverty, with a large family of small children dependent on her manual labor for daily food, she made a variety of experi- ments to ascertain what articles could be pur- chased for the least money, and would at the same time go the farthest, by keeping her chil- dren longest from crying for something to eat. She soon discovered that when they ate buck- wheat-eakes and molasses they were quiet for a longer time than after eating any other kind of food. A distinguished judge of the United States Court observed, that when he took buck- wheat-cakes for breakfast, he could sit on the bench the whole day without being uncomfort- ably hungry; if the cakes were omitted, he felt obliged to take a lunch about noon. Buck- wheat-cakes are a universal favorite at the Win- ter breakfast-table, and scientific investigation and analysis have shown that they abound in the heat-forming principles; hence nature takes away our appetite for them in Summer. 1. The finest, tenderest cakes, can be made by adding a little unbolted wheat or Graham flour, or coarse Indian meal, in the buckwheat. Less than a quarter will do. Mix with cold) $ 653 sour milk, or fresh (not sweet) buttermilk is the best. The soda (yeast is dispensed with) when put in cold batter will not act satisfac- torily. Bake at once. The heat will start the effervescence, and as the paste rises it will bake, thus preventing it from falling. Hence the culminating point of lightness is attained. The batter rises snowy and beautiful, and the pan- eake will swell to almost undue dimensions, absolutely the lightest and tenderest that can be baked, with not a touch of acid. More salt, however, must be admitted than usual to coun- teract the too fresh taste, when soda alone is used. Thus the bother of the yeast is all dis- pensed with. Pan-cakes in this way can be baked at any time, and on the shortest notice. Keep the Graham and buckwheat flour mixed ready for use. Some add one or two table- spoonsful of molasses, to give the cakes 4 brown color; but it detracts somewhat from the pecu- liar buckwheat relish, 2. To one quart of buckwheat flour add half a cup of yeast, a cup of cream, a table-spoonful of salt, and make a thin batter with warm water. After beating these well together, set the mixture to rise for about eight hours. 3. One quart of buttermilk, a tea-spoonful of soda, a table-spoonful of salt; if wanted daily for breakfast, make a batter and put in half a cup of yeast; then add the flour and water to them each evening, and they can be ready all Winter. Extempore Buckwheat-Cakes.—A quart of buck- wheat, one pint of Graham flour or Indian meal, one table-spoonful of carbonate of soda; dissolve in water enough to makea batter, and when mixed, add a table-spoonful of tartaric acid dissolved in a few spoonsful of hot water, Mix it and bake immediately. Recooking Buckwheat-Cakes.—Cold cakes may be rendered excellent by taking a suitable quan- tity of milk, and adding to it say one-twentieth part of its bulk in butter, and heating the two - together over the fire till hot, but not scalding, and then laying in the cakes and turning them over. Green Corn Batter-Cakes, or Imitation Oysters. Take three dozen ears young Indian corn, six eges, lard and butter in equal proportions for frying, Grate the corn down fine as possible and dredge it with flour. Beat the eggs light and mix them gradually with the corn, add a salt-spoon of salt, and beat the whole very light. Put into a frying pan; the lard and butter mixed; when boiling hot, put in the corn- cakes, made oval-shape, three inches long and 65-4 THE KITCHEN nearly an inch thick. send to table hot. Fry them brown, and In taste, they have a singu- lar resemblance to oysters; they make nice side-dishes at dinner, and are good at breakfast. Or, take young green corn and grate it in a dish; to one pint of this add two eggs well beaten, a small tea-cupful of flour, half a cup of cream, and a spoonful of butter, and some salt and pepper; mix them well together. A table-spoonful of this will make the size of an oyster. Fry them a little brown, and when done butter them, but when fried in butter it is sufficient. Sweet corn is preferable. Fritters.—To three tea-cupsful of buttermilk, add three table-spoonsful of rich cream and a small quantity of sugar. Stir in flour until it is of the consistency of paste for doughnuts. Roll out the size of a large breakfast plate, and fry in lard to a rich brown color. As each cake ‘comes from the fire cover with apple sauce, made from tart apples sweetened to taste, and spiced with nutmeg or cinnamon, and continue the process until the plate is well heaped. Apple Fritters.—Peel and slice crossways, a quarter of an inch thick, some apples, remove the core, and dip them one after the other in the following batter: Put in a basin about two ounces of flour, a little salt, two tea-spoonsful of melted butter, and the yolk of an egg, moistened by degrees with water, stirring all the while with a spoon, till forming a smooth consistency to the thickness of cream, then beat the white of the egg till firm, mixing it with the batter; it is then ready to fry. Use any fruit as fritters. Jream Fritters—Mix a pint and a half of flour with a pint of milk; stir in six well- beaten eggs; add half a nutmeg, then two tea- spoonsful of salt, and a pint of cream; stir the whole just enough to intermix the cream, then fry in small cakes. The addition of a few ap- ples chopped fine improves the fritters. Clam or Oyster Fritters—Strain them from the juice, chop the clams or oysters, put pepper and salt, add an egg or two, a little cream or milk, sift in flour enough to make them stick together. This is the most delightful way of cooking clams especially. Fruit Fritters—Make any plain batter for pan-cakes, by dropping a small quantity into the pan; put pared apples, sliced and cored, into the batter, and fry some of it with each slice. Currants, or sliced lemon as thin as paper, make an agreeable change. Any sort of sweetmeat, or ripe fruits, berries, or currants, may be made into fritters. AND DINING-ROOM: Fried Cakes, Crullers, or Doughnuts.—1. Three pounds flour, one pound sugar, three-quarters of a pound butier, four eggs, one-half tea-cup baker’s yeast ; rub the butter well into the flour, then add sugar and spice to taste; beat the eegs light, and pour into the mixture; add the yeast und then put in one and a half pints of milk to make a soft dough, cover and set to rise at bedtime to cook next day. They should be kneaded twice. Sprinkle with powdered sugar when cooked. Or, just before immersing them in the hot fat, plump them intoa well-beaten eee. This will give a thin coating of albumen, which will keep out the grease effectually. Furthermore, this coating will retain the moisture, and make them keep in good condition much longer than if not thus treated. If not thus coated let the fat be very hot, as the hotter it is, the less of it the cakes absorb; and the larger the quantity of fat in the dish, the less it will cool as the cakes are thrown in, and hence the less fat the cakes absorb, 2. One pint-bowl of raised dough wet with milk; knead in a tea-cup of sifted sugar, two eggs and a heaping tea-spoonful of butter; let it rise again, roll and fry; fresh chopped orange peel is the best seasoning. _3. Four eggs, three cups of sugar, one cup of milk, half cup of butter, one tea-spoonful of cream of tartar, half a tea-spoonful of soda, with flour enough to make a stiff dough. Poor Man’s Jumbles.—Two bowls of flour, one of sugar, one-half of sour cream or buttermillk, a little soda, and some cinnamon; to be rolled thin, and fried in hot fat or butter. Snow-Balls.—Two cups full of sugar, one- half cup of butter, one of buttermilk, one of sweet milk, and one of thick sour cream, two eggs, one tea-spoonful of saleratus. Roll and cut out with the top of a tea-caddy. Put one raisin in the center of each, and roll into a ball with the hand. Fry in hot lard, and roll in pulverized sugar. They will keep in a crock for several weeks, and are always pretty and good. Varieties.—Two eggs beat light, a tea-spoon- ful of salt, the egg thickened with flour to roll out thin as a wafer; cut in strips one inch wide and four inches long, wind it round your finger, and fry them as you do doughnuts. Pan Doddlings.—Three tea-cupsful of fine rye meal, three tea-cupsful of Indian meal, one egg, three table-spoonsful of molasses; add a little salt and allspice; sufficient sweet milk to form a batter stiff enough to drop from a CAKES. spoon. Fry them in hot Jard until a nice brown. Corn-Meal Crullers, or Doughnuts.—1. Beat four eggs light, and pour on them one quart of sour milk (if sweet milk, cream of tartar must be used); add half a tea-spoonful of salt, and asmall tea-spoonful of soda; stir them all to- gether, and then stir in sifted corn meal enough to make a very stiff batter. Have ready a frying-pan half full of hot lard, into which drop the batter from a spoon; when nicely browned, turn them over, and when done lay them on a colander to drain, and send to the table hot. 2. A tea-cupful and a half of boiling milk, poured on two tea-cupsful of sifted Indian meal. When it is cool add two tea-cupsful of wheat or Graham flour, one tea-cupful of butter, one and a half of sugar, one of yeast, and two eggs, with a table-spoon/ul of cinnamon, or a grated nutmeg. If not sufficiently stiff, add equal portions of flour and Indian meal. Let it rise till very light. Roll it about half an inch thick, and cut it into small diamond- shaped cakes, and cook them in lard. Wafles.—Four eggs, one quart of sweet milk, acup of rich cream, four ounces of butter, one pound of flour, two ounces powdered white sugar, four table-spoonsful of yeast, and a salt- spoonful of salt. Beat the eggs to a froth. Put the butter in the milk, and warm it until the butter dissolves. When the milk is cooled sufficiently, put in the eggs, and stir in the flour, after which add the yeast and _ salt. When light, pour the batter in the hot wafile- iron, having first greased it well, or rubbed it with salt, Bake them on both sides, by turning the iron. To be well buttered, and served hot. ' Or, one quart of milk, five eggs, one and a quarter pounds of fleur, half a pound of butter; beat well together; if you make before time to bake, put in one spoonful yeast. If wanted immediately, instead of the yeast, use a tea- spoonful of cream of tartar, and half a tea- spoonful of soda. Wafiles should be wet with eream or milk, or sauce, as fast as baked, sift- ing on them cinnamon and sugar. Corn-Meal Wagiles.—Boil two cups of hominy very solt, add an equal quantity of sifted In- dian meal, a table-spoonful of salt, half a tea- cup of butter, and three eggs, with milk sufli- cient to make a thin batter. Beat all well together, and bake in waflle-irons. When eges can not be procured, yeast is a good substitute : put a spoonful in the batter, and let it stand an hour to rise. 655 Rice Waffles—A pint bowl of cold, well- boiled rice, mashed fine, thinned with cold cream or milk, one egg well beaten, a small piece of butter, and flour to make a stiff batter to bake. Cakes.—So numerous are the cake recipes that we can only endeayor to make a judicious selection. Frosting or Icing for Cakes.—Beat the whites of eggs to a full froth, with a little rose or orange-flower water; then add gradually as much finely-powdered sugar as will make it sufficiently thick, beating it all the time. Be- fore using, dust the cake with flour, then gently rub it off, and lay on the icing with a flat knife and place in the oven for a few moments to allow it to harden, taking care to remove it before it becomes discolored by the heat. Or, beat up the whites of five eggs to a froth, and put to them a pound of double-refined sugar, powdered and sifted, and three spoons- ful of orange-flower water, or rose water, and lemon juice,,and a little gum-arabic. Keep boiling it all the time the cake is in the oven, and the moment it comes out, ice over the top with a spoon. Be careful to keep the sugar clean. How to Bake Cake—WHave your oven well and evenly heated before putting in your cake, and do not allow it to cool. Keep up the heat at the same temperature, and avoid, if possible, removing the cake from the oven until it is done. Look not at the oven while the cake is baking—be sure you have it right, and let it be till ready to take out. is done, take a piece of dry wood or skewer, pass it into the cake, and if it comes out dry, it is done. How to Keep Cakes.—They keep best in tin canisters; wooden boxes, unless well-seasoned, are apt to give them a disagreeable flavor; To ascertain if the cake brown paper should be avoided, for the same reason. Almond-Cake.—Three-quarters cup of butter, two cups of sugar, two eggs, one cup of milk, one pint of flour, two tea-spoonsful of cream of tartar, one of soda, two of yeast powder, one of extract of almond. Beat butter, sugar, and eggs together, add part of the flour with the yeast powder, before adding the milk. Almond Cheese-Cake.—Blanch and pound four ounces of almonds, and a few bitter, with a spoonful of water; then add four ounces of sugar pounded, a spoonful of cream, and the whites of two eggs well beaten; mix all as 656 quick as possible; put it into very sinall patty- pans, and bake in a pretty warm oven, under twenty minutes. , Apple-Cake—If made of dried apples, soak over night two cups of apples; in the morning chop them fine, and boil in two cups of molas- ses, and when cold, add four cups of flour (or two each of flour and corn meal), one cup of sugar, one cup of thick cream, half a cup of butter, two eggs, a tea-spoonful of saleratus, with allspice, cloves, nutmeg, lemon, and rose water. A few currants improve it, but are not necessary. — Blueberry-Cake.—Four cups of flour, one cup of sugar, three eggs, half a eup of’ melted but- ter, one cup of milk, one and a half tea-spoons- ful of cream of tartar, and one tea-spoonful of soda. Beat the sugar and eggs together, rub the berries in additional flour, to prevent settling. Bread-Cake.—Three cups of very light bread dough, three cups of sugar, one cup of butter, three eggs, a grated nutmeg, a coffee-cupful of raisins, one tea-spoontul of saleragus, dissolved Rub the butter and sugar raisins, in a little hot water. together; then add the eggs, nutmeg, and saleratus; mix thoroughly with the dough; let it stand to rise, alter which bake in hot oven. Three or four table-spoonsful of wine, and a cup of cream, much improve it. Bread Cheese-Cake.—Slice up a large French roll very thin, pour on it some boiling cream or milk; when cold, add six or eight eggs, half a pound of butter melted, some nutmeg, a spoonful of brandy, a little sugar, and half a pound of currants; when mixed together, pour the mixture into puff paste, as other cheese- cakes. Cake Without Eggs.—One cup of sugar, one cup of butter, nutmeg, one cup of cream or milk, two ounces of currants, or half a pound of raisins, one tea-spoonful of dry cream of tartar, one-half ounce of soda dissolved in milk; flour enough to make a batter. California-Cake.—One tea-cupful of flour, one of sugar, three eggs, two tea-spoonsful each of cream of tartar and of baking-powder, and one tea-spoonful of pulverized saleratus—the tartar, powder, saleratus, to be put in the mix- ture fine and dry; add a little salt, and the need/ul wetting, beat all together thoroughly, and bake quick for one hour. . Chocolate Cakes.—Beat the whites of two eggs with a quarter of a pound of pounded sugar, into a frothy cream; add the juice of half a THE KITCHEN AND DINING-ROOM: . late. Drop this mixture in spoonfuls on a flat tin, and bake them slowly. Cider-Cake—One pound and a half of flour, half a pound of sngar, a quarter, pound of butter, half a pint of cider, one tea-spoonful of soda. Spice to your taste. Bake till it turns easily in the pans, half an hour. Cinnamon * Wafers.—One pound of sugar, four ounces of butter, three eggs, half a tea- spoonful of soda, one table-spoonful of ground cinnamon, and flour enough to roll out; to be made the same as ginger snaps. Cocoanut-Cake.—Take a cocoa-nut and grate it fine; put it in a porcelain dish or kettle and place it over the fire, and .stir constantly until it is nearly dry as flour; then add a cof- fee-cup of powdered sugar, and the white of one egg, beaten to a froth. “Mix welland make into small cakes, the size of a silver dollar, and place them on a sheet of white paper, previ- ously buttered; bake them.until slightly brown, Coffee-Cake.—One cup each of coffee, sugar, molasses, and butter, one egg, one tea-spoonful each of soda and cream of tartar, one tea- spoonful each kind of spice. Fruit to, the taste. Mix with flour not as hard as fruit- cake. When it rises even in the dish, and bakes right, it makes a splendid fruit-cake, and better by standing. Cookies,—1. Stir a pound of sugar and three- quarters of a pound of butter to a cream; then add three beaten eges, a grated nutmeg, two table-spoonsful of caraway-seed, and a pint of flour. Dissolve a tea-spoontul of saleratus in a tea-cup of milk, strain, and mix it with half a tea-cup of cider, and stir it into the cookies— then add flonr to make them sufficiently stiff to roll out. Bake them as soon as cut into cakes, in a quick oven, till a light brown. 2. A cup and a half of white sugar, the whites of two eggs, one cup of thick, sour cream ; one-half tea-spoonful of saleratus, cin- namon, caraway, nutmeg, or spice to your taste. Cookies without Eggs.—Three cups sugar, one cup sour cream or milk, one cup butter, a tea- spoonful of soda, a little caraway-seed, with flour enough to roll thin. Cream-Cookies.— One pint of cream, two cof- fee-cups of sugar, three eggs, two tea-spoonsful of soda, and four of cream of tartar; mix as soft as possible to roll it. Corn Starch-Cake.—1. Whites of twelve eggs, three cups each sugar and flour, one cup each corn starch, butter, and milk, two tea-spoons- ful of cream of tartar, and one of soda; va- lemon, and six ounces of finely-grated choco-! nilla or lemon flavoring. Frosting improves it. ak CAKES. 2. One and a half cups each of flour, sugar, and butter, half a cup each of milk and corn starch, half a tea-spoon each of soda and cream of tartar, the whites of three eggs beaten to a froth, and added just before the cake is put into the oven. Use lemon or other flavoring, and get a delicate bake. Cup-Cake—Take one cup of butter, two cups of powdered sugar, four cups of flour, five eggs, one cup of milk or sour cream (sufficient soda to sweeten), one nutmeg, one tea-spoonful pow- dered cinnamon. Beat the eggs, sugar, and butter (previously softened by heat) together, then add the other articles. Bake in small tins or cups. Ginger Cup-Cake.—Three cups of flour, one of sugar, one of molasses, one of butter, a table- spoonful of ginger, one tea-spoonful of saleratus, and three eggs. Bake in pans. A pound of stoned or chopped raisins is an improvement. Delicate-Cake.—One pound of powdered sugar, three-fourths of a pound of flour, six ounces of butter, whites of fourteen eggs beaten to a stiff froth, mace or bitter almonds grated. Bake in flat tins, from half to three-quarters of an hour. Election-Cake.—Take a lump of raised dough the size of a pint bowl, and work into it one cup of white sugar, half a cup of butter, half a pound of raisins, stoned and chopped coarse; put it in a well buttered dish, and set it down to rise in a warm place. When risen bake it in a moderate oven. When it is taken from the oven wet the top over with molasses. This is the most wholesome cake made. Eqg-Cake-—Beat six eggs well, add a quart of sweet milk and a little salt, stir in flour until you have a nice batter, then, taking care to have your lard hot enough to. brown them quickly, drop the batter in with a spoon, and serve them hot. Don’t make the batter too thick. Fruit-Cake-—1. One cup of butter (with salt washed out), three and a half cups light brown sugar, beat these ingredients to a cream. Put the yolks of three eggs into the mixture and beat all together. One cup of sweet milk, sift four cups of flour, in which mix one tea-spoon- ful of cream of tartar, and half a tea-spoon- ful of soda. Take some of this flour and rub it into one pound of clean, dry currants or raisins, and add them to the mixture, then gradually stir in the flour one-quarter of a nutmeg, and the grated rind of one lemon. Then add the beaten whites of the eggs. Pour into a pan lined and covered with white paper, and’bake in a moderate oven. 42 657 2. Two anda half cups dried apples stewed until soft; add one cup of sugar; stew awhile longer, and chop the mixture, to which add one-half cup of cold coffee, one of sugar or mo- lasses, two eggs, a half cup of butter, one cup of sweet milk, one nutmeg, one tea-spoonful of soda, and cinnamon and spices to taste. 3. Pour a pint of boiling water on three- quarters of a pound of fat salt pork, chopped very fine; let it stand till it cools, then add two cups of sugar, one of molasses, a pound and a half of raisins, five cups of flour, two tea- spoonsful of soda, one table-spoonful of cinna- mon, one-half a table-spoonful of cloves, and a cup of hickory-nut meats if convenient. More fruit and spice, and flavorings can be added if desired. Gingerbread.— Take five cups of flour, two- thirds of a cup of butter, two cups of molasses, one cup of milk, one tea-spoonful of soda, and two tea-spoonsful of ginger. This is a much- admired cake, especially when hot. Hard Gingerbread.—One cup of butter, two cups of sugar, one-half cup of sweet milk, one tea-spoonful of saleratus, one egg, ginger, rose water. Flour to roll out. Cut in long cakes, and crease with a creased roller. Soft Gingerbread.—One cup of sour milk, two cups of molasses, one tea-spoonful of ginger, a tea-spoonful of saleratus, a piece of melted but- ter as large asa hen’s egg. Flour enough to make a thick batter. Pour into a flat tin and bake quick. Ginger Nuts—Two cups of molasses, one cup of sugar, one cup of shortening, one cup of but- termilk, a table-spoonful of soda, and a table- spoonful of ginger. Mix as soft as you ean roll, and bake. Ginger Snaps. —One cup of butter or lard, one cup of sugar, two cups of molasses, one egg, two-thirds of a table-spoonful of soda, three table-spoonsful of ginger, and a tea-spoonful of cloves. Cut thin and bake quickly in a hot oven. Ginger Sponge-Cake.—One cup each of mo- lasses, butter, and milk, two cups of sugar, three cups of flour, four eggs, a little soda and ginger. Gold-Cake.— One cup of brown sugar, one- half cup of butter, the yolks of four eggs, one whole egg, one-half cup of sweet milk, one and a half cups of flour, one tea-spoonful of cream of tartar, the yellow of one lemon and juice, one-half teaspoonful of soda, and nutmeg or vanilla to suit the taste. Hard Vimes-Cake.—Take one cup of molasses 658 THE KITCHEN AND DINING-ROOM: one cup of dried apples, and simmer together; two-thirds of a cup of milk, a tea-spoonful of one cup of sugar, one half cup of milk, two saleratus, a pint bow] of stoned raisins. and one-half cups of flour, one egg, and one tea-spoonful of baking powder. This will be found to be a very palatable cake, and much more healthy for children than the richer cakes. Jelly-Cake.—Spread or roll sponge-cake with jelly as soon as out of the oven, and lay the slices together, Jumbles.—One pound of butter, one of sugar, two of flour, three eggs, half cup of sour milk, one tea-spoonful of soda. Roll in white-coffee sugar. Lemon-Cake.—Four tumblers flour, two and a half tumblers of white sugar, three-fourths of a tumbler of butter, one tumbler of milk, two lemons’ juice and grated rind, one heaping tea- spoonful of soda, three eggs beaten separately. A tumbler and a half of currants improves this cake. . Little White-Cake.—Dry half a pound of flour, rub into it a very little powdered sugar, one ounce of butter, one egg, a few caraways, and as much milk and water as to make a paste; roll it thin, and cut it with the top of a canister or glass. Bake fifteen minutes on tin plates. Loaf-Cake-——Take three cups of sugar, three cups of butter, three eggs, and two grated nut- megs, or two tea-spoonsful of oil of lemon. Rub the sugar and butter to a cream and beat in the eggs; take out half of this mixture, and to the remainder add three cups of milk quite warm, and a little yeast, and stir in sifted flour enough to make it quite stiff. Allow this to stand several hours till perfectly light, then add the reserved portion of butter, sugar, and eggs; mix well together, and bake. By adding two pounds of raisins the cake will be very rich. Macaroons.—Blanch four ounces of almonds and pound; whisk the whites of four eggs to a froth; then mix it and a pound of sugar, sifted, with the almonds, and a finely-grated lemon rind, to a paste; and laying a sheet of wafer paper on a tin, put it on in different little cakes the shape of macaroons. Measure-Cake-—One cup of butter, two of sugar, three eggs, one-half a tea-spoonful of cream of tartar, and five cups of flour: Stir the butter and sugar to a cream, add the eggs, the whites and yolks beaten separately; then the soda and milk, and lastly the cream of tar- tar and flour. Flavor as you please. Bake in small tins or in a loaf. Molasses-Cake.—Half a pound of butter, three- fourths of a pound of sugar, a pound and a half of four, five eggs, a cup and a half of molasses, Orange-Cake.— Two cups of flour, two of powdered sugar, five eggs, the whites of four, and yolks of five—saving one white for frost- ing—half a cup of boiling water, a little salt, one orange grated in, skin, juice, and all, half a tea-spoonful of soda, one cream of tartar, icing. Beat the whites stiff, stir in powdered sugar till stiff, grate in one orange, and spread on like jelly. Plum-Cake.—One and a half pounds of butter beaten to a cream, three-quarters of a pound of sugar finely powdered; these must be beaten together until white and smooth; take six eggs (the yolks and whites to be beaten separately), when the whites are beaten to a stiff snow and ready to put to the cake, mix in the yolks, then add them to the butter; beat it enough to mix them; add to it one pound of flour, and one pound of currants; do not beat it much after you put in the flour; let it stand in a cold place for two hours; bake it about an hour and a half. \ Little Plum-Cake for Long Keeping.—Dry one pound of flour, and mix with six ounces of finely-pulverized sugar; beat six ounces of but- ter to a cream, and add three eggs well beaten, half a pound of currants washed and nicely dried, and the flour and sugar; beat all for some time, then dredge flour on tin plates and drop the batter on them the size of a walnut. If properly mixed, it will be a stiff paste, Bake in a brisk oven. Pound-Cake.—Beat a pound of butter to a cream, and mix with it the whites and yolks of eight eggs beaten apart. Have ready, warm by the fire, a pound of flour, and the same of sifted sugar; mix them and a few cloves, a little nutmeg and cinnamon in fine powder together; then by degrees work the dry in- gredients into the butter and eggs. When well beaten, add a glass of wine and some caraways. It must be beaten a full hour. Butter a pan, and bake it a full hour in a quick oven. The above proportions, leaving out four ounces of the butter and the same of sugar, make a less luscious cake, and to most tastes a more pleasant one. Corn Meal Pound-Cake.—To one quart of sour milk add two tea-spoonsful of finely-powdered saleratus, well stirred in; two eggs well beaten, one table-spoonful of brown sugar, and a piece of butter as large as an egg. Salt to the taste, and then stir in the meal, making the mixture about as stiff as you would for pound-cake, SOUPS. Now comes the secret of its goodness—bake quick, to the color of a rich light brown, Eat it moderately warm with butter, honey, mo- lasses, or cheese. Puff-Cake.—Two cups of sugar, three cups of flour, one cup of butter, one cup of sweet milk, three eggs, two tea-spoonsful of cream of tartar, and one of soda; flavor with lemon. Queen-Cake—Two cups of sugar, four cups of flour, one cup each of butter and sweet milk, and six eggs. Rice-Cake-—Mix together half a pound of very soft boiled rice, a quarter of a pound of butter, one quart of milk, six eggs, and enough flour to form a thin batter. Scotch-Cake.—One pound of brown sugar, one pound of flour, a half pound of butter, two eggs, cinnamon. Roll very thin and bake. Snow-Cake-—One coffee-cup of sour cream, two and a half coffee-cups of flour, two coffee- cups of sugar, two table-spoonsful of butter, one pound of arrow root, one tea-spoonful of cream of tartar, half a tea-spoonful of soda, the whites of eight eggs beaten to a stiff froth, and flavoring to the taste. This is much quicker made than where butter is used instead of cream, as it requires no beating after the ingredients ure together, but will not keep as long. Sponge-Cake.—1. Three fresh eggs, one cup of sugar, one cup of sifted flour; eggs and sugar beat together from five to twenty minutes; when light, merely stir in the flour; make thin and bake, and roll with jelly; put in as soon as out of the oven. : 2. One tea-cupful of sugar, one tea-cupful of milk, one tea-spoonful of cream of tartar, one pint of flour, two tea-spoonsful of soda, one egg, one table-spoonfil of melted butter; salt, spice, and bake in thin sheets; when baked, spread jelly of any sort between the sheets. ‘This makes one cake in three small divisions. 3. Take the weight of six eggs in sugar, half the weight in flour, the grated rind and juice of one lemon, a small tea-spoonful of salt. Beat the whites and yolks separately to pre- vent its looking streaked in the cake. Another Way.—One tumbler of flour, one of sugar, and three eggs. Tea-Cake.—1. With a pound of flour rub a quarter of a pound of butter; add the beaten yolks of two and the white of one egg, a quar- ter of a pound of fine loaf sugar, and a few cara- way-seeds ; mix it to a paste, with a little warm milk; cover it with a cloth, and let it stand before the fire for nearly an hour; roll out the 659 paste, and cut into ronnd cakes with the top of a glass, and bake them upon floured tins. 2. Rub fine four ounces of butter into eight ounces of flour; mix eight ounces of currants and six of fine sugar, two yolks and one white of eggs. Roll the paste the thickness of a cracker, and cut with a wine-glass. You may beat the other white, and wash over them; and either dust sugar, or not, as you like. 3. Mix two cups of cream, three cups of su- gar, five eggs, the whites beaten to a stiff froth, one tea-spoonful of soda, flour to make about as stiff as pound cake. Salt, brandy, spice, or other flavor, to the taste. Wedding-Cake.—Four pounds of flour, three pounds of sugar, two pounds of currants, three pounds of raisins, twenty-four eges, one ounce of mace, three nutmegs. This will keep two or three years. Wine-Cake.—Beat two eggs and mix them with eight, ounces of butter which has been beaten to a cream. Mix together six ounces of powdered lump sugar, fourteen ounces of finely- sifted flour, half a grated nutmeg, a tea-spoon- ful of ground ginger, and a table-spoonful of caraway-seed. When well mixed, work this well into the butter and eggs, beat it half an hour, and then add a large wine-glass of sherry or other good wine. Bake it in tin patty-pans, in a moderately-quick oven. Soups.—All soups are better to be made with fresh, uncooked meat, and not from meat once cooked, from which has been extracted most of its flavor and juices—leaving your OF what- ever meat soup is to be prepared, it should be carefully washed, not soaked, and then placed cold meats for spicing or hashing. in water quite cold, bringing this, very slowly, toascald. If boiled at all, it should only be after a long simmering. This will bring out all the natural juice of the meat, so that when ready for the seasoning, and such vegetables as you choose to add, the scraps of meat may all be skimmed out without loss. Vegetable sea- sonings, such as summer savory, parsley, cel- ery, thyme, sage, onions, garlic, and other sea- soners should not be put into soups or stews until the soup is nearly done; chop fine and put in five minutes before the soup is taken from the fire. Beef Soups.—Get a good beef soup bone, boil two hours, leaving about two quarts of broth; break two eggs into some flour, and knead it very stiff; roll out in three sheets to the thick- * 660 ness of wrapping-paper; spread them on the table to dry half an hour; then place them on one another, and roll them up as you would jelly-cake; with a sharp knife cut very fine strips from the end, not wider than the thick- ness of a case-knife; shake them up to sepa- rate them; drop them into your broth slowly, stirring your soup all the while. Boil ten min- utes; season with pepper, salt, celery, summer savory, or a little parsley. Baked Soup.—Take one pound of lean beef, chop rather fine, place in an earthen pot which will hold five quarts of liquid. Slice and add two onions, two carrots, two table-spoonsful of rice well washed, a pint of whole or split peas, a tea-spoontul of black pepper, and a table- spoonful of salt; pour over all one gallon of cold water; put the lid of the jar on it, or a close-fitting plate, and bake four hours. This is a nice, wholesome dish. Chicken Soup.—Cut up a_nicely-dressed chicken; put it in the pot with water to cover it, which must be measured, and half as much more added to it before the soup is dished. Keep it covered tight, boiling slowly, and take off the fat as fastas it rises. When the ehicken is tender, take it from the pot and mince it very fine; season it to the taste, and brown it with butter in a dripping pan. When brown, put it back inthe pot. Brown together butter and flour, and make rich gravy by adding a pint of the soup; stir this in the soup, and season it with a little pepper, salt, and butter. Be careful the chopped chicken does not settle, and burn on the pot. It will be well to turn a small plate on the bottom of the kettle to pre- vent this. Toast bread quite brown and dry, but do not burn it, and lay the toast in the tureen, and serve it with the soup; stir the chicken through it, and pour it in the tureen. Mock Turtle Soup—Scald a calf’s head, and wash it clean. Boil it ina large pot of water for half an honr, then cut all the skin off by itself; take the tongue out, take the broth made of a knuckle of veal, put in the tongue and skin, with an onion, one-half ounce each of cloves and mace, half a nutmeg, all kinds of sweet herbs chopped fine, three anchovies; stew it till tender; then take out the meat, and cut it in pieces two inches square; cut the tongue, previously skinned, in slices; strain the liquor throughasieve. Melt one-half pound of butter in a stew-pan; put in it one-half pound of flour; stir it till smooth ; if at all lumpy, strain it; add the liquor, stirring it all the time; then put to the meat the juice of two lemons, and THE KITCHEN AND DINING-ROOM: one bottle of Madeira wine, if you choose. Season with pepper, salt, and cayenne pepper, pretty high; put in five meat balls, eight eggs, boiled hard. Stew it one hour, gently. Clam Soup.—Twenty-five large clams, opened raw, drained from the liquor, and chopped fine; three quarts of water with the liquor of the clams, just come to a boil; then add a pint of milk, thickened with four table-spoonsful of flour and four of butter, rubbed together, After it is removed from the fire add three well-beaten eggs, and stir well. Vegetable Soup—Take a shin of beef, six large carrots, six large yellow onions, twelve turnips, six tomatoes, one pound of rice or bar- ley; parsley, leeks, summer savory; put all into a soup-kettle, and let it boil four hours; add pepper and salt to taste; serve altogether, It makes a good*family soup. Corn Soup.—Boil twelve ears of corn—which should be young and tender—in four quarts of water. Take the liquor in which they are boiled, and put in a knuckle of veal or piece of “soup beef.” If no grater is to be had, use a sharp knife to cut down each row of corn. Then with a spoon scrape off all the corn, leaving the hulls on the cobs. Put the cobs back into the liquor to boil with the meat three or four hours. Strain all through a sieve, set it aside to cool, and skim off the fat. Mix four table-spoonsful of flour with a quarter of a pound of butter. Put the liquor into the pot, add the flour and butter and corn. Season with pepper and salt. Boil half an hour and serve. If astock is on hand use it, in proportion to its strength, with the clear water. This should make two and a half quarts of soup. The knuckle of veal or beef can be again boiled for second stock. Bean Soup.—Wash a quart of common white beans, or turtle-soup beans, and put them into a bowl and cover with water—soak over night. The next morning put four quarts of water into a pot, turn in the beans, with three or four onions, a couple of carrots, and a table-spoonful of celery-seed tied ina muslin bag. If black beans are used, stick three cloves in each onion ; put it on to boil slowly for four hours, Then pour the soup on a sieve, and rub all thoroughly through it. Put on the soup again, that it may heat and boil down if too thin; or if too thick, add hot water. Season with pepper and salt. A halfa pound or a pound of salt pork may be cooked with the beans. Have some slices of bread toasted, eué in small pieces and put in the turcen, and turn onthe hot soup. If the black SOUPS. beans are used, small bits of sliced Jemon are a great improvement. A richer soup may be made by boiling a shin of beef the day before, and taking off all the fat after straining and cooling; or any bones suit- able for soup can be used. ‘This receipt will make three quarts of superior soup. German Pancake Soup—Make a batter with a pound of flour, a little salt, half a pint of milk; stir well, and add two eggs beaten; it should be of the consistency of cream. Make this into pancakes fried very pale-yellow. As each one is fried, lay it on a board and double over once. Roll each slightly, and cut into strips half an inch wide, and put them.into the soup tureen, and pour good stock well seasoned and strained over them. Serve hot. Beer Soup.—White beer (or wheat beer) is best for this. First boil the beer, and then beat up four eggs with a few spoonsful of flour in a little cold beer; throw this into the boiling beer; take it from the fire, put butter, salt, and sugar in it, and fill it with crisp stale rolls cut in dice; dust the whole with cinnamon. Selecting Meats.—In purchasing meat by the quarter or in less quantities, select such pieces as have the smallest, thinnest, and flattest bones, covered by fine-grained flesh with fat intermixed in thin streaks or layers with the lean. Such pieces will be fofind tender, juicy, and most profitable. A piece of roast beef, in the process of cook- ing, loses fifteen per cent.; if boiled, it loses only eleven per cent. If a leg of mutton is roasted, it loses twenty-five per cent.; but only ten per cent. if boiled. There is, therefore, less loss in a beef than a mutton roast, but mutton, however, is four per cent. more nutri- tious than beef. Freshening Meats and Fish—To freshen salt meat or fish, put it in water and let it simmer, not boil, awhile over the fire. The water should be changed two or three times before it is sutticiently freshened for cooking. Roasting Beef—It should be exposed to a quick fire, that the external surface may be made to contract at once, and the albumen to coagulate before the juice has had time to es- eape from within. And so in boiling. When a piece of beef or mutton is plunged into boil- ing water, the outer part contracts, the albumen which is near the surface coagulates, and the internal juice is prevented either from escaping into the water by which it is surrounded, or from being diluted or weakened by the admission of water among it. When cut up, therefore, the s 661 meat yields much gravy, and is rich in flavor. Hence, a beefsteak or a mutton chop is done quickly, and over a quick fire, that the natural On the other hand, if the meat be exposed to a slow fire, its pores juices may be retained. |remain open, the juice continues to flow from within, as it has dried from the surface, and the flesh pines and becomes dry, hard, and un- savory. Or, if it be put into eold or tepid water, which is afterward gradually brought to a boil, much of the albumen is extracted be- fore it coagulates, the natural juices for the most part flow out, and the meat is served in a nearly tasteless state. The Roasting Spit.—The spit used in roasting meat ought to be kept very clean, and should be rubbed with nothing but sand and water, and wiped dry with a cloth. Oil, brickdust, ete., will injure the meat. Rendering Tough Meats Tender.—Tough cheap pieces of beef can be made tender and palatable by being put into the pot with a trifle more water than will be finally needed. Set into the top of the cooking pot a closely-fitting tin pan or pail, and fill it with cold water. If this gets boiling hot, dip out some and add cold water from time to time. Boil the meat until it gets so entirely tender that the bones will drop out, even if it takes five or ten hours. The steam and aroma or flavor of the meat will be condensed on the bottom of the cover- ing pan or pail of water, and drop back, and» thus be retained. When thoroughly done, re- move the cover and slowly simmer down thick enough to jelly when cold. Dip out the meat, remove the bones, place it in a pan, pour over it the boiled liquid, lay over it a large plate or inverted tin platter, and put on fifteen or twenty pounds weight. When cold, it will cut into nice slices, and if lean and fat or white meat be mixed, it will be beatittifully marbled. The juice will jelly and compact it firmly together, and you will have nice juicy meat, good for breakfast, dinner, or supper, and sa tender that poor teeth can masticate it. Fresh beef, or corned beef well freshened in cold water, may be used in this way with decided economy, nd it is far superior to meat boiled in an open vessel from which the flayor has constantly escaped, as you can perceive by the odor all through the house. To render pork and veal wholesome, says Professor Buor, they should always he baked till overdone. Place a paper greased with butter over meats that are being baked. 662 THE KITCHEN Braiszing Meats.—Use an old-fashioned bake- pan or bake-kettle—if by an old-fashioned fire, with a cover arranged to hold live coals. Meats cooked slowly, and for a long time, in a brais- ing or bake-pan, with the steam confined around them, have a richness of flavor not otherwise obtained. The meat should be browned, and water enough added from timé-to time to pre- vent burning, and form a rich gravy with the juice of the meat. cooked, becomes, when treated in this way, a delicious morsel; and so of a thick slice of | ham cooked long and slowly. Potpie Crust.—Beat up one egg and mix it with a tea-cupful of new sweet milk, and a tea- spoonful each of saleratus and salt; then mix half a tea-spoonful of cream of tartar in dry flour, of which latter add till the crust is as soft or softer than ordinary soda biscuit; then put the crust in the pot, with the water and meat already boiling, with a plenty of water to cover both crust and meat, and a tight cover to keep the steam in the pot, and boil three-quarters of an hour. Veal, usually so badly Gravies.— Drawn Butter—Work a heap- ing tea-spoonful of flour and two ounces of sweet butter together, and then add two tea- spoonsful of sweet milk; put it in a sauce-pan on a slow fire, when melted, add a table-spoon- ful of milk mixed in six of water—let it sim- mer awhile till it begins to thicken, and when it gently boils it is done. Celery, spices, cat- sups, or essences may be added, if desired. This is a proper sauce for boiled fish, mutton, lamb, turkeys, and game of all kinds; but not for roasts. Gravy for Roast Beef—Take the drippings and water in which the beef was basted, pour- ing off most of the water with the oil, and thicken it over the fire with a trifle of flour. Wine may be added. Gravy for Roast Mutton, Lamb, Venison, etc.— Stew some mutton, cut fine, in as little water as will cover it, for an hour; drain off the liquor, season with pepper and salt, and thicken with a little butter and flour rubbed together. Gravy for Steaks.—For two slices of steak, put on a platter butter the size of an egg, eut in small pieces, with a little salt, a dust of pep- per, and two table-spoonsful of hot water; do not boil, but simply melt and keep warm. An exeellent gravy may be made with steaks by adding a little cream, thickened with a pinch of flour, into which, when off the fire and partly cooled, stir the well beaten yolk of an egg. AND DINING-ROOM: Tomato Sauce for Steak.—Cut ten tomatoes into quarters, and put them into a sauce-pan with four onions sliced, a little parsley, thyme, one clove, and a quarter of a pound of butter, set the sauce-pan on the fire, stirring oceasion- ally for three-quarters of an hour; strain the sauce through a hair sieve, and serve with steak. Gravy for Game.—Boil the hearts, livers, gizzards, and lights in the stock of beef or veal soup; when done chop fine, and season with butter, pepper, and salt, and thicken with the yolk of an egg. Wine Sauce for Venison—One gill each of mutton .broth and port or other wine, one table-spoonful of enurrant jelly; heat them nearly boiling hot, and thicken with the yolk | of an egg. Sour Sauce for Venison.—Brown, not burn a coffee-cup of sugar in an iron kettle; take it out and dissolve it in half a pint of strong vinegar; heat it, and add a gill of cranberry juice or jelly, and serve hot. Gooseberry Sauce for Boiled Lamb.—Stir half a pint of gooseberries, after they have been scalded, into a pint of drawn butter, and serve hot. Sauce for all Kinds of Fresh Fish—WHalf a pint each of wine and rich gravy, a little nut- meg, two table-spdonsful of catsup, salt; sim- mer well together, and add three ounces of butter thickened with flour, arrow root or corn starch ; and when it boils, it will be still fur- ther improved by the addition of some scraped horse-radish and a dozen or two of oysters. Egy Sauce for Salt Fish—Three hard boiled eggs to half a pint of thin drawn butter—using all the yolks, but only half of the whites, chop- ped fine and mix well. Spice for Chops and Gravy.—Three drams each of ginger, black pepper, and cinnamon, an ounce and a quarter of white pepper, one ounce grated nutmeg, half an ounce mace, one- fourth ounce cayenne pepper, and seven cloves ; mix well, bottle and keep dry. Stuffimg.—lIn stuffing, care should be taken to leave room for swelling, or it is apt to be bard and heavy. Stuffing for Roast Pork, Ducks, Turkeys, or Geese.—Two-thirds onion, one-third green sage chopped fine, bread crumbs equal in weight to the sage and onions; season with a little pep- per and salt, and incorporate it well with the yolk of an egg or two, and a bit of butter. Some omit the bread crumbs; some again, omit STUFFING—BEEF. the onions; while others add to them a clove of garlic. Stuffing for a Pig.—A large tea-cupful of grated bread, two ounces of butter, seasoning with nutmeg, salt, and pepper; scald two small onions, chop fine, and about thirty leaves of young sage, and an egg beat fine, and mix all together, stuff, and sew up. Stuffing for Roast Fowls—A good stufling for baked or roast chicken may be made by chop- ping an onion fine, and stirring it with two ounces of butter in a sauce-pan on the fire. It is taken off a moment, and bread which has been soaked in water and the water squeezed out is added with salt, pepper, a little nutmeg, and some parsley chopped fine. Then one yolk of an egg, mixed in thoroughly on the fire for half a minute. This stuffing is then inserted in the chicken. Another.—Spread pieces of stale, but tender wheaten bread liberally with butter, and sea- son rather high with salt, pepper, and summer savory, working them into the butter; then dip the bread in wine, and use it in as large pieces as is convenient to stuff the bird, ‘The deli- cious flavor which the wine gives is very pene- trating, and it gives the fowl a rich, gamey character, which is very pleasant. Beef.—Beefsteak—The rules adopted by the celebrated ‘“‘ Beefsteak Club,” organized in England, in 1734, were thus represented: **Pound well your meat until the fibers break; Be sure that next you have, to broil the steak, Good coal in plenty; nor a moment leave, But turn it over this way and then that, The lean should be quite rare—not so the fat; The platter, now and then, the juice receive, Put on your butter—place it on your meat— Salt, pepper; turn it over, serve, and eat.” Take a nice cut of sirloin or porter-house steak—or a steak from the seventh and eighth ribs, an inch and a quarter or an inch anda half thick—rub in salt and pepper well with the hands, and grease both sides slightly with sweet lard or fresh butter—using no strong or rancid butter. Place it between the bars of a well-warmed gridiron, so that it can be easily turned over the fire, which should be one of hot living coals; and there should be nosmoke from dripping gravy, which can be easily avoided with proper care. Turn it frequently till done, for much of the deliciousness of a good steak depends upon its frequent turning; and, when done, place it upon a hot dish, sprinkle over it a little more salt and pepper, spread over it a little sweet butter, and let it be served and eaten immediately. A delay of 663 jeyen five minutes makes an immense difference in the flavor. The meat should be cooked en- tirely through, and the interior should be of a uniform red color—never dark and raw; thus it is rendered exceedingly digestible, and very beneficial to convalescing patients. Another mode of broiling a beefsteak is as” follows: The frying-pan being wiped dry, place it upon the stove and let it become hot. In the meantime mangle the steak—if it chance to be sirloin, so much the better—pepper and salt it, then Jay it on the hot, dry pan, which instantly cover as tight as possible. When the raw flesh touches the heated pan, of course it seethes and adheres to it, but in a few seconds it becomes loosened and juicy ; every half min- ute turn the steak, being careful to keep it as much as possible under cover. When nearly done, lay a small piece of butter upon it, and, if you want much gravy, adda table-spoonful of strong coffee. In three minutes from the time the steak first goes into the pan it is ready for the table. This makes the most delicious, del- icately-broiled steak, full of juice yet retaining. the healthy, beefy flavor, that any John Bull could require. The same method may be ap- plied to mutton-chops, only they require more cooking to prevent them from being rare. Beefsteak for the Old.—Take coarse, lean beef, with a small quantity of suet; run it through a sausage-cutter, or chop it very finely; add pep- per and salt; make into cakes three-quarters of an ineh thick, and cook as you.would beefsteak. Stuffed Beefsteak.— Prepare a dressing of bread sealded soft, and mixed with plenty of butter, a little pepper, salt, sage, a little onion, and an egg. Lay it upon one-half of a round of steak, cover with the other half, and baste it down with needle and thread. Salt and pep- per the other side of the steak, and place it in a dripping-pan with half an inch of water. When baked brown on one side, turn and bake the other, watching closely that it does not burn. Roast Beef—When the meat is put on the fire, a little salt should be sprinkled on it, and the bony side turned toward the fire first. When the bones get well heated through, turn the meat, and keep a brisk fire—baste it frequently while roasting. There should be a little water put into the dripping-pan when the meat is put down to roast. If it is a thick piece, allow fife teen minutes to each pound to roast it in; if thin, less time will be required. The tender- loin, and first and second cuts of the rack, are the best as roasting pieces. The third and fourth cuts are good. 664 Beef Alamode.—Take a thick piece of flank, or, if most convenient, the thickest part of the round, weighing eight or ten pounds. Cut off the strips of coarse fat upon the edge, make incisions in all parts, and fill them with a stuff- ing made of bread, salt pork chopped, pepper, und sweet marjoram. Push whole cloves here and there into the meat; roll it up, and fasten it with skewers, and wind a strong twine or tape about it. Have ready a pot in which you have fried to a crisp three or four slices of salt pork; take out the pork, lay in the beef, and brown every side. When well browned, add hardly water enough to cover it, chop a large onion fine, and eighteen or twenty cloves, and boil gently, but steadily, four hours. The water should boil away, so as fo make a rich gravy, if it needs to be thickened. Stewed Beef—Cheap pieces of beef can be stewed so as to make a capital dish. Wipe all the blood from the meat, salt and pep- per it well, cover it in the pot with water; boil from two to three hours till thoroughly tender; add half an onion, a sprinkle of sage, thyme, or summer savory. If the meat is fat, let the water all stew out half an hour before the meat is put on the table, and, when it is well browned on one side in the gravy, turn it over and brown the other. Spiced Beef.—Take a piece of meat from the fore quarter, weighing ten pounds. Those who like fat should select a fatty piece; those who prefer lean may take the shoulder clod or upper part of the fore leg. Take one pint of salt, one tea-cup of molasses or brown sugar, one table- spoon ground cloves, allspice, and pepper, and two table-spoons pulverized saltpeter. Place the beef in a deep pan; rub with this mixture. Turn and rub each side twice a day for a week. Then wash off the spices; put in a pot of boil- ing water, and, as often as it boils hard, turn in a tea-cup of cold water. five hours, on the back part of the stove. When cold, press under heavy weights, and you will never desire to buy corned beef of the butcher again. Your pickle will do for another ten pounds of beef, first rubbing into it a handful of salt. It can be renewed, and a piece kept constantly in preparation. This is a good pickle for tongues fresh from the market. Rolled-wp Beef.—Cut pieces of beef, about as broad as a hand, and three-eighths of an inch thick, pound well, and add pepperand salt. Cut slices of bacon of the same size as the beef, roll the slices together, and tie them with a string. Boil with water enough to cover the meat; . Tt must simmer for! THE KITCHEN AND DINING-ROOM?: keep in a pot well closed. When the beef is tender, take it out, and also half the liquor; let the other half boil down, and then add the first half to it. Season with onions and salt to taste. Cut the strings off the meat and put on the table with the gravy. If to be used on the second day, boil it up again, cutting a pickle in the sauce, and it will be just as good. If to be kept for a time, put it ina dish and cover with fat. It will keep good for several weeks. Pressed Beef—Salt a piece of the thin part of the flanks, the tops of the ribs, or a piece of the brisket, with salt and saltpeter, for five days. Boil until very tender; then place be- tween two boards, with a heavy weight upon the top one, and let it remain until cold. Serve it as it is, and garnish it with parsley. To Mince Beef.—Shred the underdone part fine, with some of the fat; put it into a small stew-pan, with a little onion, a little water, pepper, and salt; boil it till the onion is quite soft; then put some of the gravy of-the meat to it, and the mince; but do not let it boil again, Have a small hot dish with bits of bread ready, and pour the mince into it, but first mix a large spoonful of vinegar with it. Beef Cakes.—Pound some beef that is under- done with a little fat bacon, or ham; season with pepper, salt, and a little onion; mix them well; and make into small cakes three inches long, and half as wide and thick; fry them a little brown, and serve them in a good thick gravy. Beef Patties.—Shred underdone dressed beef with a little fat; season with pepper, salt, and a little onion. Make a plain paste; roll it thin and cut it in shape like an apple-puff; fill it with the mince, pinch the edges, and fry them of a nice brown. The paste should be made with a small quantity of butter, egg, and milk. Beef Pie.—Take cold roast beef or steak, cut it into thin slices, and put a layer into a pie- dish, Shake in a little flour, pepper, and salt; cut up a tomato (if in the season) or onion, chopped fine; then another layer of beef and _ seasoning, and so on until the dish is filled. If you have any beef gravy, put it in; if not, a little beef drippings, and water enough to make sufficient gravy. Have ready one dozen potatoes well boiled and mashed, half a cup of milk or cream, and a little butter and salt. Spread it over the pie as a crust, an inch thick, brush it over with egg, and bake about twenty- five minutes. Cooking Tripe-—Clean it well; let it lie for several days in sult and water. Wash it well MUTTON—PORK. before cooking, then roll it, tie with twine, put it into cold water, and boil slowly for three hours, skimming it frequently. Then peel and cut into halves half a dozen white onions, lay them in a pan of cold water for half an hour, to extract the strong taste; then put them into fresh cold water, and boil for half an hour, with a little salt. Throw off the water, and cover them with new milk, and let them sim- mer for fifteen minutes, mash them well; then rub a large spoonful each of butter and flour together; stir this into the milk and onion, and let it simmer and mix together. Rub through a sieve, and add a cupful of cream or milk. Serve this hot with the tripe, which should be cut into slices before sending it to the table, keeping it rolled in cutting. Muttom.—Steaks Maintenon.— Half fry ; stew them while hot, with: herbs, crumbs, and seasoning ; put them in paper immediately, and finish on the gridiron, Be careful the paper does not catch; rub a bit of butter on it first to prevent that. Mutton Chops.—Cut the pieces from the loin or the best part of the neck; take off most of the fat. Dip them in «a beaten egg, or not, as you prefer, strew over them some crumbs of cracker or bread, sprinkle them with salt or cut parsley, and fry them in a very little butter. Two or three slices of salt pork or a little lard may be substituted for butter. When thechops are done, lay them in a hot dish; pour a tea- cupful of hot water into the frying-pan, dredge in a little flour, and as it boils up stir it thor- oughly, then pour it over the chops. Mutton chops are very good broiled; and steaks cut from a good leg which has been kept several days, are as fine as any meat can be for this purpose. Rayout of Mutton.—Put in the pot a quarter of a pound of dripping; when hot, peel and cut twenty small turnips, or ten large ones, into pieces the size of a walnut; put them into the fat and fry until brownish. Take them out; then put into the fat a quarter of a pound of flour; stir round until brown. You have pre- pared four pounds of scrag of mutton, cut in small pieces; put them in, and stir round; then add enough water to cover the meat; stir until boiling. When the mutton is nearly done, which you will find by trying it with a fork, add the turnips; season with three tea- spoonfuls of salt, one of pepper, the same of brown sugar, and a little bit of scraped garlic, 665 if handy. Any part of mutton may be used. Ragout of veal or lamb may be done in this manner. Lamb and Rice.—Half roast a neck of lamb, take it up and cut into steaks; take half a pound of rice boiled ten minutes in a quart of water, put it into a quart of good gravy, with two or three blades of mace, and a little nut- meg; do it over a stove or fire till the rice be- gins to be thick; then take it off and stir in half a pound of butter, and when that is quite melted, stir in the yolk of six eggs well beaten, then take a dish and butter it all over them, dip them into melted butter, lay them into a dish, pour the gravy that comes off them and then the rice; beat the yolks of three eges and pour all over, send it to the oven and bake it better than half an hour. Hashed Mutton and Fried Eggs.—Cut the cold mutton into neat slices, cutting off the brown outside and fat; warm the meat in the sauce, and add some tomato sauce to the gravy; then put round the dish some sippets of bread and fried eggs. Haricot.—This dish, simple as it is taaide by stewing the breast of mutton tatoes together. good, is and po- Pork.—‘Swine’s flesh,” says the Journal of Physical Culture, “is the worst of meats. God told the Jews not to touch pork, because He knew pork was bad for them. And I echo the voice of my profession from almost every civil- ized country when I say that this immense nse of the flesh of the swine is filling all Christen- dom with saltrheum, erysipelas, scrofula, and other vile humors. And all this is more em- phaucally true when the animal is fattened in a close pen, without exercise, and stuffed with every conceivable kind of filthy food.” Yet, as pork is largely used as an article of food, it is proper to give some of the best modes of its preparation. . Pork Chops. — Cut the chops about half an inch thick; trim them neatly, put a frying-pan on the fire, with a bit of butter; as soon as it is hot, put in your chops, turning them often till brown all over; they will be done eat about fifteen minutes. Season with a little fineiy-minced onion, powdered sage, pepper, and salt. A little powdered sage alone will give them a nice relish. Pork Cutlets.—Cut fat salt pork into slices; parboil it; fry it; then add a batter made of eggs, milk, and flour. Cook in such a way that 666 the pork will be encased in the batter when done. It is superior to the old-fashioned farm- ers’ dish of fried pork and eggs, Roast Pork.—Lay it at some distance from the fire, and flour it well. When the flour dries, wipe the pork clean with a coarse cloth; then cut the skin in rows with a sharp knife, put your meat close to the fire, and roast it as quick as possible. Baste with butter and a lit- tle dry sage. Some persons add onions finely shred, and sage. Roast Pig—To have it in prime order it should be from four to five weeks old, not older, and should be killed and dressed the day before roasting. Make astufling of bread crumbs, dry, and two or three good-sized onions chopped fine, and about two table-spoonsful of finely powdered sage, well seasoned with salt and pepper. Allow no water in the pan, bake whole in a good oven, and rub often with a little bag of butter. When done, the fat should all be poured from the pan, a little water added to the brown gravy, boiled up, and either poured over the pig or served in atureen. It should be served with hot plates, apple sauce, hot, and yery nice onion sauce. Baked Pork.—Any part, not too fat, is ex- ceedingly good done in this way: Cut two pounds in slices, rather large and thin, season with salt and pepper, then add a few slices of fat, then some slices of potatoes, then pork, and then potatoes, until all is in; add half a pint of water. Bake one hour and a half. Pork Pie.—Cut the pork in thick pieces, peel two baking apples, four onions, and eight pota- toes, cut them in slices, season with pepper and sait, and if liked, a little powdered sage; inter- mix the vegetables, lay the slices and the vege- tables together, half a pint of water, or enough to cover it. Bake two hours and serve. Tomato Ham.—Cut a slice of ham, with but little of the fat, an inch thick across the middle ; peel and slice eight or ten red tomatoes and an onion, put ‘them in a small stew-pan, cover close, and cook three-quarters of an hour; season with pepper. To Broil Ham.—Ham is better broiled than d. Slice it thin, and broil the slices ona gridiron; when dished, place a fried egg on each slice and serve out. It should be broiled over bright, hot coals, from five to eight min- utes, turning it once. To Boil Hams—If it be a Maryland or Vir- ginia ham, or any one rather old or hard, it should be soaked over night in plenty of water, then put into a suitable cooking pot of cold THE KITCHEN AND DINING-ROOM: water, which should be raised to a gentle boil, or rather simmer, and this should be continned for fifteen minutes for every pound weight of the ham. Then take out, remove the skin, and dust over it plentifully of bread crumbs, and set in the oven to bake from fifteen or thirty minutes. This very much improves the meat, for much of the fat fries out, and it becomes much more tender and healthy. Buked Hums.—Under the head of braising meats, we have spoken of that delicious mode of cooking hams. Hams are said to be much better baked, if baked right, than boiled. Soak the ham for an honr in clean water, and wipe it dry; next spread it all over with thin batter, and then put into a deep dish, with sticks under it to keep it out of the gravy. When it is fully done, take off the skin and batter crusted upon the flesh side, and set it away to cool. You will find it very delicious, but too rich for dyspeptics. Veal.—Cutlets—Cut steaks from a leg of veal; rub them with salt and a little pepper; dip them first in one or two beaten eggs, and then in rolled cracker crumbs, or grated bread crumbs, and fry in lard or with slices of pork. Brown Ragout of Veal.—Take two pounds of the breast, cut it into rather small pieces, about the size of an egg, roll them well in flour, put some fat in the Jrying pan, fry the meat until a nice brown, take it out, then fry four onions, two turnips cut in large slices, and one carrot the same. When brown, take them out, put the veal and vegetables into a pan, season with two tea-spoonsful of salt and one of pepper, add a pint of water, put into the oven for one hour, skim the fat, shake the pan, and serve. A few herbs and a little ham or bacon is an improvement. Beef, mutton, lamb, and pork may be done in the same way. A tea-spoonful of sugar is an improvement. - r Veal Omelet—Take four pounds of lean veal, and one and a half of fat salt pork ; chop them very fine, orrun them through a sausage cut- ter; add one table-spoonful of salt, one of black pepper, two of sage or summer savory, four table-spoonsful of bread crumbs or pul- verized crackers, four eggs, and two gills of sweet cream; mix eggs, cream, and bread or crackers together; then add the other ingredi- ents; bake in a deep pan three to four hours; put on the top small bits of butter before eook- ing; when done turn it out on a platter, and cut it in slices as you would head-cheese. It will keep for several days. POULTRY. Stewed Veal.—Cut your meat in pieces, wash | them clean, put them into the dinner pot, add three pints of water, put in one onion, some pepper and salt, let it stew one hour; then add | potatoes sliced, and make a crust of sour milk | or cream of tartar, and put in and stew till the| potatoes are done, about half an hour; the crust may be made into biscuits. Crumbs of any kind of fresh meat may be used in making a stew. Veal Potpie.—Take a serag or breast-neck of veal; cut it into slices about an inch thick; fry | some slices of salt pork in an iron pot; flour the veal; lay them into the hot fat, and let it brown | a little; add water enough to just cover the| meat; let it simmer about half an hour; season | it with pepper and salt; dredge in a little flour. Have ready a common paste, roll it about half an inch thick, just large enough to cover the! neat; cover the pot with a hot iron cover. Let | it cook gently about three-quarters of an hour. Or, instead of boiling a crust with the gravy, make some cream biscuit, bake brown, pull them open, and drop them into the boiling gravy, leaving them in a few moments. Stuffed Leg of Veal.—Take out the bone; rub the meat well with salt and a little pepper; sew up one side, and fill the center with a stuffing | made of soaked bread, a heaping spoonful of lard or butter, four ounces of chopped suet, three chopped boiled eggs, a little salt, pepper, summer savory, and a beaten egg to bind it; | fill the spaces in the meat; sew a piece of | white cloth over the top, and put it in the oven in a baking pan with some cold water. Fre- quently dip up the water and pour over the meat until it is thoroughly cooked. Then thicken the gravy witha little flour. It is good hot or cold. Potted Veal—Pcund cold veal in a mortar, work up with it in a powder, mace, pepper, and salt; shred the leanest part of tongue very finely, or ham is sometimes used; place in a jar or pot a layer of the pounded veal, and upon that a layer of the tongue, and continue alternately until the pot is full, seeing that every layer is well pressed down; pour over the top melted clarified butter, If it is desired, and which is frequenly done, to marble the veal, cut the tongue or ham in square dice in- stead of shreding it, but care must be taken that they do not touch each other or the effect | is destroyed. Veal Cake-—Take away the brown outside of cold roast veal and cut the white meat into thin slices; have also a few thin slices of cold ham, | 667 and two hard boiled eggs, which also slice, and two dessert spoonsful of finely-chopped parsley. Take an earthenware mold and lay veal, ham, eggs, and parsley in alternate layers, with a little pepper and a sprinkling of lemon on the veal. When the mold seems full fill up with strong stock and bake for half an hour, Turn out when cold and garnish with sprigs of parsley. Breakfast Balls.—A little cold mutton or bec, or both, a slice of cold ham, a small quantity of tine bread crumbs, a bit of sage, parsley, or thyme; chop well together; add an egg, a Take a table-spoonful of this mixture, dredge it well little melted butter, pepper, and salt. with flour, drop it into hot lard and fry brown; it is very nice. Poultry.—Preparing Fowls for Cooking.— Professor Biot, in one of his lectures on cook- ing, gave the following excellent directions for preparing fowls: Never wash meats or fowls. Wipe them dry if you choose, and if there is anything unacceptable, it can be sliced off thinly. ing is to be done, except the gall bladder be In cooking a chicken whole, no wash- broken, when it is best to cut the chicken up and wash it thoroughly. And again, in cleans- ing chickens never cut the breast; make a slit down the back of the neck, and take out the crop that way. Then cut the neck bone close, and alter the bird is stuffed the skin of the neck can be turned up over the back, sewed down, and the crop will look full and round. Further, the breast bone should be struck smartly with the back of a heavy knife, and with a rolling- pin to break it. This will make the chicken lie rounder and fuller after it is stufled. The legs and wings should also be fastened with thread close to the side, running a long needle through the body for that purpose. Broiling Fowls.—A good bed of coals, and a good gridiron, several inches from the coals, are quite essential. Put the meat on the gridiron, the cut side down, cook taking it ofl, and dipping the side broiled in butter, pepper, and salt. It should be cooked fully half an hour, with an inverted pan coyer- ing the gridiron. slowly, frequently Roasting a Turkey.—Having filled the turkey with dressing, sew up the opening, truss it nicely, oil it with butter, put it before a moder- ately-hot bright fire or in an oven, heating the skin as evenly as possible, and covering it with paper if there is the least danger of browning too soon. Roast pretty fast the first half hour without scorching, and baste the 668 TUE fowl every five minutes; then let it roast steadily—-rather slowly—for two hours, or two and a half, for a good-sized tender turkey, when it will be done quite through. If the fluid which follows the sticking of a fork through the breast and thighs is entirely free from blood, it is done. If not sufliciently browned, replenish the fire, wet the fowl with a very little yolk of egg, dust it lightly with flour, and let it brown evenly all over. Boned Turkey.—Boil a turkey in as little water as may be, until the bones can be easily separated from the meat. Remove all the skin; cut the meat in thin slices, mixing together the light and dark parts. Season with salt and pepper. Take the liquid in which the turkey was boiled, having kept it warm, pour it on the meat, and mix it well. Shape it like a loaf of bread, wrap it in cloth, and press with a heavy weight for a few hours. When served up it is ent in thin slices. Some of our professional cooks can shape it somewhat like the original bird, so that one can not tell at once when it is seen that itis boned turkey; but this requires skill and labor. It is a favorite cold relish at evening parties. To Roast Geese and Dueks.—Boiling water should be poured all over and inside of a goose or duck before you prepare it for cooking, to tuke out the strong oily taste. Let the fowl be picked clean, and wiped dry with a cloth inside and out; then fill the body and crop with stuff- ing. If preferred to stuffing, fill with onions ; put it before the fire, and roast it brown—re- quiring about two hours and a half. When a goose is less than a year old it can be cooked so as to taste almost as well as a tur- key. When the fowlis nearly ready to be killed, put vinegar into its food, and the day before its neck is brought to the block, pour a spoonful of vinegar down its throat. It has the effect—the reason of which is not well un- derstood—of making the flesh tender. Boil slowly for about two hours, if the goose is old, taking care to skim away the oil. One hour fora young goose. ‘Then stuff, and roast, or bake, like a turkey, using a little good vinegar with the basting. Minced Fowl.—Take the remains of a cold roast fowl and cut off the white meat, which mince finely without any skin or bone; but put the bone, skin, and etceteras into a stew-pan with an onion, a blade of mace, and a handful of sweet herbs tied up, and nearly a pint of water; let it stew for an hour, and then strain and pour off the gravy. KITCHEN AND DINING-ROOM: Cooking Old Fowls.—Cut up in pieces, season to taste, with a little water in the dish; cover tight, set in a moderate oven after breakfast, and when you take it out for dinner, you will find the meat tender and very nutritious. Fricasseed Chicken.—Joint, wash, and lay them in the stew-pan with pepper and salt on each piece, and water scarcely to cover them ; stew them half an hour, take them up, thicken the gravy with flour and a table-spoonful of butter. If convenient, add a gill of cream, let it boil up a minute, return the chicken to the stew- pan, and boil five or six minutes more, then serve them. Chicken Pie.—Take two common-sized chick- ens, put them in the pot with plenty of water, some salt, and boil until tender, but not too much. Then make a crust, as you would for biscuit —ecream is best for mixing it. Roll about one-fourth inch thick, and line the sides of a six-quart pan with the crust, then dip in a layer of chicken, season with butter, pepper, and salt to suit the taste. Then another layer of erust, and again a layer of chicken, and so on until the pan is full. Then roll a top erust large enough to cover the pan, put into the oven, bake moderately one hour and a half, Make holes in the top crust to let out the poi- sonous gases. Rice Chicken Pie. —Cover the bottom of a pudding-dish with slices of broiled ham; eut up a broiled chicken and nearly fill the dish; pour in-gravy or melted butter to fill the dish; add chopped onions, if you like, or a little eurry-powder, which is better; then add boiled rice to fill all interstices and to cover the top thick. Bake it for one-half or three-quarters of an hour, Green sweet corn also makes a good addition to chicken pie. Chicken Croquettes.—Chop up cold chicken; one onion chopped fine to every half pound of meat—the onion to be fried with a table- spoonful of butter; but before the onion is quite fried, add a table-spoonful of flour— stir; then add some broth made from the chicken bones—stir again; add a gill and a half of broth, salt; then the meat is put in— stir again, and put on a slow fire. Three small mushrooms, or tomatoes chopped fine, are then added to the meat, a little nutmeg grated, a little pepper; keep onthe fire a little while, so as to finish the onions, and mix thoroughly about ten minutes; then remove from the fire and stir in two yolks of eggs; then put back on the fire, give one boil and pour into dish; FISH. spread and let it cool; then work a little with the hands to soften it, and divide it for the croquettes; spread a few bread crumbs on the pasteboard and shape; dip each piece into eggs little beaten, roll in bread crumbs again, then drop the croquettes into hog’s fat and fry them. Squirrel Pie—Cut them up and parboil in water, with a little salt in it, for half an hour. Then proceed as in chicken pie. Wish.—Mrying Fresh Fish.—They should be wiped out with a clean cloth—not washed nor soaked in water. Never put them into cold fat. Let the lard, butter, or oil be first heated toa degree just short of burning, and then plunge in the fish—well rubbed with salt—the greater the quantity of fat, and the quicker the fish are eooked, the better they will be, as they give off their own fat instead of absorbing that in which they are cooked. How to Boil Fish—For all kinds of fresh fish, put two spoonsful of salt to every quart of water; put the fish in with the water cold; remove the cover, and only let the water sim- mer. Try with a skewer whether the flesh of the fish stick to the bone; if so, it is not enough —if the flesh drop off, it is too much cooked. A mackerel will take from fifteen to twenty minutes, a haddock a little longer; a pound of fidh takes from fifteen to twenty minutes. Stuffed Fish.—Fill the fish with a stuffing of chopped salt pork and bread, or bread and but- ter, seasoned with salt and pepper, and sew it up. Then sew it into a cloth, or you can not take it up well. Put it in cold water, with water enough to cover it, salted at the rate of a tea-spoonful of salt to each pound of fish; add about three table-spoonsful of vinegar. Boil it slowly for twenty or thirty minutes, or until the fin is easily drawn out. Serve with drawn butter and eggs, with capers or nastur- tium in it. Fish can be baked in the same way, except sewing it upinacloth. Instead of this, cover it with egg and cracker, or butter crumbs. Fish Chowder.—The best fish for chowder are haddock and striped bass. Cut the fish in pieces an inch thick and two inches square; take six or eight good-sized slices of salt pork; put them in the bottom of an iron pot, and fry them till crisped. Take out the pork, leaving the fat; chop the pork fine. Put in the pot a layer of fish, a layer of split crackers, some of the chop- ped pork, a little black and red pepper, a little chopped onion, then another layer of fish, split crackers, and seasoning. This do till you have 669 used your fish. Then just cover the fish with water and stew slowly till it is tender; thicken the gravy with pounded cracker; add catsup if you like. Boil up the gravy once, and pour over the fish; squeeze in the juice of a lenjon. Add salt if necessary. Curry Fish—Put into the pot four onions and two apples, in thin slices, some thyme or savory, with a quarter of a pound of fat or dripping, three table-spoonsful of salt, one table-spoonful of sugar, and fry for fifteen minutes; then pour in three quarts of water and one pound of rice; boil till tender ; add one table-spoonful of curry- powder, mixed in a little water; cut up six pounds of cheap fish the size of an egg; add to the above, and boil for twenty or thirty minutes, according to the kind of fish. If salt fish is used, omit the salt. If no herbs, do without, but always use what you can get. To Freshen Salt Fish—Pour a little vinegar into the water, and soak the fish with the skin side up. Codfish.—Salted codfish, if well freshened and cooked with milk, is one of the best kinds of animal food. It is nice freshened and broiled with butter; codfish and potatoes, and fish-balls are favorites with most persons. Dish of Dried Salmon.—Pull some into flakes ; have ready some eggs boiled hard, and chopped; put both into half a pint of thin cream, and two or three ounces of butter rubbed with a tea-spoonful of flour; skim it and stir till boil- ing hot; makea wall of mashed potatoes round the inner edge of a dish, and pour the above into it. Stewed Oysters.—To a half can of fresh oys- ters poured into a stew pan, add about an ounce of butter, more if you like, about half a ta- ble-spoonful of flour previously stirred with a small quantity of milk; when nearly to the boiling-point add milk to the taste, then allow them to boil about two minutes. When pre- ferred, the milk can be omitted. Curried Oysters—Wash a quart of oysters from their liquor; put the liquor into a sauce- pan; mix a quarter of a pound of butter with two table-spoonsful of flour, and stir it into the liquor, with a table-spoonful of curry-powder, or such spices instead, as your taste may dictate. Let it come to a boil; put in the oysters, give them one boil, and serve in a deep dish. Fried Oysters—Select the largest oysters for frying. Take them out of their liquor with a fork, and endeayor in doing so to rinse off all the particles of shell which may adhere to them. Dry them between napkins ; have ready 670 THE KITCHEN some grated cracker, seasoned with Cayenne pepper and salt. Beat the yolks only of some eggs, and to each egg add half a table-spoonful of thick cream. first in the egg, then in the cracker crumbs, and fry them in plenty of hot butter, or butter and lard mixed, till they are of a light brown on both sides. Serve them hot. Oyster Patties—Put a fine puff crust into small patty-pans, and cover with paste, with a bit of bread in each; and when they are baked have ready the following to fill with, taking ont the bread. Take off the beards of the oys- ters, cut the other parts in small bits, put them inasmall tosser, with a grate of nutmeg, the least white pepper and salt, a morsel of lemon peel, cut so small that you can scarcely see it, a little cream, and a little of the oyster liquor. Simmer a few minutes before you fill. Ob- serve to put a bit of crust into all patties, to keep them hollow while baking. Yorkshire Pie—Make a good crust of beef- suet and flour, and line your dish; fill with alternate layers of as many kinds of game as you can get, including venison, ducks, geese, turkeys, chickens, pheasants, quails, pigeons, ete., together with ham, oysters, and sansage— all the meat boned and well-seasoned with sweet herbs, filling the interstices with calve’s feet jelly, and covering the whole with a crust with vent-holes—heat up gradually, and bake slowly for three or four hours; let it get cold, and then it will furnish variegated cuts, that would almost “raise an appetite beneath the ribs of death.” A glorious dish for the Christ- mas holidays, a large family gathering, or a wedding occasion. Eggs.—Cooking in the Shell—There is but one way of cooking an egg, to have it in per- fection, and that is, cook it in boiling water long enough to have both the white and the yolk just begin to thicken a very little, so that when the egg is opened it will run, and that the white shall not be hard but milky. Here you have all the taste and flavor of all parts of the a the highest degree, and that delicacy of touch which is very agreeable. It should not be boiled, but only scalded_or coddled. The yolk first yields to the power of the caloric, and will be even firmly set while the white will be milky, or most tremulously gelatinous. The flavor, superior to any thing which a plover ever deposited, will be that which the egg of the gallinaceous domestic was intended to haye; the substance, that which is delecta- Dip the oysters, one at a time, | AND DINING-ROOM: ble to the palate, and easy of digestion. There is perfect absence of that gutta percha quality, in the white especially, at once the result and the source of dyspepsia. Eggs would be much more patronized, and much more wholesome, if boiling were discarded. One way to cook eggs is to drop them into boiling water, and let them remain there three minutes—the water all the time boiling, This hardens the white next the shell to almost leathery toughness, while within it is still un- cooked. Another and preferable mode is, to pour boiling water upon the eggs; let them stand in this five minutes; pour off this, and add more boiling water, and immediately bring them to the table in the water. Those taken out at once will be somewhat cooked through; and those left in five minutes will be “hard boiled,” or nearly so, and thus the taste of every one may be suited and no toughness of the whites be observed. Eggs and Sausages—Boil four sausages for five minutes; when half cold, cut them in half lengthways, puta little butter or fat ina frying- pan, and put the sausages in and fry gently, break four eggs into the pan, cook gently, and serve. Raw sausages will do as well, only keep them whole, and cook slowly. Scrambled Eggs.—Put « tea-cupful of milk on to boil; put in a piece of butter the size of a walnut; salt, and dredge in a little flour; have three eggs well beaten, and stir them in quickly when it boils; stir it till it is thickened, not curdled. It is much improved by being turned over buttered toast in a deep dish. Scrambled Eggs with Bread.—Put half a hand- fal of bread: crumbs into a sauce-pan, with a small quantity of cream, salt, pepper, and nut- meg, and let it stand till the bread has imbibed all the cream; then break ten eggs into it, and having beaten them up together, fry it like an omelet. Fried Bisewit and Eggs.—Slice a few cold bis- cut, or some dry, light-bread, fry them slightly in a little butter or nice gravy. Beat three or four eggs with half a tea-cupful of new milk and a pinch of salt When the bread is hot, pour the eggs over it, and cover for a few min- utes, stir lightly, so that all the eggs may be cooked. , A Plain Omelet.—Break six eggs into a basin, rejecting the whites of two; beat them till they are light. Strain them through a sieve, and season them with pepper and salt, or sugar, according as a savory or sweet omelet may be desired. Melt in the pan a piece of butter COOKING about the size of a small walnut; be careful that it does not get hot. Whiskthe eges to the latest moment, and pour the mixture into the pan; stir the omelet gently with a spoon till it begins to thicken, then slip a little more butter beneath it. Shake the pan until the center of the omelet begins to set; fold it in half, place a dish on the top of the pan, and turn the om- elet out. Sweet Omelet.—Beat four eggs into-a basin, add a table-spoonful of milk, a table-spoonful of sugar, a pinch of salt, and beat them well up; put some nice butter into a pan, put in the eggs, and fry. Serve with sugar sifted over. Chopped Ham Omelet.—Six eggs well beaten, cold ham or raw, chopped fine, and stirred in, the whole well seasoned with salt, pepper, sugar, and mustard, making a very savory dish. Fry brown in a buttered pan and turn over in a half minute. Another way to cook ham is to cut out the slices very thin, broil nicely, and put a bit of butter on. Then heat up a pint of rich cream, with mustard, sugar, pepper, and other condiments; butter some slices of toasted bread and lay around the side’of a dish, and turn the hot cream over, having first thickened it with a tea-spoonful of flour paste. French Omelet.—Beat up one dozen eggs with asmall cupful of new milk; salt to your taste. Have ready on the stove a large frving-pan or dripper; let it be sufficiently hot to melt a small piece of butter, just enough to grease the pan so that the egg will not stick to it; pour in enough of the egg to cover the bottom of the pan very thin; move the pan gently, first raising it on one side and then on the other, so as to expose the egg evenly tothe heat. In amoment or so, the egg next to the pan is jellified; then peel it up from the pan with a spoon, and roll it lightly over and over till the whole comes off, and then it is sufficiently cooked, and may be put into a napkin and kept hot (not cooked any more), till another portion of the egg is cooked in the same way as the first. The important thing to be observed in this process is to cook the egg evenly, and so slightly that it does not pass from the jelly stage, which is delicious and wholesome, to the spongy stage, which is tough and indigestible. An epicure would sprinkle in some sprigs of finely-chopped parsley, or thin shavings of ham, some kidneys chopped, or garnish the dish with nice apple sauce or jelly. Green-Corn Omelet.— Grate the corn from twelve ears of corn, boiled, beat up five eggs, stir them with the corn, season with pepper and VEGETABLES, 671 |salt, and fry the mixture brown, browning the top with a hot shovel. When fried in small cakes, with a little flour and milk stirred in for a batter, it is very nice. Tomato Omelet.— Beat six eggs, mix two table-spoonsful of flour in a little water, and add some salt and pepper; peel and chop very fine four tomatoes, stir this all together. Put a bit of butter the size of an egg into a frying-pan, heat it hot, turn on the mixture, stirring all the time until it begins to thicken, then let it stand to brown three minutes, flap it half over, slip it on a dish, and send it to the table very hot. Professor Buor states, that by placing ome- lets in the oven as soon as done, they are ren- dered more flaky. Cooking Vegetables.—Put no green vegetables into the water for cooking till it boils, if you would have them retain all their sweetness. If you would have them retain their green color, such especially as asparagus and peas, not only put them at first into boiling water, suitably salted, but keep the kettle un- covered, and the water boiling till done. To counteract the hardness of the water, should it exist, add a little carbonate of soda with the salt. Jerusalem Artichoke.—It was originally baked in pies, with dates, ginger, raisins, etc., but the modern way of serying them up, is to boil them until they become tender, when, after being peeled and stewed with butter and wine, they are considered very pleasant. Or, when cooked tender, browned in butter, or served with butter gravy. Asparagus.—Cook as soon as possible after cutting, discarding all that is not brittle enough to break easily. Tie in small bunches, and boil in very little water, slightly salted, or steam them till tender; take them out, and put in a covered dish; add sufficient butter to the water to makea rich gravy, thickened with a little flour, and poured over the asparagus. To be eaten as thus prepared or spread over soft toast; or, when boiled soft, it may be chopped - or mashed finely, and incorporated with well- beaten eggs, salted, with a little sweet cream added, and served as an omelet. ’ String Beans. —Gather them while young enough to break crispy; break off both ends and string them; break in halves, and boil in water with a little salt until tender; drain free from water and season with butter. Baked Beans—Take two quarts of middle-~ sized white beans, three pounds of salt pork, and one spoonful of molasses. Pick ‘he beans 672 . over carefully, wash, and turn about a gallon of soft water to them in a pot; let them soak in it lukewarm over night; set them in the morning where they will boil till the skin is very tender and about to break, adding a tea- spoonful of saleratus. Take them up dry, put them in your dish, stir in the molasses, gash the pork, and put it down in the dish, so as to have the beans cover all but the upper surface; turn in water till the top is covered; bake witha steady fire four or five hours, or let them remain in the oven all night. Beans are good prepared as for baking, made a little thinner, and then boiled several hours with the pork. Cabbaye.—Cabbage may be cooked in almost an endless variety of ways. Everybody knows how to boil it with pork and beef, but it does not agree with everybody’s digestion in that form. A more delicate process is to cut it fine, not chopping, but shaving it, and put it ina tin basin, with just enough water to wet it through and keep it from burning. When it is well heated, and greened all through, put in a lump of butter as big as a hen’s ege for one cabbage, and stir it through. Then beat up an ege in half a cup of vinegar, and add a table- spoonful of salt, and stir it well through, taking it immediately from the fire. It can easily be prepared in fifteen minutes, and is excellent. Stuffed Cabbage-—Take a large fresh cabbage, and cut out the heart, Fill the vacaney with stuffing made of cooked chicken, or veal, chop- ped very fine, and highly seasoned, rolled into balls with yolk of Then tie the cabbage firmly together, and boil in a covered kettle for two hours. It makes a very delicious dish, and is often a useful way of using up small pieces of cold meat. Hot Slaw.—Take an egg, a tea-spoonful of flour, a table-spoonful of butter, with salt and pepper to taste, and stir in a tea-eup of vinegar, and let the whole come to a boil; have ready about a pint and a half of finely-cut cabbage, mix it thoroughly, cover it closely, and let it stew, stirring it frequently till tender, when serve. Cardoons.—When cooked, the solid stalks of the leaves of the cardoon are to be cut in pieces about six inches long, and boiled like any other vegetable, in pure water, without salt, till they are tender. They are then to be carefully deprived of the slime and strings that will’ be found to cover them, and having been thus thoroughly cleansed, are to be plunged in cold water, where they must remain until they are wanted for the table. They are then taken oO, ege, THE KITCHEN AND DINING-ROOM: out and heated with while sauce, or’ marrow. The cleansing process just described, is for the purpose of rendering them white, and of de- priving them of a bitterness which is peculiar to them, If this is neglected the cardoons will be black, not white, as well as disagreeable. Cauliflower.—Put a good sized cauliflower in just enough boiling water to cover it, with a large tea-spoonful of coarse salt, and a piece of carbonate of soda the size of a moderate green pea, and boil for twenty-five minutes; then dish and drain out all the water, and put two ounces of butter on top of the cauliflower and cover close. Or, a sance may be made for the cauli- flower by stirring together a cup of butter, a table-spoonful of flour, half a cup of sweet cream, two or three yolks of eggs, with a little grated nutmeg to suit the taste, adding meat soup, or some of the liquor in which the eauli- flower was boiled, and cook it five or ten min- utes till it forms a somewhat thick sauce—a tea-spoonful of vinegar, or wine, will impart to the whole an excellent flavor. Sweet Corn.—Trim off the husks and immerse in boiling water. Boil gently half an hour; ther take out the ears, rub over some butter, pepper, and salt, and brown before a quick fire. Another plan, and one which most persons prefer, is to boil as above; afterward cut off the corn neatly ; return to a pan containing a suffi- cient quantity of mifk to cover; throw in a table-spoonful of butter, the same of sugar and salt, to flavor; simmer slowly for fifteen min- utes, and serve up hot. Succotash.-—Green corn and shelled beans cooked together, and suitably seasoned with butter and salt. Succotash, says Mr. BrercnEr, is a liquid compromise between corn and beans. It is perfect when its flavor is that of corn lapsing into bean, and of bean just changing into corn. In short, it is a dish whose flavor represents the evanishing point of both beans and corn, toward a mystic vegetable union in some happier sphere. But to be perfect there should always be a hierophantie bit of pork presiding over the nuptials, and giving its unctious blessing. Cucumbers.—Slice them into cold water which soon extracts the acid from them, which causes their unwholesomeness. Salt is a good condi- ment for them, but get along with as little pepper and vinegar as possible. Stewed Cucumbers.—Slice them thick, or halye and divide them into two lengths; strew some salt and pepper, and sliced onions; add a bit of butter. Simmer very slowly, and before serv- COOKING VEGETABLES, . ing, if no butter was in before, put some, anda little flour, or if there was butter in, only a little flour, unless it wants richness. Egg-Plant—It must be cooked before fully ripe. Pare, and cut in slices a quarter of an inch thick, placed in seperate layers on a plate, each piece properly salted, and let them remain over night, or at least, two hours or more, the salt extracting a bitter quality. Pour off this dark liquid, fry brown, first one side and then the other, in batter or lard, first dipping each piece in a batter of eggs. Baked Egg-Plant.—Select a good-sized plant, free from defect, cut off the top carefully, as it must be replaced, then scoop out with a large spoon all the pulp; mix with it a large spoon- ful of bread crumbs, a little salt, some nicely- rubbed thyme and summer savory, a little cay- enne and a spoonful of butter; stir these well together, return it to the hollowed plant, then lay on the top which was cut off; lay it in a stew-pan with some thin slices of fat corned pork laid on the bottom, cover tightly and let it cook slowly for about an hour; take off the string and send to table hot or cold. Hominy.—Wash slightly in cold water, and soak twelve hours in tepid, soft water, then boil slowly from three to six hours in same water, with plenty more added from time to time, with great care to prevent burning. Don’t salt while cooking, as that or hard water will harden the corn. So it will peas or beans, green or dry, and rice also. When done add butter and salt; or a better way is to let each one season to snit the taste. It may be eaten with meat in lieu of vegetables, or with sugar or syrup. It is good hot or cold, and the more frequently it is warmed oyer, like bean porridge, the better it becomes. Hominy and Beans.—Mix equal parts of cold baked beans and cold hominy together, and warm up, and you will have an excellent dish. Hominy and Milk, hot or cold, is as much _ better than mush and milk, as that is better than oat-meal porridge. Hulled Corn.—Shell a dozen ears of ripe, dry corn; put it in an iron kettle and cover with cold water; put in the corn a bag of two tea- cupsful of fresh wood ashes, and boi! until the corn looks yellow and tastes strong of tiie alkali; then take out the bag and boil the corn in the lye over an hour; then pour off the lye, add fresh water and simmer until the corn swells. If the hulls do not come off by stir- ring, turn off the water and rub them with a 43 673 towel; add more water and simmer for three or four hours, often stirring to keep it from burning; when it swells out and becomes soft and white, add salt to liking, and let all the water simmer away. Eat warm or cold, with cream or milk. Macaroni.—Put in an iron pot or stew-pan two quarts of water, let it boil; add two tea- spoonsful of salt, one ounce of butter; then add one pound of macaroni, boil till tender; let it be rather firm to the touch; it is then ready for use either for soup, pudding, or to be dressed with cheese. Drain it in a colander; put it back in the pan, add four ounces of cheese or more, a little butter, cream, salt, and pepper; It will be found light and nutritious, and well worthy the notice of vegetarians, though cooked cheese is regarded as very indigestible for weak stomachs, How to Cook Onions.—Peel, wash, and put them into boiling milk and water—water alone will do, but it is not so good; when nearly tender salt them; when tender take them up, toss it well together and serve. pepper them and put some butter on them, when they are ready for the table. Or, chop them alter they are boiled, and put them in a stew-pan, with a little milk, butter, salt, and pepper, and let them stew about fifteen min- utes. This gives them a fine flavor, and they can be served up very hot. Take large onions and parboil them; roast them before the fire with their skins, turning as they require; peel and send them to the table whole, served with melted butter. Peel, slice, and fry them brown in butter or nice dripping. Eggs and Onions.—Boil some eggs hard, pre- serve the yolks whole; cut the whites into slips, and add them to a few small onions which you have first fried in butter; give alla stirup, pour off the superfluous fat; dredge in a little flour; moisten it sufficiently with gravy; add seasoning to taste; let it come to a boil; put in the yolks, and when they are quite hot, serve. Parsnips.—Parsnips are cooked as carrots, but they do not reqnire as much boiling, and are sometimes served differently, being sliced lengthways, dressed with butter and pepper, or mashed with a little cream, some butter, and seasoned with pepper and salt. They are ex- cellent fried, also made into a stew with pork and potatoes, Green Peas.—These should be boiled in very little water, with a tea-spoonful of salt to a pint 674 THE KITCHEN AND DINING-ROOM: of water, and if the peas are not very sweet!or ten minutes the movements of some tardy add a little sugar. When they are young, fifteen minutesis sufficient to boil them. Drain them and add butter, pepper, and salt, to the taste. Peas Stewed in Cream.—Put two or three pints of young green peas into a sauce-pan of boiling water; when they are nearly done and tender, drain them in a colander quite dry ; melt two ounces of butter in a clean stew-pan, thicken it evenly with a little flour, shake it over the fire, but on no account let it brown; mix smoothly with it a gill of cream add half a tea-spoonful of white sugar; bring it to a boil, pour in the peas, and keep them moving until | they are well heated, which will hardly oc-| /salt and pepper. cupy two minutes. Send them to table im- mediately. Peas Pudding, with Corned Beef or Pork.— Wash and pick one quart of split peas; put into a cloth, not tied too closely ; put them on in cold water, and Jet, them cook slowly until tender; take them out and rub them through a sieve into a deep dish; mix with them two well- beaten eggs, a large spoonful of butter, and a little black pepper; stir these well together, then flour the bag well, putin the mixture, and tie as closely as possible; then put the pudding into the pot, which is boiling with the corned pork or beef, and let it cook one hour; serve hot with the meat. Stewed Pea Shells —These sweet shells or pods, s0 commonly assigned to the hogs or cows in our country, are very popular in Ger- mayy, simply stewed with a little butter and savory herbs. Cooking Potatoes—In boiling potatoes, if peeled, they lose much of their substance; but make an incision all around, and another cross- ways, or clip off a little of the largest end, to allow the steam to escape, and render them mealy; put them into water already boiling; when done, pour the water off, dash some cold water into the pot, and after a couple of min- utes, pour this off, partly remove the pot-lid, and let the potatoes remain over the fire till the steam is evaporated. Baked potatoes are excellent, healthful, and improve the blood. Care should be taken to select all alike in size, being sure to allow them just sufficient time to become nicely crisp and brown at the hour the remainder of the dinner is ready. They should not be allowed in the open oven one moment after “done,” there to' shrivel and shrink, as if protesting against or made into puddings. delay ; neither be sent to the table to wait five husband and children. Mashed potatoes, that are nicely pared, boiled, and dried, alter turning off the water, seasoned richly “with salt, cream, or milk and butter, are always good, always nice, if smoothed down into the dish with care, and prettily spotted with pepper. The mashed potatoes left from dinner make |a fancy dish for breakfast, by making into lit- tle cakes or patties, with the hand, and frying brown in drippings or butter. The butter should be hot when the cakes are put in. The boiled potatoes left from yesterday’s dinner are very good chopped fine and warmed for breakfast, in good milk and butter, with When you are boiling your tea-kettle to-night you can boil half a dozen good-sized potatoes, and when cold, slice them the long way, some- thing less than a quarter of an inch in thick- ness. In the morning lay them one by one on the griddle, to slowly toast or brown in good butter or fat, salting them carefully and evenly after placing them in the covered dish. These are always excellent with coffee; and these or the potato balls are an addition to the tea- table. Still another way to fry ig to pare the potato round and round like an apple, until all is used, cooking slowly and evenly, in a covered spider, until brown. ‘ In the Spring, when potatoes are poor, difli- culty is experiencod in preparing thein to rel- ish—pare and cut them half an inch in thick- ness, putting them first in cold water for two or three hours, and then boil in salted water until tender; then pour off the water and put on cream or good milk, seasoning and thickening carefully with only a little flour. If watery, put a bit of lime in the water in which you cook them as large as a walnut; or the watery character of the potato may be rectified by placing them around the stove forseveral days. Chinese Yam.—The best mode of cooking the yam is to parboil and bake them; the texture of the flesh becomes uniform, of a pearly and aJmost snowy whiteness; it is not watery but soft, and very delicate both in-appearance and flavor. : Mock Sweet Potatoes——Steam Irish potatoes well, and wring them in a towel to make them mealy; mash till there are no lumps left, and sweeten with common brown sugar, to the taste. They are now ready to be baked, fried, To Boil Rice-—Soak a tea-cupful of rice in COOKING VEGETABLES. cold water, for six or eight hours, and put it in boiling water, just enough to absorb it all, and let it boil briskly for ten minutes, adding a lit- tle salt and half a pint of cream or a pint and half of milk. The grains are double the usual size, and yery delicious. Too much boiling will make it paste-like, clammy, and indigest- ible. Rice Croquettes—To a pound of rice boiled soft and dry, salted to the taste, add one pint of milk, quarter of a pound of butter, quarter of a pound of sugar, the yolks of five eggs, and the grated rind of one lemon; let the mixture simmer over the fire, but not boil, for twenty minutes; then spread it on a large platter to cool; when cold cut in strips; dip in the whites of the eggs well beaten, and then in bread erumbs, and fry brown in very hot lard. Rice Pilaff.— This truly delicious Oriental dish is thus made; Boil a sufficient quantity of rice in a large quantity of water. It should be put in cold water, witli a little salt, and not stirred while cooking. When thoroughly done strain off the water through a colander or sieve and each kernel will be separate and solid. Then season with salt, pepper, butter, and a little tomato sauce; cut up (not very fine) roasted or boiled mutton, or veal, mix with rice in proportion of about two-thirds to one- third meat. Let them simmer together a few minutes, and serve hot with the meat gravy. The water that the rice has been boiled in makes the very best starch for fine work. Salsify, or Vegetable Oyster.—Wash and scrape the roots clean; then slice in bits about half an inch thick, boil tender, mash fine, and mix with a batter of flour and eggs—say to a quart of sal- sify, two eggs and two table-spoonsful of flour. Put some butter in a frying-pan, and drop a large spoonful of the oyster batter in a place, and fry it a light brown. Spinach.—This is the earliest and most wel- come Spring vegetable, but it is very apt to be spoiled in the cooking. It is important to know that it does not require any water, the expressed juice being quite sufficient to keep it moist and free from burning. Boil it fifteen minutes, after a very careful washing and pick- ing, in a covered sauce-pan without water, and with a little salt; drain thoroughly, and pour over egg sauce—mixing the flour with milk in- stead of water, and garnish with sliced hard- boiled eggs, Summer Squash.—Put the squashes in boiling water whole, and boil briskly till tender, spread 675 a clean, coarse cloth over a colander, and lay them in it, cut a piece from each end, and re- moye the seeds with a spoon. Mash the squashes fine, press quite dry, and again place them over the fire a few minutes, and season with butter, pepper, and salt. Stewed Tomatoes. —If very ripe, will skin easily ; if not, pour scalding water on them and let them remain in it four or five minutes. Peel and put them in astew-pan, with a table-spoon- ful of water, if not very juicy; if so, no water will be required. Put in a little salt, and stew them for half an hour; then turn them into a deep dish with buttered toast. Baked Tomatoes.— Another way of cooking them, which is considered very nice by epicures, is to put them ina deep dish, with fine bread crumbs, crackers pounded fine, a layer of each alternately ; put small bits of butter, and little salt and pepper on each layer—some cooks add a little nutmeg and sugar. Have a layer of bread crumbs on the top. Bake in three- quarters of an hour. Browned Tomatoes.—Take large round toma- toes and halve them; place them, the skin side down, in afrying-pan in which a very small quantity of butter or lard has been previously melted; sprinkle them well with salt and pep- per and dredge them well with flour; place the pan ona hot part of the fire, and let them brown thoroughly; then stir them and let them brown again, and soon until they are quite done. They lose their acidity, and the flavor is superior to stewed tomatoes, Tomato Cheese-—Take a dozen large, ripe, tomatoes, scald, and remove the skin, then thoroughly mix them after cutting into slices, with a pound of sweet dried beef, shaved as thin as tissue paper. Put in with the tomatoes and beef the sweet white curd from a quart of milk, seasoned with pepper and ground cloves; put the whole into a stout bag of loosely woven dinen, and after kneading and manipulating un- til all the ingredients are perfectly incorporated, first squeeze out every drop of liquid that can be forced through the cloth. Then place the material in a “hoop” from a round wooden spice box, by taking out the bottom and cutting in the edge four little notches as vents for the escape of any juice that may remain. Then place the removed bottom on the top of the mass as a “follower,” and press twenty-four hours, and put by in a cool dry place. For use, shave in thin slices. Turnips.—Take a slice off the top end and 676 THE cut off the tap-root close, leaving the other part’! of the paring on. It boils soft, is short grained, | and helps the flavor of the turnips. Salad Dressing. — Rub very fine through a sieve, the yolks of six eggs boiled thirty minutes; add the yolks of three unboiled eggs, one tea- | spoonful of fine salt, one large table-spoonful of mustard, a very little cayenne pepper, if you like; one flask of very best oil, poured in very, little at a time, and thoroughly beaten; two. table-spoonsful of vinegar. If you like it more acid, add more vinegar; if the dressing is too, thick, add a little hot water or cream. Chicken Salad.—Mincee finely the white parts cf one chicken previously well boiled. Take blanched, crisp celery and chop very fine. With one measure of the minéed chicken mix one and a half measures of the chopped celery. Boil hard one large or two small eggs, roll the yolk fine, and mixing in a tea-spoonful of mustard, and nearly as much salt, with half a tea-eupful of vinegar; pour this over the chicken, Cut the boiled whites of the eggs in rings and lay on top, garnishing also with the smaller leaves , of the celery. Usually the celery is not chop-| ped half fine enough. Meat Salad.—Ten or a dozen potatoes boiled and peeled, are cut up into small dice, as also two herrings, three pared apples, a quarter of | a pound of roast veal, and as much boiled ham, | one large pickled beet, and ten small cucumber | pickles; all of them are cut up together, and dressed with oil freely, vinegar and salt spar- ingly, and a spoonful of French mustard, Cabbage Salad.-— A cold salad of cabbage is thus prepared: Slice very fine and lay in the dish. Beat up two eggs in a cup of vinegar; add a tea-spoonful of mustard, two tea-spoons- | ful of sugar, one of salt, and a large lump of butter. Boil and turn over the cabbage. For a supper dish this is very nice eaten cold. Boiled Celery Salad.—Cut the celery in slices, boil it, and lay it in the dish; dress it with cresses, endiyes, and radishes, and flavor with vinegar and oil. Hominy Salad.—To a pint of cold hominy, add asmall onion, a quarter of a boiled chicken, or about the same quantity of lobster, chopped fine, to which some add a small pickle. To be dressed with sweet oil, mustard, pepper, and vinegar. It is a very good substitute for green salads, at seasons when the latter can not be obtained. ; Lettuce Salad.—This is made by simply cut- ting the lettuce into strips, and decorating it by a covering composed of the petals of roses, KITCHEN AND DINING-ROOM: pinks, lady’s slippers, and the blossoms of wild chickory. Sidney Smith’s Winter Salad. Two large potatoes, passed through kitchen sieve, Unwonted softness to the salad give, Of mordant mustard add a single spoon— Distrust the condiment which bites so soon; But deem it not, thou man of herbs, a fault, To add a double quantity of salt; Three times the spoon with oil of Lucca crown, And once with vinegar procured from town. True flavor needs it and your poet begs, The pounded yellow of two well-boiled eggs, Let onion atoms lurk within the bowl, And searce suspected, animate the whole; And lastly on the favored compound toss A magic tea-spoon of anchovy sance; Then, though green turtle fail, though venison’s tough, And ham and turkey are not boiled enough, Serenely full, the epicure may say— “Fate can not harm me—I bare dined to-day.” Table Drimks.—Professor Looms thus speaks of milk, tea, and coffee: ‘Milk con- tains in solution not only a due proportion of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, but all the other elements necessary for the construe- tion of bone, nerve, ete., and hence is always a proper food in all circumstances of health. Tea derives its beneficial qualities not from its direct supply of nutrition, but from its afford- ing a peculiar substance called theine, the effect of which in the system is to diminish the waste, thus making less food necessary. Tea thus has a positive economic value, not as a supplying but as a saving nutriment. Coffee, though of a taste so little allied to tea, derives its value in precisely the same manner and from nearly the same substances. Its value and effect in the system are therefore the same as those ahoye stated. It is hence evident that milk, tea, and coffee are valuable articles of food under all conditions of temperature.” Housekeepers, especially in hotels and large boarding houses, are sometimes compelled from necessity to use milk for tea and coffee after the cream has risen. As a consequence one boarder will have the benefit of all the cream, and the others of the skim-milk from the cream pitcher. When several quarts are to be used, this may easily be remedied by running the milk through a common tin strainer, when the cream will be thoroughly broken up and mixed with the milk and look and be essentially like new milk. By this simple device many a housekeeper may maintain her character of furnishing something besides skim-milk for her boarders. be Never reduce coffee by adding hot water—use hot milk or cream. For such persons as find coffee disagrees with them, fill the cup two- TABLE thirds full of boiling hot milk, sugar to the taste, and fill up half the space left with strong coffee. When cream can not be had, the yolks of eggs beaten to a froth, and stirred gradually into cold milk, in the proportion of three to a pint, is a good substitute; pouring the milk and ege in the cup, and stirring with a spoon while filling with coffee. Making Tea.—Good tea can not be made with hard water. Water can be made soft by add- ing a tea-spoonful of borax powder to an ordi- nary-sized kettle of water, in which it should boil; and the saving in the quantity of tea used will be at least one-fifth. Mrs. Stowe informs us, that as we look to France for the best coffee, so we must look to England for the perfection of tea. The tea- kettle is as much an English institution as aris- tocracy or the prayer-book; and when one wants to know exactly how tea should be made, one has only to ask how a fine old English house- keeper makes it. The first article of her faith is that the water must not merely be hot, not merely have boiled a few moments since, but be actually boiling at the moment it touches the tea. Hence, though servants in England are vastly better trained than with us, this deli- cate mystery is seldom left to their hands. Tea-making belongs to the drawing-room, and high-born ladies preside at “the bubbling and lond-hissing urn,” and see that all the due rites and solemnities are properly performed—that the cups are hot, and that the infused tea waits the exact time before the libations commence. How to Make It.—First heat the tea-pot by pouring boiling water into it; pour this out, and put into the pot as much good tea as you wish to use; then pour in boiling water enough to completely cover the tea so as to wet it thoroughly. Set the pot on the cooking table, if that is handy (it need not be set on anything that is hot), and in five minutes pour in boil- ing water enough for the first eups, and pour out immediately. If a second cup, or cups, are wished, and tea enough has been put in the pot, add boiling water in sufficient quantity. This rule applys particularly to Japanese and Hyson teas. Perhaps black tea would not be as good made’in this way, as if it were steeped longer. That may depend on taste. To Make a Choice Cup of Tea.—Put, say half a téa-spoonful of tea into a cup, and fill with boiling water; and replenish with hot water as wanted. A slight infusion brings out the aro- ma, which is the agreeable and healthful qual- DRINK. 677 ity of the tea, while the essential oil brought out by boiling or long steeping is disagreeable to the cultivated taste, and acts powerfully on the nerves. Properties and Preparation of Coffee—In an able article by Baron Lresre, in the London Popular Science Review, it is asserted that “tea acts directly on the stomach, whose moyements sometimes can be so much augmented by it, that strong tea, if taken fasting, inclines to vom- iting. Coffee, on the contrary, furthers the per- istalic movement downwards; and, therefore, the German man of letters, more accustomed to a sitting life, looks on a cup of coffee, with- out milk, and assisted by a cigar, as a yery ac- ceptable means of assisting certain organic pro- cesses, “Coffee contains a crystalline substance, nam- ed caffeine or theine, because it is also a compo- nent part of tea. This matter is volatile, and every care must he taken to retain it in the eof- fee. For this purpose the berries should be roasted till they are of a pale-brown color; in those which are too dark there is no caffeine; if they are black the essential parts of the berries are entirely destroyed, and the beverage pre- pared from these does not deserve the name of coffee. “The berries of coffee, once roasted, lose every hour somewhat of their aroma, in con- sequence of the influence of the oxygen of the air, which, owing to the porosity of the roasted berries, can easily penetrate. This pernicious change may best be avoided by strewing over the berries, when the roasting is completed, and while the vessel in which it has been done is still hot, some powdered white or brown sugar (half an ounce to one pound of coffee: is suffi- cient). The sugar melts immediately, and by well shaking or turning the roaster quickly, it spreads over all the berries, and gives each one a fine glaze, impervious to the atmosphere. They have then a shining appearance, as though covered with a varnish, and they in conse- quence lose their smell entirely, which, how- ever, returns in a high degree as soon as they are ground. After this operation, they are to be shaken out rapidly from the roaster and spread on a cold plate of iron, so that they may cool as soon as possible. If the hot berries are allowed to re- main heaped together, they begin to sweat, and when the quantity is large, the heating process, by the influence of air, increases to such a de- gree that at last they take fire spontaneously. The roasted and glazed berries should be kept 678 4ux KITCHEN in a dry place, because the covering of sugar attracts moisture. “Tf the raw berries are boiled in water, from twenty-three to twenty-four per cent. of soluble matter is extracted. On being roasted till they ussumea pale chestnut color, they lose fifteen to sixteen per cent., and the extract obtained from these by means of boiling water is twenty to twenty-one per cent. of the weight of the un- roasted berries. The loss in weight of the ex- tract is much larger when the roasting process is carried on till the color of the berries is dark- brown or black. At the same time that the berries lose in weight by roasting they gain in volume by swelling; one hundred volume of green berries give, after roasting, a volume of one hundred and fifty to one hundred and six- ty; or two pint measures of unroasted berries give three pints when roasted. “The usual methods of preparing coffee, are, first, by filtration; second, by infusion; third, by boiling. “ Filtration gives often, but not always, a good cup of coffee. When the pouring of boiling water over the ground coffee is done slowly, the drops in passing come in contact with too much air, whose oxygen works a change in the aromatic particles, and often destroys them en- tirely. The extraction, moreover, is incom- plete. Instead of twenty to twenty-one per cent. the water dissolves only eleven to filteen per cent., and seven to ten per cent. is lost. “ Tnfusion is accomplished by making the wa- ter boil, and then putting in the ground coffee; the vessel being immediately taken off the fire and allowed to stand quietly for about ten min- utes. The coffee is ready for use;when the pow- der swimming on the surface falls to the bottom on slightly stirring it. This method gives a very aromatic coffee, but one containing little extract. “ Boiling, as is the custom in the East, yields excellent coffee. The powder is put on the fire in cold water, which is allowed merely to boil up a few seconds. The fine particles of coflee are drunk with the beverage. If boiled long, the aromatic parts are volatilized, and the cof- fee is then rich in extract, but poor in aroma. “As the best method, I adopt the following, which is a union of the second and the third: “The usual quantities both of coffee and water are to be retained; a tin measure con- taining half an ounce of green berries, when filled with roasted ones, is generally sufficient for two small cups of coffee of moderate strength, or one, so called, large breakfast cup (one pouna AND DINING-ROOM: of green berries, equal to sixteen ounces, yield- ing after roasting twenty-four tin measures [of one-half ounce ] for forty-eight small cups of coffee), “With three-fourths of the coffee to be em- ployed, after being ground, the water is made to boil for ten or fifteen minutes. The one-quar- ter of the coffee which has been kept back is then flung in, and the vessel immediately with- drawn from the fire, covered over, and allowed to stand for five or six minutes. In order that the powder on the surface may fall to the bot- tom, it is stirred round; the deposit takes place, and the coffee poured off is ready for use. In order to separate the dregs more completely, the coffee may be passed throngh a clean cloth; but generally this is not necessary, and often preju- dicial to the pure flavor of the beverage. “ The first boiling gives the strength, the sec- ond addition the flavor. The water does not dissolve of the aromatie substances more than the fourth part contained in the roasted coffee. “The beverage when ready ought to be of a brown-black color; untransparent it always is, somewhat like chocolate thinned wich water; and this want of clearness in coffee so prepared does not come from the fine grounds, but from a peculiar fat resembling butter, about twelve per cent. of which the berries contain, and which, if overroasted, is partly destroyed. “In the other methods of making coffee, more than the half of the valuable parts of the berries remains in the ‘grounds,’ and is lost.” Coffee may be too bitter, says Count Rum- FORD, but it is impossible that it ever should be too fragrant. The very smell of it is revi- ving, and has often been found to be useful to sick persons, and to those who are afflicted with the headache. In short, everything proves that the volatile, aromatic matter, whatever it may be, that gives flavor to coffee, is what is most valuable in it, and should be preserved with the greatest care, and that in estimating the strength or richness of that beverage, its fra- grance should be much more attended to, than either its bitterness or astringency. It is not generally known that coffee which has been beaten is better than that which has been ground. Such, howeyer, is the fact, and, in his brief article on the subject, SAVARIN gives what he considers the reason for the dif- ference. As he remarks, a mere decoction of green coffee is a most insipid drink, but carboni- zation develops the aroma, and an oil which is the peculiarity of the coffee we drink. He agrees with other writers, that the Turks excel TABLE in this. They employ no mills, but beat the berry with wooden pestles in mortars. When long used these pestles become precious, and bring great prices. He determined, by actual experiment, which of the two methods was the best. He burned carefully a pound of good Mocha and separated it into two equal portions. The one was passed through the mill, the other beaten, after the Turkish fashion, in a mortar. He made coffee of each. Taking equal weights of each, and pouring on an equal weight of boiling water, he treated them both precisely He tasted the coffee himself, and caused The unani- alike. other competent judges to do so. mous opinion was, that coffee beaten in a mor- tar was far better than that ground in a mill. The best coffee is the Mocha, the next is the Java, and closely approximating is the Jamaica and Berbice. Prime Rio is a very good arti- cle; Lagnyra is probably the mildest of all. A mixture of Java and Mocha makes a rich drink—to four table-spoonsful of Java, half a spoonful of Mocha for a quart. French Coffee—Mrs. Stowe thus most appe- tizingly describes the French mode of making coffee. In the first place, then, the French coffee is coffee, and not chiccory, or rye, or beans, or peas. In the second place it is freshly roasted, whenever made—roasted with care and evenness in a little revolying cylinder, which makes part of the furniture of every kitchen, and which keeps in the aroma of the berry. It is never overdone, so as to destroy the coffee flavor, which is, in nine cases out of ten, the fault of the coffe we meet with. Then it is ground and placed in a coffee-pot with a filter, through which it percolates in clear drops, the coffee-pot standing on a heated stove to main- tain the temperature. The nose of the coffee- pot is stopped up, to prevent the escape of the aroma during this process. The extract thus obtained is a perfectly clear, dark fluid, known as cafe noir, or black coffee. It is black only because of its strength, being in fact almost the very essential oil of coffee. A table-spoonful of this in boiled milk would make what is or- dinarily called a strong cup of coffee. The boiled milk is prepared with no less care. It must be fresh and new, not merely warmed, or even brought to a boiling point, but slowly sim- mered until it attains a thick, creamy rich- ness. The coffee mixed with this, and sweet- ened with that sparkling beet-root sugar which ornaments a French table, is the celebrated - eafe-au-lait, the name of which has gone round the world. -DISHES. 679 Brazilian Coffee-—For each cup the size of | our tea-cups, to be made, the Brazilians meas- jure a table-spoonful of ground coffee, parched to the color of a ripe chestnut. This is placed in a gauze bag, within the coffee-pot, and boil- ing water is poured upon it. There are no “grounds”? in the decoction; and it is so strong that it leaves a brown stain upon the white china cup. The Brazilians never put milk in their coffee, as they think that milk injures the properties of the decoction, and it is never drank until the close of the meal, Usually it is never brought to the table until everything else is removed. Professor Biot on Coffee—Grind your coffee finer than it is generally sold at the stores. Have the coffee fine because you can better ex- tract the strength. The reason why coffee is muddy is that it is boiled. By boiling coffee you lose the best part. When you boil coffee you extract the volatile oil that makes it so very bitter. As to quantity, use as much as to make it to your taste; begin with two ounces to a quart of water, reduce it if too strong, and increase it if too weak. It is better when three or four kinds of coffee are used; one gives the body, the other the taste; and the third the color, ete. Cold Coffee—Coffee kept from meal to meal, with the intention of renewing for use, should not stand in tin. Let it be poured into an earthen dish, and the coffee-pot be washed and dried each time of using. There are few things that will take a flavor more readily than coffee. Rye Coffee, ete.—Take a peck of rye and cover it with water, let it steep or boil until the grain swells or commences to burst, then drain and dry it. Roast to a deep brown color, and pre- pare as other coffee, allowing twice the time for boiling. Serve with boiled milk. Barley, peas, and sweet corn may be pre- pared and used inthe same manner. One-third real coffee may be added to the ground rye, corn, ete., quite advantageously. Sweet Potato, Carrot, and Chickory Coffee.—Cut up sweet potatoes fine enough to dry conven- iently, and when dried, grind in a coffee-mill; dry them by the fire or stove, or by the sun; grind and use, mixed with coffee in such pro- portions as you like; some omit half of the coffee, some more, Prepare carrots and chickory in the same manner, All these vegetable substitutes for coffee have the double merit of being cheap and wholesome, except perhaps, chiccory — 680 some writers commending it, while, according to some medical authorities, its habitual use is anything but conducive to health, producing heart-burn, loss of appetite, nervous derange- ments, alternate constipation and diarrhea, ete. Chocolate—Use four table-spoonsful of best grated chocolate for one quart of water; mix free from lumps with little water, and boil fif- teen minutes. Then add one quart of rich milk; bring it to a boil, grating in nutmeg, and sweeten to the taste, adding cream as pour- ed out at the table, German Chocolate—Four large table-spoons- ful of the best grated chocolate, adding gradu- ally two quarts of rich milk, the whites of four and yolks of two eggs, beaten light but not separated; add a gill of cold milk, and beat well; add gradually a coffee-cup of the choco- late to the milk and egg while hot, beating constantly. Take the chocolate from the fire, keep it hot, but not boiling, and add the egg and milk gradually; stir constantly to prevent curdling; flavor with nutmeg, vanilla, or cin- namon, to suit the taste; and sugar, if desired— The egg is to be added A very the Germans use none. just before serving in chocolate bowls. delicious drink. Pies and Tarts.—