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DESIGN FOR A LABORER'S COTTAGE. This is a small but complete cottage of its kind. It has a front entry as a protection from cold winds, and for proper seclusion; a small closet on the left of this entry; a bed-room and living-room, the latter with two closets; and a wood-house in the rear, which may be built with the house or added afterwards. A portion of this wood-house may be fitted up as a sort of summer kitchen, to which the cooking stove may be removed during dog-days. The cellar beneath is reached by a flight of stairs from the living-room, under the entry stairs. The bed-room on the principal floor may open into the entry, if desired; but it will be more comfortable in cold weather if immediately connected with the living room and receiv

W. H.

LIVING ROOM
12X17

BED ROOM
7X9

ing of its warmth. The stairs to the chamber, land under
the highest part of the roof, consequently there is no dan-
There are
ger of striking one's head against the rafters.
two rooms and a spacious closet above.

There being no windows on the side of the entrance, it is intended that this side be mostly covered with prairie roses or other running plants, kept several inches or a foot from the outside boards, by means of a frame or latticework trellis, made for their support.

This cottage is nearly square, or 18 by 20 feet outside, affording an economical enclosure of space; and the roof, having considerable ascent, furnishes plenty of chamber room. The ceiling is 74 feet high, and the eaves about 3 feet above it. It may be built with a cellar under the whole, and with a rough board wood-house for about three

hundred dollars,

It should be observed that the window-hoods should not be made of inch boards as is sometimes done, which gives them a flimsy appearance, but of plank at least two inches thick, and better if three inches.

The foregoing is one of several Original Designs prepared for the coming Number of the ILLUSTRATED ANNUAL REGISTER OF RURAL AFFAIRS for 1861.

MOUNTAIN SERDLING GOOSEBERRY.

years, and am highly pleased with it. The plant is of a robust habit, often growing five to six feet high: branches upright and strong; leaves deep glossy green, and very large; the berries grow in clusters of three or four, and will average nearly as large as the outline under ordinary treatment; color of berry, dull red; quality equal to Houghton. The plant is very productive, and never mildews. It is undoubtedly a native, of the same type as Houghton, and more valuable than that fine sort, on account of its fine size and the more vigorous and upright character of the plant. E. Y. TEAS. Richmond, Ind.

THE HARVEST RETURNS ABROAD.

The Agricultural Gazette (London) of the 18th of Aug. contains its annual Harvest Report. As to the Wheat crop, out" of 140 reports received from as many correspondents in England and Scotland, no fewer than 93 declared the crop to be below an average; and if the chief

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wheat-growing districts be selected it will be found that the proportion of unfavorable returns is quite as large.' The same journal of the 25th contains a supplementary report, upon which the following editorial comments are given:

The additional harvest returns in another page corroborate those which were published last week. Of 30 reports of the wheat crop in Scotland and England, 19 estimate it as under average. Of 33 reports of the barley crop, 23 declare it to be average, and seven put it as very good or over average. Of 32 reports of oats, four are under average, 22 are average, and six are over average. Both peas and beans in these supplementary returns are generally reported as being superior

crops.

The weather which has befallen us since the date of these returns must, however, be remembered by any one who would derive from thein his opinion of the present harvest. In sevGOOD SHEEP. Mr. WM. VERNON of Scaghticoke, has 18 eral instances, as from Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, and elsewhere, we have had intimation of the serious injury done; pure superior wooled Cotswold ewes, which have pro-and though a few only of our correspondents have sent to corduced this season 27 lambs. They were dropped late in rect their reports, both of the probable harvest time and of the March, and now average 105 pounds each.

probable yield, yet everywhere we know the ripening of the

grain being delayed, and both its quality and its quantity are being injured by the constant cold and wet.

This weather, too, is general; the Times reports it to be as mischievous in France, in Holland, in Holstein, and in Germany as it is in England. In districts earlier than our own the question is--how is the harvest to be got in if we are to

have a continual alteration of rain and sunshine.

spreading them smoothly around, so that the whole presents the appearance shown in the engraving, which we copy from Le Bon Fermier—where it is stated that grain may stand thus, to ripen, for from two to three weeks before carrying it in.

"This method of moyettes or villottes," M. Barral goes on to say, in the article from which we are quoting, "recommended first by de Vaux in 1822, then by de Dombasle, de Gasparin, and many other agriculturists, is gaining ground every day—especially in these seasons of bad weather. Thanks to the good counsels of science now more widely received, we have no longer to dread such disasters as history has sometimes recorded. Many old cultivators who compare the present season with the worst they have ever gone through before, are speaking of the rains of 1816, when everything was totally lost, and the grain rotted on the ground. Nothing like this, fortunately, is now to be apprehended."

[For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] Dry Yeast---Bread and Biscuit.

"The wheat in the districts to the south-east of Paris, where the crop has been gathered in, is more or less injured by the damp, and the new wheat offered for sale in those markets is unfit for millers' use. The wheat in the northern and western departments of France, where the harvest is being commenced, will be more or less injured should the weather not change for the better. Even in the south of France it has been found difficult to thresh out the corn. The rain penetrated the stacks, which were not made for such unseasonable weather, and the new wheat brought to market is unfit for storing. It will be long before the wheat now being reaped will be sufficiently dry. The accounts from Germany are not more satisfactory. It rains in Holland, it rains in Holstein, and the wheat harvest is retarded. Bye and barley have suffered. Accounts from Berlin state that the potato crop is diseased, and that the rye and barley on the ground are in danger of perishing." In addition to the foregoing we have the Journal d'Agriculture Pratique (Paris, August 20) from which we translate for the COUNTRY GENTLEMAN M. BARRAL'S leading paragraph:-"The agricultural fortnight," he reremarks in effect, "may be announced in a general la-rections for making dry yeast, and on page 79 are a few In page 31 of the current vol. Co. Gent. are very plain dimentation, making itself heard from North to South. amendments to them. These directions meet the approval of Here they fear for the Vintage, there for the Harvest. my wife, who is an excellent bread baker; they are the same Grapes threaten to remain green-at least those that are these cakes to soak in a half pint of warm water in the evenas those by which she makes her dry yeast. She puts a few of not eaten up with the oidium-in either case producing ing, letting them soak until the next evening. She then sets only a wine of pitiable quality. As to the grain, no one her rising by boiling and mashing fine two quarts of potatoes; ventures to cut it. In Beauce," a fertile district forming to these she adds water sufficient for the rising, about milk parts of the departments of Loir-et-Cher and Eure-et- warm, and a tablespoonful of salt; then stirs in her flour and yeast until a proper consistency; she then sets away to rise unLoir, "three-quarters and a half are still standing as we til morning; then she adds flour to the rising, kneads it well write, and the abundant rains prevent their going rashly and sets it away to rise; after rising, she moulds it into loaves and sets it to rise a short time again, then bakes. During the to work. Besides the crop has not come to maturity summer she, instead of boiling potatoes, boils thick sour milk; throughout the whole north, and they can only proceed to she takes the whey which separates and sets her rising as the harvest on condition of hurrying to put the sheaves above. When her yeast cakes are new she puts them to soak in the morning previous to setting her rising. Her mode of in stooks protected by cap-sheaves to shed the rain" [en making light onke or biscuit is as follows: When her bread moyettes recouvertes de chaperons.] is ready to mould up she takes a large bowl full of the dough, a teacupful each of sugar and butter, grates in half a nutmeg, kneads them together, makes them into balls or loaves about an inch and a half in diameter, puts them in a tin, lets them rise, and bakes. It is surprising how little attention many farmer's wives pay to making light sweet bread, one of the most important parts of the meal, always having hard, heavy, sour bread, with butter to match, requiring a sharp appetite to make them go down.

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J. W. L.

[For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] Reci e for Elderberr-- Wine.

To 1 gallon of berries put 1 gallon of water-boil it until the berries burst-strain them, and to every gallon of this juice add 3 pounds of moist sugar, 1 ounce of ginger, "cloves and cinnamon," of these two last enough to suit the taste. Let it stay in the cask until March. RUSTICUS.

MESSRS. LUTHER TUCKER & SON-In your last CULTIVATOR a request was made for a recipe to make good elderberry wine, and having one that has been tried for years, I will give it to you for the benefit of your readers.

Gather the elderberries when perfectly ripe, pick them off the stems and put them in an earthen vessel; to every quart of berries add one quart of cold water, and let them stand until they crack open. Then squeeze them through a flannel cloth. Then strain the wine through another flannel cloth, and boil it in a clean brass or copper kettle from cne to two hours, and to every gallon and a half, add one tablespoonful each of ginger, cloves and allspice, put in a bag and put in the wine while boiling. Then empty it in an earthen vessel, and add to every gallon and a half 4 pounds of brown

This is a way of putting up the grain worth a passing description. While a workman holds a small sheaf on end, which he compresses closely at the top with his two hands, others bring more small ones, in quantity equivalent to six or seven of the ordinary size, and put them around the central one, so as to form a smooth cone with a large base, which is then bound with straw about two-sugar. Then add to every gallon and a half from 2 to 3 tablethirds the way up, so that the wind may not derange it. Then a cap-sheaf of the ordinary size, bound near the bottom, is inverted, so to say, over the apex of the cone, by opening the heads of the straw for its admission and

spoonfuls of good hop yeast, and let it stand until it ferments and settles. Then bottle it up and set it away from six to eight months, and it will be ready for use, and you will pronounce it the best you ever tasted. It is excellent for mediD. M. FOULKS. cal use.

years.

[For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] pipe burning, place the little end in the hair, and continue HOW TO DESTROY VERMIN ON STOCK. to smoke and move the pipe until the whole animal has been smoked over. The smoke will not kill the eggs of MESSRS. EDITORS-The inquiry of one of your correspondents in the COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, of how he shall ridlice, therefore the animal should be anoked two or three his calves of lice, is one of considerable importance to both times, at intervals of several days between the operation. Any cheap kind of tobacco will answer for this purpose, parties concerned-first to the animals in point of com- and one pipe full of tobacco will smoke four calves. fort, and also to the owner of them in the economy of it. To smoke bed bugs, remove all the clothing from the All animals infested with lice, are in a state of continual bedsteads, and blow the smoke into all the joints, cracks, irritation and discomfort, and as a general thing do not holes where the cords go, or any other place where a bug thrive and grow as they otherwise would, and this sub can get. In this way I have rid my premises of them, tracts so much of the profits from the pockets of the owner. and a bug has not been seen or felt in my house for The motives of humanity to the animal, and economy to the owner, ought to induce every owner of domestic animals to keep them free from all species of vermin. It is well known that the vegetable and animal kingdoms are both infested with various kinds of parasites, which draw their nourishment from the object on which they are found, and also that these animals and vegetables are injured in proportion to the number of vermin found on them, or the amount of nutriment drawn from them. Whether this argument is sufficient to establish the theory that “it is natural for calves to have lice," or not, I shall not at tempt to decide; but my belief is, that it is just as natural for children to have lice as it is for calves, and that there is no more need of having them in the one case than the other; and further, that no person can be justified in allowing any living being in their possession, to be in fested with vermin any longer than they can effectually

re:nove them.

In using snuff for lice, I have it dry, and rub it into the hair on the back, neck, brisket, and the inside of the thighs of the animal, these being the parts on which the lice are first and mostly found. If this is applied when they first get on the animal, one good snuffing will generally finish them. But whether I use smoke or snuff, I make it a practice to examine my stock often, and on the first appearance of lice on them, he remedy is applied, until a cure is effected. This rule ought to be invariably adopted by every one who has the care of domestic stock; for the reason that the longer it is neglected, the more suffering is experienced by the animal and loss to the owner. Many farmers in this vicinity have lately adopted the practice of feeding sulphur to their stock during the winter, as it is said that lice will not live on cattle, or ticks on sheep, that are fed with it, and the sulphur is recommended as being beneficial to the health of stock. The manner of feeding it is to mix it with the salt that is given to them. Some persons are in the habit of sprinkling dry ashes, or slacked lime, on the floors of the stables in which the cattle are tied; others put ashes on the cattle; but this is an unsafe way, for if the cattle get wet after the ashes are put on them, the lye will take the hair off, and in some cases the hide too. The first time that I heard ashes recommended for killing lice, I tried it on In my intercourse with farmers for the past thirty years, four calves. I put a small quantity on ther backs, and I have heard of a multitude of ways to kill lice on cattle, rubbed it well into the hair. This was in the winter. and have tried a large number on my own cattle, but for Before spring the hair on which the ashes had been put some years past I have confined myself exclusively to one would pull out by handfuls, as easy and as clean as though article for that purpose, and that article is tobacco, either in the form of smoke or suff. My reasons for preferring it had been scalded; and on the backs of three of them it is, that it is easily applied, is safe in its application, and the hide came with the hair, in spots. On these places sure in its execution. From long experience, I know that tobacco smoke will kill any live louse, tick, or bed-bug that comes in contact with it, and it can be applied in all places with little trouble, either to man or beast.

It would seem that at the present day no one need be ignorant of remedies for killing lice, but from the numereas inquiries which are made from time to time, I think that the publishers of every agricultural paper would confer a great benefit on the farmers of the country, if they would annually at the commencement of winter, deliver an address to their readers on "vermin which infest domestic animals, and the effectual destruction of them."

scars were formed, on which the hair never grew afterwards. Since then I have seen scars on the backs of other cattle, formed in the same way. There are many other remedies which are applied for the destruction of lice, which have the desired effect, if they are judiciously applied.

than any other calf that I ever owned; and I bave frequently seen other fat cattle, both young and old, that had quite too many lice on them. I heard a farmer say the other day, that the best thing that he ever tried to keep lice off of his cattle, was to give them plenty of Indian meal to eat, and when he gave it to them they were never troubled with lice.

To apply the smoke, I use what is called a blow-pipe, made of copper, about 34 inches long and 2 in diameter. I am aware that the opinion is somewhat prevalent, that One end of the pipe is made tight, the other is made in fat animals will not be infested with lice. This as a genethe form of a lid or cover, to take off. In the top of the ral rule may be the case; but it is not always so. I once lid a tube is inserted; this tube should be two inches long, killed a veal calf that was fat, that had more lice on it made a little flaring from the lid, and large enough to receive tthe nose of a hand bellows. In the bottom of the pipe another hole should be made, and a tube two inches long inserted. This tube should be half an inch in diameter at its junction with the pipe, and taper to a point of not more than one-eighth of an inch at the other end. thin piece of copper full of small holes is fitted to the inside of the pipe; this should be a little less in diameter than the pipe. This strainer is placed in the inside of the pipe at the bottom to prevent the tube being stopped with the tobacco, and should be loose, so that it can be taken out and cleaned occasionally. The lower end of the pipefact or not. and the strainer should be made a little oval, and when they are used should be placed with their concave sides together.

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When I wish to use the pipe, I put into it as much tobacco as I wish to use, then put in a few coals of fire, put on the lid and insert the nose of the bellows in the lid and commence blowing moderately; as soon as the tobac co begins to burn the smoke will issue at the opposite end of the pipe in a rapid stream. The nose of the bellows should be wound with tow, or a rag, so that it will fit tight in the tube of the pipe. When I wish to smoke cattle or horses, I take them when their hair is dry, and put them in a stable, or some place out of the wind, and having the

I have also heard the remark made, that cattle fed with oil meal would not have lice on them, and that sheep fed with it would not have ticks. Those who have had experience in feeding oil meal, will know whether this is the C. T. ALVORD. Wilmington, Vt.

[For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] Remedy for Garget or Bloody Milk.

Saltpetre (nitrate of potash,) given in doses of half an ounce every evening, or every other evening, according as the effect is visible on the animal. If it causes profuse staling, every other evening will be often enough to administer it. I have usually given it in a bran-mash, or any similar kind of food that the animal would take. Thrice I have completely cured the complaint in the course of ten days or a week.

RUSTIQ

(For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] SUPERPHOSPHATE OF LIME.

In Co. GENT, of July 26th, E. E. W., of Concord, N. H., having, as he states, like a good many others, discov ered that certain articles sold as superphosphates are very worthless affairs-a discovery which he might have made, without being at the expense of buying and trying certain "trashy mixtures," by the help of the complete exposure of them made by Prof. S. W. JOHNSON, as reported in Co. GENT. of Nov. 3, 1859,—and having resolved to be no longer humbugged, but to prepare a genuine article for himself, asks for information about the process of making a superphosphate. As no one has as yet volunteered to give any such information, I am induced to submit the following directions, which, being obtained from a collation of several of the same kind given at different times in a journal of high character-The North British Agriculturist-may be accepted as entirely trustworthy and

sufficient.

Superphosphate of lime then, may be prepared from several substances, such as ground bones, bone-ash, ground coprolites, phosphatic guano, &c., or from a mixture of any of these. The first requisite for obtaining a good superphosphate is to obtain good materials, whichever of the above you may employ. Having obtained good materials, place them in a heap on a hard floor, or still better, in a wooden or stone vessel. A cask, barrel, or hogshead sawed into two halves, will furnish something generally suitable. To a given weight of bone ash, ground bones, or whatever material you use, add about one-fourth of its weight of hot water, or, still better, of urine or of soakings from a manure heap, and mix thoroughly until the whole mass becomes wet or damp. Use more water or liquid manure if the materials will absorb it. Shovel the whole mass into a conical heap, if on a floor, and if in a tub or wooden vessel, put it in some similar form, and cover up with old bags, sods, or anything that will make a close covering. In a few days the temperature of the heap will be so high that the naked hand cannot be inserted in it. When the heat has cooled down somewhat, turn the mass over, add more water, urine, or barn liquid, and cover up as before. When the mass again becomes hot, add from one-fourth to one-third of the weight of the bone dust, or other material used, of sulphuric acid, taking pains, by shovelling or stirring with a wooden shovel or pole, to bring the acid into contact with every portion of the mass. Stir the whole well together, after adding the last of the acid, which it is well to pour into or upon the mass in several portions rather than all at once. Finally, form the mass into a heap, and cover with a coating of sawdust, charcoal dust, dry muck, or any similar material. After the heap has laid undisturbed for several weeks in a dry place, it will have become mellow and dry enough for application, or if not quite dry can be made so by adding a little of any of the materials above recommended for covering the heap.

ting of it with liquid and partially fermenting it, half or nearly half way completed before the acid is added; so much so at least, that some who use bone manure la gely carry the process of preparation no farther.

of fermentation only, as just noticed, or that of making a Whether the process of preparing bone-dust, &c., is that superphosphate, it should be commenced several weeks before the prepared article is wanted. That much time is necessary to carry the process to maturity, and to allow the mass to become dry enough for use, especially in the cases where acid has been used.

If a ton of bones were treated with the quantities of water and of acid above named, there would be as the result a ton and a half of superphosphate, which need not cost more than $45 or $50, or at the rate of $30 per ton for a genuine article.

should use much care and caution in handling the acid, as Lastly, those who wish to experiment for themselves it is sure to eat holes in the clothing if any drops of it

should come in contact therewith.

A. R. A.

A HINT FOR DAIRYMEN. We often meet with notices of good cows, and a large dairy composed of such would prove highly profitable, but too often a few poor animals throw the balance on the wrong side. For instance, a farmer in Massachusetts, keeping ten cows, found they averaged 1600 quarts to the cow, but the five best averaged 2000 quarts, leaving 1200 quarts to each of the five poorer ones. The best cows gave a profit of $18 eachthe poorer ones were kept at a loss of $14 each, thus destroying nearly the whole profit of the dairy. No man can afford to keep a poor cow at the expense of the better ones-he should rather fatten for beef, or give away, even, than to pursue such a course of dairying. Let every cow's value be tested, and those that do not come up to the point of profit should go to the shambles.

AN EXCELLENT CAKE.

A housekeeper, very successful in delicate dishes, has furnished for the COUNTRY GENTLEMAN the following mode of making an excellent cake: Take one cup of butter and three of sugar, well rubbed together; then take five eggs which have been beaten very light, and stir them by successive portions into the above mixture, adding also four cups of flour and a cup of sweet milk. Add nutmeg and a wine glass of rose-water; and also add a teaspoon of solution of cream of tartar, and half a teaspoon of solution of soda. Baking about fifteen minutes in a moderately hot oven will be sufficient.

CHICKEN PIE.

From the same source, we have been furnished the follow:-Take a pair of good young chickens, cut them in small pieces, adding a proper quantity of pepper and salt and small strips of salt pork, and put the whole into a saucepan and cover with water. Boil for half an hour, add flour and butter to thicken the gravy. Provide a large dish for baking it, served with paste; put the whole into the dish and cover again with a good rich paste, and bake the pie half an hour. It is best while fresh from the fire.

As the directions now given are probably more coming plete and einbrace more minute details than any other which have ever been put upon record on the pages of the Co. GENT., and as they differ also from some which have been given to inquirers in other agricultural journals, it may be well to accompany them with a few explanatory remarks as to a few of the series of steps in the process. First, then, it may be remarked that the wetting of the materials-bone dust, bone ash, or whatever they may be -with water or manurial liquid, is thought to be much preferable to the method usually recommended and followed, namely, diluting the acid with the water or liquid and adding both at once to the mass. Being softened by the liquid and by the heat of the fermentation which is set up, the materials are more readily acted upon by the acid when it is added. Then, too, the acid is more sure of being distributed pretty equally throughout the whole mass, and of acting upon the materials, as sulphuric acid has such a strong affinity for water that it rushes, as it were, into the pores of the bones in search of the liquid with which they have been saturated. The process of preparing bone dust for plant food is, indeed, by this satura

[For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.]. Recipe for Making Elderberry Wine. berry wine, of seven years experience. Gather the berries At the request of A. B. R., I give my plan of making Elderwhen fully ripe, bruise them fine, then strain them through a cloth; to one gallon of juice add two gallons of water. each gallon add three pounds of maple or other brown sugar; add about one gill of good yeast to a gallon. Let it stand mix well together. Then scald and skim. When nearly cold two or three weeks in an open vessel-in stone jars, if convenient-till fermentation ceases. Then bung it up, or bottle it, as you please; age improves it.

GEO. CARGILL.

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THE CROPS IN GREAT BRITAIN.

tal will thus be rendered wholly unproductive-who will have expended just as liberally for costly fertilizers, and to whom the Rent Day will come at the appointed time, just as relentlessly, whether the crop be large or small!

That there is something above and beyond Human Skill, in the ordering of those events which are constantly going on around us-whatever our occupation or purposes, and however well, as Human foresight goes, may be planned their development and results-is a truth of which the Farmer seldom needs to be reminded. He is already too apt, by far, to throw the responsibility of his mistakes up: on the short comings of Nature-mindless of that general rule to which she furnishes so seldom an exception, that Providence is sure to help those who help themselves. Such an exception is occasionally seen, however, as we began by remarking. Let the Farmer provide for all contingencies as carefully, and husband his resources as judiciously as he may-there will now and then come a son in which the hand of the most diligent maketh not rich, just as there will also come others when even the sluggard's granary is more than filled. If the latter appears to be nearly the case in many parts of this country, the present year, the gloom of the former threatens our brethren in Great Britain more and more seriously as the days and weeks go by; each arrival of new intelligence from across the Ocean, brings with it less of hope, and increases the probability that our harvests, far too large as they are for our own consumption, will not be unwelcome there, or unimportant to the welfare, and it may be to the Our meditations this morning have had for their subject continued existence, of the thousands who crowd the cities the oft-heard exhortation to the farmer, to “Deepen the both in England and upon the Continent. It was the just Soil." Taking this for our text, we will give the reader remark of ARTHUR YOUNG half a century ago, that Eng-"a homily" thereon-considering only the one side of the matter-the soils which are benefitted by cultivation of this character.

Since 1847 the prospects of the country, in relation to the harvest, have not been gloomier. The sunless summer is being succeeded by a wet autumn. From England and the north of France, from Germany, Denmark, and Sweden, reports come in of inclement weather. with heavy rains, so that spring corn is being housed in bad condition, whilst the other crops are suffering and kept backward very much. Last night the rain descended in torrents, not only here but for many been the result of this flood of waters from the unsettled elements, but miles round the city. A considerable business in wheat to-day has some holders decline meantime to offer. We call the advance to-day over Tuesday's rates from 1s. to 2s. per barrel on foreign wheat. From intelligence by the wires from London, we learn that a large business is being transacted in rice at extreme rates, which have not transpired. This is a sure sign that there is much alarm in the metropolis as to the grain crops in England. The accounts from North

Britain are more favorable; no complaints of oats, barley or beans, and very slight and partial as regards wheat. Turnips and potatoes are sound and abundant, and one intelligent correspondent expects the stack yards in Scotland to be nearly twice the size of last year's With such prospects and the immense supplies of wheat and flour imsea-ported by the New York and Montreal firms into the Clyde at present, we need not be surprised to learn our Glasgow friends are shipping to England and Ireland this week. Amidst the gloom and darkness of these days, it is cheering to be informed that the crops of the United States and Canada are unusually abundant, as also in the south of port of the latter, we may expect a good deal of flour direct into France and north of Spain. From Santander, the principal shipping Dublin, and that ere long.

lish farmers have learned "how to turn their climate to

the best account;" but no drainage could carry off the waters that have been falling there through the present summer, no fertilizer stiffen the growing grain against its pelting storms, no artificial appliances pierce upward through the clouds and open a channel for those rays of light and heat, without the genial influence of which man can only sow the seed, and the seed can only germinate in

vain.

The Summer of 1859, and in many of the English Counties, the two also which preceded it, were unusually dry. Streams and springs, represented as never before known to fail, were running low, or already exhausted, and still a fair return had been made to reward the exertions of the British Farmer. Now it seems almost as if the sky had only been accumulating its stores of moisture to shed them in 1860 in one continuous series of overwhelming Rains; "in place of the ready bountiful crop," says the Mark Lane Express, there lies

a dank, tangled mass of what might be coarse, uncared for, reedy her

-Since the above was written, we have the Mark Lane Express of the 20th ult., the Crop Reports in which do not differ materially from the foregoing.

DEEPENING THE SOIL.

I. The Benefits of Deepening the Soil.-A modern writer remarks, and well remarks, that "a deep soil is better than a shallow one, because it furnishes a more extensive feeding ground for the roots of cultivated crops. The elements of nutrition, which the plant finds in the soil, are not all upon the surface. Many of them are washed down by the rains into the subsoil, and some are found in the decomposing rocks themselves. These, the plants, by a sort of instinct, search out and find, as well in the depth of the earth as at its surface, if no obstacle opposes."

II. The Preliminaries to Deepening the Soil.

1. It is useless to deepen the soil by culture farther than we first lower "the line of standing water "the line where water ceases to drain or filtrate away but passes off, if it pass off at all, by the slow process of evaporation. It matters little what the soil is below this line, because, as the same writer's remark will illustrate, "no root, except those of aquatic plants, will grow in stagnant water. Every one who has attempted to grow deep-rooted vegetables upon half-drained swamp land, has observed the utter impossibility of inducing them to extend downward their usual length. Parsnips and carrots, on such land, frequently grow large at the top, but divide into numerous small fibres just below the surface and spread in all directions."

bage-laid everywhere so flat, so hopelessly beaten down by the wind and the rain, that if it be corn in ear, it must surely rot or mildew as it lies, never to rise again to welcome the too tardy smile of the longtarrying sun! And still the rain comes mercilessly down, only to flat ten it yet more closely into the much sodden earth; while your neighbor bids you mark the hay that he knows has been out for three weeks or more, and that can now never be worth carting at all, save it be into the dung yard. The short-horns turn their backs moodily to the driving rain; and the farmer on his shivering pony, with his coat collar turned up, holds an umbrella over his head with one hand, as he opens the gate with the other, for a score or two of hapless looking lambs. What a thorough air of despondency there is about the whole group, and how plainly the picture, in all its sad thioren sicciation, speaks of that "hope deferred" which "maketh the heart sick!" Although some of the Crop Reports in that Journal, from correspondents in various Counties, are of a little more cheerful cast, the editors remark that it is "hoping against hope" for them to draw conclusions on the whole different from their own impressions and experience, of which the 2. We need deepen the soil no lower than it is furnished above extract forms a sample. The Irish Ag. Review- with food for vegetable growth, either naturally or by apfour days later, (Aug. 17,) the latest of our Foreign Journals now at hand-has the following paragraph which plication of fertilizing matters from other sources. Most we copy at length, and which must conclude our Notes soils only need loosening and deepening by culture so as at this time, only preceding it by the remark that if the to allow aerating influences to act, to become able to fürprospect of a market for our superabundant products can-nish nutriment to the roots of plants. But we cannot not but promise "easier times" here, and through the dwell on this question here. Great West where several seasons past have been anything but remunerative, we cannot but bear in mind with sympathy the blow that is falling elsewhere-a blow that must be felt all the more seriously by those whose heavier capi

III. The Methods of Deepening the Soil. How can the work be accomplished?

1. We may deepen the soil by thoroughly underdrain

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