then leave a clear triangular-shaped aperture for a water-course at of springs, spouts, oozings, sloughs, quagmires, &c. In a field so bottom. The workman then selects other stones, and places them circumstanced, it is advisable to cut the upper cross-drain in the first above the first setters, so as to form another triangular opening on instance. It should be cut immediately above the first breakage of the opposite side of the drain, thus forming a secondary water- water near the top of the field, and be made to discharge into a side course, if the first should be either obstructed or overcharged with ditch, or into a leading drain, carried up for the purpose of a receivwater. Small stones are then put over the set stones, and the drainer. The effect of that cross-drain will be proved in one year, and finished in the same manner as in tile-draining. when found necessary, other cross-drains may be cut at lower levels Shallow under-drains in the alignment of the ridges, called fur- in subsequent years. It is frequently seen, where the draining operow-drains, are more effective than deep cross-drains upon strong rations are commenced, by cutting cross-drains at low levels; such land, impervious subsoil, and where there are no springs, spouts, or drains collect, and discharge a great deal of water in the first inoozings of water from broken or irregular measures in the land.-stance; but when other cross-drains are afterwards cut at higher The depth of furrow drains should vary according to the nature of levels, the first are laid entirely dry, and the money which had been the soil, and other circumstances; average depth about two feet; expended in making them lost, without rendering any benefit to the and, as before observed, they should be cut narrow. land; it is therefore advisable to cut an upper cross-drain first, prove its effect, and then proceed with the others at the lower levels, as may be deemed expedient. Furrow-drains should not be formed to empty singly at the bottoms of open ditches, as they would be liable to be choked up by treading of cattle, and accummulation of weeds and rubbish in the ditches. It is a better plan to collect a number of furrow-drains into larger and deeper cross under-drain, made at a distance from the lower parts of the fields. Those receivers discharge the collected waters into open ditches or water-courses, and are not so liable to be choked up as furrow-drains emptying singly. Those receivers should not be made to discharge the water at the bottoms of open ditches. The water should be made to fall from one into the other, as will be more fully explained in the next section, when treating of 'The bottoms of drains, when not cut deep enough, are sometimes soft and poachy, and the draining material liable to sink into the mud. In such cases plain tiles, or flat stones, should be laid in the drain bottoms for the drain tiles, or setting stones to rest upon. And in quagmires, or loose running sand, it is advisable to drive short wooden piles into the drain bottoms; those ensure good foundations, however soft and poachy the subsoil may be. It may be thought unnecessary to again mention the propriety of securing open water courses at the bottoms of covered drains. But that is a leading principle in draining which cannot be too frequently inculcated, nor too positively insisted upon, and it is of still greater consequence in deep drains than in shallow ones. Deep Cross-Drains.-Cross-draining is more difficult than furrowdraining, and great errors are frequently committed in the practice. It is customary, in this description of draining, to commence opera- When water springs up in the bottoms of drains, it indicates obtions at the lowest parts of the field, and where there are no sidestruction at lower levels. The boring rod should then be applied, ditches for the cross drains to discharge into. A main, or leading to give vent to the pent up springs. Every extensive drainer should drain, is carried up from the lowest to the highest level. The depth be provided with a light boring rod, called a "churn-drill." It is of the drains is generally settled in the first instance, without pre-made of round bar-iron, half inch diameter, and about eight feet vious investigation of the nature of the soil and subsoil. As the long; the ends beat flat into chisel form, one inch broad, and steeled. main drain is under operation of being carried up the field, numer- In using the churn-drill, the workman stands in the drain; he ous cross-drains are made to lead into it. Those are frequently holds the rod upright with both hands, raises it up perpendicular cut in straight lines, as that suits the workman's convenience, and and drops it into a hole in the bottom of the drain; and at every sometimes at regular distances, whatever the nature of the soil or movement, shifts his hands, and in so doing he turns the rod subsoil may be. In this manner a cure is sometimes effected, though a little, so as to make the bore hole round, and prevent the chisel at a great unnecessary expense. But the result is more generally a wedging in the hard substratum. In working this implement, total failure, when the occupier consoles himself under his disap- the motion is something like that of the stick or handle of an upright pointment, with a belief that the failure was entirely owing to the butter churn, and hence its name. When the bottom is dry, as is nature of the soil, and impediments in the locality of situation, which sometimes the case before the springs are tapped by the rod, the could not possibly be overcome. bore hole should be kept moist by pouring water into it. The An experienced drainer, professional and practical, proceeds with churn-drill, though simple, is powerfully effective when properly greater circumspection in his operations, and he seldom fails of suc-applied in boggy or springy ground, and frequently saves the excess; he, in the first instance, takes a minute view of the field to pense of cutting additional drains. The great boring-rod, with its be drained; he inspects all the spouts or breakages of water in it; appendages, is still more effective, but it is too complicated, and too he decides upon the different levels of the ground, and facilities for expensive for common use in land-draining, and is only used in excarrying the water off; he then sets down his marking sticks for treme cases. the workman's direction, not always in straight lines, but bending Some persons who think it necessary that cross drains should have round the inequalities of the ground, and immediately above where rapid falls, cut them in straight lines at considerable declivities, and the water spouts or oozings shew on the surface; he then takes oth-by that means frequently miss the water-spouts they intended to er views of the lines of stakes, to satisfy himself the water in the cure. This is a great error in practice, for it is by no means nedrains will have proper falls, and when he entertains a doubt on that cessary, nor is it at all times prudent, to give water in under-drains point, he proves it by the spirit level. These preliminaries settled, a rapid fall, particularly in loose subsoil, liable to gutter and sludge he ascertains the nature of the subsoil, by digging holes in the lines up. The bad effects of rapid falls for water, are exemplified in araof the projected drain. These shew the strata in which the water ble land furrows, and other surface drains on hilly land. These are flows, and the nature of the obstruction which forces the water up frequently sludged up in heavy rains, the water is thrown over the to the surface of the ground, and the depths of the drains is regu- surface, and its current diverted into other channels. Attentive lated accordingly. The digging of try-holes, technically called farmers, therefore, make cross-furrows or drains, with easy falls, to feeling the way," is a simple and safe process, and should never collect and carry off, without injury to the land, the surplus water be dispensed with where there is variation in the stratification. from the furrow-drains. The same rule applies, and similar precauIn some fields, where the soil and subsoil vary in texture, and are tion should be taken, wherever there is expectation of much water irregularly disposed, springs as oozings of water, though they ap- in under-drains. It is not necessary to cut cross-drains in straight pear on the surface at various levels, not unfrequently arise from lines. They may be made to bend in any direction, to cross the the same source, near the top of the field. Where the water issues water-spout intended to be cured. But care should be taken in from crevices in rocks, from loose gravel, or from other broken or cutting, not to lose the water level in any one place. The workloose measure, or alluvial deposite, the water filters through such man readily guard against that error; he has only to see that the measures, until obstructed by impervious subsoil. It is then forced water in the bottom of the drains runs from him, and does not come up to the surface over which it runs in the declivity of the ground, back among his feet. and when it reaches more porous subsoil, it sinks into it, percolates through it, until it again meets obstruction, and is forced up to the surface, and forms the second line of water breakages; and a third and fourth line of these water-spouts may be formed from similar causes in the same field. These receive the several local appellations 66 It has been heretofore remarked, that under-drains should not be made so deep as to discharge the water at the bottoms of open ditches, but should have a fall into them, for the purpose of preventing their choking up, by the treading of cattle or otherwise. Many farmers commence their draining operations by cleaning out and deep On this subject, the committee would remark, that from the source and peculiar circumstances under which the seed was obtained from the interior of China, it is believed to be genuine, and not improbably, the first good seed imported. The seed has been distributed into several towns in the county and generally given a good return, unless when planted or sown too deep. Some seed, however, was lost, and did not vegetate in consequence of sowing too deep. The most favorable depth is about one quarter of an inch, regard being had to the soil. ening the open ditches into which they purpose the covered drains to discharge. The object of that deepening is, to get additional fall for the water from the drains. The design is good, and would answer the intended purpose, if those ditches were regularly cleaned out afterwards; but unfortunately that is seldom or never the case, for the farmer's attention being called to other important concerns, the drains being out of sight, are soon out of mind, the ditches are neglected, leaves, coarse grass and other rubbish accumulate in them, cattle get into them and poach them up, and the mouths of the drains are stopped up; the water stagnates in them, and the The seedlings of the present year, standing some distance from land again becomes saturated with wet. It is therefore not advisa-each other, gave out side branches, some of which as an experible to gain fall for covered drains by deepening open ditches, when ment, were made into cuttings, set in the ground with one bud exit can possibly be obtained by other means. posed, and did well, although done in a very dry and hot season, and while the branches were green and tender. Some seedlings of the present year produced leaves measuring 9 by 8 inches before the severe frost, and had the weather continued mild a few weeks longer, it is thought some leaves would have attained the size of 12 to 14 inches. Some seeds were sent northerly and southerly to a considerable distance, and one parcel to the distance of 5 or 600 miles, and did well. Should no more be received from China, there is now a sufficiency of grown trees and seedlings in such forwardness as in a short time to supply the whole limits of the society with the real Morus Multicaulis. Cross drains should not be made to join the receivers, whether open ditches or covered drains, at right angles or nearly so, as they generally do. Neither should they be cut so deep by some inches, as the receivers; and with a view to ensuring a free discharge of water from the cross drain into the receiver, it is advisable, at a point a few yards distant from where the junction would be formed in the usual way, to give the cross drain a sharp bend towards the declivity of the ground, and make it join the receiver in an acute angle, as it then would do at a lower level. This practice ensures a good fall, and prevents choking up, as the weight and force of water from the bend of the drain effectually removes observation at the point of junction, and keeps the mouth of the drain open. F. B. [From the Northampton Courier.] CHINESE MULBERRY. [From the Library of Useful Knowledge, Farmers' Series.] PHYSICKING HORSES. This would seem to be the most convenient place to speak of physicking horses, a mode of treatment necessary under various diseases, but which has injured the constitution of more horses, and in fact absolutely destroyed more of them, than any other thing than can be mentioned. When a horse comes from grass to hard meat, or from the cool open air to a heated stable, a dose of physic, or tion which must be the necessary consequence of so sudden and great a change. To a horse that is becoming too fat, or has surfeit, or grease, or mange, or that is out of condition from inactivity of the digestive organs, a dose of physic is often most serviceable; but we do enter our protest against the periodical physicking of all horses in the spring and the autumn, and more particularly against that severe system which is thought to be necessary to train them for work, and the absurd method of treating the horse when under the operation of physic. The Secretary of the Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden Agricultural Society, furnishes us with the following facts in relation to silk worms and mulberry trees: At the late show of the Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden Agri-even two doses may be useful to prevent the tendency to inflammacultural Society, Elizur Goodrich, Jr. Esq. presented a claim for premium on white mulberry, set on his farm in Montgomery, in the county of Hampden, and obtained the first premium. He states that in 1833, he had 9,000 mulberry trees set on one acre-the rows 4 feet apart and trees 12 to 18 inches apart in the rows. In 1834, had 20,000 mulberry trees set on three acres the rows six feet apart, and trees 12 to 18 inches apart in the rows-also 9,000 mulberry trees set on 4 acres, the rows 6 feet apart, and trees 3 feet apart in the rows; that he planted potatoes between the rows, had a good crop, and found the cultivation of the potato was advantageous to the mulberry trees. Expecting to use the leaves in the manufacture of silk, he intends to keep the trees cut down to six or eight feet, for the convenience of gathering leaves. The trees are from three to four years' old and very thrifty. Mr. Timothy Smith of Amherst, in the county of Hampshire, also presented his claim for premium on the white mulberry, and obtained the Society's premium. He represents that he has 17,443 white mulberry trees, of which 3,638 are set out on about 100 rods of ground in rows 8 feet apart, and the trees 2 feet apart in the rows, the residue set more compact for the purpose of topping to feed worms. He planted potatoes between the rows, had a great crop, and found the hoeing among the potatoes was beneficial to the mulberry trees. From the experience he has had in feeding worms, calculates that half an acre set with white mulberry will produce feed for 100,000 worms says he has what he considers five species of worms, viz. the black annual worm, producing one crop in a year of yellow cocoons, also the black worm producing two crops in a year of yellow cocoons, the grey worm, the large white and the small white worm, producing two crops in a year of white cocoons. The present year has fed only about 30,000 worms, but thinks his mulberry trees might give sufficient feed for an hundred thousand worms. A horse should be carefully prepared for the action of physic.Two or three bran-mashes given on that or the preceding day are far from sufficient, when a horse is about to be physicked, whether to promote his condition or in obedience to custom. Mashes should be given until the dung becomes softened; a less quantity of physic will then suffice, and it will more quickly pass through the intestines, and be more equally diffused over them. Five drachms of aloes, given when the dung has been thus softened, will act much more effectually, and much more safely than seven drachms, when the lower intestines are obstructed by hardened fæces. On the day on which the physic is given, the horse should have walking exercise, or may be gently trotted for a quarter of an hour twice in the day; but after the physic begins to work, he should not be moved from his stall. Exercise then would produce gripes, irritation, and possibly dangerous inflammation. The common and absurd practice is to give the horse most exercise after the physic has begun to operate. A little hay may be put into the rack; as much mash may be gi ven as the horse will eat, and as much water, with the coldness of it taken off, as he will drink. If, however, he obstinately refuses to drink warm water, it is better that he should have it cold, than continue without taking any fluid; but he should not be suffered to take more than a quart at a time, with an interval of at least an hour be He had worms on feed when the late severe frost came, and ga-tween each portion. thered a quantity of leaves while frozen, packed them in a sack which had been used for salt: in this state the leaves were kept green and in good condition, so that he fed his worms two weeks with them and the worms devoured them with the same avidity as before they had been frozen. When the purging has ceased, or the physic is set, a mash should be given once or twice every day until the next dose is taken, between which and the setting of the first there should be an interval of a week. The horse should recover from the languor and debility occasioned by the first dose, before he is harrassed by a seThe frost completely destroyed the leaves remaining on the trees. cond. Mr. Smith now thinks that leaves may be preserved through the Eight or ten tolerably copious motions will be perfectly sufficient winter, for winter and early spring use. He has 357 promising to answer every good purpose, although the groom or the carter seedling plants of the Morus Multicaulis, the product of one paper of may not be satisfied unless double the quantity are procured. The the Chinese mulberry seed which he had of the society last spring.consequence of too strong purgation will be, that a lowness and VOL. I. T weakness will hang about the horse for many days or weeks, and inflammation will often ensue from the over-irritation of the intestinal canal. Young Men's Department. Fairfield, Dec. 6th, 1824. Long continued custom has made aloes the almost invariable pur- DEAR SIR-The following remarks are from the pen of a young gative of the horse, and very properly so; for there is no other at lady of a superior education, and thinking perhaps they may be beonce so sure and safe. The Barbadoes aloes, although sometimes neficial to the laboring community, I with much reluctance obtainvery dear, should be alone used. The dose, with a horse properly pre-ed permission to forward them to you. If you think them worth pared, will vary from five to seven drachms. The preposterous publishing, you can insert them in your truly useful Cultivator. doses of nine, ten, or even twelve drachms are, happily for the horse, generally abandoned. Custom has assigned the form of a ball to physic, but good sense will, in due time, introduce the solution of aloes, as acting more speedily, effectually and safely. The only other purgative on which dependance can be placed is the croton. The farina or meal of the nut is used; but from its acrimony it should be given in the form of ball with linseed meal. The dose varies from a scruple to half a drachm. It acts more speedily than the aloes, without the nausea, which they produce; but it causes more watery stools, and consequently more debility. Linseed oil is an uncertain but safe purgative, in doses from a pound to a pound and a half. Olive oil is more uncertain but safe; and castor oil, that mild aperient in the human being, is both uncertain and unsafe. Epsom salts are inefficacious, except in immense doses of a pound and a half, and then not always safe. RAISING DUCKS AND TURKEYS. In the Agriculturist of last year appeared two articles, one on the best mode of raising ducks, and the other on turkeys, Two seasons have since passed away, and the writer of this has been enabled to test the efficacy of those directions; and in every instance that has come under his knowledge, they have been attended with perfect success. The direction for raising ducks, were to feed them on animal food and keep them dry. Individuals who have adopted this plan, have sent to our markets from 500 to 700 ducks of the finest kinds, and they have had no diseases among them, and found no difficulty in raising them. L. THE MIND MAKES THE MAN. Power cannot arrest the inind, or agricultural pursuits fetter the understanding; and in youth these faculties are to be exerted; the talent given us, however trifling, is to be cultivated; and the principles which we carry with us through life are to be established. It is ere the shade of manhood flits across our brow, that we are fitted for the sphere which we are destined to occupy through life, and when the foundation of our future happiness is based. An idea is prevalent, that those who move in the middle and lower walks of life, should not search deep into the hidden stores of literature; and this has (considering it to be a fatal error on which thousands have wrecked their frail barks,) elicited the following remarks. The impression to which so many adhere, that learning totally disqualifies the laboring part of community for their various avocations in life, has too long wound its serpentine coil around them, and been an almost insurmountable barrier to improvements in the agricultural and mechanical departments. And from the lack of knowledge, these branches of science have suffered, and doubtless will continue to suffer severely; and if this death-like legarthy which broods over our land cannot be removed, our country will be an irreparable loser. In vain do our boasted patriots and philanthropists write, in blazing characters, equality, while the majority of the minds of our citizens remain steeped in the corrupted waters of ignorance and vice! True it is, that the greatest share of those who follow agricultural pursuits can read, write, and have a slight knowledge of geography, grammar and arithmetic; but a very limited number can be found who have proceeded far in the science of mathematics, or entered the deep and majestic wonders of chemistry; traversed the classic fields of Greece and Rome, and imbibed the glowing sentiments, the golden and useful thoughts of ancient times. Yet upon these various sciences are based the mighty fabrics of mechanics and agriculture. Little do such imagine, that a building, however simple, is never erected without the rules of measuration, and if they underledge of others. While these are facts, should not the laboring class improve each moment as it wings its rapid flight towards eternity in storing their minds with substantial knowledge, which not only renders them respectable and valuable members of society, but will greatly contribute to their individual happiness through life. If all agriculturists were intimately acquainted with the study of chemistry, we should perceive that branch of labor reduced to a science. But instead of this, not one in a hundred has ever opened a treatise upon the subject, and evencan not name any of the terms. Again: Natural philosophy is connected with both the mechanic and farming interests. By it, the mechanic is taught the use and form of the pulley, the inclined plane, the steelyards and their power; the pump and other hydraulics. If a person wishes to become perfect in his trade, let him first enter deeply into this science, and he soon will stand at the head of his profession. Long has public opinion held the mechanical and agricultural world in the chains of ignorance. Yet a few daring spirits have overstepped the narrow limits of prejudice, and perfected these sciences as they now appear. Two or three individuals who tried the experiment of driving their turkeys when young, to a distance from the house, where the greatest number of insects were to be found, and feeding and hous-the rich and varied fields of natural philosophy; who have scanned ing them in the manner directed in the Agriculturist, have stated, that they have raised from 100 to 300 turkeys, and have pronounced it to be a method, which of all others, they believed to be best calculated to be attended with success.—Southern Agriculturist. THE MEASUREMENT OF HAY IN THE STACK, For the purpose of ascertaining its weight, is made by multiply-stand not the art themselves, they are dependent upon the knowing the length, breadth and height into each other; and if it has been allowed to settle in the stack during the winter, ten solid yards of meadow hay, in good condition, will generally weigh about one ton. The number of yards depending, however, partly upon the old or young state in which the grass was cut before it was made into hay, and partly upon the dry or moist condition in which it was stacked, as well as upon the length of time which it has lain-all these circumstances should be minutely examined; for if it is in a very large stack of more than a year old, nine, and in some cases eight yards will make a ton; clover, lying somewhat lighter in the stack, will generally take eleven or twelve yards to make a ton; and sometimes, when it has been staked very dry, thirteen may be required; but the average of the last year's clover may be assumed at twelve yards.* Bayldon on Rents and Tillages, 3d edit. p. 159. The mode of calculation is as follows:-Supposing the stack to be ten yards long at the bottom, and eleven at the eaves; four and a half wide at the bottom, and five and a half at the eaves; and presuming it to be four yards in height to the eaves; and to rise three yards to the point of the roof; in order to find the contents, the dimensions are summed up thusMedium length Do. breadth .... 10 yards 5 524 It is required of a man who wishes to become an adept in the study of divinity, law or medicine, to pursue a course of study from seven to ten years. And shall those who are engaged in the most difficult of all professions, viz. that of mechanics and agriculture, 5 including one-third of the rise of scoff at the idea of book learning? If the stack swells out considerably towards the eaves, the height-if taken ing resource to geometry. Mr. Bayldon, however, mentions a simple method, against the sides—will appear to be greater than it is in reality; it should which consists in measuring the circumference at the bottom, and at regular therefore be measured by a pole set up perpendicularly to the eaves. When it distances up to the eaves, which must be added together, and divided by their is required to measure an irregularly formed stack, the contents may be found joint number for a mean circumference: the sqaare of which must then be by giving and taking proportionate quantities of the separate parts, or by mea-multiplied by the decimal .07958, and this product by the height up the eaves, suring or computing it in different divisions. If round, a more complex calcu- and one-third of the rise of the roof, added together and this divided by 27 lation is necessary, and can hardly be ascertained with accuracy without hav- || (the calcutation being made in feet) will give the product in decimal yards. E. A. R. In the land of which we are citizens, all, to a certain extent, are be blest with scientific farmers and mechanics, together with wise placed on an equality; therefore, setting aside the utility of study, as energetic statesmen. applicable to the ordinary business of life, it is necessary to exercise it, on some occasions, in a political point of view; for here, every citizen may, by rotation, be called to stand in official stations. The liberties of our country are placed in the hands of such men; and as we are either learned or unlearned, so will our republic stand or fall. Was it knowledge that overthrew the republics of Greece and Rome? Surely not. The temples of the muses were deserted; ignorance, superstition, anarchy and confusion were exhibited in lieu of order, learning and constitutional propriety. Ignorance is the soil where ambition ever over-shadows the neighboring plants; surmounts all difficulties, and finally stands triumphant amid general ruin and devastation. Shall the disgraceful farce of Cataline's conspiracy ever be reacted on the happy shores of the once peaceful America? Shall the chains of monarchy ever fetter the sons of liberty? Can it be, that the blood of our fathers has flowed in vain, and their sons have become the slaves of ambition; sold their birthright and bartered away their freedom, simply for the want of education? Our soil is well adapted to agriculture, and shall it, for want of tillage, refuse to yield its products, and become one barren waste? If the young men of these United States would read, and practise what they read, our country would speedily become even more productive than at present and then the sun of prosperity and happiness will continue to diffuse its benignant rays over our land, and peace and liberty will endure forever. But this The objection is often raised, that the study of the ancient classic authors is altogether useless except to professional men. is a mistake. The Georgics of Virgil is the best work now extant on agriculture. One that was composed when agriculture languished in Italy, and consequently peace and happiness had fled from her borders. The general distress was attributed wholly to the administration of Augustus. The friends of this immortal poet deplored this state of affairs, which threatened the overthrow of the country, and requested him to write upon this subject. He readily acquiesced. Retiring from the jarring interests of politics and the intrigues of court, he performed the arduous task. The Georgics appeared in their elegant simplicity, joined with poetic grandeur. He traces agriculture to its source; describes the implements proper for its use; notices the prognostics of the weather; the best method of managing various soils; of propagating fruit trees and the vine; the various kinds of cattle and bees. It is asserted, that Virgil did more for the prosperity of his country than he would have done, had he obtained the most splendid victories in the field of battle; for the country assumed a new and flourishing appearance, and peace, plenty and domestic happiness reappeared. If the young men of this country wish to see their fair republic prosper-the wings of the eagle still spread over the land, then let them seize with avidity every means in their power to cultivate their minds as well as their lands: so shall their days be peace and happiness-their decline, like the setting sun in a calm summer's eve, full of glory. Small rivulets, oozing from the mountain's brow, wend their way, clear and slow, through their contiguous neighborhood, giving life and refreshment to those within their reach, without attracting notice or applause, save from some humble admirer who tastes their sweetness, until they unite with tributary streams; when rolling on, deepening and widening in their progress, they are noted and admired at a distance from their source, like the majestic Mississippi, the father of waters in the western world, moving every obstruction from its way. Thus rivulets of knowledge flow from mercantile houses, mechanics' shops and farmers' dwellings, that not only exert a salutary influence on the surrounding community, but as they pass along, tributary streams flow in from every quarter, widening and deepening the channel already formed, until they constitute the palladium of our liberties, which can only be supported by the general diffusion of knowledge. Suppose a man devotes two hours per day to study; in one year he reads seven hundred and thirty hours, or sixty days and ten hours, at twelve hours per day. In ten years, six hundred and eight days and four hours. In thirty years, eighteen hundred and twenty-five days, or five years. What vast stores of knowledge might thus be gathered, simply by spending two hours per day in study! Every person spends more time than this in idleness, and why not devote it to literature? Only spend this time in study, and our country will A TABLE, to show at a glance the number of hills or plants contained in an 16 :: :: :: :: :: : feet. feet. per acre. feet. feet. per acre 27 8 by 7 777 39 29 4224 28 6 905 26 4646 31 31 30 29 . 29 THE CULTIVATOR-FEB. 1835. TO IMPROVE THE SOIL AND THE MIND. shed, a sheaf of oats, or a few screenings from under the fanning mill, once a day, will soon begin to improve. I have had my hospital sheep in a better condition with this care by spring than any other flock, and I must say that for the last three seasons, my sheep were in better condition when I turned them out of my yards in the In December flocks of sheep require a little of our time and atten- spring, than when I put them there in the beginning of winter. tion; if these are bestowed, with subsequent ordinary care, sheep Sheep ought to be rather sparingly than sumptuously fed, three times will commonly pass through the winter with trifling loss and much a day, and out of racks, to prevent them from running over and to our advantage. For want of attention in the commencement of trampling on the hay. As soon as one is seen in any of the flocks winter I have seen large flocks nearly lost during its course, which to become thin, it ought to be removed at once into the hospital might have been saved with a little previous care. But when it did where it will be better fed. If you neglect to do this it will soon be occur, you could not convince their owners that it was their bad too late, and you will suffer loss; for a sheep once reduced to a cermanagement, as they had made up their minds to impute it solely to tain point cannot be recovered. It is of service to give them a feedtheir bad luck. It is always the best policy for the farmer to have ing of straw, or pine tops, if you please; for it invigorates their health his sheep in good condition when they begin the winter, and then and makes a change in their food. They ought all to be daily wa they are sure to go well through it. If however they are permitted tered, and if your hay has not been salted, to have a lick of salt acto enter it poor and light-good provender and a regular supply of casionally. The opinion that sheep do not want water is erroneous; it, which is the best that can then be done, although it may save the repeated observation has convinced me that it is almost as indispenlives of some, will not carry them prosperously through it. The sable to their welfare as their food, and the sooner farmers get rid foundation of our loss of sheep in winter is laid during the season of of this notion the better for both their interests and understanding. pasturing, for the experience of every farmer will teach him that on- I have tried the experiment of keeping sheep without water in conly give them enough to eat during the summer, the natural effect formity with this improper custom so often and thoroughly, that I will be that they will put on flesh; and a sheep in good condition is have come to the conclusion that the only safe rule is the opposite easily and safely wintered, whilst it is a most difficult job to carry alone. I could repeat the several occasions when I have acted upon poor sheep safe through the winter. It is wrong to permit them to this plan for my own information, were it necessary, but I only add ramble over the fields later than about the first of December, because that the result in my hands was invariable, that is, my sheep grew at that time there is little nutriment in the scanty herbage on which thin, as it was, that they immediately improved when I adopted an they feed, and the blade of grass had better remain on the stem to opposite practice. With this care you will save all your sheep; or protect it during the frosts and winds of winter, and prepare it for not lose more of them than you would of the same number of horses an early and vigorous growth in the spring; besides, as the supply and cattle. They will have no disease among them. I have often to the animal is small, and innutritious, there is great danger that thought of an observation, made to me by an experienced woolthere will be a falling off in its flesh, which it can illy spare, and grower from whom I once asked for information of the diseases of which to its subsequent existence it is so necessary it should now sheep; he answered, "What have you to do with the diseases of retain. I have frequently thought that an open December, which sheep? take care of them and you will have no need for remedies.” is often wished for by the farmer to save his winter supply of hay, is This observation struck me as strange at the time, but subsequent more prejudicial to his sheep, when they ramble over the fields, and experience has amply confirmed it. And now, what will the farmer to his own interest, than he is generally aware of. It would cer- gain by keeping his sheep well? In the first place, he will save his tainly comport more with real economy, if he were to bring up his hay, a fat sheep will not eat so much as a poor one; he will save all sheep by the 10th or at farthest the 15th of this month, into winter his grain-sheep in good condition do not require any. In the next quarters, even if the weather should remain warm and the ground place, he will save all his sheep-he will have more and better lambs uncovered; for if they lose flesh at this time, they cannot regain it in the spring, besides several ounces more of wool to each sheep; until spring, and the mortality which sometimes costs almost entire and what is better than all the rest, he will in the end save himself flocks is imputable in a measure to this cause. loss and anxiety. The saving will at least be from one-eighth to one-fourth of the value of his flock, and all this attending to a necessary work in due season. A. UNFERMENTED MANURES. Sheep in winter should have sheds; the preservation of their health requires this indulgence, and nature prompts to it. Let me ask, if they have the choice, do they remain in the open air in a storm? No, they as instinctively run to their covering as a man does to his house, and if they do not require it quite as much, they We are decidedly in favor of applying manures, in farm culture, appear quite as well for the shelter. For a flock of poor sheep a in an unfermented, or partially fermented state whenever it can be protection from the weather is all important. Those in good condi- conveniently done, for the reason, that the manure of the farm yard, tion do not as much want it, as they have a better coat both of flesh when thus applied, goes twice as far in enriching the soil, as it will and wool; but for them it is likewise useful, and a good farmer will if not applied till after it has become completely rotted. The gases not omit to give all the requisite shelter. In those countries in Eu- which rise from the fermenting inass, and which are dissipated by rope which grow large quantities of the finest wool, they find it in- the winds, and the liquids which flow from the dung, are as much dispensable to the attainment of their object, that is fine wool, that the food of plants, as the black carbonaceous matter which remains their sheep are sheltered from storms both summer and winter, after fermentation. Besides, the very process of fermentation, after and they have made their arrangements accordingly, for they herd the manure is buried in the field, imparts a genial warmth to the soil, them every night and narrowly watch the indications of the weather and renders it porous and more permeable to the salutary influence during the day. They say that rain and snow give a hardness and of the sun and atmosphere. But there is one important point which coarseness to the wool which they can obviate by a sufficiency of should by no means be lost sight of:-long manure should never be shelter. But to our subject; as soon as sheep are brought in to the applied directly to the small grains, or crops which are cultivated excluyard for winter, the different kinds of lambs, ewes, and wethers sively for their seeds, but to hoed crops, and such as are cultivated more should be carefully separated and kept apart. It is important that particularly on account of their stems, stalks or roots. The matters those in one yard should be as nearly of a size as practicable; for by first given off in fermentation seem particularly adapted to cause a being so, there are no strong ones among them, to drive the weaker rank growth of stalk, which is rather inauspicious to a great product from their provender. All will then feed alike and do well. The of perfect seed. The cow that takes on flesh rapidly cannot at the flocks ought likewise to be as small as we can conveniently make same time be a good milker, because the food which she takes cannot them. It is an invariable rule that a small flock does much better be converted both into flesh and into milk. The luxuriant growing than a large one, even if both, according to their number, are fed fruit tree, with straight upright branches, will not give a heavy burequally well. If the flocks in each yard can be reduced to between den of fruit-because the food required to nourish and mature the fifty and one hundred, so much the better; and it is a great deside-fruit, is converted into wood; and hence artificial means are adoptratum to make them as few as fifty if it can in any way be effected.ed to check the growth of wood, by transplanting, training the limbs It is also necessary to have a separate yard for old and poor sheep, horizontally, ring-barking, grafting on dwarf stocks, &c. to induce and if there are any in the flock that do not subsequently do well early bearing, or an increase of fruit. So with farm crops, cultivatthey should be removed into what is commonly called the hospital.ed for their seeds-a too luxuriant growth of stock lessens the quanThese hospital sheep, by being few in number, having a good warm lltity, and depreciates the quality of the seed. The gases which es |
