CURRENT PUBLICATIONS IN RURAL ART. 543 
Both of these works are closed with a farmers’ directory of all the 
leading nurserymen, florists, seedsmen, and dealers in farmers’ and 
gardeners’ materials. 
Toe Pramrm FARMER ANNUAL, for 1871, containing valuable information for western 
farmers, fruit-growers, and housewives, including a list of implement manufacturers 
and dealers, seedsmen, nurserymen, stock-breeders, &c. With illustrations. 18 mo., 
pp.144. Chicago, 1871. Prairie Farmer Company, print. 
This is one of the useful books of the day, neatly and compactly 
printed and illustrated, and filled with practical information for farmers 
and housekeepers, and sold, withal, at a price bringing it within the means 
of every one. Its leading articles are on homes for the people, with 
' plans, elevations, and estimates for building farmers’ dwellings of differ- 
ent styles and sizes, costing from $500 to $2,000, with specifications for 
materials; on the management of lawns, ferneries, and kitchen-gardens; 
on strawberry culture; raising trees from seed; testing milk in cheese 
factories; raising calves; raising colts for the farm and road; breeding 
and fattening swine; poultry and poultry-houses; transplanting large 
trees; canning fruits; and various articles on household economy; 
besides a directory of all the principal nurserymen, seedsmen, manufac- 
turers of agricultural implements, and stock-breeders and dealers in the 
United States, with various national and State statistics, &e. 
To make a first-class lawn, Mr. Meehan says: 
The ground should be heavily manured and plowed deep; grass holds on greener in 
a dry time when the soil is rich; and it is the beauty of a lawn to be always green. 
Frequent mowing gives a chance to the grass to keep green, which it does not get when 
it is seldom cut. This is owing to a lawin vegetable physiology, that the length of 
the roots depends upon the growth of the tops. For instance, if we let grass grow 
eighteen inches, the roots may go down twelve; but if we never permit the grass to 
grow beyond nine, the roots will not penetrate six. Of course the roots absorb moisture 
from the soil. If the roots are not there, more moisture is held in reserve; and as 
the surface dries, the moisture below comes up to the place where itis wanted. A 
closely-mown lawn is a perpetual mulch, keeping the earth cool and moist below. Few 
will believe this unless they try it with a thermometer. An annual light dressing of 
salt is good to keep a lawn green in a dry time. If there is much extent of lawn, a 
hand-mower, costing about $35, is an excellent thing. With a few hours’ work—say 
every two weeks—the lawn will acquire and retain a fine carpety look. As to the kinds 
of grass to grow, beware, above all, of lawn mixtures, which are much like patent 
medicines that contain about two cents’ worth of good at two dollars’ expense. Ken- 
tueky blue-grass (Poa pratensis) makes an excellent lawn; so does red-top, (Agrostis 
vulgaris.) Rye-grass (Lolium perenne) will not stand very close cutting in our climate. 
Mr. Arthur Bryant, in view of the rapidly-increasing demand for lumber 
in the West, recommends that on every farm of forty acres or more, at 
least one-fifth should be set apart for timber. Lands for this purpose 
should be deeply plowed and rendered quite mellow. The seeds of the 
ash, oak, hickory, and tulip ripen in the fall, and should be then gathered, 
mixed with slightly-moist sand, and kept till spring in boxes, in a cool 
place, where they will be safe from rats and mice, and then be sown in 
beds or drills. Oaks, chestnuts, and beeches had better be planted 
where they are to remain, as they do not transplant well. The ash is a 
most valuable timber. In two years, and sometimes in one, the plants 
will be large enough to set out in rows, four feet apart, and two feet distant 
in the rows; these transplant easily. The seeds of both the silver and 
the red maple, and also of the elm, ripen in the latter part of May, and 
should be sown immediately ; those of the other maples ripen in the fall, 
and should be preserved and managed like the ash, &c. The sugar and 
black maples grow slowly at first, and should remain for two or three 
years in the seed bed. The tulip tree should be planted in the spring 
and transplanted when two years old. It is a desirable tree, and 
