THE GENESEE FARMER. 



85 



thatch; if carefully done this will tarn water for 

 several veara; gjood pens should also be provided, i'or 

 faofs, which can he done in the niaiin t described 

 above; with a plank floor under the sheds or hovels, 

 the fowls will have a good warm roost. 



Rotation of Crops. — The proper rotation of 

 crops is too much ncgletted by the farmers of 

 Illinois; after corn, spring wheat and oats should be 

 sown, and the land Reeded down with clover; after it 

 has lain two or three years in pa,<»tnre, thea in the 

 summer, turn it under, and sow it with winter wheat, 

 two bushels per acre; plant corn on clover ?od or 

 wheat stubble, always manuring your corn ground, as 

 Eir as it goes. J. H. Antuonv. 



H'est Jersey, Stark Covnty, III. 



ON THE BEST METHOD OF FENCING A FARM. 



Havixg accurately surveyed your farm, determined 

 the number and size of your lots, and established 

 the lines of your fences, prepare the ground by plow- 

 ing and harrowing thoroughly a strip at least one rod 

 in width, and totally exterminating all brush, briers, 

 and noxious weeds therefrom. The advantage of 

 seeding t his strip to grass need not be commented upon. 



The kind of fence to be built will depend princi- 

 pally upon the plenitude of any particular kind of 

 materiiil, and will vary accordingly in diflerent locali- 

 ties. Efficiency and du ability are the requisites of 

 a good fence; beautity is desirable, but the expense 

 of building and repairing is the chief consideration. 

 In a new country where timber is a nuisance, rails 

 will be most advantageously used. Rail fences 

 should be at least four and a half feet high when set- 

 tled, aud when made of ash, oak, chestnut, or other 

 desirable timber, and not shaded, will last twenty to 

 thirty years, I consider the Virginia or common 

 worm fence the most desirable style. The corners 

 should be slightly raised from the ground, on stones 

 or blocks, and if locked with the crooked and other- 

 wise inferior rails, it withstands the force of wind and 

 animals with great effi 'iency. AVhen timber becomes 

 scarce, the good rails remaining may be put up into 

 a straight fence, by the aid of toggles and stakes. I 

 shonld have it two feet wide at bottom, five rails un 

 der the stake?, and so narrow at top that the fifth 

 rails will lie close together at the joints. One li^ht 

 rail v.'ith one end under one pair of stakes, and the 

 other over the next pair, and another light rail over 

 all, completes the ience. The siz'; of the toggles in- 

 cr ases the height of the fence, and toward the top 

 vrhere large cracks are admissible, may be six or eight 

 inches thick. The strength of this fence depends up- 

 on the stability of the stakes, which for the sake of 

 durability should be set top end down. 



Where timber is so scarce as to render it of pecu- 

 niary importance, and still plenty enough to be the 

 cheapest fencing material, it will be most economi- 

 cally used in the shape of posts and boards. The posts 

 should be of cedar, chestnut, swamp oak, or some 

 other durable wood, from four to six inches thick, 

 and at least two feet, (top end always) in the ground. 

 Four boards, six inches wide, by leaving suitable 

 Bpaces, make a fence four feet high, which will be 

 found fully equal in efficiency to a rail fence four and 

 a half feet high. 



Of course no judicious farmer will waste timber in 

 fencing, and till fields covered with stone. Make 

 gtone fences tcide. Much better hare one three feet 



high, and thick enough to hold posts for a board top, 

 than have the same weight of stone carried up four 

 feet high, and so thin as to be in constant danger of 

 tumbling down. 



If you have no stone "lying around loose," little or 

 no timber, or would sare what you have for other 

 purposes, plant hedges. When you have a decaying 

 fence, and would have a perpetual one, plant a hedge 

 by the side of it. In fact wherever you will need a 

 fence a few years hence, plant a hedge. The desirable 

 qualities of a hedge plant are, 1st. Adaptability to 

 soil and climate. 2d. Quick, thick, and thorny growth. 

 3d. Disinclination to spread by sprouting. 4th. The 

 plant should be so distasteful to animals that they 

 will not browse it. I would suggest a trial of the 

 Sweet Briar. Solon Cooley. 



Four Towns, Oakland Co., Mich. 



DESTROYING RATS, MICE AND OTHER VERMIN. 



In looking over your Premium List in Genesee 

 Farmer, I see you ask for the best means of destroy- 

 ing Rats, Mice and other vermin. The following 

 plan I have adopted several times with perfect suc- 

 cess: Take one quart of barley-meal, (Indian meal 

 will do,) half a pint molasses, two eggs, a small piece 

 of butter, a little salt, and enough sour milk or water 

 to make it soft, if necessary,and three drops of oil of 

 caraway; let this be well mixed into a cake and baked. 

 When the cake is cold, take a piece, (first rubbing a 

 drop or two of caraway oil upon your fingers that the 

 rats may not smell them,) and rub it into fine crumbg 

 upon a dish or platter. Place the dish in some out- 

 house or quiet part of the premises where the rats 

 frequent, and allow nothing to disturb it. The rats 

 will soon find it ; they may not eat much the first 

 night or two, but as soon as they find that it does not 

 hurt them they will eat it with avidity. Repeat this 

 five or six evenings about the same hours each time. 

 And when they have all been collected together and 

 have great confidence in the food and the man who 

 feeds them, give them a good dose of arsenic in the 

 last meal. All those, if any, which do not get anj 

 will leave the place immediately. 



If it be desired to catch them alive, use the same 

 means, but without the poison, and spread the cake 

 on a board of a larger size than the dish, so as to 

 give them more trouble to collect it, for it will be ob- 

 served wherever they can get a mouthful they will 

 run away to eat it. To prevent that, give them as 

 much trouble as you can without frightening them. 

 Choose a quiet room or cellar, where they frequent ; 

 stop up all the holes but one, and over that fix a 

 little sliding door or something that can be pulled 

 down over the hole easily; let a string be attached 

 to this and carried to the opposite corner of the room, 

 at which corner hang a robe or horse blanket, that a 

 man may stand behind; let this hang there all the 

 time; feed them five or six evenings, always rubbing 

 a drop or two of the oil of caraway upon your fingers 

 and upon the soles of your boots before breaking the 

 cake and going into the room ; a few drops should 

 also be put on the robe. The last evening, stand 

 quietly behind the robe and when they are all in the 

 room, let the slide down over the hole. The best way 

 of catching them, is to have another hole in readiness 

 where you can set a cage trap upon the opposite side 

 and drive them into it. Josiah Saltee. 



Rochester, JV. Y. 



