98 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



SEPT. 30 14 



Mr Cuthbert Johnson observe", that "the agri- 

 cultural uses of saltpetre have not been exumiiieil ! 

 so carefully or generally as they oujjht to have ' 

 been ;" and G. Kiniberley, Esq., of Trotsworlli, 

 '•regrets that it has been hastily adopted, without 

 referoTice, in many cages, to season, soil, climate or 

 (juantity ; and as a few fortunate expcriuients have 

 started i.ito a fashion the use of lliese articles, so 

 one or two unseasonable or improper applications 

 have at once condcmntd them to neglect and obli- 

 vion." 



Such reports show decidedly how necessary it 

 is to know correctly the effects of those artiticial 

 manures; whether as the food of plants, or unpro- 

 vers of the staple; whether as e.\cilers of vegeta- 

 tion or solvents of the nutritive matters already in 

 the soil ; and also under whatr circumstances of 

 weather or season they are most active, or alto- 

 gether neutral. These are questions for the agri- 

 cultural chemist to prosecute ; so that no farmer 

 need work in the twilight, or be in doubt concern- 

 ing the direct effects of any manure which conies 

 recommended from competent authorities. 



And in all future reports of experiments made 

 with any of those uncommi n articles of manure, 

 the reporter should not omit to state what kind of 

 weather has prevailed during the experiment; for 

 the effects, especially of saline substances, are 

 very much determineji by the state of the weather. 



J. MAIN. 



[Our respected correspondent is right. Much of 

 the success or otherwise of these, and many other 

 manures wo could name, must depend on peculiar 

 circumstances of soil and season. We have heard 

 saltpetre abused one year, anil highly e.'itolled in 

 another ; although tried on the same soil, the same 

 description of crop, and by the same person. — Ed.] 



HENERY. 



This is a new term to us, and when we first no- 

 ticed the article which is subjoined, we were at a 

 loss to define its meaning ; but we soon discover- 

 ed that it was upon a subject that is too much neg- 

 lected by our fanners, and laid it by for insertion 

 in our paper. Our attention is again called there- 

 to by the reception of a letter from one of the most 

 eminent and successful agriculturists in the Uni- 

 ted States, the proprietor of the Thret Hills Farm, 

 near Albany, who, in discoursing of other matters, 

 thus introduces the subject of poultry, which we 

 think worthy the attention of all those who wish to 

 enjoy the lu.xury emanating from the " Henery." It 

 is also particularly worthy the attention of those re- 

 siding near the markets, where they can obtain en 

 average price of 18 3-4 cents per dozen the year 

 round for eggs, and $2 1-2 to $3 per dozen for 

 chickens. Mr Beiuent observes : 



"I am now paying particular attention to poul- 

 try, have built me a poultry house and enclosed a 

 yard for the n to roam in. In this section conside- 

 rable attention is being paid to poultry. Since I 

 built my poultry house, several have followed suit, 

 and I have no reason to regret the expense ; for, 

 from 00 hens, we obtained in six months, 2G00 

 eggs ; whereas in former years, when I kept from 

 80 to 100 hens, 400 and 500 were all we obtained 

 during the year. Uesides they are not half as 

 much trouble on the farm." — Anurioin Farmer. 

 Kr.iin the Maine Culliv.itor. 



UENERY— NOT HENRY. 

 Henery, says our neighbor Adams of the Tem- 



perance Gazette, is to 7ic?is, what piggery is to pigs, 

 or rookery is to rooks, — he might have added, or 

 hoggery to hogs, and cowery to cows. We are 

 glad to find him so learned in these matters, and 

 especially to sec hiin willing to turn his knowledge 

 to a praclicnl account. 



During a lite visit in WiiUhrop, he noticed the 

 lunery establishment of Kev. D. Thurston, which 

 as he thinks it an improvement on the common 

 method of keeping hens, he thus describes in the 

 last Gazette : 



" Impkovkd IIknery. — Wo are not sure that 

 Henery is a dictionary word, but we suppose that 

 our readers will understand it. If not, we would 

 say that henery is to hens, what piggery is to pigs, 

 or rookery to rooks: a place where these useful 

 feathered bipeds congregate and perform the ap- 

 propriate duties of their station. We lately met 

 with one ofthe.se establishments, which schemed to 

 us 30 excellently adapted to its purpose, that we have 

 thought it worth a brief description. 



First, then, in the upper part of the barn is an 

 apartment 12 feet square, boarded so as to prevent 

 the escape of what is put within it. Here the 

 fowls aro to roost, lay their eggs, and perform all 

 their in-door work. At the distance of a rod and 

 a half from the barn, on the borders of the garden, 

 is another apartment of about the same dimensions 

 as the first, surrounded by a high fence, made of 

 lath stuff, sawed two inches wide, and nine feet 

 long, and put on close enough to prevent the hens 

 from getting out. These two apartment.i are con- 

 nected by a covered way, which passes from the 

 scaffold of the barn, in what some would call a 

 slantindicular direction, to the fence, about three 

 feet from the top, and is continued down to 

 the ground in the inside of the yard. This is made 

 tight top and bottom, and on one side, but with 

 open work on the other side. Through this cov- 

 ered way, the inmates of the establishment pass 

 when they choose, taking the air and enjoying the 

 prospect, and when they come into out door apart- 

 ment, they indulge, ad libitum, in their favorite 

 amusement of scratching dirt and devouring gravel. 



The result of the whole is, they are kept under 

 perfect control, and yet enjoy all that liberty which 

 IS essential to their health and comfort, and when 

 you want a fresh egg, you have only to lift a lid 

 over a row of little apartments, in whicli their nests 

 are made, and you will find at almost any time of 

 the day, a plentiful supply. The little chickens 

 too, as soon as they are large enough to make ex- 

 cursions abroad, will be ready to perform an ex- 

 cellent service in the garden, by devouring the 

 grubs and insects. Thus the inhabitants of our 

 villages and of our cities even, who have "scope 

 and verge enough " to possess a barn and a gar- 

 den, can keep as much poultry as they choose, 

 without infringing in the least upon the laws of 

 good neighborhood. Those who may wish to in- 

 spect tlie establishment we have described, may be 

 gratified by calling on the Rev. D. Thurston, of 

 Winthrop." 



The plan, doubtless, is a good one. By such an 

 enclosure, the fowls are kept from doing damage 

 in cultivated grounds, arc prevented from roving 

 to their own hazard and injury, and n ill, if proper- 

 ly fed, lay their eggs and rear their young better, 

 than if they enjoyed a more enlarged liberty. Care 

 should be taken, however, when they are confined, 

 to supply them liberally with water, gravel, lime 

 and animal food — such as fresh meat, worms, &c. 



In this way, people in large villages and cities can 

 keep hens as well as if they lived on farms in the 

 country. Indeed, it would be better for farmers if 

 they would, at certain seasons of the year, keep 

 their poultry in such an establishment. 



We do not know as we understand the necessi- 

 ty or the benefits of sipamling the yard from the 

 barn, by the distance of a rod and a half of unoc- 

 cupied ground, connected by the "covered way," 

 or tube leading from the barn to the yard. Our 

 establishment differs from the foregoing chiefly in 

 this [^articular. The yard is directly attached to 

 the back side of the barn, from the wall of which a 

 roof projects, under which are poles for roosts. This 

 is a shelter from the rains and winds. On a level 

 with the floor of the barn, two holes are cut, seve- 

 ral feet distant from each other, sufficiently large 

 to enable a hen to enter one and skulk out of the 

 other into the yard again if she wishes. The hens 

 like secrecy in these important matters. Within 

 the barn is a long chest, covered by a lid, having 

 a communication with lli° yard by the holes afore- 

 said. The chest is partitioned off into nests, where 

 each hen is allowed to lay her eggs " alone in her 

 glory," little suspecting, perhaps, that the top of 

 her excellent place of concealment is liable to be 

 opened, and her eggs taken away by human strata- 

 gem. 



Value of taking an agriculiurnl paper A gen- 

 tleman residing not far from the limits of Mary- 

 land, to whom we have recently sold some fine ani- 

 mals, writes us, as the advantage of taking an ag- 

 ricultural journal near home, that he was on the 

 point of sending to the eastward, where he would 

 have paid more than double the price for the same 

 quality of animals. He also remarks: "I recol- 

 lect too, my manager on the Ohio told me had 

 saved a valuable horse by some recipe in the Ameri- 

 can Farmer." Has it never occurred to the reader 

 that in many instances he has been enabled to 

 save the price of a dozen volumes of the paper, by 

 the knowledge obtained from a single No. relative 

 to the treatment of his cattle, horses, sheep, &c., 

 or by some improved mode of operation in his pur- 

 suits .' and yet how frequently it occurs that the 

 small pittance required for a year's subscription is 

 delayed far beyond that period, and the editor and 

 publisher thereby deprived of the reward of their 

 ■labors, from the sheer neglect of those who ought 

 to be reminded by the reception of each No., of 

 their moral obligation to "pay the printer." — Jlmer- 

 ican Farmer. 



Many a farm when fresh, has been rendered 

 sterile and unproductive in a few years, by skim- 

 ming the surface. Deep ploughing brings up la- 

 tent animal and vegetable particles favorable to 

 the growth of plants, renders the soil loose and fria- 

 ble, and above all, prevents the ground from wash- 

 ing. Hilly land should always be ploughed in a 

 circular direction, and if at the same time it is bro- 

 ken deep, it is rarely the case that hills will not 

 retain all the rain that falls upon them 'Agricultu- 

 rist. 



Product of the Monument Fair. — We are autho- 

 rized by the Treasun^r of the late Monument Fair, 

 to say that sufficient progress has been made in the 

 settlement of the various accounts to aulhorize the 

 belief that the not proceeds will not fall short of 

 tuientyfive thousand dollars Boston Courier, 



