1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FAKMER. 



83 



fence line. But then no dependence can be placed 

 on this labor in such constantly varying weather. 

 After winter sets in with frost, no wall-laying or 

 fence-building can be done to any advantage, as it 

 requires the ground clear of frost for such business. 



The writer in the Tribune says again — "Most of 

 the fence building should be done in the winter, 

 yet it is a kind of work, that is much neglected, be- 

 cause unnecessary to restrain cattle. We contend 

 that no barn should ever be built without a cellar, 

 yet ninety-nine of every hundred are so built. To 

 remedy this, go to work in winter and dig and wall 

 your barn-cellars. As soon as this is done, go to 

 the nearest muck bed and dig a cellar in that, and 

 haul a ])ortion of it to your new barn-cellar to com- 

 post with your manure heap. Hauling manure is 

 another part of winter work, but mind and not drop 

 it in little heaps to bleach and soak through snow 

 and rain. Pile it up as much as possible to shed 

 rain, in some convenient spot to haul upon the field 

 where you want it." 



Generally speaking, barn-cellars should be made 

 under barns, though there will be exceptions to this 

 rule. A gentle elevation or knoll of gravel, where 

 it can be had, should be dug out for a barn-cellai-. 

 This will make the cellar dry and airy, lea Ting the 

 mouth of the cellar to face the south, tb .bottom 

 of the cellar to set on or near the level nith the 

 surface below. If the situation of the land for the 

 building is on or near a level, and the soil inchned 

 to wet and dampness, then the barn-cellar should 

 be pretty much above ground. But then, instead 

 of digging and stoning barn-cellars and building 

 barns in the Avinter season, the time to do this is 

 in early summer, after the spring hurry of work is 

 over, having the buildings ready for the hay and 

 harvest crops. The timber should be prepared and 

 hauled the previous winter, and other materials 

 should be got together as much as can be. Dig- 

 ging out muck in the winter season, is a work at 

 which little can be done, but it may and should be 

 attended to in the fall, previous to winter setting in. 

 Where draining is done in the dry season, the 

 refuse muck should be carted into the barn-yard 

 and piled away in the cellar for winter use to mix 

 with manures. As to hauling manure in the winter 

 season out of the barn-yard on to the fields, it is a 

 poor business, being well followed by few farmers. 

 The composting of manures in the field during the 

 winter season, will not amount to anything, all the 

 materials, both muck and manure, being in a froz- 

 en or half-frozen state ; ditto, the farm laborers. 



The better way is to keep all the manure in the 

 yard, hog-pens and barn-cellars till spring, taking 

 care that the manure does not heat and fire-fangle 

 by using plenty of muck with it in the course of the 

 winter. Manure may be carted out and compost- 

 ed on the field where it is wanted late in the fall, 

 before cold weather sets in, as it may be spread 

 and turned in Avith the plow to He till spring. As 

 to digging wells in the winter, I dug one some 

 years ago in December, and when finished there 

 was some five feet of water in it. The next spring, 

 in May, the water all run out at the bottom, and 

 there has never been any water to stand any length 

 of time in that well. I made uj) my mind before 

 I dug the next well it would be in August or Sep- 

 tember, when the springs are at the lowest point. 



For barn-yards, running water is the best, if it 

 can be had naturally, or it may be raised by a 

 water-ram or wmd-mills. Where running water 



cannot be had, a cistern should be dug in the yard ; 

 one that will hold one hundred barrels or more 

 should be provided, and then all the water falling 

 on the farm-buildings should be conducted into the 

 cistern. Cisterns are much preferable in some 

 yards to wells or pumps of any description ; and 

 the cisterns should be built large enough to hold 

 out through a month or a week's drought, with an 

 occasional shower to replenish it. A good cistern 

 is also indispensable for the kitchen, unless you can 

 have soft running water. 



It will be seen, then, to sum up, that the amount 

 of farm labor proper, that can be done in the win 

 ter, is very small in this cold climate. Where the 

 weather is mild and the ground bare, something 

 may be done at cutting bushes and trimming up 

 woodlands. But of course, no dependence can be 

 placed on the weather ; you may have one or two 

 days in a month for this business, and you may 

 have none at all. If you have a swamp of wood 

 and brush that you wish to cut over, it may be done 

 after the swamp is well shut up with frost. Wood 

 for the winter and coming summer may and should 

 be cut and carted or sledded home when there is 

 snow. Also, rail and fence timber may be cut and 

 delivered on the lines of fences where it is wanted 

 for spring work. Saw logs and heav}^ timber may 

 be cut and delivered to the mill when there is a 

 good body of snow on the ground. Also, where 

 farmers cut and deliver wood for market, a load of 

 wood may be carried to the town or village, and a 

 load of manure brought back, which can be put in 

 the hog-pen, barn-yard or barn-cellar, as may be. 



Very few farmers will have work for the same 

 number of hands in winter that they can employ in 

 summer, in this climate, yet one or two hands may 

 often be employed to good advantage. Between 

 latitude 40"* and south of that, or the southern 

 parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with Dela- 

 ware and Maryland, this same work through win- 

 ter may be carried out in part, while down in South- 

 ern Virginia, and south of that, it may be carried 

 out in full, making leeway for stormy weather. 

 Next, all farmers may have an ice-house, and all 

 that can, without carting it at too great a distance, 

 should build a house in late fall or early winter, and 

 then three or four days in a week may be spent 

 when the ice is of right thickness, in cutting, carting 

 and filling it. A farmer may, on the principles of 

 charity, keep his farm laborers over through the 

 winter ; but very few or none of the farm laborers 

 that are worth anything would stay and work for 

 board without wages, while those who would stay 

 for board would only do so for the time being. 

 And, finally, it is much easier to give advice to far- 

 mers on such matters as farming in winter, than it 

 is to have that advice worth mucli to practical men. 

 For of what avail is such advice, unless it can be 

 made practical to farmers themselves ? 



Derby, CL, Dec, 1855. L. Dukajjd. 



Trimming Fruit Trees, Grape Vines, ect. — 

 Those who neglected to trim their grape vines in 

 November, may do so this month. It is a much 

 better practice than to trim them in the s])ring. 

 Many fear to do so, because, when so trimmed, they 

 occasionally find dead wood in the spring, and im- 

 agine that it is consequent upon the exposure of 

 the ends of the branches where trimmed. This, 

 however, is not the fact. Inexperienced hands 



