266 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



THE FARMER'S HOME. 



We have really but few farm houses and farm 

 barns that approximate that style of architecture or 

 utility of arrangement so essential to pleasing effect 

 and to the highest comfort and convenience of the 

 occupant. 



I would not urge the farmer to an extravagant 

 outlay for a house to live in, but I would have him 

 keep in view neatness of appearance, comfort and 

 convenience. 



Every one knows, who has them, what inconve- 

 nient houses and barns are ; but once built, it is no 

 easy matter to improve them ; if ever undertaken, 

 they are seldom put right. It is in building as in 

 every thing else, always cheapest in the end fo be- 

 gin right. 



Every man's house should be a house in the broad 

 and best meaning of that word ; neatness and order 

 should be the presiding divinity of the place. This 

 cannot be unless each part shall have a correspond- 

 ing fitness to every other part. 



The grounds should be more ample and better 

 arranged than is generally common, admitting of 

 such an arrangement of out-buildings as will add to 

 the convenience and general appearance of the 

 whole. 



No farmer's house is a comfortable home if crowd- 

 ed to the line of the highway in front, or closely at- 

 tacked by pig-styes and bird-lofts in the rear. There 

 should be room, also, for ample shade. Sylva is 

 the fair Goddess that sheds her choice blessings on] 

 him who leads a rural life, little less than Cei-es, the 

 annual draught from whose horn is so grateful. 



The barns of the farmer should be constructed 

 after the most utilitarian model. While it needs a 

 combination of utility and nice taste to plan and 

 construct a home that shall be worthy of the name, 

 it requires not a less combination to construct a set 

 of farm-barns. The health and thrift of stock will 

 depend much upon the comfort and convenience of 

 the stable arrangement. Facility for performing 

 the labor in and about the barns will be greatly in- 

 creased, by constructing every part only after the 

 best model. Housing of manures is an important 

 consideration with every farmer, and should not be 

 overlooked in lapng plans for farm buildings in 

 which stock of any kind is to be kept. 



In short, every thing about farm buildings should 

 be commenced right from the foundation, if we 

 would have what is really desirable, and that shall 

 best subserve the purpose intended. — IVesttrn Pa- 

 per. 



BUILDING CISTERNS. 



Eight years ago, while building my house, I dug 

 a hole seven feet deep, six feet in diameter at top, 

 three feet at centre, sloping the bottom like the 

 large end of an egg. The soil where made, mostly 

 clay in composition. Used equal parts of water- 

 lime and coarse, clean sand for covering. After it 

 had dried, coated thoroughly with a white-wash 

 made from cement to fill any cracks occasioned by 

 the drying process. Laid three pieces of white- 

 oak scantling across the top with a covering of 

 two-inch plank matched together, and a trap-door 

 to admit ingress for the purpose of cleaning it out 

 as occasion required. AVhere cisterns are thus 

 constructed, the first filling of water should be 

 pumped out. After that it will be as soft as though 

 caught in a barrel. It matters not what the soil 



is, if it but holds its shape till the mortar sets. 

 I have seen them dug in a bed of sand with good 

 success. It must not be allowed to freeze. 



My cellar bottom is composed of the same mate- 

 rial, with this difierence : one part cement with 

 two of very coarse gravel. I think five barrels of 

 water-lime sufficient for a cellar 24 by 40 feet, one 

 and a half inches thick of mortar. Make the bot- 

 tom of the cellar a little convex. Put the cement 

 on with a trowel. In a few weeks you have a bot- 

 tom as hard as a rock. In hot weather throw on 

 cold water and scrub off with a broom ; the Avater 

 will run off the edges into the drain, and you will 

 have a sweet, cool- cellar in the hottest weather. 

 Observe the same caution as with the cistern, viz., 

 keep out the frost. — Rural JVew- Yorker. 



For the Neic England Farmer. 



A VISIT TO SIMPSON'S GRAPERY IN 

 SAXONVILLE. 



TALK AT A GREEN-HOUSE COLLATION. 



Mr. Editor : — While visiting a green-house 

 grapery, during the past month, some interesting 

 subjects were discussed relative to the physiology 

 of the growth of the grape vine, and on the func- 

 tions which different parts of the plant play, in 

 their progress of growth and of fruiting. Some of 

 these thoughts may not prove wholly uninteresting 

 to the general farmer or to the grape grower, and 

 I shall therefore report them for their considera- 

 tion. 



The great object of nature in the formation of fruit, 

 is reproduction of the plant by seed. This is the 

 strongest vital effort of the plant. The pulp of the 

 grape and the flesh of the peach, plum, apple and 

 pear is placed around the seed, not only as food for 

 man and animals, but also for the purpose of induc- 

 ing them to transport the seed to other spots of 

 earth, where they may be cast upon the ground 

 and grow. The A\inged thistle-seed, and the feath- 

 ered seeds of the maple and pines, obtain their lo- 

 comotion by aid of the wind, and the oily and nu- 

 tritious nuts and acorns find a planter in the ever 

 active squirrel, who plants thousands for one that 

 he opens and eats. Thus this nimble animal, by 

 his instinct, is forced to become nature's planter of 

 forests of oaks and of walnuts, and some species, 

 especially the red squirrel, rejoice in lugging away 

 and planting the white pine cones. 



Bu-ds distribute the seeds of berries profusely 

 over the plains, and aid their growth by a guano 

 dressing as they drop them on the soil. The burr 

 sticks to the wool of sheep, to the hairy coat of cat- 

 tle, and to the clothes of man, and thus finds its 

 means of gaining a new location and soil. The co- 

 coa nut floats on the river and even on the sea, and 

 is wafted to distant islands. Every plant has some 

 method of sending its seed abroad. These facts 

 must strike every observing mind as the provisions 

 made by the Author of Nature for distributing his 

 vegetable productions over the earth. 



The seed — and what is it ? It contains the em- 

 bryo plant, and the nutriment required for its early 

 development, its mother's milk in its most concen- 

 trated form ; it is analogous to the egg of a bird, 

 containing the embrj'o and the nutriment the young 

 animal requires before it can shift for itself. The 

 seed contains arovmd the germ, what is styled by 



