VOL. XI. KO. 44. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



349 



of it, to hiy thoiii so as to have a siiflicieiit aper- 

 ture, with stones at tiie sides and top, for the wa- 

 ter to pass li-ecly. Brusli, straw, or the inverted 

 soil, may be thrown upon the stones, to prevent 

 the earth froin getting among the stones, and oh- 

 structing the free passage of tlie water. Wlieu 

 brush is to be used, such as is tliree to six inches 

 in diameter at the butt is to be preferred, and ev- 

 ergreens are better than deciduous Ivinds. They 

 should be used when green, and while in foliage 

 cut tliem in lengths sojiiewhat longer than the 

 depth of the drain; then begin at the upper end, 

 and lay thciii in diagonally, the butts down, and 

 the tops near the surface, taking care to adjust 

 the larger sticks so that when they are pressed 

 down the water will find a passage between them, 

 and putting the spray on the top. One man 

 stands upon the brush, treading it down as he pro- 

 gresses iu placing it, while another,' or a boy, pas- 

 ses it to him. When finished, the ditch is appar- 

 ently full, but the weight of the earth, when 

 thi-own on, presses it into a small space. Anoth- 

 er method is practised where the subsoil is hard. 

 The main ditch is made somewhat broader, and a 

 spit taken from the centre of the bottom, with a 

 narrow tajiering spade, so as to leave a shoulder 

 at the bottom of the main ditch, of six inches or 

 more upon eacli side, upon which sticks, cut to a 

 proper length, are laid cross wise, and the brush 

 placed horizontally upon those. Another method 

 is to make the drain of three straight sticks of tim- 

 ber, two laid in the bottom of the ditch so far 

 apart that the third shall serve as a cover to the 

 space between them. 



As to the utility of under draining I can speak 

 from observation and experience. That excellent 

 farmer, H. VV. Delavan, whose improvements at 

 Ballston, afford aii example of good husbandry, has 

 given it an efficient trial, both on wet slopes and 

 level surface. His materials are stone, widi which 

 his lands abound. And he has happily contrived 

 to supply watering troughs for his cattle, upon the 

 lower sides of his fields, with the water which 

 flows in these drains. Such has been their ame- 

 liorating influence upon the soil, that, under judi- 

 cious management, his crops, in the fields under 

 drained, have been quadrupled iu a few years. 

 My own experience has been alike satisfactory. I 

 have from a mile and a half to two miles of under 

 draining upon my farm. In every case it has 

 converted useless poachy land into kind fertile 

 soils, adapted cither to tillage or the fine grasses. 

 Brush is the principal material I have employed. 

 The asking price of the man who made a consid- 

 erable portion of my drain, was five shillings for 

 twenty-eight yards, the materials being fiu'nished 

 on the spot. The drains were made iu sand, gen- 

 erally terminating in cla}', and of an average depth 

 of three feet. B. 



From th*; K'lnncbec Fanner. 

 PATTEBTOIG BEEP. 



Monmouth, Feb. 15, 1833. 

 Mr. Holmes, — 1 wish to communicate a few 

 observations through the columns of your useful 

 paper, in regard to fattening beef. Much of the 

 beef made in this vicinity, is from cows, which 

 through age have become unfit for the dairy, and 

 from oxen which are worn out with hard labox-. 

 It is customary to milk the cows until August or 

 September, and as soon as they can be dried of 

 their milk, begin to feed them, first with green 

 corn stalks, small corn, potatoes and meal ; and 



the feed given them is generally much more than 

 the value of the beef when slaughtered. — The ox- 

 en intended for beef are generally worked in the 

 spring as long as they are able to drag the plough, 

 because it is the last spring's work they will do, for 

 the owner intends to fatten them. 



Now all this appears to me wrong. If those 

 who have old cows which they intend to fatten 

 would dry them of their milk before they go to 

 pasture in the spring, and let them have a good 

 pasture and plenty of salt, they will find that they 

 will have much better beef than that which is 

 made from vegetables in the fall, and much cheap- 

 er ; and a cow thus fattened will have double the 

 quantity of tallow, of those which are milked 

 through the summer. The old worn out oxen in- 

 tended for beef should be well kept through the 

 winter and spring ; one bushel of corn or meal 

 given them in the spring is worth two in the fall 

 Let them have a good pasture and bleed them once 

 a month or oftener, take but a small quantity of 

 blood at a time. In this way the farmer will find 

 he is amply compensated for the loss of milk from 

 his old cow and for the labor of his worn outDxeu. 

 A Farmer. 



BUTTER. 



A FRIEND waited on us, yesterday, to communi- 

 cate the result of a process, which had been recom- 

 mended to him, of restoring butter to its original 

 sweetness. Incredulous as he was, he made the 

 experiment, and he authorises us to say it was en- 

 tirely satisfactory. It consists simply of churning 

 the butter with sweet fresh milk, in the proportion 

 of about 3 lbs. of the former to half a gallon of the 

 latter. Butter, thoroughly rancid, by this simple 

 process, was rendered sweet and good. Our citi- 

 zens, in view of the present scarcity and dearuess 

 of butter of even tolei-able quality, will not fail to 

 appreciate this discovery. — yredericksbttrg Arena. 



From the SoiUltcnt AgriculUirisi. 

 AVOOD COI,I.ARS FOR HORSES ASTD IRON 

 BOAVS FOR OXEN* BY JOSEPH F. O'HEAR. 



Charleston, JVov. 5, 1832. 



Mr. Editor, — As many of your leaders have 

 not heard of wooden collars for oxen, mules and 

 horses, I would suggest the great economy and ad- 

 vantage in the use of them. I have experienced 

 their utility for ten or twelve years ; they are su- 

 perior to leather, corn husk, or flag-collars in wet 

 weather, because they do not gall the animal by 

 holding to the hair. The simple mode adopted to 

 make them is this ; about four inches in diameter 

 of dogwood, sweet-gum, tupelo, or sassafras- wood 

 is procured, with a bend to fit the animal's neck, 

 and just the length wanted, it is slit in half with a 

 saw and forms the pair. Holes aye then bored 

 top and bottom for the strings, and a pair of hooks 

 and staples are driven in about an inch below the 

 middle, as in common wooden haims. Observe 

 to take ofl' the bark and remove any knots or un- 

 evenness in the wood, and turn the round part of 

 the pole to the shoulder. The same collar can be 

 used for the plough or cart, by attaching a piece 

 of chain fifteen or sixteen inches long to the cart- 

 shaft at the back-band-staple. 



I have also used an iron-bow for oxen with 

 which I am pleased. It is made from five-eighth 

 rod iron. The advantage in its use is this, that a 

 well shaj)ed bow can be made to fit the animal's 

 neck, which will not gall, and is never out of 

 order. It is a common thing to sec oxen galled 

 much by the vile shaped wood bow in com- 



mon use, from the difficulty of bending wood 

 regularly ; consequently the power of the ox is 

 measurably lost. A pattern of the collar and of 

 the bow may be seen at the blacksmith's shop of 

 Mr. Jacob Martin, in Wentworih Street, one door 

 west of Meeting Street, or at the Cattle Farm, at 

 the forks of the road, near the city. 



Joseph. F. O'Hear. 



Beat this who can. — We have in our office a 

 spear of Asparagus, raised in the Market Garden of 

 George Wilson, Esci. near Lambert's Point, which 

 measures ^/icee inches in circumference, and iix in- 

 ches and a half in length. — JVorfolk Beacon. 



STATISTICS. 



Ddpin states, that in Great Britain the animal 

 power is eleven times as great as the manual 

 power, while in France it is only four times as 

 great. Also, that Britain consumes three times as 

 much meat, milk, and cheese as France. In Han- 

 over there are 193 horses to every 1000 inhabi- 

 tants, 145 in Sweden, 100 in Great Britain, 95 in 

 Prussia, 79 in France. — Bull, des Sc. Agri. 



The Dahlia, which now competes with the finest 

 flowers of the garden, was first introduced into 

 Spain from Mexico, in 1787. In 1802, three 

 specimens reached Paris, and were cultivated in 

 the house, and only propagated by seed. It was 

 subsequently introduced into England. Its flower 

 was originally single. The double and inconceiv- 

 able variety which now grace our borders, are 

 principally the result of the gardener's skill. The 

 finest new varieties now sell in England as high 

 as 7s. and 10s. sterling a plant or root, in such 

 high estimation are they held by florists. — lb. 



From the Maine Farmer. 



Mr. Holmes, — I wish to communicate to the 

 public through your paper a new and very ex- 

 peditious method of ' harrowing in' the English flat 

 turnip seed. Sow the seed in the usual manner 

 — then turn your flock of sheep into your yard 

 and drive them round for a few minutes, just 

 enough to give them a little exercise and the work 

 of harrowing is done. 



Yours, &c. Flat Turnip. 



WHITE- WASHING. 



Mat is emphatically a white-washing month. 

 All store keepers who regard the health, and do- 

 mestic appearance of their customers, should be 

 well provided with good lime, and a large supply 

 of lohite-ivashmg Brushes — especially the latter; 

 as it would save many of our good dames the 

 trouble of borrowing brushes from their neigh- 

 bors at a time when it is about as vexatious to lend 

 ihem as it is to loan your umbrella in a rainy day. 

 — Hunterdon Ga:. 



Wk have had occasion to refer to manufactures of 

 useful and ornamental articles from anthracite coal, 

 by Messrs. J. W. & G. Kirk, whose taste and in- 

 genuity in this way are unrivalled. Among the 

 uses to which they have recently applied the grand 

 staple of our mountains, are, urns and founts for 

 mineral water, ale, See. adding greatly to the em- 

 bellishment of these temperance promoters; stands 

 for astral lamps, large and small inkstands, and di- 

 verse other articles of utility and beauty, are made 

 by the Messrs. Kirks, from this coal ; and the pol- 

 lish and color are so perfect, that we are not sur- 

 prised at the good demand in which they are at 

 present. — U. S. Gaz, 



