1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



21 



feet of the wall to be built, a fragment of it— say 

 a portion two feet wide — is made with mortar, 

 the rest is cemented with mud — the commonest 

 mud, made upon the spot, with any earth that 

 happens to be at hand. The whole AvalHs then 

 faced with mortar, thus assuming a similar ap- 

 pearance in its whole length. The result is a 

 wall that will last for centuries, there being no 

 frosts powerful enough to upheave or disjoint it. 



I said the mortar was stronger than the stone. 

 No one who has ever seen French building-stone, 

 in the neighborhood of Paris, can form even a re- 

 mote idea of what it is. The masons snip it, 

 shape it, edge it, as if each lump were a pine-ap- 

 ple cheese. I have seen the adze penetrate a 

 block as it would have penetrated a ripe water 

 melon. This quality, which adds to the facility 

 with which it is adapted, is in no way disadvan 

 tageous. The stone will bear any weight, and 

 never splits or chips of its own accord. With 

 time its color changes from a rich cream color to 

 a dingy brown, but a scrape every five years re 

 stores it. Its softness is in fact as great an ad 

 vantage as malleability is to a metal ; for while 

 it is as easily fashioned as cheese, it is as durable 

 as granite. 



1 told you that I once hired an old woman to 

 weed a gravel path and strawberry bed. I am 

 happy to state that this venerable creature is now 

 well provided for. She and her good man are 

 engaged as luisliandmen upon a neighboring farm 

 They work twelve hoars a day, steadily, and she 

 performs the same labors, and quite as much la 

 bor as he. She digs, weeds, plants, "snatches" 

 potatoes, trains grape-vines, mounts drays, as 

 cends ladders, gets into trenches, sinks wells, like 

 the veriest male of them all. I sat the other day 

 upon a hay-cock of her making. She is richly 

 bronzed, and her limbs — which she exposes with 

 an agricultural freedom — ai-e gnarled and knotted 

 to a degree quite unusual with the sex. I'he two 

 are boarded and lodged by their employer, and 

 the waofes they get are proportionately reduced. 

 Still, the smallness of the figure will astonish you 

 as it did mo. They earn, together, $180 a year 

 — being thirty cents a day for him, and uinete:;n 

 cents a day for her. They lay by §100 a year, 

 and when they are too old to work, will be aide 

 to keep them out of the poor-house and avoid the 

 hospital, even though saddled with sickness in ad- 

 dition to poverty. — iV. Y. Times. 



PSEPARE FOE WINTER. 



Winter is at hand, with its storms of sleet and 

 Buow, and all necessary preparations for the com- 

 fort and thrift of his stock sliould be made by the 

 farmer. These duties will now nearly monopo- 

 lize his attention. Every season has for him its 

 appropriate and varying work, and that of winter 

 lirings him often among his domestic animals, as 

 their sustenance and shelter is mostly provided by 

 his care and labor. On these subjects we offer a 

 few suggestions. 



Considerations of economy as well as humanity 

 should induce attention to the protection and 

 shelter of domestic animals in inclement weather. 

 Less food is required to sustain in thriving condi- 

 tion an animal kept in a comfortable stable, 

 than one not thus sheltered. The vital heat must 

 be kept to a certain point — about 100^ — and 



this is done by the food consumed, which serves 

 as fuel to sustain that temperature. A sheltered 

 position tends to keep up the animal heat, while 

 exposure decreases it, or rather makes more food 

 or fuel requisite to support it. An equable tem- 

 perature is also more healthy than one continu- 

 ally changing. No animal, however hardy it 

 may be, can be exposed to a winter storm, espec- 

 ially a drenching rain, without injury to its 

 health and condition. The moisture may rapidly 

 evaporate, but every di-op of water tlius passing 

 off, takes with it a portion of vital heat as it rises. 



Comfortable stables and sheds for horses, cat- 

 tle and sheep — not neglecting the pigs and poul- 

 try — are a part of the essential requisites of a 

 good farm. Still they may not always be con- 

 veniently provided, and in such cases, one should 

 do his best to prepare a substitute. Sheds may 

 be built of poles, rails or boards, and straw, 

 v.'hich will shelter 'sheep and cattle almost as 

 well as more costly structures — though of course 

 not as conveniently. When built of rails, the walls 

 should be made double and filled in with straw, 

 which may be also used as a thatch ; or evergreen 

 boughs answer well this purpose. 



It is poor policy to pinch stock in the early 

 part of winter. Let them be kept in good heart, 

 if it can be done, from first to last, and if they 

 must be put on short allowance, let it be at the 

 close of the season. To make the best of the 

 fodder, a straw-cutter in the barn is a prime ne- 

 cessity. Corn stalks cut fine are eagerly con- 

 sumed by cattle ; and clover, and all coarse hay 

 goes much farther when cut, and even the best 

 of hay is increased in value by this preparation. 

 If grain of any kind is fed, it should be ground 

 and mixed with cut straw, first moistened with 

 water. It will be better digested, and conse- 

 quently less will be required. Apples and roots 

 are of as much value as food for all kinds of farm 

 stock. 



Much may be done towards increasing the 

 quality and quantity of the manure heaps. The 

 stables should be kept well littered, for the com- 

 fort and health of tlieir occupants, and the pig- 

 pen be supplied with the raw material for the 

 young porkers to manufacture. Muck, leaves 

 from the woods, coarse hay and such absorbent 

 materials will add much to the value of this "es- 

 sential to productive farming'' — manure. Enough 

 of these or of straw should be mixed with the 

 horse dung to prevent its heating, and to take up 

 the liquid portion of the same. No farmer wlio 

 studies true economy, will suffer any fertilizer to 

 go to waste wliich his reasonalde care can save. 



Water as well as I'ood is necessary. This 

 sliould be brought into the yard, if it may be, so 

 that every animal may have the su))ply his wants 

 demand. It is an excellent jdan to have proper 

 cisterns constructed to take the water from the 

 barn roof, where springs are not availaljle, and 

 in this way a full supply of the best water may 

 by secured. — Wool Grower. 



New Food for Sheep. — "Whilst I was at Gene- 

 va, I observed every one collecting carefully the 

 fruit of the horse-chestnut, and on inquiry I 

 learnt that the butchers and holders of grazing- 

 stock bought it readily at a certain price per 

 l)ushel. 1 Inquired of my butcher, and he told 

 me it was given to- those sheep in particular that 



