No. .13 



A ^fw and Cheap Paint. 



221 



A €rOod Hint. 



An esteemed correspondentof the Farmers' 

 Cabinet, writing from the West, says: — "If 

 the oak juggles, or large chips, cut out by the 

 wood-choppers, when making rails, be laid on 

 the shoulder of the covered drain, described 

 at page 71, vol. 2, of the Cabinet, they will 

 answer much better than the surface sod, and 

 be more tasty. On the Prairies, in Illinois, 

 where the drains are dug in precisely the 

 same manner and form as those referred to 

 above, and where the surface sod is not firm 

 enough to form a sufficient roof, juggles are 

 used." 



From the Maine Farmer. 



« Thinks 1 to Myself." 



We are indebted to a w-crtliy and observ- 

 ing friend for many of the following hints. 



When I see a mass of chips accumulated 

 in a farmer's back yard, remaining year after 

 year, "thinks 1 to myself," if the coarser 

 ones were raked out, they would serve for fu- 

 el, while the finer parts with the addition of 

 soap-suds, &c., from the house would aflbrda 

 valuable source of manure. 



.When I see a convex barn-yard, "thinks I 

 to myself," there is comparatively but little 

 manure made there. 



When I see banks of manure resting 

 against a barn during the summer season 

 serving only to rot the building— '" thinks I 

 to myself," that manure miglit be employed. 



When I see the drainings of a barn-yard 

 finding their way into gullies and rivulets, 

 while with small expense ttiey might be 

 thrown on to a valuable swell or declivity, 

 •' thinks I to mysellV that farmer is blind to 

 his own interest. 



When I see a hog-yard not well supplied 

 with materials for making manure, "thinks I 

 to myself," that man suffers loss for the want 

 of care. 



Whea I see a piece of hoed ground in a 

 mowing field, and the turf, stalks, and stones 

 that were carried out by the plough or har- 

 row not collected together, '* thinks I to my- 

 self," there is something Slovenish in the 

 case. 



When I see ploughing done, year after year, 

 in the same track by the side of a fence or a 

 gully, till a dyke of considerable height is 

 thrown up, and of course a corresponding 

 leanness in the interior, "thinks I to myself," 

 there is a want of good husbandry. 



When I see a stonewall topped out with a 

 single tier of round stone, " thinks I to my-- 

 gelf," the upper foot \i\ the height, of suQh 



walls ought never to have been put on, and 

 look out for dull scythes and loss of hay. 



When I see fruit trees loaded with twice 

 the top necessary for bearing well, and thi.s 

 perhaps partly dead, thereby keeping the 

 needed rays of the sun from the under crop, 

 "thinks I to myself," here is an indication of 

 bad husbandry. 



When I see stones piled around the trunk 

 of a fruit tree, "thinks I to myself," here is 

 an invitation to suckers and to mice, and if 

 dull scythes should follow, it would not be 

 strange. 



Wiien I see a total failure of a crop of In- 

 dian corn, "thinks 1 to myself," if that man 

 had bestowed all the manure and perhaps two- 

 thirds the labor on half the ground, he would 

 have had a fair crop and a fine piece of ground 

 for a crop of Ruta Bfeiga the following year. 



When 1 see a farmer selling his ashes for 

 ten cents per bushel, " thinks 1 to myself;" he 

 had better havegiven the purchaser fifty cents 

 to leave it for his corn and jrrain. 



CUT STRAW FOR HORSES. 



At this season of the year, horses that are 

 used much, or that perspire freely, are apt to 

 take cold, and become iiide-bound. They re- 

 quire, once or twice, a couple of table spoon-- 

 luls of sulphur mixed with their food, which 

 should be of cut straw, and corn and cob, and 

 oats, ground together. If well curried, their 

 skin will soon be loose, and they will begin to 

 tlirive immediately. 



A NEW AND CHEAP PAINT, 



More impervious to the. Weather than Com^ 

 mon Paint. 

 Take of unslacked lime a quantity sufficient 

 to make two gallons of white wash when 

 slacked — mix it with a due quantity of water 

 — add to it two and a half pounds of brown 

 sugar, and about three ounces of salt. The 

 exact proportion of each will be best ascer- 

 tained by experiment. This, when applied 

 as a paint, becomes perfectly hard and glossy. 

 By mixing either ivory black, or lamp-black» 

 with the ingredients, a beautiful lead color 

 may he had, or a yellow, by mixing suitable 

 ingredients. This paint is now almost alto- 

 gether used at the south tor houses, fences, 

 &c. 



The quantity of rain which fell in Phila- 

 delphia, during the last month (Januaryi 1838) 

 was two inches and twenty hundredths. 

 (2:200 



Endeavor to raise good grain, for it will 

 always sell; even in years of plenty ; where- 

 as it is only in dear and scarce seasons that 

 there is a dea^and for grain of an iii,ferior 



qality. 



