No. 2. 



Short Crops — Ice Houses — Work fur October. 



69 



For the Farmers' Caliinet. 



Remedy for Short Crops. 



People thrive by sedan, and not by grumbling tiiidcom- 

 jilaniing. 



The excessive drought has so diminished 

 the pasturage in some neighborhoods, as to 

 render it necessary to resort to feeding stock 

 with fodder, and if it should continue, many 

 more will be vmder the necessity of resorting 

 to it If so, or if the season for feeding should 

 be much prolonged, which looks probable, 

 economy and good management will become 

 necessary, otherwise much suffering will rc- 

 eult. In order as much as possible to avert 

 this state of things, let every farmer cut all 

 the katj, straw, and cnrnfodder given to his 

 stock, and wet or moisten it before it is fed. 

 Much will be saved by this simple process, as 

 will soon be discovered by making trial of it. 

 An e-xcellent farmer has been doing it for 

 some weeks past with manifest advantage. — 

 Let all the grain fed to your stock be first 

 boiled or steamed. It is much better for hav- 

 ing the heat applied gradually, and for a long 

 time ; eight or ten hours is better than a short- 

 er time. It will double the bulk of the grain, 

 and from experiment, it is believed that one 

 bushel of the cooked grain, goes as far as a 

 bushel of the raw ; if so, one-half is saved by 

 tlie process, abating labor and expense. If 

 your boys should demur at the labor, or show 

 by their looks or their mutterings, that they 

 are too lazy to save a penny, hire a hand at 

 once to attend to it properly, and turn them 

 out to hunt pasture for themselves, and let 

 them try the experiment of getting a liv- 

 ing by growling and complaining, and despis- 

 ing industrious, economical habits. They 

 may do for steam doctors, but they are not the 

 stuff of \v\\\ch. thriving farmers can be made. 



Let us be up, and doing, 



That what we do, may be done quickly. 



Delaware. 



Forihe Farmers' Cabinet. 



Ice and Ice Houses. 



In answer to your request for information 

 as to the best plan of building ice houses, I 

 will merely inform you that I have an ice 

 house that has been used by my family for 

 about fiHy years, and has never failed to pre- 

 serve an abundance of ice for our supplies. — 

 It is about 16 by 12 feet, and judging from 

 recollection, for it is now nearly half full, 

 is about 16 feet deep. It was probably dug 

 down to the sand or gravel, is walled like an 

 ordinary cellar, the wall extending about 

 three feet above the level of the adjacent 

 ground, and earth thrown against it nearly to 

 the roof This serves to preserve a unifonn 

 temperature, and prevents leakage from rain, 

 &c. The bottom of the cellar is supplied 



with pieces of timber, say b by 8 inciies thick, 

 which are placed about 6 inches apart, and 

 this protects the ice from the influence of the 

 earth below. When the ice is being put in I 

 take care to have the bottom and sides well pro- 

 vided with clean rye straw, and have the ice 

 occasionally broken fine, and when the house 

 is full I have it well covered up with the same 

 material. This is all that is necessary to be 

 particular about, as the straw is a non-condac- 

 tor of caloric, and the ice being well embed- 

 ed therein does not melt in the wannest 

 weather. Many years ago this house was 

 lined with boards which was only useful as a 

 harbor for rats. The lining gradually decayed 

 and has long since been removed, and still 

 the ice is kept as well as ever. Give your 

 ice a dry cellar and plenty of rye strawr, and 

 rest assured you will require neither tan nor 

 pulverized charcoal, nor boards to keep it cool. 

 A Phila. Co. Fakmer. 



Sepfr. 3d, IgnS. 



Farmers' Work for October, 



ON THE FARM. 



This is a month, as every good farmer 

 knows, in which all our energie.s should be 

 put forth, for besides saving that which we 

 have already made, much must be done to lay 

 the ground work of next year's crops; and 

 with a view of bringing its appropriate labors 

 to the notice of our readers, we will endeavor 

 briefly to detail them. 



FALL PLOUGHING. 



As opportunity presents itself, all stiflj clay- 

 ey grounds intended for spring culture, should 

 be ploughed up this and the ensuing month. 

 By ploughing 7 inches deep and taking fur- 

 rows 9 inches wide, the furrows will be 

 laid at an angle of about 45 degrees, thp 

 best possible position at which ground can be 

 laid to receive the greatest amount of bene- 

 fit from the fertilizing effects of winter frosts 

 and snows. Grounds thus treated are always 

 infinitely better suited to the purposes of 

 spring culture than if lefl untouched. But 

 besides the advantages arising from the 

 mellowing effects of the weather, much less 

 work will have to be done in the spring when 

 time is valuable. 



GATHERING OF CORN 



If your corn is sufficiently hardened, it 

 should begot in the latter end of this month: 

 by so doing you save much from the ravages 

 of crows and those animals that prey upon 

 the corn fields, and in addition to this you are 

 enabled to turn your stock into your corn-fields 

 at a time before vegetation is destroyed, and 

 thus by the time winter comes on they are put 

 in good condition to enter upon the rigors of 

 that inclement and pinching season of the 

 year, a thing that every husbandman should 



