iu 



Ice Houses — Indwftry, SfC. crowned loith success. Vol. III. 



For the Farmers' Calnnf.f. 



Soaring Grass Seeds. 



The importance of sowing j^rass seeds 

 evenly, and sufficiently thick to occupy every 

 part of the ground to the exclusion of weeds, 

 cannoi be pressed on the minds of farmers too 

 forcibly. 



In many cases there are not half the num- 

 ber of plants of the artificial grasses which 

 could profitably stand on the alloted space of 

 ground. The spaces unoccupied by good 

 grass is wasted, and it would be equally rea- 

 so.nable for a farmer to let his cows remain 

 with half the milk in their udders, as to per- 

 mit his fields, that have been duly and properly 

 prepared for the reception of grass seed to 

 remain half covered witli plants; and yet this 

 is a spectacle which we annually see exhih 

 ited in tlie fields of many who are styled 

 pretty good farmers. Nature never works 

 this way; give her time and don't counteract 

 her efforts, and she fills every space with some 

 -vegetable production. An intelligent farmer 

 v?ho is fully aware of the importance of hav- 

 ing his fields evenly set witli grass roots, states 

 that in sowing grass seeds, he first passes over 

 the ground, strewing about half the quantity 

 proper to put on, and then he crosses the field 

 sowing the other half, and in this way he dis- 

 perses the seed more evenly, and he is less 

 likely to leave vacant spaces for the occupa- 

 tion of weeds. This plan of sowing takes 

 double the time to perform the work, but it is 

 done much better, and amply compensates for 

 the extra labor bestowed 



Every farmer should make strenuous efforts 

 to cause two blades of grass to grow where 

 but one grew before, and then his animals 

 will not be likely to cry out with the empty 

 belly-ache. H 



stint, and sold some. Perhaps I should liavc 

 stated iu my former communication, that tbe 

 pitch of my roof is north and south, the door 

 therefore beinir in the gable, faces the east, 

 and there is on the v.'est a small window with 

 Venitian blinds. The house is also well 

 shaded with large trees. 



The secret of preserving ice consists, lam 

 persuaded, in having it kept dry and well pro- 

 tected from the rays of the sun and the influ- 

 ence of a heated atmosphere, which can be 

 done by having it kept in such a house as I 

 before described, and well enveloped in straw 

 or any other non-conductor of caloric. I assure 

 Public Good, that I have never iiad any diffi- 

 culty in preserving ice from one winter to the 

 ne.Kt, and in cleaning out the straw we always 

 find ice at the bottom. 



A Phila. Co. Farmer. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Industry^ Promptncvs and Puuctnalltyf 



crowned witli siiccess. 



Stephen Girard, the great merchant and 

 banker, was also a great and successful farmer. 

 He owned a farm of several hundred acres of 

 land within a few miles of Philadelphia, the 

 cultivation of which he superintended with 

 his usual industry and acuteness. This farm 

 was his principal hobby; for every day, at one 

 o'clock precisely, his gig was in waiting for 

 him at his counting-house door, and as soon 

 as the clock struck one he started for his farm 

 in the Neck, not suffering any matter what- 

 ever to interfere with his daily visit Du- 

 ring the aflernoon he gave his personal atten- 

 tion to the various agricultural affairs requir- 

 ing it, plying his own hands to any and every 

 kind of business that was in season. In the 

 evening he returned to the city to lodge, and 

 thereturn of daylight, the next morning, would 

 find him again eng.aged in the labors of his 

 farm, which he would intermit so as to be in 

 the city by nine o'clock to attend to his ex- 

 tensive and well managed commercial and 

 banking concerns, and at one o'clock he was 

 asrain on his way to his farm. He followed 

 out this routine for twenty or thirty years, 

 permitting no part of his business to suffer 

 from neglect or want of attention. His farm 

 presented a perfect model for imitation. His 

 irrain fields, grass grounds, orchard, and gar- 



For '.lie Farmors' Cabinet. 



Ice Slonses. 

 In your last number I am requested by 

 "Public Good" to state the number of cart 

 loads it requires to fill my Ice House. I would 

 with pleasure do so if I could, but have never 

 kept an account of the loads. That he may, 

 however, form some idea of the labor, I will 

 state that I think it requires four men, the| 

 carter iticiuded, three or four days to fill it. „ 



The pond where the ice is cut is about a quar-ljdcn exhibited the most luxuriant and perfect 

 ter of a mile from the house. The time re- appearance, while his stock of every kind, 

 quired f()r cutting depends on the weather, and poultry in all their varieties, were the 

 the thickness of "the ice, &c. The labor has Hfines^t and most perfect that were to be found 

 always been pertbrmcd by the farm hands, Lin the country. 



and I have never kept an account of the time | A distinguished foreigner, then resident in 

 they were thus employed. I^st winter the thiscountry, on a particular occasion, had some 

 cellar was filled to within about four feet of the I specinl financial business to transact with 

 square.atlood iiavingsoilodtheice in the pond, lithe great banker, and V2 o'clock was fixed 

 and yet I have now ("ilst Oct.) about four teet of jUipon t!ir making his visit for that purpose, but 

 ic-eremuining, althuughl have used it witho'jt''he did not arrive till the clock had struck one, 



