THE GENESEE FARMER. 



181 



FENCING. 



Editoes Genesee Fahmeb: — Fencing is becom- 

 ing an important subject to farmers ; and to many 

 it is serious difficulty, even now, to procure mate- 

 rials iu sufficient quantities to fence tlieir farms 

 into convenient fields. 



Hedges are ever foremost in our thoughts, as the 

 future resource for permanent and ornamental 

 fences ; but tlie great difficulty, at present, is the 

 want of a suitable plant, combining a variety of 

 qualities, such as, we fear, no one plant will be 

 found to possess. It should have the prickles of 

 the Osage Orange, or Hawthorn, the hardihood of 

 the Buckthorn, and, to relieve the monotony of a 

 Canadian winter, the evergreen garment of the 

 hemlock. 



The Osage Orange, I think, will not thrive where 

 the peach tree is so frequently killed as in Canada ; 

 the Hawthorn is about given up ; tlie Native white 

 thorn is little prized ; and it now rests solely with 

 the Buckthorn, whicli, though not pretty, is hardy 

 and sure. The Cockspur and Washington thorns 

 are frequently mentioned, but little known here. — 

 Tlie White Cedar makes a pretty ornamental hedge, 

 I planted a few rods two years ago, which is get- 

 ting quite thick. A year ago, I jilanted 40 rods 

 with cedar and tamarack, which I have no doubt 

 will do well. 



Where stone is abundant and obstructs cultiva- 

 tion, the plan suggested in the May number of the 

 Fan'mer may be adopted with profit ; for it serves 

 two purposes — that of clearing the land, and build- 

 ing a permanent fence. 



There are two kinds of fences which I can 

 strongly recommend to the notice of farmers, for 

 economy and durability. The first is described on 

 page 35 of the Farmer for 1857, vrhich is simply 

 rail and toggle fence, I make it as follows : plow 

 and shovel a ridge of land sis feet wide and one 

 foot high; then lay stones, a foot thick, for the 

 rails to rest on in the centre of the ridge, and bank 

 up to the bottom rail. Four rails or toggles then 

 well staked and ridered make a high fence, with 

 about half the number of rails used in an ordinary 

 zig zag fence, half the land to set it on, and much 

 less time to make it. The stakes being set within 

 the ridge, are not liable to heave with frost. The 

 other method appeared in the Canadian Agricul- 

 turist last year, and, with a few alterations, is made 

 as follows : PIoav a straight furrow six inches deep ; 

 every sixteen feet, put in a small post one foot 

 lower than the furrow ; ram them tight and straight 

 in a line ; then saw them oif four and a half feet 

 above the surface; next, nail strips of board, six 

 inches wide on top of the posts, two nails in each 

 end. Then take pickets, split as near as possible 

 four niches wide, and two inches thick, and five 

 feet long ; place them in the furrow, three, four, or 

 five inches apart, and drive a nail through the cap 

 board into the top of each picket ; fill up the fur- 

 row and tramp it hard ; then plow two or three 

 furrows on each side, to bank up and form a ditch 

 a foot deep, which will prevent heaving by frost. — ■ 

 Cover the bank with sward or seed it down, and 

 the fence is finished. This makes the cheapest, 

 neatest, and altogether the best wooden fence I 



know of, SIGMA. 



Woodstock, C. W. 



CLEAEING BUSH LAND. 



Editors Genesee Fakmek: — In autumn, before 

 the snow falls, cut up all fallen timbers and also cut 

 down all small timbers, (say six or eight inches 

 through,) and be sure to cut them low enough to 

 allow the harrow to pass over them. Place the 

 brush wood parallel with as little cross work as 

 possible. Then go through felling the largest of 

 the trees, — if possible, east and west, north and 

 south, as the land will best allow, leaving the 

 trunlvs of them whole as a foundation for rolHng 

 heaps. Then you are ready for a regular seige of 

 chopping, always falling the medium trees on the 

 foundations previously prepared, cutting their 

 trunks from twelve to fourteen feet in length. 

 By falling trees across the large trunks, it is oftea 

 advantagous to leave two or three lengths, and 

 swing them around parallel with the main portion. 

 By so doing, they will some times, burn at the time 

 of firning the brush, which is generally done in June. 



It is worthy of remark that hemlock or puie tim- 

 bers can be burned away as well by one heap and 

 a half, if used properly, as by three heaps if not 

 used properly. First make a heap that will burn, 

 leaving tliree or four logs laying near, to roll in as 

 the fire gets low ; and by strict attention a hem- 

 lock or a pine can be liurned through with the 

 greatest ease. The branding up is simple and easy, 

 after the heart is broken, t. j, ceewson. 



Morgantoion, C. W. 



^»-«-^ 



CHEWED CORN STALKS AND MAD ITCH. 



Editors Genesee Farmer: — The editor of the 

 Southern Planter says that several instances have 

 been brought to his notice "where cattle have died 

 from eating corn stalks which had been chewed 

 by hogs," It has liappened invariaMy^ as far as 

 my personal experience goes, that the mad itch 

 occurred among cattle fed exclusively on corn 

 stalks. Though I have never made any dissections 

 of cattle which had died from this cause, yet I am 

 told by those who have, that '"■ the stomachs are 

 fiUed with the indigestible fibrous parts of the 

 stalks, in ^oacZs, dry and hardy 



I can conceive that any kind of dry food — such 

 as over ripe timothy, red top, clover, or prairie 

 grasses — might induce the same or a similar con- 

 dition of things ; and that plenty of salt, good icater^ 

 and an occasional change of food, and dry sleeping 

 places, would ever keep cattle free from disease of 

 this or any other character. 



Stock well cared for are gentle, contented, tract- 

 able ; but shut your cattle and hogs together in a 

 filthy yard, feed on corn fodder alone, give no salt, 

 water semi- occasionally, and you wiU have speci- 

 mens of the '"'•mens insana in corpore insano" in 

 the shape of viad itch or other kindred disease, and 

 will help glut the market with bad upper, sole, and 

 harness leather, c. brackett, 



Rochester, Ind., April, 1858. 



Chip Manure. — Your correspondent P, T, asks 

 to know how chip manure may be disposed of to 

 the best advantage. It is the best of manures for 

 the garden, on heavy clay, that I ever tried, mak- 

 ing the ground loose, and lasting for many years, 

 and is good for all crops commonly raised in the 

 2;arden. A Young Farmer, — Vertion, Ind. 



