52 



Booh Farming. 



Vol. IX. 



half of it spent in eating, drinking, or 

 sleeping^ 



The memorandum which follows, I find 

 in a letter from a gentleman on the Eastern 

 Shore of Maryland, of ample means, yet of 

 not the less systematic habits — making nice 

 calculations, and keeping exact accounts, 

 being in that respect an example wortliy of 

 regard by many who have stronger reasons 

 than he to do as he does. I. S. S. 



Plank Fences. 



5,097 feet Hemlock plank, $11 



per m. $56 06 



100 lbs. nails, 5 50 



202 posts, Cedar, White oak, &c. 30 30 

 19 days labour, one man, at 75cts. ) ,q /^f^ 

 " " board, " at25cts. \ ^ "" 



15 days labour at 37t^ cts. \ ^-^^ 

 15 days board at 18| cts. \ '^"^ 



8 44 



$119 30 



The above materials m^e 202 panels 

 post-and-rail fence, — 59 cents, say 60 cents 

 per panel of eight feet. 



Not having Hemlock plank enough to 

 finish my range of fencing, purchased 

 1495 feet Southern heart pine, flooring 

 plank, 6 inches wide, 1-| inches thick, 

 cost $16 50 

 Freight, 2 00 



$49 65 



The above plank made 61 panels of 10 

 feet per panel, and as the panels are one- 

 fourth longer than the Hemlock, the account 

 will stand : ■' 



Hemlock, 60 



Add one-fourth, 15 



— $75 00 



Southern pine, 82 00 



One fence of the latter, from the superi- 

 ority of materials, is worth two of the former. 

 The great saving is in the posts- — also the 

 labour of every kind. 



Yours truly, 



Chasseur avx Renards. 



Dr. Abernethy's prescription for the 

 gout, was to live upon si^-pence a day, and 

 *iarn it. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Book Farming. 



We hear a great deal said among fiirmers, 

 about looking to Agricultural papers for in- 

 formation on practical matters relating to 

 Ihcir business, arid I am inclined to think 

 that some among us, do not sufficiently 

 value their importance. As a little illus- 

 tration of the many hints which I acknow- 

 ledge myself to be indebted to them lor, I 

 send the following fi'om the New England 

 Farmer: and I think a man who makes a 

 little use of his head as well as his hands, 

 can hardly help getting from its perusal, 

 more than a year's subscription to a paper 

 which contains it. W. S. 



In conversation with Mr. G., whose farm 

 had run backwards, I suggested to him the 

 idea of collecting the leaves and decaymg 

 vegetable matter from a piece of woodland 

 near by. " Why," says he, " I hav'nt much 

 opinion of this vegetable matter — 'tis sour 

 stuff — only give me dung enough from the 

 hovel windows, and I can raise as good crops 

 as Mr. I. does, with all his swamp muck, 

 lime, compost, and book-farming." I in- 

 quired if he took an agricultural paper. 

 "No," said he, "I did take one several years 

 ago, and that had so much to tell about a 

 new kind of potatoe, that they sold for 25 

 cents a pound, and after all, it was'nt no 

 better than the long reds ; and about tree 

 corn and mulberry trees; and a good many 

 ftTrmcrs got hit, by believing their great 

 stories, that I got sick of, and stopped it, and 

 would not now take the gift of one." 



1 afterwards called upon Mr. I., the "book 

 farmer," as Mr. G. snecringly called him, 

 and found him a middle-aged, intelligent 

 farmer, who was quietly improving his land 

 by every means within his reach. I wasso 

 much interested in his management, that I 

 thought I would attempt to cemmunicate an 

 account of it to the public, through the 

 columns of your useful journal, with the 

 hope that other farmers might be benefitted 

 by liis examjile. 



Upon looking into his barn, I found his 

 hovel floors were water-tight, and sloping 

 toward the back side. In the rear of the 

 cattle, was a kind of trough of the width of 

 12 or 15 inches, made by sinking one of the 

 floor plank two inches ; this was also water- 

 tight: the droppings from the cattle mostly 

 fell into the trough, and by giving the cattle 

 a good bedding of litter every night, they 

 were kept comfortable, and nearly as clean 

 as when at pasture. He bad the past win- 

 ter used several loads of saw-duet from a 



