ONE EXTRA HEN. 109 



matter ; every particle of vegetable growth, ploughed 

 under the sod, turns to the very right kind of manure 

 for that sod. And nothing is more powerful to break 

 in pieces a hard clayey soil than a good quantity of 

 green vegetable growth, ploughed in when such land 

 is suitable for the plough. 



Lighter soils may be mixed with clay ; and one load 

 of sandy loam will prove as beneficial as one load of 

 slaked lime, so far as that lime acts mechanically, and 

 will not cost you one tenth as much. When there is 

 in the soil an acid that needs correction, apply lime to 

 neutralize it, but do not depend upon lime to enrich 

 your soils. 



ONE EXTRA HEN. 



We wish to inquire of our subscribers what will be 

 the expense of keeping one additional hen ; for we 

 well know that the profits of a single fowl will pay the 

 whole annual expense of a good agricultural newspaper ! 



Now if we can possibly contrive to give to our 

 brethren useful hints enough, in the course of a whole 

 year, to enable them and each of them to feed, and 

 support, and protect, so much additional stock on their 

 premises, they could not feel that they are losing 

 money by our acquaintance. 



An interesting article on keeping hens has been the 

 rounds of the papers, and we are inchned to think that 

 great improvement may be made on the common mode 

 of keeping this useful kind of stock. We know they 

 are sometimes troublesome in the garden, as two-legged 

 animals often are ; and we doubt whether they ever 

 ought to run at large, though they certainly labor ad- 

 vantageously in the garden at certain seasons of the 

 year, and help us to destroy enemies that the useful 

 toad seems to overlook. 

 10* 



