284 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



MARCH IS, 183S. 



^^S3Bi£^'WSg.l£'^SiSi 



TO BBII-D STONE FENCES.-SOWING ASHES 

 WITH GYPSVM. 



ISIr Editor — I uoticRd in your .Tamiary No. of 

 the Fai-mer's Register, iiifoniiatioii asked for by 

 "A Uiierist," respecting the hr.st mode of iiinkiiig 

 stone fencing. Having liad some .xpcrience in 

 this operation, I will endeavor to describe my 

 mode. The material which I use is round river 

 stone — of all, the most dillicult to make stand. 

 The stone wall or fence, when built on a level 

 surface, is 4i feet high, 4 feet wide at the base, 

 and the sides drawn in regularly as they rise. 

 The projier form is preserved easily and correctly, 

 by making use of the frame which will now 

 be described. Two planks, each 7 feet 10 inches 

 in length, 9 or 10 inches wide, and li inches 

 thick, are coupled together like the ratters of a 

 house, or so as to be something like the letter A, 

 but presenting other proportions. The two planks, 

 represented by the sides of the A, are united at 

 the top by the sides of the ends— and the other 

 ends, or feet, are spread open so as to be 4 feet 

 apart, and are secured at that distance by a hori- 

 zontal cross piece, or collar beam, as it may be 

 called, which is made of scantling, and is to be at 

 4i feet, perpendicular distance, above a line drawn 

 from one to the other spread ends of the planks. 

 The space below the collar beam, is the size of a 

 section of the wall, and is used as a measure to 

 preserve that size. Another jiair of similar planks 

 are put together in precisely the same manner— 

 and then These two corresponding parts, or ends, 

 are united by a piece of scantling 15 feet long, 

 which runs from ihe middle of one collar beam to 

 the middle of the other. When thus united, 

 the two after shaped ends of the frame should 

 stand upright on their feet, and be parallel to 

 each other. Two side planks twelve inches 

 wide, and as long as the whole frame, are 

 then laid outside of, and lying against, the spread 

 legs of the frame. These planks are to direct the 

 placing of the stones for the sides of the wall. 

 They are kept close to the legs of the frame, by 

 other pieces of plank which are attached outside 

 of, and parallel to each of the legs, and separated 

 from them li inches by small blocks. The long 

 side planks may be raised or lowered, and yet are 

 kept in place by these outer pieces — and by holes 

 and pins, are fastened at any desired height. 



The frame is used by being placeil over the line 

 of the intended fence, the side planks being then 

 at bottom, and equally distant from the central 

 line of the foundation of the wall. I iirst haul 

 my rock in place in a line parallel with the foun- 

 dation of my fence. The frame is thorn moved 

 in iilace where the fence is to commence, the two 

 side planks resting on the ground. Two laborers, 

 one on each side, place the rock, carefully touch- 

 ing the side planks from one end to the other, 

 whilst others are employed throwing in rock in 

 the intermediate space, without being particular in 

 jilacing tliem, from which Ihe two hands before 

 mentioned select such rock as is most suitable for 

 the case of the wall ; for if this is put up judi- 

 ciously, it matters not how the inner stones are 

 placed. When the rock is upon a level with your 

 side planks, take out the pins which fasten the 

 side planks, and slip them one hole higher; then 

 proceed to place the rocks as before, continuing to 

 move your side planks as the rock is level with 

 the upper edge, until your wall touches the scant 



ling. Then, with a man at each foot of the frame, 

 lift it up a foot or two, and move it forward. In 

 this way I have had from thirty to thirtyfive yards 

 of fencing made in a day by ten or twelve hands. 

 I would here mention that the hands employed 

 in filling up, or throwing in rock, do it with hand 

 barrows, which enables them to do it much more 

 evpeditiouslv than by hand. I build my fence 

 upon the surface of the ground, without digging a 

 ditch, in consequence of having a stony founda- 

 tion on the margin of the river. I think there 

 would be no necessity for digging a ditch where 

 the fence is on level ground, though not stony ; 

 but I think it would be necessary where the ground 

 slopes, as the action of the frost would be apt to 

 undermine the lower side of the wall. I should 

 iud'^e that four inches would be sufficiently deep 

 for tlie foundation. It has been several years since 

 I commenced stone fencing, not a foot of which 

 has fallen. At the end of the wall or fence, where 

 I have a gate, I procure, if practicable, square 

 stone to put in ; as the round stone, if put tip per- 

 pendicular, is apt to give way. 



In answer to the second query, I have to say 

 that I have been in the habit of mixing ashes with 

 my plaster, in equal parts, and sowing at^er being 

 mixed, the same quantity by measure as I usually 

 sowed of i.laster alone. I have found equal ben- 

 elit from the ashes and plaster as from the plaster 

 alone, which is a saving of fifty percent in plaster. 

 I prefer the ashes damp : this will enable you to 

 sow with more regularity, and in moderately 

 windv weather. — Farmers' Register. 



The article below, on the culture of the Jem 

 salem Artichoke, is well worth the attention of 

 every planter. Perhaps there is no root planted 

 that yields more abundantly. Its uses, too, are 

 multifarious. As a table vegetable, simply boiled 

 as the potato, it lis by many much admired. If 

 parboiled, and well mashed in a mortar, and then 

 beaten up with flour, and made into a fritter, it 

 greatly resembles the oyster — so that with the aid 

 of the Jerusalem Artichoke, one dozen oysters, in 

 cookery, will be made to supply the place of one 

 hundred. In feeding hogs, nothing of the potato 

 tribe is superior. We speak knowingly, when we 

 say that the Jerusalem Artichoke is superior to 

 any food we have ever tried, for milch cows. 

 This food increases both the quantity and quality 

 of milk, and if mashed or boiled with a small 

 ((uantity of chopped corn, will so improve cattle 

 in three months, that they will hardly be known in 

 appearance or produce. The culture of this val- 

 uable root is simple. If every planter will put 

 three or four hills in each corner of his fence, no 

 other culture will be required. — Louisiana Jour. 

 JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES. 

 Although this vegetable is generally known in 

 this country, still it is questionable if a full and 

 satisfactory experiment was ever made. We 

 make the following extract : 



" I was determined to prove whether or not 

 they could be cultivated to greater advantage than 

 the potato, as food for cattle. One sack was con- 

 sumed by a young calf at hand ; it ate them with 

 avidity, and improved on them. I took the other 

 two sacks and planted them in the midst of a five 

 acre piece of potatoes. I set them whole, with- 

 out cutting, measuring correctly an eighth jiait of 

 an acre ; the produce was in proportion to six 

 hundred and fifty bushels per acre. The follow- 



ing year, the memorable one of 182G, I planted 

 half an acre on a piece of thin gravel, old tillage 

 land, in its regular course of preparation for a 

 vegetable crop after wheat : they maintained their 

 verdure through that extraordinary dry summer, 

 and produced one hundred and fifty bushels ; but 

 the potatoes by the side of them were completely 

 set fast : they never formed a bulb. The year 

 following I set an acre on part of the same kind 

 of soil, but of better quality ; it produced five 

 hundred and seventy bushels, without any dung. 

 A half an acre on the same land, with the usual 

 quantity of dung for turnips, inoduccd two hun- 

 dred aiid ninety bushels (a bad compensation for 

 eight loads of excellent dung). This present sea- 

 son, an acre on the same land (part of my turni)) 

 fallows) produced five hundred and .seventysix 

 bushels ; but the wet state of the soil when taken 

 up, and being a vegetable of uneven surface, 

 which causes the soil to adhere to it more than 

 to a potato, renders it diflicult to come at the exact 

 quantity. From an experiment I made of wash- 

 ing a sack, I can safely assert, I have five hundred 

 and thirtv bushels of clean roots ; while the vege- 

 tables on our flat gravels do not equal this by full 

 fifty ])er cent in v'alue, except the potato, which 

 produced three hundred and eight bushels on the 

 same soil. I could never raise more in favorable 

 seasons. 



» The cultivation of the artichoke is the same 

 as of the potato, except that it requires to be set 

 earlier— not later than March ; if laid above 

 ground all winter, it is proof against the severest 

 frost. When once cleaned, no weed can live in 

 its dense shade ; liorses, beasts and sheep consume 

 it with avidity ; pigs prefer a potato to it m its 

 raw state, but prefer the artichoke when boiled or 

 steamed. It attracts the game in a most extraor- 

 dinary way ; they resort to its shade in autumn ; it 

 forms one of the finest covers in nature. We are 

 so fortunate as to have but little game in our lord- 

 ship ; I do not recollect ever having seen even a 

 Swedish turnip bitten by a hare or rabbit, notwith- 

 standing they will consume the artichokes left by 

 the men in sowing them. 



"If potatoes can be juofitably cultivated as food 

 for cattle, compared with Swedish turnips, mangel 

 wurtzel, the sugar beet, &c., which I much doubt, 

 the artichoke is vastly superior to them. The 

 expenses of culture is no more ; it is not liable to 

 be injured by frost ; can be taken up at pleasure ; 

 it produced at least thirty per cent more, and on 

 poor land full fifty per cent ; is far more nutritious, 

 and leaves the land iierfcctly clean. The only 

 objection that can be urged against their cultiva- 

 tion for cattle in competition with potatoes is, that 

 they require more care in taking them up. The 

 frost not acting uiion them so fts to destroy vegeta- 

 tion what are missed will, of course, grow amongst 

 the .succeeding crop, but I have found very littU 

 inconvenience in this respect."— X Y. Farmer. 



(From the Gencsfc Farmer.] 

 CANADA THISTI.es. 



It is with some degree of reluctance that I thiii 

 appear in public ; but as one feeling for the we 

 fitrc of my country and the prosperity of agricul 

 tural pursuits, I am induce.! to state to my brothe 

 farmers the success I have had in destroying tha 

 noxious weed, the Canada Thistle. It is a lament 

 able fact, that a great portion of the larmcrs, (a 

 least those in this vicinity,) whose farms are infest 

 ed with this troublesome weed, scarcely ever tr 



