vol,. XVII. NO. 35. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



197 



natter, in minute divisions, becomes a most tena- 

 ious stubborn soil ; and, under certain circum- 

 tances, as sterile as the most worthless clay. 

 »careous matter, tlierefore, although reckoned a 

 . valuable constituent in a soil, becomes an evil 

 Then it composes tlie greater part of it. 



Calcareous clay, when thoroughly dried, falls to 

 )ieces like burnt lime, whenever it is again wetted, 

 [very poor clay soil may be muc!i improved by 

 )ariug and bunimg the surface, after it has been 

 ■.ompletely drained. 



This is the first step that ought to be taken to- 

 vards ameliorating such a soil, and the more clayey 

 he soil is, the deeper ought the soil to be burnt. 

 iVhen tlie burnt surface is mixed with the soil to 

 lie depth of the furrow, it acts as a coarse sand, 

 md unices it more fri.-ible and porous, by convert- 

 nw the matter, which was before damp and adhe- 

 iivc, into a dry, friabh', warm soil, permanently im- 

 proved and capable of producing luxuriant crops of 

 3very kind. 



If W3 can get depth and friability to the subsoil 

 )f strong adhesive clay, we thereby prevent stag- 

 lant water from injuring the roots, and give to the 

 Dlants the liberl y of sending their roots to a greater 

 lepth in search of nourishment. 



In all rich soib there is vegetable matter in ev- 

 sry state of decay, and the greater this portion of 

 decaying vegetable matter is in strong clay soils, 

 che greater is its productive pov.-ers. Besides this, 

 iecouiposing vegetable matter will tend to keep 

 5trono' clay land loose, friable, and piu-ous. 



EGGS AND POULTRY. more than a quart of Indian corn a day; I think 



, ,1 J r fifteen bushels a year a fair provision for them. 



Among all nations, and throughout all grades of g^_^ ^^^^ ^^ j^^^^ ,^^ ^,_^_^ ^ ,^^^^ ^^^,,^^ ^y 



society, eggs have been a favorite food. But in ^,^^^ ^^a ^fter they have become habituated to 

 all our cities, and particularly in winter, they are ^.^^^ ^^ ^^ ^.^_^^^ ^ plenty in their little 



held at such prices that few families can afford to ^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^ ^^^^ ,^^^,_^^|^ ^^ ^ ^-^^^^ ^^_ 



use them at all ; and even those who are in easy f -^ ^^j^^^ ^g,.„ ^^ ^^^^^^ „,,,g„ n.^y ,,01 



circuuistanoes, consider them too e.xpen.s,ve ^r ^ ^^^^ _^^^^j^ ^ ^p^^^,.^, .^ ^,_^j^ ^^^^^ , ^^^ -^^^^ ^^ 



^ ^ ., ' sure as their provision comes to them scanted or 



iivery lamily or . , , .^ -n i i „„„ 



111 irreo-ularly, so sure they will raven up a whole crop 



, . , , , , !. full ai. a time, and will stop laying, 



have eggs in plenty during the whole year; and of ^ ^,^^^^ ^^ ^^, attended, will 



all the animals aomesUcated for the use ot man, ^^_^^.^,^ ^- ^^.^^^ ^^^^^^ ^,^^_^ ^q^q ^^^^ ;„ ^ 



the common dunghill fowl is capable of yielding ^^^ ^^^ ,, ^jj ^^^^ chickens for fall and win- 



the greatest possible profit to the owner. | ^^^ ^^^^,^^_ ,, j^^ ^^ of feeding the dozen 



In the month of November, I ; nt apart eleven , ^^^^^ ^.j^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^ eighteen bushels of Indian 

 hens and cocks, gave them a small chamber lu the | ^^^^_ ^^ .^ ^.^.^^ ^^ ^^.^,,j ^^ -^ 



woodhouse, defended from storms, and with an ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^.^ ^^ ^^ ^^^j, ^^,^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ 



:)mmou food. 

 There is no need of this. 



WATERING PLACES. 

 Every fanner should endeavor to have a good 

 waterintJ- place for his stock. Some indeed have 

 o-reat inconveniences to contend with in this respect ; 

 but in most cases where the watering place is bad, 

 it is owing to sheer negligence. Stock of every 

 kind need a good supply of pure water, and if they 

 do not have it they cannot thrive, nor be kept in 

 -rood condition. In order for creatures to drink 

 conveniently, the water should be in a trough ele- 

 vated a little from the surface of the ground. 

 When the water is in a brook, pond or spring, the 

 ice and snow generally accumulates around it to a 

 great depth, and if it is shovelled out, it is liable 

 to be blown in again in a short time. When ani- 

 mals have to stoop down and then with difficulty 

 reach the water, they frequently get much less than 

 they want, as it is attended with great e.xertion. 

 Some young or weak ones are often driven away 

 by the stronger, so that sometimes they do not get 

 any water. 



In most all cases the watering place, even when 

 it is a poor one, is where the water descends, and 

 by carrying it in a spout a short distance, it will 

 attain a sufficient elevation, and m.ay then be dis- 

 charged into a trough ; that will be a convenient 

 place to accommodate the poor thirsty beasts, who 

 will amply reward their owners for the trifling e.x- 

 pense. In many cases water can be conducted in 

 a spout from a spring or brook in the side of the 

 bank, so as to prevent its freezing in the winter, 

 until it is high enough to go into a trough. Now 

 is tlie time for farmers to attend to this business 

 who have not already done it. — Yankee Farmer. 



Two hundred of the sons of New England in 

 Louisville, Ky. have formed a Pilgrim Society ; in- 

 tending each year to celebrate the landing of the 

 fathers on Plymouth rock. 



opening to the south. 



Their food, water and lime were placed on 

 shelves convenient for them, with warm nests and 

 chalk nest eggs in plenty. These hens continued 

 to lay eggs through the winter. From these elev- 

 en hens I received an average of six eggs daily 

 during the winter ; and whenever any one of them 

 was disposed to set, viz. as soon as she began to 

 cluck, she was separated from the others by a gra- 

 ted partition, and her apartment darkened ; these 

 cluckers were well attended and well fed ; they 

 could see and partially associate through their 

 grates with the other fowls, and as soon as any one 

 of these prisoners began to sing, she was liberated, 

 and would very soon lay eggs. It is a pleasant 

 recreation to feed and tend a bevy of laying hens ; 

 they may be tamed so as to follow the children 

 and will lay in any box. 



Egg shells contain lime, and in winter, when the 

 earth is bound with frost or covered with snow, if 

 lime is not provided for them, they will not lay, or 

 if they do, the eggs must of necessity be without 

 shells. Old rubbish lime, from chimnies and old 

 buildings is proper, and only needs to be broken 

 for them. They will often attempt to swallow 

 pieces of lime plaster as large as walnuts.. 



I have often heard it said that wheat is tluJ best 

 grain for them, but 1 doubt it; they will sing over 

 Indian corn with more animation than over any 

 other grain. The singing hen will certainly lay 

 eggs, if she finds all things agreeable to her; but 

 the" hen is much a prude, as watchful as a weasel, 

 and as fastidious as a hypocrite ; she rau.st, she will 

 have secrecy and mystery about her nest ; all eyes 

 but her own must be averted ; follow her or watch 

 her and she will forsake her nest, and stop laying ; 

 she is best pleased with a box covered at the top, 

 with a backside aperture for light, and a side door 

 by which she can escape unseen. 



A farmer may keep an hundred fowls in his barn, 

 may suffer them to trample upon and destroy his 

 mows of wheat and other grains, and still have few- 

 er eggs than the cottager wl.o keeps a single dozen, 

 who provides secret nests, chalk eggs, pounded 

 brick, plenty of pounded limo, plenty of Indian 

 corn, water and gravel for them ; and who takes 

 care that his hens are not disturbed about their 

 nests. Three chalk eggs in a nest are better than 

 a single nest egg, and large eggs please them. I 

 have often smiled to see them fondle round and lay 

 into a nest of geese eggs. Pullets commence lay- 

 ing earlier rn life wliere nests and eggs are plenty 

 and when others are chuckling around them. 



A dozen dungill fowls, shut up away from other 

 means of obtaining food, will require something 



round as to run at large; and a grated room well 

 lighted, 10 feet by 5, partitioned from any stable 

 or other out-house, is sufficier.tfor the dozen fowls, 

 with their roosting places, nests and feeding 

 troughs. 



At the proper season, viz. in the spring of the 

 year, five or six hens will hatch at the same time, 

 and fifty or sixty chickens given to one hen. Two 

 hens will take care of 100 chickens well enough, 

 until they begin to climb their little stick roosts ; 

 they should then be separated from the hens entire- 

 ly, they will wander less, and do better away from 

 the fowls. I have often kept the chickens on my 

 garden ; they keep the May bugs and other insects 

 away from vines, &c. 



In cases of confining fowls in summer, it should 

 be remembered that a ground room should he cho- 

 sen: or it will do just as well to set into their pen, 

 boxes of dried sand or kiln-dried, well pulverized 

 earth, for them to wallow in, in warm weather. — 

 Indiana Farmer. 



(From the Genesee Farmer.) 



MOLASSES FROM APPLES BY STEAMING. 



The following excellent method of making use 

 of apples, for the two-fold purpose of obtaining 

 molasses from them and converting the remainder 

 into excellent food for farm stock, has just been 

 described to us by a friend. The apples are placed 

 in a hogshead made tight for the purpose, and sub- 

 jected to tlie operation of the steam. The saccha- 

 rine juice soon begins to ooze from them, and drops 

 down to the bottom of the hogshead into a vessel, 

 covering the bottom, placed there for that purpose, 

 from which it passes off to proper receivers. This 

 juice is subsequently evaporated by boiling. Sour 

 apples only have been experimented on in this way. 

 The quantity of molasses obtained from them is 

 ten gallons for every fifteen bushels of apples, or a 

 gallon from a bushel and a half. This molasses 

 differs from sweet apple molasses in possessing a 

 peculiar tart flavor. 



The apples, remaining in the hogshead, being 

 soflened and well cooked, are mixed with bran or 

 meal, and thus constitute an excellent article of 

 food for hogs and cattle. J- 



J. T. 



Dr Poyen was making converts, at the last 

 dates, in Ware village, to Animal Magnetism. 

 He pulled an ugly tooth from the jaws of a fac- 

 tory girl, without even awakening her. The ac- 

 count is certified by Dr Goodrich and other citi- 

 zens. 



