1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FAKMER. 



523 



stove. I nailed on some legs which are placed 

 in tea-cups filled with water to keep out ants 

 and bugs, and also made a rack by nailing 

 some pieces of lath together to put on the 

 bottom, to keep the ice.from the bottom. We 

 take fifteen pounds a day, and are never out, 

 while some of our wealthier neiglibors, who 

 take the same quantity and have refrigerators 

 "improved," etc., etc., are out half of the 

 time. — Hearth and Home. 



TEXAS CATTLE. 

 A Texan correspondent of the T^n-f, Field 

 and Farm expresses views in respect to cattle 

 raising there, which to some of our readers 

 may be new : — 



" Much has' been written about this State, 

 and strange to say, even those who are most 

 enthusiastic in their praises of Texas, have in- 

 variably named, as the most prominent and 

 valuable characteristic, the very feature which 

 is an absolute curse to the State, and the bar- 

 rier to civilization and the settlement of the 

 rich farming lands which lie spread out here 

 for hundreds of miles in extent. 



" They talk about the Cattle Kings of Texas 

 with great emphasis, and speak of this busi- 

 ness of cattle raising as an inducement to 

 bring settlers to the country. Now this is the 

 very thing that keeps the ploughman away from 

 Texas. The cheap lands so often spoken of 

 are here in abundance, but you can't use them 

 unless you have a fortune in your pocket to 

 pay for barricading your corn-patch against 

 the wild cattle which roam every where. If it 

 was not for this cattle business the State would 

 be filled up with farmers who would cultivate 

 the land, raise grain, fence iiutheir grass land 

 and produce beef enough to feed the world. 

 I have examined this Texas cattle business 

 thoroughly, and a more complete burlesque 

 on stock-raising could not be gotten up. 



The prairies are failing fast. The continual 

 tramp, tramp of broad horns is wearing the life 

 of the "luxuriant grass" away, and bringing up 

 the weeds by big majorities. A few years ago 

 the wild grass grew up high on the prairies, 

 and when the winter months came the stock 

 found food to keep them going. But now the 

 Ranger's occupation is almost gone, and only 

 a httle while longer will his herds be seen 

 roaming over the wilds of Texas." 



FENCE I^STS. 



The timber in a tree cut at its best is much 

 more lasting than that from a young tree, or 

 from one past its prime, although the latter 

 may show no sign of decay ; and all trees lose 

 rapidly in strength and solidity, and in the 

 same or a greater ratio in durability from the 

 ground up, and from the heart outward. A 

 post that is seasoned is, under the same cir- 

 cumstances, much more durable than one set 



green ; and the nearer the heart, the more last- 

 ing the wood in the same tree, if thorouglily 

 sound. 



Even a basswood post that is well grown, 

 and thoroughly seasoned, will last several 

 years, — as long as a sappy oak set green. 



As to red elm, while it does not equal oak 

 in the natural property of durability, it may 

 be made to outlast that timber, as usually set. 

 I have some posts of elm, set eight years, and 

 they will last, I do not doubt, as much longer. 

 They were made of trees cut for the bark, and 

 were season two years. 



I have seen oak posts fail in five years, and 

 have seen them when they stood more than 

 five times that long. 



I have heard men say that white cedar was 

 of no- value for a fence-post — not so good as 

 oak ; and they were right fi-om their experi- 

 ence. They used the young trees, just large 

 enough for one post. They soon decayed, and 

 would not hold a nail ; eight-pennys being used. 



I have one white cedar post to which a gate 

 has been hanging for twenty years, and it is 

 good yet. I have others, larger, that are 

 good, I have no doubt, for thirty or forty 

 years from setting. 



A white cedar should never be cut until it. 

 is large enough to saw and make four good 

 posts ; and if larger still, better, if, as said 

 above, it is not failing — has not lost solidity, 

 which a cedar holds to extreme age. 



A fence properly constructed of such posts, 

 and pine or hemlock boards, with the posts 

 set two and a half feet deep, and duly tamped 

 in with gravel, and the nails used are long ten- 

 pennys, will last fifteen or twenty years good ; 

 and if at the right time it is taken down, and 

 the posts reversed, and re-built with new nails, 

 it will then last ten or more years longer. 



A fence to be durable, must not onl}- be of 

 good material, but be well built; and very 

 often more depends upon the good judgment 

 and honesty of the builder than upon the cha- 

 racter of the material used. — Western Rural. 



Remarks. — From our own experience we 

 think that the durability of wood depends, in 

 a great degree, on the season of the year in 

 which it is cut ; and that the proper time for 

 cutting fence posts is indicated by the remark 

 of the writer of the above, that his red elm 

 posts, which last so well, were cut when the 

 bark would peel. 



PICKLING CUCUMBERS. 



No. 1. Take cucumbers, wipe them clean, 

 and lay them into stone jars. Allow one 

 quart of coarse salt to a pail of water ; boil 

 the salt and water till the salt is dissolved ; 

 turn it boiling hot on the cucumbers ; cover 

 them up tight and let them stand for twenty- 

 foui- hours ; turn them into a basket to drain. 



