

1. 



AND G A R D E N f : R ' 5? JOURNAL 



SEASOXAELE III.XTS. 



AJthoujih winter has tet in, it ie not yet too late to 

 proTide ehelter for domcatic animals, where it has hcen 

 hitherto omitted. Sheep are U3imlly more expoi^od 

 than cattle ; but the fact that so many die in winter- 

 ing, shows that protection for them is of the first im- 

 portance. The improved quality of the' wool and va- 

 lue of the animal, would more than cotnpensatc for nil 

 the labor re quired. There would also be a savini; of 

 food, ad all domer^tic animals eat less when sheltered 

 from the cold. A very necejeary precaution is to se- 

 parate the .strong from the weak, ih^ latter to receive 

 additional care; and where the fljjk is largo, it should 

 be thus divided into several fljcks 



Very cheap temporary shelters f^r any kind of farm 

 stock where straw is abundant, may be e.asily made as 

 follows: — Build a pen of large polos or rails, to the de- 

 eired height, so that instead of being a single wail of 

 tails on each side, there may be tioo walls, inclo.-ing a 

 space about a foot wide; till this space with straw, 

 treading it down compactly. Then lay rails across 

 the top, aboui one foot apart, and cover the?e thickly 

 with straw for a roof, and the building is finished. It 

 thue f,)rma a warm and effectual shelter. We have 

 seen a good stable for two horses made in this way by 

 ene hand in a few hours, while the cost of material 

 was almost nothing. Old or wet straw is preferable to 

 good, as cattle would not be induced to eat it, though, 

 if well packed, they cannot in any c.Hse. 



Ilay is often waited to a large amount by the want 

 ef racks for i'eeding. Where thrown upon the ground, 

 half of it is frequently trodden under foot, in wet or 

 muddy wcatbcr, and destroyed. Time would thereftre 

 be well employed, during the leisure of winter, in con- 

 structing suitable racks. 



Hay is also wasted by feeding in too large quantities 

 kt a time, by which the animal's breath becomes con- 

 densed on it in large quantities, and it is rendered un- 

 palatable, and is rejected. 



Hayj straw, corn-stalks, and all other kinds of fodder, 

 supply animals with more nutriment when cut or chop- 

 ped fine. Stage-proprietors, wdio feed a great numbci- 

 of horee-t^ have found a saving of one-Ihird by chopping 

 hay before it is fed to them. Mi.xing cut straw, hay, 

 and meal, is an economical practice; the quantity of 

 fcach ingredient may be varied according to circum- 

 Btanccs. Ilorpes kept at work, should haven greater 

 proportion of hay and meil, than those standing idle. 



As it is not practicable, however, for every farii^er 

 to cut his straw, a saving of hay may be made by feed- 

 ing it uncut, and proper contrivances for this purpose 

 Imcome desirable. One eSisiiy made and attended wi th 

 little trouble, is constructed by placing four strong ra Is 

 BO as to form a square or parallelogram, oupportcd at 

 a height of about four feet upon four strong corner 

 posts, to which the rails are securc'y p'nneJ. Stakes, 

 rssting with one end on the ground, and the other upon 

 those rails, inclining outwnrus, comp'ete the construc- 

 tion. The straw is stacked in this pen or large rack, 

 from which the cattle cat it; ita weight causing it to 

 fall and reel upoii the stakes as it is consumed. 



When cattle do not freely cot straw, they may be 

 induced to do so by sprinkling it with brine, as it is 

 fed to them. 



Watering cattle in winter ia too frequently neglect- 

 ed. They are found to diink eevcral times a day, when 

 water is before them, which they would not do, if it 

 wore n"t reiuisite for their health and comfort. All 

 aiiimaU may be more chenply kept, ani in better con- 

 dition, if their comfort is etrictly attended to and all 

 their wants supplied. 



SMOKING HAMS.— We are assured by an intel- 

 ligent farmer, that hams are very effectually preserved 

 frnm the attacks of the fly, while their ijuality is not nt all 



injured, by throwing red pepper upon the fire in the 

 smoke house, during the latter part of tbo opeiatinn. 



It is also stated on good authority, that the damp- 

 ness, so fiequent'y caured by brick and stone sinokc- 

 houeea, may be entirely avo.dcd, by making a hole 

 thri.e or four inches in diameter, at the roof, which 

 will caupc an upward current, aitd by which the mois- 

 ture will bo prevented from condonjlng upon the 

 meat. 



FRUIT TREES. — The importance of preserving 

 fruit trees from mice, may render the freipient repetition 

 of asing'e remedy for preventing this evil useful to some 

 of f>ar readeis. Except trees stand in thick grass, 

 which phould never be permltiod, these little depreda- 

 t irs attack the bark of trees only when they can do it 

 under snow. Hence by treading the snow compactly 

 round the trees, the mice are shut out from them, and 

 a few repetitions at imervalj, during winter, will ef- 

 fectually protect them. Wo knew o cultivator, who 

 had just transplanted a large orchard of fine young 

 peach trees, costing him nearly fifty cents apiece, but 

 who lost nearly the whole of them by mice, while his 

 neighbor, at an exjicn^e of less than a cent a tree, sav- 

 ed the whole of his. Trees planted in cultivated 

 ground, are much less liable to injury, than those plant- 

 ed in grass ground. Wherever it ia inconvenient to 

 keep orchards of small trees in a constant state of cul- 

 tivation, inverting the eod in autumn with a spade, to 

 a distance of two or three feet roun 1 each tree, is a 

 great protection, as it removes the grase, and elevates 

 the surface so that the snow does not lie so deep around 

 them; ot the same time the growth of the tioe is pro- 

 moted. 



WINTER CUTTER.— M.iny attempts have been 

 made to facilitate the process of butter making in winter, 

 as by heating themilk, warmingthc cream, *fcc. to shor- 

 ten the tedious process of churning, which at this sea- 

 son of the year Bometimea requires two or three hours. 

 But we have invariably found these methods of short- 

 ening the operation to lessen the quantity or injure the 

 quality of the butter. The only course appears to be 

 to persevere patiently in tho old way, as a long churn- 

 ing often afibrds the best and greatest quantity. As 

 Euclid said to Ptolemy, when asked if he could not ac- 

 quire mathematical knowledge by same shorter way 

 than tedious study, " There is no royal road to geom- 

 etry;" so it may justly bo said, there is no roijal road 

 to butter makmg. 



The quality ond quantity may however be greatly 

 improved by giving proper food. Pumpkins, Carrots, 

 and mangel wurtie!, fed regularly and in sufTici. nt 

 quantity to cows, will double the usual quantity of 

 milk and butter, and add much Xi its appearance and 

 flavor. This, with the improved condition of tho ani- 

 mal, and the saving of hay, renders the cultivation of 

 these kinds of food for cattle of very great importance. 



We have discovered a method by which the opera- 

 tion of churning, in autumn and winter, may some- 

 times bo much shortened, when it does not ^a^'icr rea- 

 dily. Tho minute granules of butter often cpp.?ar in 

 the cream, but do not for a Ion; time become conglom- 

 erated. A small lump of butter, thrown at th s period 

 into the c'mrn, forms a n-jc'.ons, around which it col- 

 lects immediately. Th;s simple expedient, has in the 

 course of a few months saved many ted.oaa hours of 

 labor. 



Agriculture as fl profession, strengthens the mind and 

 contributes to the health and energy of the human 

 Constitution ; and when attended to as a scienc, it is 

 a boundless source of rational arausBment, wealth and 

 happiness. 



Corruption of M>ril3 ths misj of CiUlvators, is 

 a phenomenon o wliichm ags nr mtion Has tarnished 

 an example. — LATHiWf . 



ItnptoVBDieut of tha Wheat Crop. 



Our aim 13 tho improvement of Agriculture: and tho 

 Genksi:i£ country baa a just claim to the first and 

 jjreatest share of our atten'.ion. We bliall endeavor to 

 bestow our eflurls upon the dilTeienl crops uf this eeo- 

 lion somewhat in proportion to their relative imiior- 

 tuncg oud sus'jeptibilily of impiovoment. On the score 

 of importance all will agios, that the Wheul Crop 

 tanks far the bighoai. The very name " Gtncse^" is 

 almoat universally associated with Whoat and Flour. 

 Our fame and our Hour, have together spread to al- 

 most all parts of the world; ond wherever our naino 

 ia mentioned our praise is heard. Indeed most people 

 at a distance have got a much higher o,jini-jn of our 

 agiiculturo than we really deserve, and liencc, on co 

 ming among us, they are usually disa;ipointed. They 

 expect at least to find that we equal, if not excel, all 

 other counties in the culture of Wheat. And soma of 

 our own farmers, honest sons of old Genesee^ really 

 imagine that they have reached peifoetion in the arl 

 of wheat-growing, and nothing further can be taught 

 them on that subject, while at the same time their fin» 

 lands, which now produce only twenty or twenty-five 

 bushels to the acre, might, with proper management, 

 and little more labor, be made to produce lull one 

 third or one half more than they now do. 



Wo left England about twelve years ago, and dur- 

 ing the pttit summer re-vieited that country and Scot- 

 land, so that fro.m personal observation aa well as from 

 reading, we are somewhat prepared to speak of the 

 improvemcnta which have boon effjclcd in those coun 

 tries. Twelve yeara ago the aveiego crop of wheat 

 there, was about the samo aa it is now in this country. 

 Twenty bushels per acre was considered a good lair 

 crop, and thirty, quite a heavy one; but now, in the 

 best farming districts of England and Scotland, forty 

 to fifty bushels is considered no more than a fair crop, 

 and not unfrequcntly sixty to seventy buthels per acre 

 is produced. 



Now all must admit that what has been done in one 

 country, can, by similar means, and under similar cir- 

 cumstanceo, be dons in another. We are a- 

 ware that some will say that these large crops are tho 

 results of an extraordinary syetem of culture, whica 

 owing to the high price of labor cannot be adopted in 

 this country. It ia true the lands in EnglancLand 

 Scotland are mostly far better cultivated than in 

 this country, and it would be good economy if our far- 

 mers would imitate them more cloeely in this respect; 

 but still it ia not co much owing to the greater amount 

 of labor bestowed on their land, that they cxcol us, but 

 to the better application of that labor. We do not ex- 

 pect our readers will thank us for the compliment, but 

 truth demands the as-^ertion, that the farmers of Eng- 

 land and Scotland understand the business of growinof 

 wheal better than the farmers of "Genesee." Tiiey 

 have studied the nature of the materials with which 

 they have to do. They understand the capabililioa 

 and deficiencies of their soil, and the means of its im- 

 provement; the proper rotation of crops; the use of 

 manure, lime, aahea, marl, &c. ; also, tho ditVerent 

 kinds and qualitico of wheat, and the way to obtain 

 improved varieties. Much has been done of late by 

 way of introducing new and improved var:eti9s of 

 wheat into England, which has contributed greatly tf> 

 the increase of the wheat crop. Col. Le Coutedr. of 

 tho Island of Jersey, has for several ye.ara given this 

 subject hia particular ottention. His experiments and 

 essays on wheat are highly interesting and valuable; 

 and he has introduced or originated several superior 

 new varieties. At the Manchester Agiicultural Show 

 in October, we saw exhibited about thirty samples of 

 tha heat kinds of wheat, both in the straw and clean. 

 At tho Highland Agricultural Society's Museum 41 

 Edinburgh, and at the Agricultnral Museum of thu 

 Messrs. Prummond nt Stirlinc'. va wfre shat^i; «» 



