1862. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMER. 



369 



Cellars on the Prairies. 



To those settlers on our prairies who have 

 been used to a good dry New England or New 

 York cellar, the want of it is seriously felt. It 

 is not, however, difficult to have a good one and 

 at moderate expense where stone or brick can be 

 procured at reasonable cost. Experience has 

 proved, we think, that cellars made in part or 

 wholly above ground, are preferable to those 

 sunk below the level of the soil. Where wholly 

 above, the walls should be built up seven feet, 

 and the ground raised on all sides up to the un- 

 derpinning, sloping off gradually, or in terraces 

 as desired. On one side an opening in the bank 

 should be left for a doorway, the walls being 

 continued out each side of the entrance. The 

 entrance would then be on a level with the 

 ground and make it very easy to get in heavy 

 articles. 



The walls should be built of brick or stone, as 

 they caii be best procured. An experienced 

 builder, L. TV. Walker, of Champaign county, 

 estimates the comparative cost of brick and stone 

 as follows : In the first place, whero stone can 

 be procured at $9 per cord, it is cheaper than 

 brick at §6 50 per thousand, and the walls much 

 more durable when laid. A cord of stone is es- 

 timated by builders to lay 100 feet of wall. 



HOW TO BUILD THE WALL. 



The depredations of rats are increasing at a 

 rapid rate on our prairie farms and in the ordi- 

 nary way of building cellar walls they soon un- 

 dermine and ruin them. To prevent this, in 

 commencing the wall the foundntion should be of 

 flat stones if possible, laid so as to project atleast 

 one foot outside of the wall, and laid firmly in 

 cement. This will head oflF the rats as they de- 

 scend by the outside of the wall and thus dig un- 

 der. This projection completely baffles them in 

 their undertaking. 



CELLAR BOTTOMS. 



As a further guarantee against rats, and to 

 facilitate cleaning and dryness, should be com- 

 posed of concrete made of two parts of coarse 

 sand, one part of water, lime or cement ; gather 

 up all fragments of stone from the wall, pound 

 into pieces as for Macadamizing, and spread over 

 the bottom of the cellar, then pour the sand and 

 cement mixed with water over the whole, say six 

 inches deep. It quickly sets and becomes al- 

 most as hard as iron. It will bear washing like 

 a floor, and is the best bottom that can be made, 

 as it never moulds or decays. 



If the ground for the building spot is so loca- 

 ted that the cellar could be sunk in the ground a 

 foot or two, it would, in most instances, be pre- 

 ferable, but the manner of building the wall 

 should not be neglected. — Prairie Farmer. 



-9- 



has a cow or other animal, to take good care of 

 them. But then, we read somewhere in the good 

 Book that "a merciful man is merciful to his 

 beast," and add to this the satisfaction a man 

 can take, while sitting by his cheerful fire, or 

 sleeping in a comfortable bed, to know that his 

 animals are equally comfortable, according to 

 their wants of food and shelter. It takes but 

 littlo time and exponse to erect a board or straw 

 shed, and the man who neglects to build one, 

 and suffers the poor brute to take shelter under 

 the fence corners, ought to be put out in such a 

 place for one night at least, when we have a real 

 ' 'Nor-wester, " driving sleet and snow. W^e opine 

 he would build a shed "on the double-quick," as 

 soon as he would be "off duty" for that night. — 

 Rockford Register. 



Shelter for Stock. — It is a well authentica- 

 ted fact that it requires only about two-thirds as 

 much feed to winter an animal well stabled, than 

 it does when such animal is exposed to all the 

 winter storms. This, in point of economy, ought 

 to be sufficient inducement for every man who 



«•»- 



Catchisg Rabbits— One of the greatest pests 

 the orchardist has to contend with in winter, es- 

 pecially when near timber, is the rabbit. A 

 member of the Missouri Horticultural Society, 

 at a recent meeting, gave his plan for disposing 

 of this pest : 



"To prevent rabbits barking trees, I catch 

 them. My method is simple : I tike a box, tol- 

 erably large, cut a hole on the edge of the box, 

 and fasten inside the hole a piece of tin or sheet 

 iron by a rod on two staples, so that when the 

 box is turned on the ground on its mouth, the 

 piece of tin hangs from the top of the inside ; 

 the tin is kept up by a small piece of stick. 

 When the rabbit enters, the tin falls, and tha 

 rabbit is left inside. It needs no bait , jou can't 

 keep rabbits out of a hole." 



Apple Tbee Boees — Sapperda bivitatus. — 

 To keep off the sapperda, or borer, is simply to 

 head the trees low enough to shade the trunk. 

 There is no use of fooling with wires to reach the 

 individual, for his hole is generally so tortuous 

 as to rarely be able to reach him ; moreover, they 

 never retire to the woody part of the tree unt'l 

 the damage is done. Soft soap is very good for 

 the body of the tree, but the first rain washes it 

 off, and never reaches the borer. Since I have 

 adopted this plan the borer has entirely disap- 

 peared from my orchard. In vol. 9, page 254, 

 I gave my views on the subject of the borer at 

 some length, and I have no reason to change 

 them since.— T. V. P., Mt. Carmel, 0. 



-<•»- 



The Locust foe Bee Pastuhes.— A corres- 

 pondent of the Bee Journal says: "In setting 

 out ornamental trees it is surely worthy one's 

 attention to have regard to their honey-producing 

 power, and to select, with this end in view, those 

 blooming at different tiroes, rather than one kind, 

 or those blooming at the same time. In South- 

 ern Ohio, bees, some years, gather a large por- 

 tion of their surplus honey from the locusi. 

 Their industry during the yield from the locust 

 is surprising. Where the tree grows in great 

 numbers, they almost abandon all other sources 

 ^f supply." 



