THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



GGl 



much increased, and if corn-meal is fed it can 

 be mixed up with water, or with mashed pota- 

 toes, and then baked in rough cakes. Nor do 

 we approve the phin of giving the fowls access 

 to as much grain as they want at all times ; 

 they will be sure to sulfer more or less, like 

 some other bipeds, from a gluttony unrestrained 

 by moral principle. 



' And we have another objection to tiiese labor- 

 saving machines for feeding and watering fowls, 

 which is that they will be neglected in oilier 

 respects. Instead of visiting your fowls regu- 

 larly to see what they need, and what is their 

 condition, you will fall into the very bad habit 

 of leaving them to themselves, taking it for 

 granted, that because they have water and 

 grain, they are doing well enough. When 

 people take it for granted things are going right, 

 that is generalli/ the time they are going wrong. 

 Feed your fowls regularly, and take time to do 

 it, not throwing the corn down in a heap for 

 them to snatch up in two minutes, but scatter 

 it as much as possible a little at a time. Our 

 own experience agrees with that of most poultry 

 breeders Avhom we have known, that an average 

 of one gill of corn a day, half in the morning 

 and half at night, with such scraps as may be 

 thrown to them at noon, is sufficient to keep 

 fowls in good laying condition. And though 

 we have spoken of oats as containing more 

 nitrogen than corn, we prefer corn, (if meat is 

 occasionally given,) as the rule, and oats as the 

 > exception, chiefly because the fowls themselves 

 seem to prefer it. One writer in the same 

 breath, condemns corn as heating and pro- 

 ducing only fat ; and meat as unsuited to fowls, 

 evidently overlooking the distinction between 

 fat which contains no nitrogen, and fibre and 

 blood which do. 



AVithout a constant supply of fresh water, 

 which some persons never think of providing, 

 poultry will not thrive. Shallow earthen pans 

 or those scooped out of stone, are better than 

 wood ; cast iron ones we prefer as more dura- 

 ble, and the rust taken up by the water is 

 rather an advantage to the fowls. A few drops 

 of assafoetida, kept in solution in a vial, poured 

 occasionally into their water, is of great benefit, 

 both as a stimulant and a prophylatic In the 

 above suggestions, intended solely for the inex- 

 perienced, we have endeavored to adhere to 

 such principles of simplicity and economy as 

 will make them easily available by all. H. 

 Ellicotfs Mills, Md. 



From ihe Germantowii Telegraph. 



Manuring— Fall or Spring. 



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I liave been much interested of late in the 

 discussions, in various agricultural papers, upon 

 the application oj' manures. While some advo- 

 cate surface manuring, others are strong in its 

 condemnation, and think manure should never 

 or seldom be applied, unless almost immediately 



2)lowed under. Without pretending to point out 

 which is the more correct method, I will men- 

 ti(m a fev^^ practical facts, and leave your intel- 

 ligent agricultural readers to entertain vrlmt- 

 ever opinions they may think best upon the 

 subject, and draw their OAvn conclusions. One 

 recommendation I will, however, venture to 

 make — Don't fail to get the manure on the 

 ground in some way. It will do good in almost 

 any way applied. 



Your correspondent, " A Resident of Dela- 

 ware County," is quite severe in his condemna- 

 tion 0^ fall surface manuring, and thinks the 

 manure will be carried off into "mill dams" 

 and "low lands." I admit, that in some situ- 

 ations tills might be the case; but certainly no 

 intelligent farmer would be willing to place his 

 manure, in the season referred to, on such 

 unfavourable locations ; and the fact, that a loss 

 may be sustained in such cases, is no argument 

 that such applications would not prove bene- 

 ficial on a more level surface. The objection 

 generally made to top dressing or suiface ma- 

 nuring, is the escape of ammonia by exposure 

 to the !^dr. If this is the main objection, and 

 it certainly is the one mostly urged, I would 

 remark, that the moment the heap of manure, 

 either in your barn-yard or anywhere else, is 

 disturbed, this process is commenced. If, then, 

 you cart out your manure as speedily as n':»ssi- 

 ble to your field, spread it, and set your plow- 

 men to turning it under, are not these volatile 

 gases escaping? and can they be entirely 

 secured, use what dispatch you may, particu- 

 larly in very warm weather? Now 1 have seen 

 various methods tried by the farmer to secure 

 all the beneficial effects of this all-important 

 article; and yet, aftrr all, I hoWQVQ surface w,a- 

 nuring in the fall, and in favorable situations, 

 even after the ground had become frozen, about 

 as good a method as any other. 



My favorite plan, if practicable, is to manure 

 for corn as well as wheat; and by doing so my 

 manure will go much farther, covering a larger 

 surface of ground. All the manure usually left 

 in the barn-yard in the spring, I generally let 

 accumulate for wheat. After the yard is cleared 

 in September, and I am done hauling out manure 

 for wheat, I. commence gathering into it again 

 materials to make manure for top-dressing in 

 the fall. It is not very long before I am read}"- 

 again to commence hauling out gradually some 

 very good manure for corn in the ensuing spring. 

 I litter up the yard with straw and other mate- 

 rials thinly at ditferent times, yard the milch 

 cows, &c., over night; and, although your 

 correspondent may think that "ninety-nine 

 barn-yards out of every hundred in the latter 

 part of November," would contain nothing 

 valuable in this particular, I can assure him, 

 that just where 1 hauled the fir. ';t load of manure 

 in ihefall,! there had the best corn the ensuing 

 season. With the manure accumulated in this 

 way, and with that made in the stalls from eight 

 or nine horses, several hundred loads of good 



