10 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Stoamed Bones.- u D. W. P.," Rhode 
Island.— If you have steamed bones mixed, as yon say, 
with half their weight of sandy loam, they will decay con - 
siderably in the course of a year, and we would leave 
them as lon^ as that, working them over, aud adding more 
loam twice in the mean time. At the final working over 
of the heap, rake or fork out the coarse bones, and mash 
the rest. It will make an excellent manure for potatoes, 
corn, small grains, or grass ; also excellent for the gar- 
den, and for fruit trees. Ton may apply it at the rate of 
one ton of bones to the acre, though much less, down to 
100 or 200 pounds, will be productive of marked results. 
Value ofKoad Wash.-"C. T." Turn 
all of this article you can upon your meadows and pas- 
tures. The increased yield of grass will show its value. 
There is some manure mixed with it, aud a part of its 
effect is probably duo to its fineness, occasioned by the 
continual tramping of iron shod feet and the grinding of 
wheels. Where this wash collects in hollows by the road 
side, it will pay to cart it into the yard or stables for an 
absorbent, or to spread it broadcast npon the meadows. 
The Early Rose Potato.— This is a 
seedling of the Garnet Chili, but unlike its parent in color 
and quality. Mr. Ileflron of Utica, its introducer, in- 
forms us that it is more productive than the Early Good- 
rich, and ten days earlier. It is a very fair and handsome 
potato, and of most excellent quality. "We were present 
at the trial of some fifteen varieties by a committee of the 
Penn. Ilort. Society, and considered this the best of all. 
Mr. H. has disposed of his stock to B. K. Bliss & Son. 
II. TV. Beecher"s Farm, near Peekskill, 
has 33 acres. The sales amounted to about $3,700, in 
1S66, and to about $4,003, in 1SG7. Six laborers are em- 
ployed upon the place, which is one of the secrets of its 
productiveness. Is it not about time to discard the 
plan of working a 200 aero farm with ono hired man? 
The Horse Crop.— The value of cattle,, 
sheep, and swine, in Illinois, is about twenty-six millions 
of dollars ; that of horses is thirty-two millions. Similar 
statistics come from other States, showing the increased 
attention paid to this animal upon the farm. 
Mule Team** vs. Horses.— The popular- 
ity of mule teams in our cities and on southern planta- 
tions is well known, and has an economical basis. It is 
claimed by those who have large experience with both 
kinds of teams, that the mule can be safely worked at an 
earlier age, and more hours in the day, that it will keep 
in good condition on coarser and cheaper fare, and bear 
neglect much better, aud that it is a serviceable animal 
for at least three times as long. "We know of no reason 
why they should not be more used upon northern farms. 
Peat Questions.— A B. T. We do not 
hear much now about the manufacture of peat for fuel. 
When coal was twelve dollars a ton, it was a matter of 
great importance to find a substitute. With coal at four 
or five dollars a ton, it is the cheapest fuel in market, and 
the peat bogs will have to wait for another generation to 
burn them. Some of the peat machines arc still running, 
we believe, but the business is not lively. Thereisno 
speculative call for peat lands, and those who own them 
need not be afraid to use or sell them to make compost. 
Tills will probably be their best use for some generations. 
Collar and Hames for Oxen. — J. B. 
recommends this instead of the yoke. " They work with 
more ease, carry their heads higher, and look better. I 
have worked oxen in harness, in pairs to the plow, with 
single line, and found them as tractable as horses. Why 
should progressive America follow the barbarous yoke 
longer?" The barbarity of the yoke ia not very clear. 
Improvement of" Reclaimed Salt 
Marshes.— G. Smith, Harwich, Mass. The principal 
use of flowing, the present winter, would be to take the salt 
out of the surface, but if the sea water bo shut off, the 
surface will be ready for grass seed by the last of March. 
As to the kind of crops for such lands, we think grass will 
pay better than anything else, at least for the first ten 
years. The marsh sod is exceedingly tough, and it would 
take years to rot it. For grass you need no plowing. Sow 
immediately upon the sod, the last of March, a mixture of 
seed, say two pounds white clover, six pounds of red 
clover, and six quarts of Timothy, to the acre. Surface 
drainage should be attended to, and for this purpose we 
have found narrow drains, eight inches wide and two feet 
deep, about fonrrods apart, and running at right angles 
to the creek that traverses the marsh, to be effectual. A 
complete system of tilo drainage would bo better, but it 
involves a largo outlay". The narrow surface drains 
are cheaply mide, and the mowing machine, rake, and 
cart, can bo readily run parallel with them. The 
tile draining can be introduced later, if it is found to 
be desirable. We have nsed several kinds of top dress- 
ing, and found them all good and paying for the use. 
Coarse gravel, spread half an inch thick, and the coarse 
stones raked off, made a decided increase in the yield of 
hay. Garden soil and surface loam did much better. 
Stable manure was better yet. Mud from salt water 
ditches composed principally of decayed sea-weed and 
other marine vegetation, had about the same effect as 
stable manure. As this is generally accessible near re- 
claimed marshes, it will probably be the most economical 
application after the first three seasons are past. It should 
lie upon the banks of the ditch, or in heaps elsewhere, a 
few months before it i3 spread. The salt grasses will not 
disappear wholly for several years, but will improve in 
quality. Keep sowing the grass seed until it gains full 
possession. A marsh from which we shut off the tide 
water in the fall of 1S55, is still in good condition, and 
the first tide gate still remains. These reclaimed marshes 
are the best grass lands in the country, and we are glad 
to see the efforts to improve them. 
Artificial Incubator. — Leach & Hig- 
gins,of Mass., exhibited one of these articles at the recent 
Poultry Show. It is in the shape of a box about three 
feet long, by two feet broad, and two feet high, divided 
into several stories, for the accommodation of the eggs 
and the newly hatched chickens. The heating apparatus 
is a lamp outside, communicating with pipes that trav- 
erse the interior. The heat is kept from 80 to 105 de- 
grees (Fahrenheit) for hatching, and for nursing the chick- 
ens. Good fresh eggs hatch in 20 days, and come out 
strong and healthy. The expense of oil for the lamp is 
about four cents a day. Seventeen dozen eggs may be 
hatched in it at once. It is claimed for this chicken fac- 
tory that it is surer than the mother hen, that it guards 
perfectly against the enemies to which chicken life is ex- 
posed, and makes poultry raising a uniform success. The 
machine looks as if all this might he true, but we have to 
remember that all former attempts at artificial incubators 
have been, practically, failures. If half they claim is true, 
the patentees have a valuable invention. The price, $200, 
it strikes us, is out of all proportion to the cost of the arti- 
cle, and in this respect the patentees stand in their own 
light, for the principle cannot be patented, and they will 
find imitators. It is to be taken into consideration that 
the hatching of chickens, especially out of the usual sea- 
son, is but a small part of the cost of raising them. They 
must have artificial heatand protection for several months 
after they leave the incubator. What shall we do with 
the chickens, after they are batched, is a question that 
would bother most people more than tho hatching. 
Coarse or Fine Feed.— F. Smith. That 
depends somewhat upon the animal fed. Fowls have a 
powerful grinding apparatus, and need something to keep 
it busy. Sheep are said to do quite as well on whole grain 
as on that which is ground. All the bovine race, horses, 
and mules, especially when worked, thrive better on cut 
feed and meal. Careful experiments show that swine fat- 
ten much more rapidly on ground and cooked food. 
Liming: and Plowing Land in 
Fall or Spring*.— F. Smith. Good usage differs, and 
we suppose either depends somewhat upon the circum- 
stances of the farmer. It is desirable to keep the lime as 
near the surface as possible, and those who spread their 
lime npon the sod in August, and plow the following 
spring, claim that the lime is brought up with the invert- 
ed sod, and they have the additional advantage of a much 
heavier sod made by the spread lime, which stimulates tho 
growth of the grass. Thoso who plow clay loams in fall, 
claim that the frosts arc a great advantage, that in- 
sects are destroyed, and that spring work is put forward. 
We prefer spreading lime upon sod, and plowing tho 
following Fpring, just before the corn is planted. See 
articles on Liming and Rotation, Vol. 23, pp. 2S5 and 238. 
Compost from I>ead Animals. — J. 
B. Our correspondent from Indiana takes exception to 
this kind of compost, which we have so often recom- 
mended, on account of the disgust of handling it. Tie say?, 
among many other things. quite as little to the point: "My 
plan is to bury any dead animal as quickly as possible, 
and not leave it above ground for a nuisance to myself 
and the whole neighborhood, to breed a pestilence, en- 
dangering the lives of the human family. It is difficult in 
this country to get even common barn-yard manure hauled 
out, leaving dead horses and dogs ont of the account. I 
did last fall accidentally manage to get a hand to help me 
haul ont my barn-yard manure which had been accumu- 
lating for eight years, and we had a good crop of wheat 
after it. "Cut had this been of your kind of manure, there 
would have been an exodus from the farm of every living 
sonl on it.' 1 — Our plan agrees With onr correspondent's in 
burying tho dead animal ; only we wonld pnt the carcass 
into a muck heap, where it will be of use, rather than in 
the ground, where it will not. It is not necessary, as he 
supposes, to cut up a dead animal. The only advantage 
in this is to hasten decomposition, and to make the com- 
post available earlier. If yottnso muck or peat enough, 
there is no more odor from a decomposing dead body in 
a heap than in the ground. The muck absorbs the gas as 
fast as it escapes, and will absorb the whole of it, if it lies 
long enough. The advantage of forking over is that it 
hastens the decomposition, and more thoroughly mixes 
the flesh with the peat or muck. The mass becomes finer 
and is sooner fit for nse. If a man has a very delicate 
stomach, we should not recommend him to fork over the 
heap six weeks after it was made, especially on a July 
afternoon. But if it has lain a year, very little, if any, 
flesh remains, and the mass has not much more odor than 
stable manure. We have made many hnndreds of loads 
In this way, and have never found any difficulty in work- 
ing among it ourselves, or in getting others to do so. Tho 
crops arc so green and luxuriant where this compost is 
spread, and the harvests are so satisfactory, that we rather 
like the smell of ammonia, and shall run opposition line 
to the crows, in speaking for old horses in due season. 
We are sorry that our correspondent puts us down among 
the kid glove gentry. We affect cowhide boots and b.ick- 
skin mittens, and greatly prefer the odors of the compost 
heap to the most delicate perfume of Lubin. If one has 
too big a nose, he should leave the farm. 
Farming- in Florida. — The papers re- 
port that "Mrs. II. B. Stowc has a farm of 400 acres, at 
Mandarin, on the St. John's River, about fifteen miles 
from Jacksonville. It has a half mile of river front, and 
a sweet orange grove of one hundred bearing trees, with 
an annual production of 00,000 oranges, and many smaller 
trees. The annual crop of oranges is said to be worth 
$1800/' There is plenty of the raw material fur just such 
farms in that State. Oranges aud other tropical fruits 
grow with great luxuriance, and tho climate is healthful 
as well as pleasant. For Mrs. Stowe such a piece of prop- 
erty is a matter of luxury. For others it might be a safe 
money venture, or furnish business and a home for life. 
Editorial Jotting's in Europe. 
[Mr. Jndd has arrived safely home, after an interesting; 
instructive, and very successful tour of over six months 
in different parts of Europe, having traveled more than 
10.000 miles, with part of his family, inclnding children of 
S, 11, and 13 years, and not having experienced an hour's 
delay by sickness or storm ; no railroad train fell behind 
time or failed to connect, and not an item of luggage went 
astray. This certainly speaks well for the management 
of European railways. After a few days' rest and arrange- 
ment of delayed business matters, he will resume his 
former labors, and devote his chief attention to the Agri- 
culturist. We have on hand some of his letters, ex- 
tracts from which will doubtless interest our readers. 
We give now, out of order, his latest letter, as it refers to 
Mount Vesuvius, whose present active eruption renders 
it an object of immediate interest. — Associate Editors.] 
" Naples, Nov. 4th,lS67 We had some difficulty 
in getting here from Rome. Garibaldi's troops, whoso 
encampment lay In sight of Home all the while wc were 
in tbe city, had interrupted the railway train which wonld 
have brought us here direct, (163 miles,) in eight hours. 
So wc went north-west 45 miles to Civita Vecchia, (pro- 
nounced here, Chiv-€-tah-vek-%e-ah.) where we fonnd the 
harbor all alive with boats landing the French troops, and 
we were detained above a day. A French steamer 
bronght ns hither in 1G hours, or two days from Rome. 
"I wonder not at the great interest every traveler 
feels in Naples and vicinity, and I wish our few days' stay 
could be as many weeks. A volume would not suffice to 
describe what we have already seen Naples Is the 
largest city of Italy, and contains about half a million in- 
habitants. It is on the north-north-east side of the wido 
Bay of Naples, which sets np from the Mediterranean Sea 
inland 25 to 30 miles. Mount Vesuvius is S to S 1 '* miles 
inland from the head of the Bay, or about 7 miles south- 
east of Naples. Going around the Bay from Naples SU 
miles, yon come to Tlcrcnlancnm, which is covered 25 to 
40 feet deep with lava which ran down the mountain, 
burying the city In its course. On the soil above Ilercu- 
laneum now stands the large town or city of Resina, lit- 
erally a city upon a city. Starting eastward from near 
this point, yon ride np the inclined hill-side, over the old 
lava current, tho surface of which has become in part a 
cultivated soil, mainly planted with vines, and three mllea 
from the bay, at an elevation of 2000 feet, you reach the 
steep mountain, which at a distance looks like a cone ris- 
ing above an elevated plain. Leaving the mules here, one 
clambers about 2000 feet up the almost perpendicular 
sides, over loose lava stones. The top which looks flat at 
a little distance, is a hollow basin, on^ quarter to ono 
