13(38.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
171 
Tiic ltcst Machines — Consistent 
" Notices."— We were amused tho otlier day by re- 
ceiving from a Western subscriber two " notices " cut 
lrom handbill", but both credited to the Agriculturist— 
one recommending one machine, and the other speaking 
just as strongly of another, as the best. It happened 
thus : Some seven or eight years ago we commended a 
machine as tho best we knew of; a year or two later a 
new machine came out which was decidedly superior, and 
wo then spoke of that as the best. It seems that the re- 
cipient of the first " notice " still continues to quote the 
recommendation, bnt without giving the date, while the 
manufacturers of the later machine also quote our opinion 
of their machine,— We have noticed this same thing in 
Other eases— especially in sewing machines. We cannot 
follow up all tho advertisements and handbills in tho 
land, to keep them straight. Having no pride of opinion 
(often styled "conservatism,") we are ready to adopt the 
newest thing. If tho best, and to say so. Those who read 
the Agriculturist regularly will find no discrepancy, but 
rather a steady consistency, and will know our latost ex- 
periences and observations. Wo claim to progress in 
knowledge, and expect to find improvements, good, new 
things, coming out every year, and to talk about them. 
Saw-dnst as Manure. — Tho common 
practice of throwing this article into the the streams on 
which saw-mills and shingle-mills are situated, is repre- 
hensible. It would not pay to spread it upon amuck 
swamp, but upon any sandy land, or light, gravelly loam, 
deficient in vegetable matter, it would prove a good 
dressing, and in time would show good results. The best 
use we have ever seen it put to, was bedding for animals 
in stables. It is an excellent absorbent, and will keep 
rows clean, even better than straw. It is also a very 
light, handy article in the hennery, and more cleanly to 
handle than muck in common, open, privy vaults. The 
article is merchantable in cities, and is quite extensively 
used upon floors iu eating saloons, and for other pur- 
poses. At country mills, it can generally be had for tho 
carting, as mill owners are glad to be rid of it. It is a 
good substitute for straw, and this is now worth so much 
for manufacturing purposes, in many parts of the country, 
that no thrifty farmer can afford to use it for bedding. 
Ice Profitable. — Some curious figures about 
ice in N. Y. City are given in another item. We havo 
often spoken in the Agriculturist of the utility of ice to 
farmers, aside from its comfort and convenience. Any 
one having access to a pond of clean fresh water, in a 
region cold enough to give 6 inches or more of clear ice, 
can readily construct a rude receptacle that will retain it 
during most of the summer, and store a family or dairy 
supply at a few dollars' expense. The writer has delivered 
at his residence 20 to 40 lbs. of ice per day from May 
1st to Nov. 1st, at a cost of $3 per month in May, June, 
September, and October, and $4 per month during July 
and August, or $20 in all. A somewhat careful calcula- 
tion shows that the saving in less frequent bakings of 
bread, in milk, potatoes, and other vegetables, which 
are kept much longer from souring or becoming dry or 
i-tnle, and especially in meats, which can be provided in 
large quantities without loss, amounts to much more than 
the 11 cents a day paid for ice. The better quality of the 
ice-kept food makes it go further, and saves in butterand 
oilier materials. The only drawback is the temptation 
to drink too much of the nicely cooled water, with meals 
and at other times, in hot weather. This must necessa- 
rily be coutroled by the exercise of reasou and the will. 
l,oa«lin; Log's without Gins. — "Saw- 
log,' 1 (not the "Saw-log Man" of fame, we presume,) 
writes us from Chautauqua Co., N. Y., how he loads logs 
in a simpler way than that described by " L.," of Iowa, 
in a previous number. His process is exceedingly sim- 
ple. Two ropes or chains extend from the sled around, 
under, aud over, the log, and hack over the sled, where 
they are united. Skids are laid, and the team hitched to 
the to pes or chains. "Saw-log" says: '■ Then go ahead 
witli your team, and if they wont roll on any log that they 
can move after it is on the sled they are not like our 
teams. We use chains the same as we bind with, and 
when one team is alone, take along an extra chain." 
Shall Wc Raise Corn at the East? 
asks -V. D.," Mass.— Yes, The average coal of rais- 
ing it in the Connecticut River valley does not exceed 
seventy-five cents a bushel, and at present prices there is 
about that amount of clear profit. The cost of raisin" 
can be a good deal diminished by using the horse more 
in cultivation, by planting iu drills, and by applying more 
manure to the acre. It pays a great deal better to raise 
eighty bushels of corn to the acre, than it does to get 
forty. It takes more manure and a little more labor, but 
it makes the cost of the corn per bushel, a good deal less. 
Just try on well-prepared land, drill planting, the stalks 
to stand one foot apart ; the application of three hundred 
pounds of fish guano per acre to the growing plants at 
the second cultivation; and cultivate with horsepower 
at least six times. This last is practicable on all smooth 
lands, aud gives big crops at a small cost per bushel. 
Use of Plaster in Stables.— "Will it 
pay to sprinkle plaster in the stables daily ? If so— how 
much!" It pays to apply simple plaster to most soils; of 
course it pays better to use the plaster beforehand, to fix 
ammonia, as it does when used in stables. Enough only 
is required to dust over the surface, which is moistened 
daily by the droppings aud urine, and to sprinkle along 
the liquid manure gutters— say half a pint to each stall. 
Land Plaster or Gypsum.— " J. H. 
W.," Beaver Dam, Wis., asks: " Will land-plaster lose 
strength by lying exposed to the weather ?"— It will not 
lose strength, but will go to waste. Water at ordinary 
temperatures dissolves it slowly ; hence it would be wash- 
ed away more or less, if left exposed. It requires about 
400 pounds of water to dissolve a pound of gypsum. If 
a heap, which covered ten feet square, were to be expos- 
ed to tho action of two or three hard rains, during which, 
say four inches of water should fall, there would bo only 
about five pounds of plaster dissolved and washed away, 
for four inches of water, covering ono hundred square 
feet, would weigh about 3077 ponnds. 
Co-operative Farming. — " II. K.," Wa- 
tertown. We have no acquaintance with the working of 
these enterprises in this country. They have been tried 
in England, and are said to be successful. Wc see no 
reason why the plan would not work just as well upon a 
farm as in a manufacturing establishment. The capital 
invested in the land, buildings, tools, stock, etc., must 
first draw interest. Then the overseeing and labor must 
be paid. After allowing a small sum for depreciation of 
buildings and tools, tho balance of profit might be di- 
vided among the laborers. It would, of course, be better 
for the workmen to own a part of the capital, but this 
would not be necessary. This plan would give every man 
a personal interest in the success of the crops, and make 
him faithful. It would also prevent strikes, and the 
jealousy that so often exists between the employer and 
the laborer. There is a farm of this kind at Halibnrton, 
Peterborough county, Canada West, and a little personal 
observation of its working would be desirable before 
starting a new enterprise on the co-operative plan. 
Experiment in Pig - Feeding. — " A. 
S.," Mt. Pleasant, Pa., writes to the American Agricul- 
turist: "I took a pig that weighed 1*2 pounds, put him in 
a tight pen, aud fed him three bushels of corn chop [coarse 
meal probably— Ed.] and gave him cold water to drier:. 
After eating the three bushels of corn bis weight was 72 
pounds, showing a gain of 60 pounds." — With corn at $1 
a bushel, this is five cents a pound for pork, live weight. 
Cows at Calving. — A correspondent 
writes: "1. Do you make it a point to be present when 
your cows calve, or to have some body present ? 2. What 
harm in having a cow pretty fat when she comes in ? 3. 
My cow is now dry, will calve in three weeks, has one 
pint of oil-meal a day— shall I feed her more ? 4. She is 
good beef, but not fat— suppose the cow calves In her 
stall with her head tied— wdiat harm ?" 1. It is well to be 
present yourself or to have some trusty person present, 
but in forty-nine cases out of fifty the cow would do just 
as well alone. It fact, far more cows are injured by the 
hasty officiousness of the attendant than by neglect. 2. 
No harm in having a cow moderately fat when she comes 
in. It is far better than to have her poor. She will be 
Stronger and healthier, and the calf will be fatter. If 
she is a good milker, you will get back all the fat in the 
form of nice, yellow butter. 3. Give her enough to keep 
her bowels slightly relaxed. Two quarts a day will not 
hurl. her. We have frequently fed four quarts a day. If 
she is costive, you may give her linseed tea — two quarts 
of flaxseed boiled in two pails of water. 4. We frequent 
ly have them calve so, but it is better to have them free. 
Capons oi" the Largest Size.—" T. 
Y. C," Carroll Co., Md. Wc have no doubt that the use 
of a Grey Dorking cock with cither Brahma or Cochin 
hens would give you the fowls you desire for early Capons 
of very large size— handsome, compact, aud heavy. We 
would prefer to own Dorkings and Bralimas. The hen 
imparts size and plumage, the cock color of flesh, apti- 
tude to fatten, and also.in a great measurc.stylc and shape. 
Report of the Maine Commission 
on Fisiierles.— This is a document of 127 pages, 
showing the present condition of the fisheries in Maine, 
aud what needs to be done to restore fish to the rivers in 
their former abundance. There arc twenty-seven rivers 
in the State emptying into tide water, besides smaller 
streams, in which salmon, shad, alcwives, and other val- 
uable fish, were once fouud in abundance. From many 
rivers salmon long ago disappeared, and only in the 
Penobscot, which is least obstructed by dams, are they 
caught abundantly. Iu this stream about 12,000 salmon 
and 2,500.000 shad are caught annually. In the Kennebec, 
where 200,000 were formerly taken," not more than a hun- 
dred are caught in average years. The causes of this 
diminished yield of fish are mainly the building of 
dams, cutting off the fish from their breeding grounds, 
and overfishing. Maine is better supplied with rivers for 
breeding shad and salmon than any otlier State, and the 
restocking of these streams is a matter of tho highest im- 
portance to her people, and indeed to the whole country, 
as there is hardly any limit to the consumption of these 
fish. With suitable legislation for all our rivers, pickled 
salmon and shad will be as plenty as cod and mackerel. 
King I>agobert Fowls. — A Paris cor- 
respondent of Tho Nation has the credit of putting a 
curious tale iu circulation; it is this: — The Abbe Denis, 
curate of a church iu the Faubourg St. Autoine, Paris, has 
just erected a church on what is said to be the site of an 
old chateau of King Dagobert; beneath the ruins was 
found a hen's nest full of eggs, where no hen for the past 
1,200 years could have laid them. They were hatched, and 
a new breed of fowls is the result. The benevolent Abb6 
is about to organize a sale of Dagobert eggs for the bene- 
fit of the poor of the parish. Our readers need hardly to 
be informed that eggs could never keep so long, even if 
we admit the story of the mummy wheat. Whether any 
one among our readers maybe found to endorse tins 
" pious fraud " or not, wc all must admire the ingenuity 
of the French in "getting up" marvellous stories and 
palming them off as facts. This is much like the story of 
the great horse-flesh hennery of Mons. De Sora. which was 
so widely believed and so many times proved to be false. 
1, •260.000,000 Pounds of Ice have 
been store:! the past winter by only five of the New 
York City ice companies — nearly two-thirds of it by the 
old Knickerbocker Company alone. If we allow the odd 
2110,000,000 lbs. for waste, we still have 1,000 lbs., or half a 
/o?i, for each of the million inhabitants of the city ; or J£ ton 
(500 lbs.) each, for the city and its suburbs ofBrooklyn, Jer- 
sey City, etc.— an average of nearly lbs. perday for every 
man, woman, and child, during the six summer months. 
The distribution is by no means equal, however, for a 
large proportion of the poorer classes use no ice directly, 
except in the drinking shops— though tho meat they con- 
sume is generally kept on ice, or in ice-cooled rooms 
or boxes It would, at first thought, seem as if so large 
an amount of ice brought to the city, would in some meas- 
ure reduce the general summer temperature, now slight 
the effect may be judged from the fact that all this ice 
has been gathered from about 400 acres, the area of a 
moderate-sized city Ward, and we know how soon such 
a field of ice would disappear under a July sun — If we 
allow for the unused ice and that exported, and estimate 
for only half of the amount now in store to be used and 
paid for, at an average price of li cent per lb., wc shall 
still have the respectable sum of one and a half million 
dollars paid this year by New Yorkers to "keep cool." 
Olive Culture.— "G. C. II." writes: "I 
have read what yon say about " The Olive and its Cnl- 
ture,"and having resided many years in Syria, wdiere tho 
olive grows luxuriantly and lives to n great age, I may 
he allowed to add my mite to your statement. From all 
I can learn, the climate of Syria approaches nearer to that 
of California than to any other part of the United States. 
The soil in which it flourishes best is a chalky marl or 
cracked strata of limestone. It seems to delight iu pene- 
trating its roots into the clefts of the rock and crevices of 
flinty marl. If the mould is so deep as not to allow its 
roots to reach tho rock beneath, it is said to sutler in con- 
sequence, and the berries become small and juiccless. In 
places where the soil is sandy, a good supply of chalky 
marl is applied to the tree's ; no manure is necessary when 
the tree can have this marl, which seems to be its natural 
soil. The tree' requires but very little labor or care of 
any kind ; it hardly yields a crop of any consequence un- 
til it is fifteen years old. It bears an abundant crop 
generally every other year. In Syria, it docs not flourish 
more than 3,000 feet above the sea, and in the interior not 
bo high. It docs not flourish in Egypt, which is warmer 
than Syria; probably because the soil is not suitable. 
A Jl'cn' IHsease among Fowls. — J. 
W. Stafford, of Cleveland, O., has had two hens that swell- 
ed up very large and died. He says: "I opened them 
and fonnd a lar:re swelling that looked more like sheep's 
pluck than anything else I can compare it to, but it was 
harder. It seemed to fill the whole inside." Have any of 
our readers had experience with anything similar? 
