1866.] " 
AMERICAN AGRIOULTUmST. 
319 
Fig 3. 
as stated by "A Subscriber." The best walls 
■we have seen were built over broad and deep 
stone drains, which were brought to the surface, 
aud really formed the foundation of the walls. 
. A few weeks since we saw a good wall upon 
the faiTO of a friend in Hartford County, Ct. It 
was very simply laid up, the foundation stones 
being the largest ones, of course, aud being bare- 
ly bedded in the soil, but on a formation of 
ground where water would not stand. The pe- 
culiarity of construction consisted in " tying " 
the wall with pieces of fence rail, cut of suitable 
width, and laid up athwart the wall, with tlie 
stones as indicated in fig. 3, by a, a. These tie 
pieces were arranged in two lines or rows, about 
midway of the hight of the wall, and 2i to 
3 feet apart in each row. This wall has stood 
Ycry even and firm for many years, while a wall 
of an adjoining proprietor, built of the same 
kind of stones, and In the same way, omitting 
the lies, has been in spots nearly shaken down 
by the frost, and stones are misplaced through- 
out its whole length. 
The Heeded Eeform. 
It may be remembered that in the Agricul- 
turist for January there was an article on a 
"Needed reform and its profitable practice," 
which described a way by which all the con- 
tents of the privy were saved for manure in an 
entirely inoffensive form. The method there 
suggested of saving this exceedingly valuable 
manure (to mingle it with well-dried peat or 
swamp muck) is excellent, and can hardly be 
improved, except, perhaps, in the use of arti- 
ficially dried soil, as in the earth closets alluded 
to in the last number, p. 286. Very dry muck 
is probably better than earth, though we have 
no experiments showing which is best, and 
as peat has a considerable value for fuel in 
England, soil has been used, and its virtues 
perhaps unduly exalted. " B. C. F.," of Port 
Jervis, sends us a plan of a drawer for a privy 
which may, with little expense, be attached to 
almost any one, and so the contents be easily 
removed to the compost heap, or where it can 
be immediately utilized. He writes as follows : 
\ " The accompanying diagram will explain this, 
and give an idea of how the difficulty may be 
overcome, and at the same time have a conveui- 
of inch boards, 5 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 3 
feet deep, of a shaped extend under the seats. 
Under the outside edges are two hard wood 
sticks, with grooved wheels let in, which arc 
nailed to the drawer. This drawer moves on a 
hard wood frame 10 feet long and 5 feet wide, 
with strips of half round iron screwed down, 
forming a track for the wheels, and by this 
means you arc able to pull the drawer with 
ease clear of the building, and remove its con- 
tents. The depth of pit should be 3 feet, and 
filled in with gravel to the required hight for 
the frame. The building should stand at least 
the width of two bricks above the ground to 
preserve the sills, and the foundation should be 
set in mortar or cement. Cover the 5 feet space 
in the rear with a trap-lid with rings, or hinges 
screwed to a frame." — With formations of 
ground, as would admit of it, this would be 
the best plan perhaps, but we have seen another 
form of drawer or box used, which is preferable 
when the ground has a slight slope. The box 
(fig. 3) is supposed to be, say 5 feet long and 
2'| J feet high. It is made of inch stuff, and set 
on a pair of 4 inch blocks, or a single pair of 
wheels. The shape of the box is such that it 
will tilt forward unless braced up as shown iu 
the engraving, or at least may easily be tilted 
forward. This enables a man to shovel over 
the contents and add fresh muck or soil When 
full, two men will move it anywhere on hard 
ground, or it may 
be pulled out 
and the contents 
shoveled into a 
cart or upon the 
compost heap. 
In tlicse cholera 
times when peo- 
ple's minds are 
dwelling so much 
upon sanitary measures, there is hardly a more 
important subject than clean, neat, odorless 
privies, that can receive our attention. 
It is hardly necessary for farmers to attempt 
to dry and work over the muck or soil several 
times, though, should they do so, the compost, 
"pondrette," or whatever it may be called, 
would be so much the stronger. Yet the 
manure made by once using the muck is strong 
enough for most purposes — fully as strong as 
good barnyard manure, and the working it over 
would involve to most farmers as much or 
more labor, as obtaining an equal quantity of 
fresh material, muck or soil, of proijcr dryness. 
Fig. 1. 
cnt situation, as I have, with a good Grape Vine 
screen; in fact it is ornamental as well as useful. 
The diagram (fig. 1) shows a drawer made 
Yet Another Bag:-Holder. 
Yes— Another Bag-holder— the simplest yet, 
and one of the very best as well as most easily 
obtained. Many a man would rather go half a 
dozen miles, and tlien buy what he can make 
himself perfectly well in half the time, just be- 
cause %e never can make any thing to suit him. 
So as most of the bag-holders we have described 
require a little ingenuity to make them, no 
doubt many go without the convenience. Here, 
however, is one ready made, a barrel with both 
heads out, and a few nails driven in between 
the staves and hoops at one end. The sketch is 
sent for the benefit of Agrindturist readers by 
"Michigander," of Hasting-s, Mich., and as we 
have tried it and found it to answer, we present 
it to our readers. A common grain bag in 
most parts of the country is longer than a bar- 
rel, and may be himg over four nails in the top 
of a barrel, and still be slack, touching the 
ground. The bag is spread and himg over the 
BAOHOLDEli. 
nails as shown. The measure may bo rested up- 
on the chine of the barrel, if desirable, and when 
the bag is full, the barrel may be lifted off. 
Cows for Milk and Butter. 
That the milking qualities of cows are hered- 
itary no one will deny. They come from both 
sire aud dam, and it is claimed, not without 
some foundation, that heifers take after their 
sires' dam in regard to milking qualities oftener 
than after their own dams. This may be true 
in some cases, but not in all, and especially not 
in crossing bulls of pure breeds on common 
milking stock. We often have letters like this : 
"Will you have the kindness to give me some 
information about cows for milk and butter 
purposes. I want to breed especially for milk 
and butter for family use, aud want nice cows, 
with a good supj^ly of good rich milk and but- 
ter. I want to establish a herd of this sort for 
homo use, and to supply the country demand. 
What breed shall I select from?"— Buy the best 
common cows you can, which are good rich 
milkers. Use upon them a pure blooded bull. 
If you use an Alderney bull you are very sure 
of rich milk, but small size in the progeny. If 
you use a Dutch bull, you will get large 
frame and probably much milk of medium qual- 
ity. The Ayrshire c";ws will give a medium 
quantity of milk of fair richness, while the 
Sliort-horn cross will be likely to produce stock 
giving a good quantity of milk, the quality 
variable. The tendency to give much milk 
is increased iu heifers by letting them have 
calves very young, milking three limes a day, 
and giving succulent, rich, milk-producing feed. 
The Mississippi Levees. 
Our readers arc probably aware, tliat during 
periods of high water in IhejMississippi, a large 
part of Louisiana was once entirely submerged, 
eSiJecia'ily that portion lying south of the mouth 
of the Red River. The channel was incapable 
of carrying the water, aud so it overflowed, 
making other chnnuels to the Gulf, and del.' 
uging the adjacent country. The Atchafalaya 
and Plaquemine are the principal of these chan-- 
ucls, and these have been throughout Iheir whole 
extent, nearly, carefully embanked. When the 
river bursts through the embankments, the break 
is called a " crevasse." Through these torrents 
flow, doing unspeakable damage, tearing up the 
land and depositing earth and sand in bars here 
and there. Where the water remains with little 
motion, deposits of rich soil are made. Enough 
sediment is brought down the Mississippi River 
every year to cover 135 square miles, 1 foot 
thick with solid soil. The entire area of the 
Delta of the Mississippi is about 14,000 square 
miles. As the population increased, planters, 
