13G9.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
9- 
Hen Guano.—' 4 E. C. L.," WiUiamsville, 
(where ?1, gives the following method of preparing and 
using hen manure: "During the fall and winter, every 
few day?, a few shovel fulls of dry muck were spread 
over the droppings beneath the roosts, which were made 
With floors for the purpose. It had the effect of keeping 
the house sweetand odorless. In the spring I had agood 
pile of home-made guano. By shoveling it over several 
times, it was finely pulverized, and no more unpleasant 
to handle than dry earth. I used it upon a late piece of 
corn, dropping a handful iu each hill. It soon caught up 
with corn planted ten days earlier, ripened full as early, 
and yielded better. It seemed to grow so fast that the 
cutworm could make no impression upon it." — The 
manure of fowls is the most valuable made upon the 
farm, and the example of our correspondent is worthy 
of general imitation. If the fowls are left to roost upon 
the trees, or on the carts and wagons, this valuable fer- 
tilizer is wasted. Nothing pays better than agood roost- 
ing place. Five minutes spent every day in it, wilh 
muck, shovel and broom, will he repaid in several dollars' 
worth of excellent manure at the close of the winter. 
How to Use Sea-wecds.- u L. P.," 
Wcstport, Ct., -writes: " I have a beach within a mile of 
my barn-yard. "Will it pay to cart sea-weed that distance, 
and what is the best method of making manure from 
jt?"— There are several varieties of these weeds thrown 
upon onr shores, some mnch more valuable for manure 
than others. The rock-weed, kelp, and others, which are 
alga? or sea-weeds proper, are much more highly esteem- 
ed than the eel-grass, which is not a true sca-wced, 
though this is very largely used. Farmers not unfrc- 
quently cart them five or sis miles back from the shore, 
and find it to pay, especially if taken as return loads. A 
man who has access to a beach where this material 
comes ashore in unlimited quantities can make his farm 
as rich as he pleases. It is good carted into the yards 
and sties as an absorbent. The dried eel-grass makes 
very good bedding for cattle. The other varieties are 
used to a considerable extent for top-dressing meadows, 
and with excellent results, and are worth about as mnch 
as yard manure. They arc, besides, mnch used in 
making compost heaps, with surface soil, or peat. The 
winter is a very favorable time forgathering sea-weeds, 
as the heavy storms always tear np large quantities, and 
wnsh them ashore. The heaps need watching, as thou- 
sands of loads are frequently within reach to-day, and 
are gone to-morrow. This marine vegetation is espe- 
cially valuable for potatoes and turnips. 
Carrots ibr Horses.— "L D.," Boston 
Corners. " I see these roots often recommended for horses. 
How should they be fed?" — They arc one of the best kinds 
of feed for horses, and should be fed about two to four 
quarts a day, in connection with other feed ; more will do 
no harm, as hay, oats, or corn meal. Wash the roots, 
and run them through a root cutter, or iu the absence 
of a machine, slice or mash them in some other way. 
Feeding Mangel Wnrzels.-" M. 0.," 
Orange County. — "I fed this article to milch cows last 
winter, and it caused the scours. Is there any way to 
avoid this ?"— These roots undergo a curing process after 
they are stored, and we have found it best to use them in 
the latter part of winter and spring. If they loosen the 
bowels, feed in smaller quantities. They should always 
be used in connection with some dry food. 
Bnclnrheat tfbr Milch Cows. — 
"M.W. P., 1 * Canada. "What do you think of buck- 
wheat for cows, and would you feed it dry, or wet it up 
with cut hay or straw?"— Buckwheat is excellent prov- 
ender for all cattle and swine. It is more commonly 
gTonnd np with corn and oats, and the meal fed in con- 
nection with cut hay or straw. 
Value of Straw for Feed.— U F. W." 
" What is the relative value of the straw of the several 
kinds of grain?"— Rye is generally considered of the 
least value for feed, but best for bedding. If cut a little 
green, all the different kinds of straw have nourish- 
ment, and are advantageously used, together with meal. 
Scrap-Cake. — "A. G. F.," Milton, Pa. 
"Canyon tell the price of sci-ap-cake, which is recom- 
mended as a good feed for hens in winter?"— Pork-scrap 
can be had at the agricultural warehouses at about 3}4 
cents a pound, in small quantities ; of the packers and 
tallow chandlers, at 2 l £ to 3 cents per pound, in large 
quantities. Beef-scrap is about J i cent per pound less. 
Poultry Items. — How to Make 
Hens Lay.— "S. It. W." asks for the best way of 
making hens lay that wish to set. Our way H to confine 
them in a light coop in the yard among other fowls ; give 
water, but very little food, for three days or more, as 
may be necessary, and after this feed abundantly, giving 
pork-scraps or other rich food with grain. 
How Many Chicks for One Hen.— In win- 
ter, set nine eggs; in spring, thirteen; in summer, fif- 
teen, under the same hen. She will give, if well cooped, 
two-thirds the number, with good protection, and after 
the first of June, if the coops are brought under a dry 
shed during cold storms, the chicks of most varieties of 
fowls will not suffer if a hen hatches as many eggs as 
she can cover. 
Stray Grains for Chickens.— Under this title 
the Gardener's Magazine (English), gives the following 
sensible hints: "Feed your poultry on raw onions 
chopped fine, mixed with other food, about twice a week. 
It is better than a dozen cures for chicken cholera. Fowl* 
exposed to dampness are apt to be troubled with catarrh, 
which will run to roup, if not attended to. Red pepper 
mixed with soft feed, fed several times a week, will re- 
move the cold. Pulverized charcoal, given occasionally, 
is a preventive of putrid affections, to which fowls are 
very subject. Setting-hens can be cured by putting water 
in a vessel to the depth of one inch, putting the hen into 
it, and covering the top of the vessel for abont twenty- 
four hours. The vessel should be deep enough to allow 
the fowl to stand up. This is the best remedy I have 
ever tried. Pulverized chalk administered with soft feed 
will cure diarrhcea. This disorder is caused by waut of 
variety in the food, or by too much green food. Garlic 
feed once or twice a week is excellent for colds." 
Raising- Poultry tor llarliet. — 
M E. F. V.," Arch St., asks: "Where can I find some one 
who is engaged in raising poultry for the market ? I in- 
tend going into the business." — Poultry raising is a 
branch of business usually followed on the farm, and you 
can hardly go amiss of good poultry men in any fanning 
district. It is seldom pursued as a distinct business, and 
when attempted has generally failed, mainly, we think, 
through too close crowding. A thousand hens, turkeys, 
ducks, and geese, ought to have at least twenty acres of 
land, partly covered with wood and brush. Ducks, geese, 
and turkeys, are very extensively raised about Narragan- 
sctt Bay, in R. I., and it would pay a man who wishes 
to raise water fowl to visit Tiverton and Little Compton, 
in that State, to learn how it is dono. 
Mixed Stock in Pastures.-" E. D. S," 
Putnam Co. " Is it a good plan to keep different kinds 
of stock in the same pasture ?"— John Johnston says: 
41 Sheep do well among cattle, but cattle do badly among 
sheep." Unless pastures are very large, and the feed 
very abundant, it is better to keep them separate. Sheep 
gnaw the grass very closely, and their fresh droppings are 
so offensive to cattle that they will not feed near them. 
Besides, sheep are very liable to get injured by horned 
cattle. If the high grounds at a distance from the house 
are selected for the sheep, they will keep the pasture 
constantly improving without other manure. The pas- 
tures nearer the barn are much more convenient for the 
cows. Sheep and horses do better together. Both are 
close feeders, and there is much less danger of the sheep 
getting harm. It is well to have a rotation of stock as 
well as of crops. The pastures fed one season by cattle 
may, with advantage, be fed the next by eheep. 
How to Start a Farmers' Club.— 
li G. L. C," Dennis, Mass.— "Can you tell us how to 
start and manage a Farmers* Club ?"— This is one of the 
things that ought to go of itself in any farming com- 
munity. Call a meeting without delay. It is not neces- 
pary to have a constitution or any officers bnt a chairman, 
who may be provided for in alphabetical order of the 
names. Propose a subject, invite in the neighbors, and 
let each man have his five or ten minntes' talk upon it. 
It will he found very profitable to compare notes. If men 
from other callings wilt come in and give their outside 
views of farming operations, it will be all the better. 
Small vs. Large Farms.— " R. D.," 
Hackettstown, N. J.« asks: "What is your objection to 
farming on a large scale, say 400 to 500 acres?"— None 
whatever, if the man has capital, and skill enough to 
work that number of acres thoroughly. The probabilities 
arc that the man who has much land will not spend 
money enough upon it to make it pay as well as the small 
farmer would. There are some advantages in the large 
farm. It requires less capital per acre for buildings, 
stock, tools, and oversight. The system of small farms 
is probably the best for society. It brings families closer 
together, distributes wealth more equally, and favors 
social intercourse. With farms occupying a mile square, 
public schools are almost impracticable, and it is difficult 
to sustain churches, lycenms, and libraries. The highest 
state of social cultivation docs not harmonize with the 
plantation system, or with enormously large farms. 
A Small Farm iu California*— In 
a recent conversation with a farmer from California, he 
spoke of his 1,200 acres as a small farm, and his 200 acres 
of wheat as a small affair. Some of his neighbors had 
5,000 acres of wheat, and the yield was from 20 to -10 bush- 
els to the acre. The highest yield he had known was S3 
bushels to the acre. The fencing of land was getting so 
common that cattle could not be kept as profitably as 
formerly, and he had come East to invest in Cotswold 
sheep. To an Eastern man, the terms small and great 
have a very indefinite application in that country. 
Potato Balls.— " W. II. S.," Wilmington, 
Mo. Potatoes from the balls or seed proper may or may 
not be better than the potato producing the bails. The 
seed's are washed out of the balls and saved just like to- 
mato and similar seed, and carefully sown in good soil in 
the spring. It takes several years' cultivation of the prod- 
uct to ascertain whether the seedling is valuable or not. 
The process is resorted to only by those who wish to ex- 
periment in raising new varieties. 
Asphalt or Concrete Flooring. — 
The Gardener's Magazine, (English, Shirley HibbertPs), 
has the following: '•Three parts coal-ashes (those from 
the blacksmith's forge to be preferred) and two parts 
gas-lime from gas-works, to be thoroughly mixed, and 
then made into a mortar with gas-tar. If the gas-tar 
come from gas-works where the ammoniacal liquor is not 
separated, it will be sufficiently mixed for the purpose ; 
but if the latter be separated, and the tar he thick, it 
will set quicker if about one-fourth part of water be 
mixed thoroughly with the tar when used. For the fioor3 
of cow-sheds, this should be laid about three inches thick 
in one layer, on an even surface of gravel, or stone broken 
very small with a sprinkling of gravel over, and rolled 
down. The mortar may be laid on with a common shovel, 
and merely patted down flat. In dry, warm weather, if 
the mortar has been carefully made, the floor will set 
firm in a few days. For any ordinary outhouse, half the 
thickness will make a permanent floor." 
Hoif to Hake Rails Durafclc- 
Almost every one notices a difference in the rails used 
for fencing material. Timber left with the bark on rots 
very mnch quicker than that which is split and seasoned. 
Some rails last but three or four years, and others are 
good for fifteen or twenty. There is a difference, of 
course, in the woods used for this purpose. Birch poles 
arc sometimes worthless after a year's use, and chestnut 
is very durable. Experiments show that rails cut and 
split soon after midsummer last much longer than those 
prepared in winter. But summer is usnally fully occupied 
with tillage and harvest, .and of necessity fencing material 
must be prepared at a time of more leisure. If cut early 
in the winter, (and none should be cut late) have the logs 
split immediately, and the rails piled where the sun and 
wind can have free access to them. It is a good plan to 
draw them to where they are to be used, as the ground 
is now frozen. Peel poles too small for splitting. 
Cutting Hoop Poles. — '* T. K. M," 
Ilopkinton. It. F. — " 1 have a large tract of thrifty woods, 
principally oak and hickory, and wish to know if it will 
he damaged by thinning, and if there is any market for 
hoop poles."— A large part of the young trees that start in 
apiece of cleared land die, and only the fittest survive. 
If a portion are cut for poles, the remainder will grow 
more rapidly, and the timber will be of better quality. 
The poles are in demand in all our large cities for hooping 
casks, strapping boxes, and similar uses, and they will 
sometimes sell for enough to pay for an acre of laud. 
Compressing the Soil. 
— ♦■ 
AH facts in regard to soils should Ijc familiar 
to the farmer, even if they have no apparent 
bearing on practical agriculture. We may not 
fully understand why a soil that lias been 
stirred will settle into a smaller space than it 
occupied before it was moved, but such seems 
to be a fact. The soil thrown from an uiider- 
draiu, when put back, will form a slight ridge 
on top, but in the course of a year or so will 
settle down enough to form quite a hollow. In 
other words, stirring the soil at first expands it, 
but afterwards compresses it. In engineering, 
this shrinkage, as it is called, which is the result 
of excavating, transporting, and compacting in 
embankments, is allowed for. Mr. Elwood 
Morris, C. E., in experiments on a large scale, 
found this shrinkage of light sandy earth to be 
] | a of its volume in excavation; of yellow 
