408 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
the clover to come out, when the space arouiul the cylin- 
der will become choked, and a ribbing motion will 
occur which will loosen the seed and separate it from the 
pods. It may then be cleaned in the fan-mill. Or the 
chaff may be sown after it is thrashed from the stalks 
with the common flail. This will answer equally well as 
sowing cleaned seed. Clover seed does not separate well, 
except in dry, frosty weather, or unless it lias been ex- 
posed to rain in the field, and dried. 
Sawdust.— B. Nelson has four horses and 
fifteen head of cattle. He wishes to know how he can 
best make use of sawdust which he can get from a saw- 
mill a fourth of a mile oft', and if it will be cheaper than 
ewamp-muck drawn three fourths of a mile. If this 
sawdust is of hard wood it is better than that from pine. 
But in either case he had better use it liberally as bedding 
fer his cattle and horses. When piled it will rot rapidly 
and make excellent manure. Swamp-muck may be more 
beneficially used as manure alone, or mixed with salt or 
lime, than Fawdust. Try and use both. 
IjOW Mallows.— "F. B." asks how to get 
rid of ^mallows,** or "pot-cheese, 11 a weed that he finds 
troublesome in his garden. This weed delights in a 
moist, rich soil, and in such a position is difficult to eradi- 
cate by half measures. In spading the garden, all the 
roots should be picked out and destroyed. This is the 
most satisfactory method, and never fails if persevered in 
and if backed up by care to prevent stray plants from 
seeding. '* One year's seeding makes nine years' weed- 
ing 1 ' should be thought of daily by every farmer and 
gardener, and acted upon as often. 
Xo Restore Worn-out Lauds. — A 
Subscriber, Greenwood, Del., has some white-oak flats 
covered with sedge that will not bring five bushels of 
corn without manure, and manure can not be had. How 
shall he improve them ? There is certainly no hope for 
these flats but in green crops. If they will produce corn 
at all, they ought to produce some clover. We would 
apply ten bushels of lime per acre, or more, if means will 
a^mit of it, plow the sedge and weeds under, and sow 
clover seed in the spring. When the clover is started, 
sow a bushel of plaster per acre. In May or June, next 
year, when the clover is in blossom, plow it under, and a 
crop of early corn may be taken and clover seed sown 
when the corn is laid by. Thus, alternating clover and 
corn, plowing the corn-stalks under, the land ought to im- 
prove. It is up-hill work improving land without manure. 
Civil Engineering.— "J. C. G.," Mon- 
mouth Co., N. J., asks if a young man with a common- 
school education and considerable attainments in mathe- 
matics, can hope to attain proficiency in civil engineer- 
ing without pursuing a general course of study.— A 
general knowledge of the cognate sciences is of very 
great assistance to a civil engineer; but mathema- 
tical knowledge is essential. An engineer might be 
able to lay out a road, with its gradients and curves, with 
no other knowledge than that of mathematics aud the use 
of his instruments ; but he could not teBt the accuracy of 
his work understanding^ without knowing something 
•f astronomy and physical geography. In fact, the 
intimate connection of the physical sciences is ench, 
that to be proficient in one a student must be able to 
travel with more or less certainty over the whole ground. 
The University of Ann Arbor would be an excellent 
institution for such a coarse of study. 
Oxeye l>aisy. — A. D. Burns, Alleghany 
Co., Pa., has his farm infested with the oxeye daisy, and 
wants to exterminate it.— There are hundreds of farmers 
in A. D. B.'s position ; in fact, this is the most common 
weed to be Eeen in the Eastern and Middle States. And 
yet it can be easily destroyed. If plowed under before the 
seeds become ripe, or if pastured with sheep, it can be 
got rid of. Mowing before maturity will also prevent 
its re -appearance. It is often introduced by purchasing 
timothy Becd grown on land infested with it. Cart; should 
be taken to avoid this. 
Lnccrn. — T., Prince George Co., Va.,asks: 
What is the time for seeding, quantity of seed per acre, 
and the quality of land required for growing lucern; 
also the price of the seed. — Lucern Bhould be sown in 
the spring, at the rate of 10 lbs. of seed per acre, if in 
drills, or 15 lbs. if broadcast. It should, if possible, be 
sown in drills fifteen inches apart. We, however, have 
got a good stand, in dean ground, by sowing broadcast. 
The land must bo fine, mellow, deeply plowed, and rich. 
Weeds are very injurious, and crowd out the young 
plants, which are slow in starting. For this reason sow- 
ing in drills is to be recommended, as the cultivator can 
then be used. When fully established it will yield heavy 
crops of green fodder, and may be cut, if on rich soil, 
once a month. All kinds of stock will eat it eagerly. 
Pigs seem especially fond of it. It iB a long-rooted plant, 
and a perennial. For plowing under it is possibly equal 
to red clover. The Beed costs about 40 cents per pound. 
Cider and Cider-Presses. — August 
Diedrich, Dubuque, Iowa, wants to get a cider-press. The 
old-fashioned wooden cider-press is in our opinion the 
best. Those which have iron abont them convey an un- 
pleasant flavor to the cider and darken the color. The 
old press, being wholly of wood, has no ill effect on the 
cider, and besides is of far greater capacity. The barrels 
to hold the cider should be perfectly clean. Brandy casks 
arc the best, if they cau be procured. Whisky or alcohol 
barrels come next, but should be well washed before 
using. No barrel in which vinegar has been kept, should 
be used for cider. Where a common, old-fashioned mill 
is not available, the Buckeye Mill is as good as any that 
we know of as a substitute. 
Plowing under Buckwheat, or 
Applying Lime.-" J. H. S.," Houston, Texas Co., 
Mo., lias a field of forty acres, worn-out land, which yielded 
last year two and a half bushels of wheat per acre. It is 
now in buckwheat, which promises to yield at least S00 
bushels. He had intended to plow this under, but now 
wishes to know whether it would be better to save the 
crop and sell it at 50 cents per bushel, and buy lime at 
20 cents per bushel, and apply that instead. The land is 
intended for red clover next spring. — We would advise the 
latter course. The fact that such a fair crop of buckwheat 
is possible to be raised shows that the land has some 
heart left in it yet. If the straw and chaff of the present 
crop can be used as litter and turned into manure, and 
put on the field, it will help somewhat, in addition to 
the lime ; as it will furnish some vegetable matter to the 
soil. From the facts given, we judge that this field needs 
lime as much as anything. 
Those Little Pigs again. — What 
sympathy we have discovered towards little pigs de- 
prived of their maternal parent ! A correspondent from 
" Wichita " gives ns his experience. He has raised three 
different litters without Iosb, on milk from a fresh cow in 
one instance, from a nine-months milking cow in another 
instance, and in a third instance on cream. He gets 
up the first three or four nights and feeds them three or 
four times. They soon learned to eat, and wanted more. 
To sum up the matter, milk and water, milk cold or 
warm, milk and mush, and cream are all available sources 
of nutriment, to be given often and in small quantities. 
We would add this advice : Don't pamper the sow before 
littering; keep her down in flesh somewhat, and give her 
no rich feed for two weeks before her time ; give roots 
or clover that will have a gentle laxative effect, and pre- 
vent heating of the blood and fever. If a sow costs a 
hundred dollars, she ought to be fed without pampering 
equally with one costing five dollars. There will then be 
lees risk of losiDg her on these occasions. 
Stork Running* at Large. — The prac- 
tice of allowing stock — cows, hogs, aud sheep — to wan- 
der about the public roads is a troublesome and very 
wasteful one. A great portion of the value of the feed 
of an animal properly fed and kept in yards is returned 
in the shape of manure ; but if stock is allowed to roam 
at large, all the manure dropped by them becomes the 
perquisite of some long-headed farmer who keepB the 
road-drains and gutters open on to his farm, so that he 
receives all the wash after every rain. A very noticeable 
cause of the poverty of the stock met with in districts 
where this custom is observed, is the promiscuous mix- 
ing up occasioned by allowing animals of both genders 
to run unchecked. In such localities a farmer can not 
tell when he can expect a calf or a litter of pigs, and 
often they come at moBt unseasonable times and of very 
undesirable parentage. Thus, without order or system 
in this particular, and from want of care generally, the 
stock becomes next to worthless, and is hardly worth 
the feed it consumes. Besides, it is very unfair to others 
who keep better stock and keep them in pastures. Wan- 
dering stock is generally unruly, and will occasionally 
get into other fields than their owners' at times when 
their presence can do mischief which their owners can 
not repair. It would be better for all concerned that no 
stock of any kind should be allowed to run at large. In 
well-ordered and prosperous communities this practice is 
considered the reverse of proper or profitable. 
Composting muck, Aslies, and 
Cotton Seed.— J. M. Clair, Johnson Co., N. C, wants 
a work on the above subject. We do not know of any. 
The process of composting such simple materials is easily 
performed. They need to be brought into contact in 
such a manner that the more active fermentation of the 
cotton seed shall induce a similar action in the more in- 
ert muck, which, at the same time, shall be incorporated 
in ench quantities as to absorb all the fertilizing gases— 
as ammonia — given off either during the fermentation or 
by the chemical action of the potash on the decomposing 
cotton seed. To bring about these results, the muck 
should be in layers of not less than six inches, and should 
be moderately damp (except on the top, which should be 
dry, so as to absorb the moisture given off by the lower 
layers). The cotton seed should be in layers of two or 
three inches. The ashes should be mixed evenly among 
the muck. When a good heat has started, fresh, dry 
muck should be heaped on the top if any strong smell is 
apparent, or plaster might be spread over the heap. 
When the active fermentation has ceased and the heat 
has disappeared, the heap should be turned over, when 
it will heat once more, and should receive the same can- 
tious attention. It will then be thoroughly rotted, and is 
ready for use. A shovelful applied in the hill would be 
about right. Had we a quantity of cotton seed, wo 
should as soon think of using it in this manner as we 
should of using an equal quantity of flaxseed. As an 
article of feed, rich in oil and mucilage, it is equal to 
flaxseed. For the meal, Northern farmers have to pay 
prices equal to flaxseed-raeal, and find it profitable to do 
so. Unless obliged by circumstances, we should not use 
it for manure. 
Crops and Prices.— From a careful re- 
vision of all that we have seen, read, and heard, we 
gather that the crops throughout the United States and 
Canada have been in the main satisfactory, not to say 
abundant. The wheat crop has suffered somewhat from 
the dronth early in the season, and from the chinch-bug 
in certain localities, and it is doubtful if the large esti- 
mates of the yield will be realized. Oats have been an 
abundant crop generally, and corn, although injured in 
some places by a dry summer, will be greatly above the 
average. In European countries, with the exception of 
France, where the crop is seriously deficient, and m 
England, where the wheat crop is undoubtedly below 
the average, a good yield has been secured. Wc may 
therefore expect that the foreign demand, though it 
will probably be good, will not be excessive, and that 
present prices may be maintained for wheat and flour. 
As European populations can not be induced to use corn 
as an article of food, it would be unwise to look to them 
as a means for disposing of the certain abundance of 
this crop. But we find throughout the Western State* 
that hogs are abundant. These will furnish a means of 
consuming a large proportion of the excess, and as pork 
is very low, a large demand will probably arise which 
will ease the market of the surplus. The great fire 
in Chicago has consumed a considerable amount of 
the large stock on hand there. Pork and corn, reacting 
in the market very much on each other, necessarily rise 
and fall together. Any rise in pork, then, will favor- 
ably affect corn. Throughout Southern Hlinois and 
Missouri, the drouth has seriously shortened the hay crop> 
and late pasturage, and generally throughout the country 
hay is scarce. In the East, the deficiency is partly made 
up among the more thoughtful and forehanded farmers 
by means of other fodder crops, and though possibly 
others may have to get rid of a portion of their stock, 
yet we do not look for any necessary sacrifice of values 
on that account. Kansas Is full of cheap cattle from 
Texas, and drovers are afraid of touching Btock. 
Bee Notes for : November.— By M. Quinby. 
If, as is often the case this month, the apiarian does 
not feel quite satisfied that all is right with his bees for 
winter, he can look them over again on any cool day. H* 
may see things that escaped his observation in warmer 
weather when the becB were less compact. Any weak 
stock should be united with some other ; or, if that is not 
convenient, kill the bees rather than let them freoee or 
starve. Unfilled boxes, or such as contain so little 
honey as not to be worth removing for the table, may be 
saved for another year. Dry comb should also be saved 
for the same purpose. Hives containing bees may be 
painted now without injury to them, and new hives 
ought also be painted, that they may thoroughly dry before 
another year. Use different colors, that each bee may 
know its own hive at a glance. 
Protect hives Btanding out of doors by wire cloth 
placed over the entrance, leaving a passage for bees only. 
Ventilation should be secured by holes two or three 
inches square at the bottom. Agood planfor accomplish- 
ing this is to have a box, two or three inches deep, of the 
same 6izo as the bottom of the hive, set under it, with a 
hole iu one of its sides covered with wire cloth. Let it 
be where ttfe wiud will not drive directly through it. 
Large Pay ** Little Work. 
For AU.-See Page 433. 
