8 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[J.VNTJART, 
Jersey Cow 6i Treasure. "—We have 
received from T. A. Denison, of Hampden Co., !Mass., a 
photograph of their family pet, a Jersey cow, of which he 
says : She i5 5 years old, weighs 7S0 pounds, gives 15 
quarts of milk per day at her best, and 6 quarts of milk 
yield 14 to 16 oz. of very hard, fine grained, high colored 
■butter. One day's milk, 2 months before her time to calve, 
yielded 15 oz. of butter, when she had been giving milk 
more than a year. Twenty years' experience leads our 
correspondent to the conclusion that no breed equals the 
Jerseys in value as family cows. 
A Great Rat Hunt.— "Rat Hunter" 
writes as follows : "An article in the Agriculturist on the 
subject of catching rats by ferrets, induces me to give the 
methods of destroying rats in Clinton Co., O. A rat hunt is 
decided upon— a meeting is called, and two 'captains' 
appointed, who choose their men alternately to any 
number they wish; the parries then appoint, a committee 
of three to count the tails of the rats caught by both 
parties. A time is appointed for the hunt to close. Then 
the tails are all counted, the party having killed the least 
number, furnishes a free supper to both sides. A hunt of 
this kind was ended on the *2Gth Nov. at New Burlington, 
Ohio. Each of the sides killed over S000 rats. A sump- 
tuous supper was given on the evening of Nov. 29th. of 
which over two hundred ladies and gentlemen partook, 
and every thing passed off pleasantly. Let every com- 
munity adopt the same plan, and there will be many rata 
destroyed, and few left for ferrets and patent rat traps." 
Tall Bnckwheat.-Wm. A. McCleary 
writes that he settled in the green woods, October, 1S65, 
and after clearing a piece, raised among other crops, 
broom corn and buckwheat, last summer — the former 
grew 15 feet high, the buckwheat grew 7 feet 10 inches 
high, and yielded 28 bushels to the acre. 
The Bee Periodicals.— Two Bee papers 
started in this country during the past season. One made 
a start de novo — the other revived and took a fresh start. 
Things did not seem to work quite rightly, or our hand 
and word of greeting would have been prompt and cordial. 
The Am. Bee Gazette, published in this city, departed 
this life a few weeks since; the Am. Bee Journal, of 
"Washington, as 1; next of kin," inheriting its list of sub- 
scribers and wordly effects. "We hopt; its excellent foreign 
department may be continued in the Journal. "We have 
pleasure in commending the Journal to our readers, and 
wishing it merited success. 
Beautiful Grape Leares. — J. W. Hinks 
&, Co., Bridgeport (Conn.) Nursery, sent us some leaves of 
Rogers' No. 19 grape, that were colored as beautifully as 
the autumn tinted leaves of the maple. They state that 
the foliage of several of Rogers' numbers does the same 
when it escapes early frosts. As far as we recollect, this 
peculiarity has not before been noticed. 
Laurel Poisoning*. — E. A. Holcomb 
writes, that when a lamb is poisoned by laurel, he takes 
a hard lump of fine salt — such as is usually to be found 
in a sack where tha^ grains have caked together — as large 
as a walnut, i»uts it in the animal's mouth, and holds up 
the head until the salt is swallowed. For sheep and 
calves he uses more, lie has tried many remedies, and 
considers this the simplest and most efficacious. 
Heeling-in. — M. J. Skinner criticises the 
spelling of this word, and suggests that if it is derived 
from the saxon word hele, to cover or conceal, it should 
be spelt accordingly. We do not think the word has 
any such derivation ; it is a short and convenient render- 
ing of the old garden phrase, "laying-in-by-the-heels." 
What may l>e Done frith Small 
Garden Plots.— I. K. Jessup, of Staten Island, 
writes us, that upon an oval piece of ground, 19x37 feet, 
he raised 320 lbs. marrow* squashes, 1 bushel tomatoes, 
37 peppers, and 8 egg plants. 
A Mechanical Plowman. — A few days 
since we were called upon to witness the operation of a 
contrivance, which we designate as a ''mechanical plow- 
man." 1 The idea is not a new one. There have been 
other contrivances for holding and guiding the plow, and 
whether this one possesses merit sufficient to make it a 
success, the future must determine. We found a plow 
without handles, having a rather short beam fastened at the 
end into a sort of baby-carriage affair, consisting of an iron 
frame with adjusting screws set upon two little wheels, 
one of greater diameter than the other. The inventor is 
a German, and the plow was a common German one of 
modern construction, by no means superior to our good 
plows. Two horses were hitched close to the little car- 
riage, and, the plow being on its side, the team was 
started in a patch from which Lima beans had just been 
removed and full of stubs of broken poles. The plow in- 
stantly righted itself, and laid a fair furrow, though the 
wheels had no furrow to guide them. The second time 
round it did perfectly good work. When it struck a stub 
it was partly thrown out or turned, but got at work again 
so quickly that one hardly noticed it. With a quick and 
strong jerk one might throw the plow out of the furrow, 
but it would get back again almost instantly. It was set 
to cut about 6 inches deep and 10 inches wide, and in 
steady going and even soil it did this, but the soil was 
variable, and on hard packed spots it inclined to run 
shallow, and where it was very mellow, it would go 
deeper. The depth and width of the furrows is very 
quickly and easily regulated by screws, and the set of the 
wheels is changed for different depths. The trial was 
made upon the farm of 3Ir. Breck, of New Durham, N. J., 
a thoroughly practical man and no way interested in the 
implement. He uses it in preference to good plows of his 
own, and, as he says, by a little practice he quickly gained 
facility in its management. Stones, he says, will throw 
it out or stop it ; if thrown out, it sets itself again quicker 
than one held by hand, and if stopped, requires to be lifted 
or pulled back and eased over, as any plow would be. 
On the whole, the thing looks practical and handy. For 
a foreign-made article it is very light. Still, its strength has 
been well tested, and as we understand many will soon 
be made, we may expect to see it put to the test of hard 
and diverse usage. The inventor is Mr. F. Tolkmann. 
who has TJ. S. Patents for the essential features. See ad- 
vertisement. We can hardly over-estimate the importance 
of the invention, if made easily adaptable to our plows 
.of different sizes, provided it proves practical. 
Q>aiili«i Roots. — " Subscriber" — Keep your 
Dahlia roots just as they come out of the ground, unlil 
spring. Do not pull the roots from the stem, unless >ou 
wish to destroy ihem. They must be kept attached until 
the buds are started in the spring, when they are sepa- 
rated in a way to give a root to each bud. 
Cluh-F'oot iu Cabbage. — "Subscriber," 
Conn. — This is ascribed to an insect, or rather to a kind 
of centipede ; plenty of lime in the soil is said to prevent it. 
"What can he Done for formerly good 
land, now covered 3 or 4 feet deep with creek gravel ? " 
is a question asked by an "Old Subscriber," 
How to Thaw out Pumps or Water 
Pipes.—" The simplest way in the world."— We must 
repeat directions given, and repeated in years gone by. 
Procure a piece of india rubber pipe as long as any 
emergency will require. It should have a lillle less than a 
quarter of an inch bore, and walls thick enough to be 
quite stiff. Apply one end of this upon a common fun- 
nel, and run the other end into the water-pipe down as 
far as the ice. When hot water is poured in, the ice will 
melt before the end of the tube out of which it rows with 
great rapidity, and of course the tube must be pushed 
along down as fast as the ice melts. 
Barometer in the House. — J. Menden- 
hall, Parke Co., Ind., asks, if the indications of the barom- 
eter are affected by the heat of the room in which it is 
placed. The heat expands the mercury, making it lighter, 
and in nice observations a correction for temperature 
is made. The difference is of no consequence when the 
barometer is observed merely as a weather indicator. 
Acids ami Alkalies — Poisons. — In 
November we gave a general article to explain to the un- 
scientific reader the common terms " acids" and alkalies 
— mainly with reference to the article on "Soaps" fol- 
lowing it. An incidental allusion was made to these sub- 
stances as poisons, whereupon a hyper-critical cor- 
respondent of the Country Gentleman comes out with a 
column headed '"dangerous advice," and garbles our re- 
marks to sustain his anathemas. Let him go back and 
read, and^hen quote aright what we did saj*, viz., that if 
an acid is accidentally swallowed, "a strong solution of 
soap swallowed freely, is the best common remedy ;" that 
is, one always at hand. That was the whole gist of onr 
remarks, which were not intended to discuss poisons, and 
"Chemicns" will find it hard to create any sensation by 
his exclamation of " Dangerous Advice." — "VTc may ere 
long give a chapter on poisons and their treatment. 
Utovr Priced. Sewing; Jlachines. — 
A considerable variety of these have been offered, and the 
number is increasing. One sold under different names, 
for £5 by some, and for £10 by others, is a small affair, 
costing the dealers $2 to $2.50, and would be dear to any 
purchaser at 50 cents. "We have examined most of the 
machines advertised, or offered by private circulars for 
$5 to $25, and have yet to find one that we would advise a 
friend to buy. A dozen or more of them have been re- 
fused admission to our columns. "We gaw a new one tho 
other day which is simple, and with further improvement, 
it may come into practical use, but it is not yet tested 
enough, nor well enough manufactured, to be worth buy- 
ing. One caution we advise our readers to heed, viz. : 
Never buy any sewing machines to be turned by hand — as 
most of these low-priced, but dear, machines are worked. 
We consider a table and a good pedal geering to be worked 
by the foot, as indispensable to any useful sewing machine. 
Instead of purchasing any hand-worked machine, how- 
ever cheap, it is better to reserve the money until it is in- 
creased by interest and otherwise to the cost of a good 
machine. It would give us great pleasure to find a 
really practical effective machine retailed at $20 to $30 : it 
would be a boon to multitudes of housekeepers ; but we 
know of no such machine yet. 
In "Winding- a Watch, always be careful 
to have the tube of the key thoroughly clean, picking out 
any lint gathered in from the pocket, and removing the 
smallest trace of dust in it. This is very important : the 
slightest particle of dust may fall in through the keyhole 
and clog some of the delicate works. More watches are 
injured from this cause, and require frequent cleaning, 
than from all other reasons. A watch should never be 
wound or opened when dust is flying in the air, nor should 
it be opened with soiled fingers. New watches, even 
of the best manufacture, require a year or so of wear to 
get all the parts smooth and in proper running order, so 
that a new watch can hardly be fully regulated to entirely 
accurate time the first year. The moving of the regulator 
when very near the right point, is so delicate an operation 
that a long time is required to adjust it exactly ; one 
may sometimes chance to hit it on a first or second trial. 
Hint to Watch Manwfactnrers. — 
From the great difficulty of regulating a watch exactly, 
referred to in the item above, we suggest to manufac- 
turers, and inventors, the contrivance of some kind of 
screw, or other arrangement, by means of which a more 
slight change can be readily given to the length of the 
chain spring, than can now be made without the aid of 
the magnifying glass used by watch repairers. The screw 
on a clock pendulum is much more convenient than the 
index arm for regulating a watch. This hint is at the 
service of the American Watch Company, or of any one 
disposed to apply it. 
Lime, Water and Fire.— 5. W. Stew- 
art, Newcastle Co., Delaware, had his barn set on fire 
during a heavy thunder storm. He wishes to know if the 
conflagration was probably due to the lightning, or to 
some lime that was stored there. As the barn had two 
good lightning rods, and as the lime was placed close to 
the side of the barn, where the rain could be blown 
through the cracks, we conclude that the lime, or rather 
the water, was in this case the incendiary. He thinks, 
that if it was due to the presence of the lime, the fact 
should be published for the benefit of others. We sup- 
posed it was generally known that lime, in combining 
with water, or in " slaking," as it is termed, evolved suf- 
ficient heat to set fire to wood and other combustibles. 
Only a few weeks ago, Doct. Grant, at Iona Island, had an 
experience of this kind. The Hudson made an unusual 
rise and overflowed his dock, on which was a shed hav- 
ing a considerable quantity of lime stored in it, and a 
conflagration was the result. It is not an unusual occur- 
rence that vessels having lime as part of their cargo, are 
lost by fire. How small a quantity of lime will generate 
heat sufficient to set fire to wood, we cannot precisely 
state, but a few ounces will produce a glowing heat, and a 
pound will cook a beefsteak. It is better to lose the value 
of a few bushels of lime than to run any risks in storing i t. 
Ifashet Makiiig.-W. B. Waldo suggests 
that some one who knows how to make willow baskets 
for farm use, should communicate such instructions 
through the Agriculturist, as will enable farmers wlio 
have osiers to make their own baskets. We heartily en^ 
dorse this request. Who will respond ? 
The Indelible Pencil for marking cloth- 
ing is much more convenient than ink. and equally good 
as to permanence — we judge after several months' trial, 
Castile Soap.— "S. F. S." asks, if this could 
be home-made. It could be by an expert soap maker, but 
it would be found rather expensive. In the true article 
Olive oil is the only fatty material used. 
Vinegar from Sorghum* — L. F. Miller, 
of Hardin Co., 0.,asks: ■■'SYill raw juice of sorghum 
make good vinegar?" — We have no experience, but 
to put the question in another form : May good vinegar 
be made from sorghum juice without evaporating * If so, 
how '{ The syrup is often used in making vinegar. 
