134, 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Apeil, 
marshes from Rhode Island to South America, 
during our Northern winters burying itself in 
the mud. Taken at this time it is fat and deli- 
cious, aud greedily sought for in our City mar- 
kets. Each plate of the upper shell is marked 
with deep striae parallel with the sides. These 
are deepest in the males, and the males are con- 
siderably less in size than their companions. 
These Terrapins are very active on shore, and 
expert swimmers — on the alert and ever sus- 
picious of danger, except when hybernating. 
They are about 7'| a inches long, the shell being 
of an olive green color, with darker concentric 
markings on the scales. The under shell or 
sternum is yellowish green, with dusky mark- 
ings, and the legs and neck of a light brown, 
inclining to white, with innumerable black dots. 
Carrot Culture. 
£Y JI. H. SILVESTHOKN. 
Select a good rich piece of clover sod, with 
deep loam or gravel soil ; put on twenty loads 
of good manure to the acre aud spread evenly 
over the ground. Then plow the ground about 
six inches deep. I once failed entirely to raise 
a crop because I plowed my ground too deep; the 
seed would not germinate in the soil turned up. 
I do not think it advisable to undertake the 
culture of carrots on clay soil with a stiff sub- 
soil, as the cost of them will exceed the profit. 
After plowing, harrow fine; harrow the last 
time the short way of the piece ; then drill in 
the seed the long way, in rows, two feet apart, 
I prefer to raise my own seed, as it grows 
much more sure than seed purchased at the 
stores — use fresh seed. I usually raise the 
White Belgian, as I can grow more to the acre 
than of any other kind. Still I consider there is 
more nutriment in the same amount of the 
Orange carrot. The best tool that I have yet 
used is of my own invention. 
The frame is similar to that of a common 
cultivator, and about the same length, but only 
about two-thirds as heavy — -in this I have eight 
teeth. The teeth are about ten inches long 
from the shoulder to the point. The blade is 
similar to the coulter on a plow, except it is 
only about 11 inches wide and brought to an 
edge. These, with a good cultivator shovel for 
the front tooth, complete the implement. 
"With this cultivator and a horse, you can 
commence to work your carrots as soon as they 
are up, cutting up the ground deep and very 
close to the carrots without covering them up, 
thus saving five-sixths of the labor usually spent 
with the hoe, and leaving the ground in much 
better condition than it otherwise could be. 
After the carrots are about as big as a pipe 
stem, I take my hoe the narrow way, and cut 
the rows into hills, leaving them, when thinned 
out, about six inches apart. After this you have 
no more to do with the hoe, but use the culti- 
vator occasionally. To harvest, plow around 
the patch, just as close to the row as you can 
without cutting the roots. Now let your team 
stand, take a good butcher knife, catch the top 
of the carrot in the right hand, pulling it out of 
the ground, after which take the root in the left, 
and turn the top down — now, with one clip, cut 
off the top and throw the carrots in piles on the 
plowed ground, and tramp the tops in the fur- 
rows — now, plow about twice around, and you 
are ready to pull and cut as before. In this way 
myself and one other hand have harvested and 
buried one hundred bushels in half a day. 
Carrots should remain in the ground as long as 
they can be left, and be got out while the ground 
is dry, as they generally improve till freezing 
weather, and they keep much more fresh than 
when harvested before they are full}' matured. 
Still they should be dug when the ground is dry, 
for the carrots come out clean, and need no 
washing before feeding. Dirty carrots never 
should be fed to any kind of stock. 
Every person should have a good root cellar 
attached to the barn. After your carrots are 
harvested, put in the cellar about what will last 
till midwinter, and bury the balance, as they 
keep much fresher when buried than iu a cellar. 
Carrots have no great fattening properties, 
but when fed with grain they are much better 
than either fed separately. I have always found 
it more advantageous to feed, say to a horse, 
four quarts of oats aud six to eight good sized 
carrots than eight quarts of oats with no car- 
rots, or than double the amount of carrots with 
no oats. Carrots alone, are most excellent feed 
for cows in the spring, before grass comes ; chop- 
ped fine and mixed with ground oats, they make 
the best of feed for sheep having early lambs. 
[Deeper plowing than six inches is advisable 
in rich sand}- loams, and in all heavy loams 
sub-soiling will pay. The tops of carrots make 
excellent feed, and we think it pays better to 
feed them than to turn them under. In some 
districts they are sold to dyers, at a good price.] 
-— . m em *-m — 
Driving Horses at Plowing- 
[The following sensible notions about plowing 
are from " T. C," of Paulding County, Ohio. The 
docility of the horse, under proper training, is 
such that lines need only be used at plowing, in 
an emergency; but horses can seldom be trusted 
without some control upon their heads. — Eds.] 
"The subject of driviug horses before the 
plow is an important one to every farmer, for 
good driving aud good plowing go together, and 
good, easy plowing is no small item in farming. 
I have seen one man take a team to plow, and 
permit them to walk so fast that they had to 
stop every few rods to breathe, and thereby lose 
more time and injure the team more, and not 
make as good work by far as if the}- had been 
driven more slowly ; and I fear this is the prac- 
tice of thousands of the readers of the American, 
Agriculturist. I have seen another man take 
two old horses that had been used singly in a 
buggy, one much lighter and much faster than 
the other, and (neither of which had been used 
to plowing), hitch them to the plow, and in a 
short time have them go step by step with each 
other, what pace he wished, and so straight as 
to surprise his employer. While the former 
plowman made bad work by letting some slices 
fall back, setting some on edge, and leaving dead 
furrows from two to three feet wide, the latter 
would turn all well over, and in finishing up 
would leave a dead furrow only the breadth 
of the plow, and as straight as need be, without 
making an} r ' turns ' or short furrows. The 
good plowman did his work much easier to him- 
self and team than the other. Both pieces were 
in corn, and that best plowed was easiest tended. 
" The best way that I know of to tie horses 
that are in the habit of going too fast is the fol- 
lowing : Use the cord lines, (those thick at the 
hind ends are best for lazy horses), instead of 
the short stick between their heads. I prefer a 
coupling strap, with a spring hook at each end, 
and buckle in the middle, or a cord line will do. 
We do not want horses always the same dis- 
tance apart, especially in finishing up, and be- 
sides the stick is not pleasant to a tender- 
mouthed horse when turning round, especially 
if the driver does not believe in it, or if he is not 
kind to his team. If one horse is faster than the 
other, instead of hanging the check rein on the 
harness as usual, put it back between the hames, 
lie a short line to the middle of it, and tie the 
other end of the short line to the other horse's 
wifnetree, or to his trace forward of it. When 
the fast horse steps forward he steps into his 
' bit '; if he has a tender mouth he may ' rear,' 
but b} r the time his feet are off the ground the 
other horse makes a step, and his rein is slack, 
and he will learn to go slow before he gets tired. 
If both horses are too fast, tie them both iu the 
same way. As to driving, every good plowman 
establishes a communication between himself 
and his team peculiar to himself — not, however, 
by putting the lines round the back, nor by 
hanging them on the ' handles,' unless they 
have more practice than is usual ou small farms. 
The bo} r that took the prize without lines had 
practice. The place for the lines is in the plow- 
man's hands, where he can let one slip through 
his fingers, or gather it in, as needed. With 
lines, properly used, words are seldom needed ; 
and with sufficient practice words properly 
spoken do away to a great extent with the use 
of lines. ' Come ' and ' gee ' are all the words 
necessary, besides speaking to each horse by 
name ; they should be spoken to kindly. If a 
horse is lazy, a stroke with a cord line shows him 
his pace much quicker than unkind words. I 
know of no surer way to break up a bad practice 
than that which induced the boy to drive his 
team without lines— namely, the offer of a prize." 
■ m « — ^iQnii — » » . 
Screens for Shelter. 
Screens are planted for two purposes : the con- 
cealment of objects offensive to the taste, and 
the shelter of buildings, gardens and orchards 
from the winds. It is of screens as a shelter 
that we purpose to say a few words here. 
The importance of shelter in our northern cli- 
mate is but little understood. It answers sever- 
al economic as well as esthetic purposes. No 
count n- home has its appropriate surroundings 
until evergreens are planted. It is cheerless and 
desolate in winter — it lacks the highest charm 
in summer. By the shelter of evergreens, we 
may change the temperature of the seasons, and 
give gardens and orchards the climate of re- 
gions four or five degrees further south. The 
violence of the prevailing winds ruay be com- 
pletely broken, so that the thermometer will not 
sink so low in winter, and the snow, instead of 
drifting in heaps and leaving many places bare, 
will spread its soft covering evenly over all del- 
icate plants and preserve them. Many of the 
difficulties with which the gardener and orchard- 
ist have to contend, may be obviated by the 
shelter of trees. One reason why grapes and 
other small fruits do better in cities and villages 
than in the country, is the fact that they have 
the shelter of yards and buildings. Train an 
Isabella upon a trellis in an open field, and you 
may not get a crop once iu five years. Put it 
upon the south or east side of a building, and, 
with suitable feeding and pruning, the crop is 
generally as sure as that of Indian corn. 
One of the best examples of the ameliorating 
influences of shelter upon climate that has ever 
fallen under our observation, was upon the 
farm of the late Judge ileech, of Shelburne, 
Vt. His homestead was near the shores of 
Champlain, and swept by the severe lake winds 
in the winter and spring. He inclosed about 
two acres with a screen of American Arbor 
