JtrtTE,] 
AMEKIOAN AGRICULTURIST. 
219 
ered with cement-concrete, 3 inches thick, level 
with the foundation, and a close base-board should 
be nailed over the plastering. Finish the plaster 
to the floor before nailing on the base. The studs 
are spiked to the beams overhead, which are laid 16 
inches apart, and also to the rafters. This strength¬ 
ens the building greatly, and allows the air-space 
of the walls to open into the roof. A ventilator, 
carried from the ceiling to the peak, as shown, is 
opened or closed by a trap-door, with a cord. 
The house may be 16 feet square, and 12 feet high 
in the clear, which will give ample room for ven¬ 
tilation and space for the milk of 50 to 100 cows. 
There should be only one window on the north side, 
shaded by a green blind, and kept closed. It would 
add greatly to the coolness of the house if the walls 
were covered on the outside with climbers, such as 
the Hop-vine, Wistaria, Virginia Creeper, or other 
quick-growing vines, or running roses may be used. 
In preference to any other roof, we would select 
one of red tiles, which are cooler than slate, and so 
absorbent that a light shower, or a slight drenching 
with water, with the Whitman Fountain Pump, 
upon a hot day, would cool the interior greatly. A 
section of the wall, fig. 2, shows the air-space. 
- . am <»• m- m - 
A Useful Gate, not Patented. 
“H. 8. B.,” Bailey, Tenn.,_sends a sketch of a 
gate which may be made very useful for various 
purposes, such as separating small animals from 
larger ones, and has the advantage that it will 
fasten itself when closed. The gate is made of 
strips one inch thick, and 3 or 4 inches wide, as 
shown at figure 1. The latch is fastened as shown, 
by bands of hoop-iron riveted to the up¬ 
per and lower corner. When the latch is 
lifted, the gate is raised, as shown by the 
dotted lines, and is held in this position 
by the latch resting upon a support 
shown at a, figure 2. In this position the 
gate is raised from the ground, so that 
small pigs or lambs may pass under, and it 
also swings clear of the peg driven into 
the ground to bold it when lowered. 
When the gate is swung to, and the latch 
strikes the post, the latch is moved from 
the support and drops, letting the gate 
Fig 2 ^ own on t° the ground. By driving pegs 
into the gate post, upon which the latch 
may rest, the gate may be raised to any desired 
hight. The framework of the gate is fastened to¬ 
gether by carriage bolts, screwed up loosely, so 
that the gate will work easily. 
Hens and Ducks in the Fruit-yard. 
Young chickens and ducklings will get a large 
part of their living from insects, if they have the 
opportunity. It is a good plan to give up the fruit- 
yard, or a part of the orchard, to poultry. Chick¬ 
ens and ducks want shade as well as sunshine, and 
thrive better for it during the summer. They are 
always on the watch for worms and millers, and 
greedily devour every insect that falls from the 
trees. They are fond of fruit, and consume the 
windfalls, which harbor the insects that are so de¬ 
structive to fruit. A brood of chickens left under 
an apple tree afflicted with Canker Worms or Cater¬ 
pillars, will reduce the stock, and finally extermi¬ 
nate them. One of the most successful fruit¬ 
growers we are acquainted with, keeps poultry 
constantly under his trees. The apples and pears 
are fair, and he has paying crops every year. 
The Value of Leached Ashes, 
Experiments with leached ashes continue to work 
favorably, and to win friends, every year. There 
has been a large reduction in price to correspond 
with other fertilizers in the market. Formerly, 
they sold at 20 to 25 cts. a bushel, delivered at the 
landing, on tide water. Our farmers now get them 
at 17 cts., delivered at the same place, in quantities 
to suit purchasers. They have been used a great 
many years by the farmers and market gardeners 
of Long Island, and later by the same classes in the 
shore towns of Connecticut, and on the tobacco 
farms farther inland. The leached ashes used come 
mainly from Canada, and very largely through Os¬ 
wego, whence they are shipped by canal boat with¬ 
out change until they arc landed at the harbor near 
the farms where they are to be used. This refuse 
from the asheries contains considerable quantities 
of potash and phosphoric acid, which have a won¬ 
derful influence upon exhausted soils. We notice 
that when this fertilizer is once introduced, it re¬ 
tains its hold upon the confidence of cultivators, 
and they buy ashes every year, frequent!}' increas¬ 
ing their orders. The onion-growers along the 
Sound make large use of leached ashes—buying 
sometimes by the thousand bushels. This is one 
of the best indications of its value for that crop. 
Fruit-growers are much pleased with its effect 
upon the growth of their trees and shrubs, and 
upon their productiveness. It improves the size 
and quality of all the small fruits. It is especially 
beneficial upon strawberries and grapes. The use 
of this fertilizer is gradually increasing among the 
farmers who are more remote from the harbors 
where the ashes are landed. Their effect is imme¬ 
diately visible upon old pastures and meadows, 
spread broadcast, as a top-dressing; but they act 
more satisfactorily if applied to the crops at the 
time of seeding down. They not only largely in¬ 
crease the crop with which the grass-seed is sown, 
but their influence is visible for many years after¬ 
wards in the increased yield of grass. A farmer 
who has used ashes freely for twenty years, upon a 
hard, worn granite soil, says they will give an in¬ 
crease of hay, upon a meadow newly stocked, for 
eight years, and then, if the field is plowed again, 
they will show the effect of the ashes for six years 
longer. He applies about 100 bushels to the acre 
on land that be designs to keep in meadow, and 
about 75 bushels to pasture land. It is particularly 
satisfactory as an application to the rye-crop—even 
in so small quantities as 20 bushels to the acre. He 
has reclaimed a large breadth of old fields given up 
to the growth, of bushes, briers, and brakes, and 
made it a fine pasture by the rye-crop and ashes. 
He considers leached ashes his most efficient helper 
in transforming an exhausted, worn-out farm into 
one of great productiveness, giving a fair reward 
for his capital and labor. Connecticut. 
A Sure Cure for Poultry Lice. 
Lice are the great pest of the poultry house. 
Hens left to range about the farm or garden will 
keep clean by wallowing in the dry dust. But for 
a good part of the year villagers have to keep their 
hens in confinement, and very soon, without con¬ 
stant watchfulness, lice appear, and if the poultry 
house is near the barn, or within it, the vermin 
spread to the cow and horse-stables, and make 
trouble there. White-washing, if it were attended 
to every month, would be effectual, if the wash 
penetrated all the cracks. But this involves agreat 
deal of labor, and it is difficult to reach all the 
crevices. There is the same objection to sulphur 
and tobacco smoke. A few of the lice are general¬ 
ly left for seed after every smoking. The best 
remedy we have ever applied is crude petroleum, 
or, if more convenient, the common kerosene-oil 
used for lamps. This is always at hand, and a few 
minutes labor with the oil-can will rout the enemy. 
Generally one application is enough to destroy 
them. We apply it directly to the perches, pouring 
a continuous stream from the spout. The hens 
get this oil upon their feet and legs, and it is rubbed 
all over the feathers. It is penetrating, and the 
odor seems to be exceedingly offensive to all in¬ 
sects. We have had no lousy hens since the ap¬ 
plication of this remedy. * 
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Use of Agricultural Papers, 
I have been a constant reader of agricultural 
papers for thirty years and more, and have found 
the following benefits :—1. They are a most agree¬ 
able change from the labors of the field and the 
garden. Every man wants diversion of some kind, 
and finds it in change of occupation. Reading is 
amusement to a man tied up to the daily routine of 
the farm. His mind is stimulated by the perusal 
of the pages of his favorite journal, by its beauti¬ 
ful illustrations of animals, of flowers, and shrubs, 
of cottages and garden walks, of new implements, 
of husbandry, and b}' its records of the experiments 
of other practical farmers ; he is refreshed and kept 
cheerful and contented by this constant communion 
with other tillers of the soil. 2. They add largely 
to our stores of knowledge. Some of the best 
minds in the country write habitually for these 
papers. Some of them have had years of training 
in the best scientific schools of this country and of 
Europe, and tell us how crops grow, what tillage 
does for our crops, what are the best rations for 
horses and working cattle, for fattening animals, 
and for milch cows ; what fertilizers our soils need, 
and how this want can be most economically sup¬ 
plied. They are full of communications from prac¬ 
tical farmers, in all parts of the land, giving their 
methods of husbandry, and the reasons for them. 
No man can read habitually these teachings with¬ 
out gaining much useful knowledge in his hus¬ 
bandry. 3. They save much waste upon the farm, 
in the purchase of seeds, fertilizers, stock, and 
tools. Seeds are often adulterated, sometimes with 
sand, but oftener with old seed, or seeds of weeds, 
which, if sown, greatly increase the cost of tillage 
and harvesting. The papers warn us of these adul¬ 
terations, show us how to detect them, and where 
to purchase a pure article at fair prices. In the 
single item of fertilizers, any man who has occasion 
to use them gets back his subscription for a good 
agricultural paper, many times over every season. 
In the Connecticut Experiment Station, which is 
mainly a creation of agricultural journalism, there 
is a complete safeguard against fraudulent ma¬ 
nures. A reading farmer can know just what he 
buys, and not invest in sand or swamp muck. Mil¬ 
lions of dollars are saved to the country every year 
by this Institution. Manufacturers of fertilizers 
are compelled to sell by analysis. The best imple¬ 
ments of tillage, and of harvesting, are brought to 
the knowledge of the mass of farmers through the 
press. If there is a fair, a plowing match, a trial 
of reapers or mowers, or of implements of tillage, 
the papers give the results in detail, and he has the 
data for an intelligent opinion. Inventors have 
shifted the burden of growing crops, and harvesting 
them very largely, from human hands to brute 
muscles. The horse cuts, cures, rakes, and stores 
the hay harvest. A good tool often pays for itself 
in a single season. The results of the large increase 
in the circulation of our agricultural papers are 
seen all over the land, in more attractive homes, in 
cleaner and more productive fields, in better or¬ 
chards, in more abundant harvests, in a better fed, 
better clad, and better sheltered population. It is 
money in the pocket of every farmer to take an 
agricultural paper and read it. Connecticut. 
