1878. J 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
339 
would be made for many years in Lancaster County. 
As to the composition of the fertilizer, we see 
nothing essential except the bone and the oil of 
vitriol (sulphuric acid). Since the mineral portion 
of bone is composed almost entirely of lime com¬ 
pounds, when it and the acid are put together, 
chemical action takes place, which forms a large 
amount of sulphate of lime (plaster). Why, then, 
add more plaster ? The plaster thus formed in the 
fertilizer would have a similar effect to the sulphate 
of soda, and could well take its place ; and there is 
so little of the nitrate of soda as to be of no 
moment whatever, though 100 lb§. would doubtless 
have a materially beneficial effect Even the acid 
(oil of vitriol) could well be dispensed with, provided 
the bone be reduced by composting with stable- 
manure for three to six months. Such a compost, 
kept heating by occasional wetting (best with 
liquid manure), and protected from loss of the 
ammonia by a light covering of earth, will fit the 
bone for use as well as by using the costly acid. 
Thus it will be seen that there is great waste in 
such home-made fertilizers, even though they pro¬ 
duce good results. We have pointed out one or 
two points of error; but we have not considered 
the nitrogen or phosphoric acid, either as a whole 
or in relation to the various crops; nor touched 
upon the amount of the fertilizer required in each 
case : the,first will have further consideration ; the 
second must be determined by individual experi¬ 
ence from year to year on the farm. 
Profitable Use For Some Waste lands. 
How will this do ? All over the mountainous re¬ 
gions of New England, Eastern and Southern New 
York, Central and Western Pennsylvania and Vir¬ 
ginia, Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and so on 
Southward, as well as in some of the far Western 
States and Territories, there are very many tracts 
of high land too stony for cultivation, or even for 
good pasturage. When the first wood is cut off, a 
second growth comes up, straggling, bushy, often 
scrubby. In 15 to 20 years a moderate crop of fire¬ 
wood is again cut, but there is little valuable tim¬ 
ber.—While wandering over the large farm of a 
friend on the west side of the Hudson River, the 
other day, we came upon a sort of table-land field 
on a hill that had been cleared, and an attempt 
made to plow and cultivate it; but it was too stouy, 
and the proprietor said he should give it up as not 
Fig. 1.— SECTION OF HAT CARRIAQE TRACK. 
worthy of attention. All around it were groves of 
cedar, chestnut, and other kinds. The chestnut 
trees appeared thrifty. We set to reasoning thus : 
A man with pick and spade could dig up and 
prepare at least 20 places a day that would each 
furnish a good bed for a young chestnut tree. Put¬ 
ting these in regular squares, say about 12 feet 
apart, would give 300 trees to the acre. At 81 a 
day, this would cost $15 per acre ; on many fields 
it would be done for much less. An abundance of 
young chestnut trees that will bear transplanting 
can be readily produced at trifling cost by planting 
the seed in a good plot of ground. Allow $5 for 
the 300 young trees, and we have them well started 
and growing oh an acre, at a cost of $20.— One or 
two days annually, with a long-handled hatchet, or 
wide chisel, or bush-hook, would suffice to clip out 
starting under-brush, and trim off side branches 
from the trees to keep them growing upward, so 
as to furnish tall trunks for timber. No other ex¬ 
pense would be required. The trees set in the 
small prepared plots will send oiit their roots 
among the stones, and grow vigorously, if the 
ground be not wet or springy. The annual fall of 
leaves will mulch and enrich the soil. In about 14 
years there would be 300 fine trees, each worth at 
least 50 cts., or $150 per acre, for posts and rails, be¬ 
sides not a little fire-wood. The original outlay 
of $20 would be doubled by loss of interest. Allow 
$10 more for pruning, care, etc., and would there 
not be a profit of $100 per acre ? Nothing is allowed 
for the value of the fruit or nuts that would be 
gathered. We said above that our thoughts run 
out in this channel, but we are not sure of the 
feasibility of the plan, and we invite criticisms, pro 
and con, and any suggestions. Would, or would 
not the above be better than to invest the $20 in 
bonds or mortgages ? The laud is practically 
worthless now ; if it yields any pasturage, it 
would yield quite as much with the under-brush 
kept down, after the trees are too large to be 
injured by the animals roaming among them. 
A Home-made Hay Carriage 
A correspondent from Somerset Co. Pa., sends 
the following description of a hay carriage, which 
can easily be attached to a barn at any 
time, but more easily when the barn is 
building. The rail track is shown at fig. 
1. It consists of four pieces of 4x4 
timber; two uprights, a, and two 
horizontals, 6, 6. These are as long as 
may be made necessary by the pitch of 
the roof, and are framed or bolted to 
each pair of rafters. The space between 
the uprights, a, is 8 inches ; that be¬ 
tween the ends of the horizontals, b, 5, 
is one inch. The rails which rest on the 
ends of the horizontal supports, 6, b, 
run the entire length of the barn, and 
are 5 x 3i inches, thus leaving a sp>ace 
of one inch between them. The rails 
are firmly secured by bolts, the heads 
being sunk even with the surface, so as 
to offer no obstruction to the wheels. 
The carriage (fig. 2) is made of strap- 
iron bent as shown at figure 3. The 
wheels a, a, are of wood or iron, and flat on the 
tread ; are 5 inches wide, and from 6 to 9 inches in 
diameter. The iron straps are 2 feet long, 21 inches 
wide, and 1 inch thick. The hanging pieces, (6, b, 
figs. 2, 3, and 4,) by which the hoisting rope is sup¬ 
ported, are 13 inches long. They are bolted to the 
carriage as indicated; one is provided with a pulley at 
the end over which the rope 
passes, and one carries the catch 
c. The construction of these is 
shown in detail at fig. 4. At fig. 5 
is a movable fastening,upon which 
the catch hooks itself as the car¬ 
riage is drawn back to its place, 
either by a light rope, or a rope 
and weight. The top piece, d, 
(figs. 2 and 5), andthe under piece, 
embrace the rails e, e, between them, and hold them 
firmly when the thumb-screws are tightened. This 
part of the catch is moved upon the rail as is 
found necessary for the hoisting of the hay. The 
carriage can be used to hoist hay, straw, or grain, 
either into, or out of the barn, or from one end 
of the barn to the other, or from either mow to 
the floor in the middle. 
Cats, versus Hats and Mice. 
We have never seen any estimate of the damage 
inflicted upon the farmer by rats and mice, that did 
justice to the subject. The damage is wide-spread, 
and outside of the realm of statistics, it would be 
hardly possible for any farmer to estimate, except 
approximately, his own personal loss every year 
from these vermin. He is made aware of the ruiu 
wrought, on almost every part of his premises, and 
every day in the year. They are in the cellar reduc¬ 
ing his winter stores of vegetables, or if walled out 
therefrom, by stone and cement, they find refuge 
in the barn, invading grain-bins and hay-mows. 
They make their homes in the field, under stacks, 
and shocks of grain. If there is anything tender 
and edible, they lie in wait for it. How they prize 
young ducks and chickens, every poultry-woman 
knows. What a charm there is in seed-corn, and 
indeed, in seeds of all kinds, for them, every one 
who saves seeds knows. Cement is good, if faith¬ 
fully applied, but not one farmer in a hundred uses 
it; and those who do, find it impossible to keep 
cement between rats and their graiu crops at all 
seasons of the year. They 
prey upon corn on the stalk 
and in the shock, and upon 
wheat in the stack. They 
frequent mangers, and pigs’ 
troughs, and the hen-house. 
Traps are very good, and rats 
may be thinned out by these 
ingenious contrivances. But 
your neighbor docs not use traps, and he is 
always raising rats and mice to stock your premises. 
The creatures will emigrate without any respect to 
the graves of the victims you are all the while bury¬ 
ing out of sight. A clean house and barn to¬ 
day, may be haunted with lively vermin to-morrow. 
Poison is effectual and carries the war right into 
the enemies country. But then it takes a good deal 
of time to prepare it, and to seclude it from every¬ 
thing but rats and mice. It is not to be forgotten 
too, that they have a malicious way of crawling into 
their burroughs, wall in and ceiling, and reminding 
you of their presence in an ungenerous way. If 
the evil that men or rats do, would only die with 
them, we should have some consolation. But it 
will not. There are so many failures and infelici¬ 
ties about the proposed remedies, that we have 
come to think better of the old and time honored 
method of destroying rats and mice. The cat has 
her drawbacks, it must be admitted. She is noisy, 
and will sometimes fight the dog, or prevent birds 
from nesting about the house. But then, she does 
war upon rats and mice, and makes a business of 
destroying them. It is literally victuals and drink 
to catch these vermin, and she educates her off¬ 
spring in the same habits. Other parents sometimes 
fail of transmitting goodness. But by birth and 
education, the cat is a rat-catcher. Every one of 
her brood walks in the way she should go. She is 
cheap. Her time is not worth much. She slays, 
and saves money while you sleep. Let us cultivate 
cats. Connecticut. 
The Dodders as Weeds.— {Ouscuta). 
Those little parasitic plants, the Dodders, are 
well known to those who notice the common things 
about them. In almost every swampy place their 
yellowish threads may be seen in late summer, 
hanging in tangled masses over other plants, upon 
the juices of which they live. In Europe, one Dod¬ 
der injures the clover, and another the flax crop. 
In December, 1874, we figured a Chilian species that 
threatened serious damage to the Alfalfa fields of 
California ; and in November, 1868, another, that 
had made its appearance in a nursery, and attacked 
the young apple trees. Recently, we had another 
instance of the appearance of a Dodder as a 
weed. A gentleman in New Jersey, who is experi¬ 
menting with the choicer basket willows, brought 
rods from his plantation, 5 or 6 ft. high, which were 
festooned to the top with the thread-like stems of 
the parasite. As flowers had not yet appeared, we 
Fig. 3. 
