540 
[December, 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Frost—Posts—Stone Walls. 
On dry soils, fence posts and stone walls are 
little disturbed in winter. A soil freed from all 
water that will drain out of it, expands but little, 
and room for this expansion is supplied by the in¬ 
terstices between the particles. But if the soil is 
saturated with water, this expands about an eighth 
of its bulb. If wet soil around a fence-post freezes 
8 inches deep, it will expand upward 1 inch, lifting 
the post that much up from the unfrozen soil be¬ 
low, and it will seldom settle back when the top 
ground thaws out. Freezing 16 inches deep, 
will raise the post 2 inches. Every successive 
freezing and thawing continues lifting the post un¬ 
til the fence sags or falls over. (In a similar -way 
alternate freezing and thawing breaks and tears 
the roots of growing plants. Two or three light 
freezings are worse than one deep one. A mantle 
of 6now saves this winter killing, by preventing 
successive freezings and tearings. Winter crops— 
as wheat, grass, etc.—will endure the severest cold, 
if it be only one steady freeze, and the injury is far 
less on naturally dry, or on drained soils). 
Stone walls are thrown out of order, not by the 
uniform freezing of the whole 6oil under them, but 
by the unequal freezing and expansion of different 
parts of the soil around and under them, and the 
quicker thawing and settling of those portions most 
exposed to warmth of the sun. A ditch, or deep 
furrow, along one or both sides of a wall, to drain 
oil the saturating water, will prevent sufficient ex¬ 
pansion and contraction of the dry soil to dis¬ 
turb it. A like result may be obtained by drain¬ 
ing the soil in which fence posts stand. Where 
this is impracticable, the only remedy is to drive 
the posts down each spring as much as they have 
been drawn up. On this account sharpened, or 
tapering, or rounded bottom posts are much 
preferable to those cut square off on the lower 
ends, as these partly scrape off the side soil, filling 
the 6pace below when driven down after lifting. 
Pork, Hams, and Bacon. 
Several who have had no experience ask about 
the preservation of pork, hams, etc. One precau¬ 
tion should always be observed : the carcass must 
not be cut up until it is thoroughly cool. In most 
cases the hams and shoulders are smoked, and the 
rest put in pickle as salt pork, or the thin parts of 
the sides are also smoked, salting down only the 
thick back pieces. The pork being cut into pieces 
of convenient size, a layer of salt is put upon the 
bottom of a barrel, and the pieces packed edge¬ 
wise, scattering over and around them salt at the 
rate of eight lbs. to every 100 lbs. of pork, placing 
an abundance upon the top layer. Pure water is 
then poured in to fill all the spaces and thoroughly 
cover the whole. If need-be, weights must be used 
to keep the meat below the surface. Hams and 
other parts to be smoked, may be salted by putting 
them in a pickle or dry salted. Various recipes are 
given for a pickle for hams ; the following is a 
good one. For every 100 lbs., take 7 lbs. pure salt, 
3 pints of molasses (or 2 lbs. brown sugar), 4 oz. 
saltpeter, and 6 gallons of water, or enough to dis¬ 
solve. Heat to boiling, skim, and when quite cold, 
pour over the hams, etc., packed in a tub or barrel. 
The meat should remain in pickle one to two 
months, according to thickness; four to six weeks 
for shoulders and side pieces and two months for 
hams, when they are taken out and hung in the 
smoke house. Dry salting is sometimes more con¬ 
venient; we have followed both methods with 
equal success. Mix thoroughly 12 lbs. fine salt 
with 2 quarts of molasses and 8 oz. powdered salt¬ 
peter. The hams, etc., are to be rubbed well with 
this, and laid skin side down on a platform arranged 
to catch any drip that may come from them ; the 
rubbing is to be repeated at the end of a week, ap¬ 
plying it three times, and then smoke. The only 
use of saltpeter in cither case, is to give the meat a 
red color, it is not necessary to its preservation. 
Weh ive given a number of plans for smoke houses; 
the chief point to be observed is to have the smoke 
sufficiently cooled before it reaches the meat. The 
meat should be smoked from 10 to 20 days accord¬ 
ing to the amount of smoke; the slower it goes 
on the better will the smoke penetrate the meat. 
Corn cobs are often used for producing smoke, but 
any hard wood, such as hickory, oak, or maple, 
will answer. The meats may be allowed to remain 
in the smoke house, or they may be packed in dry 
oats or in ashes, to keep them from the flies ; when 
packed in ashes, it will- be better to first wrap in 
old cloth or paper. They are sometimes covered 
with bagging, which is made impervious to in¬ 
sects by one or more coats of thick lime wash. 
Implements—20 to 50 per cent Loss. 
Wagons, plows, harrows, rakes, in short any im¬ 
plement that with good usage and protection will 
last eight years, will become weak and defective, 
and generally useless if exposed during four years 
to dews, rain, and sun. It can not be otherwise. 
Dew is very destructive to all wood; and sun 
cracks admit rain and moisture to the interior 
fibres, to work injury there. To leave implements 
thus exposed is a direct loss of 50 per cent, a heavy 
tax. But, to state it mildly, an implement which, 
left unprotected, would last say five years, will un¬ 
doubtedly last six years if always kept dry and in 
the shade, when not in actual use. This will save 
one-fifth of its efficiency, or 20 per cent, A few 
boards, or a straw cover, and attention to having 
implements always put under, is far more profitable 
than to “work out” the 20 per cent to buy new ones. 
Woodwork that must be left exposed, will be 
greatly benefited by a frequent application of 
paint, or simply a coat of painting oil, and filling 
up all sun cracks as soon as formed, with such 
oil. The use of crude petroleum tends to the 
preservation of wood, and may be applied to all 
unpainted woodwork of implements.— Metal sur¬ 
faces are saved from rust by a thin coat of lard 
which has been melted with resin (rosin)—the size 
of a blackwalnut to a pint of lard more or less. 
This forms a sort of varnish that sheds water and 
dew.—Table knives and forks, and other steel ar¬ 
ticles to be laid away, if rubbed with the slightest 
film of this lard-resin mixture, will keep bright for 
a long time. It is easily removed when desired. 
About Potatoes.—Expensive Food. 
It is estimated that New York City alone daily 
consumes 20,000 bushels of potatoes; or one bushel 
to each 75 or 80 of the resident and transient popu¬ 
lation ; or 4i bushels each per annum. The whole¬ 
sale price now (Nov. 3) by the car or boat load is 
$2.50 to $3.00 per barrel, or fully $1 per bushel, and 
the retail price considerably higher. Shrewd deal¬ 
ers and speculators have for some time past been 
buying up all available supplies in many localities. 
It was reported that Baltimore speculators bought 
in Western New York 250,000 bushels in one day, 
and a million bushels during the third week in 
October, to ship West. Ordinarily, the greater 
weight of potatoes for the same money value, and 
the frost embargo for at least three winter months, 
prevent the transfer of potatoes from regions of 
plenty to those of scarcity, as is done with grain ; 
but active transportation over long distances is 
now going on. 
In the belt embracing Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and 
Kentucky, and westward through Missouri, Kan¬ 
sas, and Southern Iowa and Nebraska, the potato 
crop will be less than half an average. In portions 
of New England, and in some parts of Northern 
New York, and in Michigan and Wisconsin, there 
has been a fair yield.—Our correspondence from 
the whole country indicates a total crop of not over 
60 per cent of an average. The Agricultural Bu¬ 
reau estimates a two-thirds crop. It may possibly 
come up to that if we take in the early potatoes, 
which were very good, and allow for the superior 
later crop in a few places. 
Potatoes Always an Expensive Food, 
That is to say, comparatively. A bushel of po¬ 
tatoes (60 lbs.) contains nearly 50 lbs. of water and 
only about 10 lbs. of solid nutriment, which is 
mainly starch. At present wholesale prices here 
this is nearly 10 cents a pound for the food they 
yield. Fair wheat flour, at $8 a barrel, is only 4 
cents a pound. Corn at 80 cents a bushel (56 lbs.) 
has nearly 50 lbs. of nutriment, costing less than 
2 cents per lb. Taking the country altogether, and 
the prices of potatoes, corn, wheat, etc., high and 
low, from year to year, the average nutritious 
food obtained in the form of potatoes costs 4 to 5 
times as much as it does in the consumption of 
corn or beans, and 2 i to 4 times as much as in the 
form of wheat flour, or oatmeal, beans, rice, etc. 
Recognizing these facts, in 1861 the American 
Agriculturist offered money prizes for the best 
methods, accompanied by samples, of preparing 
corn meai economically and palatably, in the form 
of corn bread, corn cakes, etc. Hundreds of reci¬ 
pes, with samples—over 6,000 lbs. in all—came in. 
One hundred of the recipes or methods will be 
found in the American Agriculturist for January, 
February, and March, 1862, (Vol. XXI). 
Successful Bee-Keeping. 
In his Bee Notes, Mr. Root says that he does not 
like to report his great success without at the same 
time giving the methods by which it was reached. 
He seems to overlook the fact that he has given an 
account of his operations from month to month, 
and moreover that he has presented the whole sub¬ 
ject in a book which is within the reach of all. 
While Mr. Root modestly calls the work “Quinby’s 
New Bee-Keeping,” wishing to give full credit to 
the original author, we can state, what he would 
not, that the work, while it embodies the latest 
views and practice of Mr. Quinby, was in large 
part rewritten by Mr. Root. The yield now report¬ 
ed by him, an average of over 200 lbs. from 160 hives, 
shows that he can keep bees as well as write about 
them. It must be borne in mind that these figures 
represent only the amount of honey actually taken 
from the hives ; of course a sufficient quantity was 
left to carry the stock safely through the winter. 
This is certainly successful bee-keeping, and we 
would call attention to the fact, that every step 
that led to this success, is given in full in the work 
referred to. There is nothing in this remarkable 
result that can not be attained by any one who will 
follow the same course with the patient care exer¬ 
cised by Mr. Root. One point in bee-keeping is 
well established ; bees are not profitable if left to 
themselves. On the other hand there is nothing 
required to make them profitable that is not within 
the reach of every intelligent person who will give 
them the needed attention at the proper time. 
Those who intend to commence bee-keeping, can 
not do better tliau to study the subject thoroughly 
during the coming winter, and they can have no 
better guide than the work we have referred to. 
Mice Tliis Winter.—Mice are very prolific ; a 
single pair will often multiply to fifty or more dur¬ 
ing a single season, as the earlier broods reproduce 
one or more generations. Usually a large propor¬ 
tion of each summer’s growth is killed off in win¬ 
ter, if autumn rains saturate the soil. At this writ¬ 
ing, the ground is still dry, deep down, in several 
States. If at any point the soil freezes solid before 
copious rains, extra caution should betaken to pro¬ 
tect fruit trees and shrubs against mice. The 
methods we have often described, such as banking 
earth around the trees ; tramping the snow hard 
about the trunks as it falls ; putting tarred paper 4 
to 6 inches above ground and a little below, etc. 
“Pearl Tree.”— We are glad to get this name, 
but have forgotten where we saw it, for one of our 
prime favorites in the way of ornamental shrubs, 
one for which we before only had Exochorda gran- 
diflora, which does not translate into anything in¬ 
telligible. Our shrub, now twelve years or more 
old, is over 10 feet high, has a tree like habit, and is 
in spring a mass of white. The English journals 
have been discussing its hardiness at various places 
in that country. As we have had the thermome¬ 
ter at 15° and 20° below zero, and not a twig in¬ 
jured, we regard it as hardy in this country also. 
