AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[February, 
46 
Tlic Position of Agriculture. —In liis essay 
on “Fanning,” Emerson writes:—“The glory of the 
farmer is that, in the division of labors, it is his part to 
create. All trade rests at last on his primitive activity. 
He stand close to nature; lie obtains from the earth the 
bread and the meat. The food which was not, he causes 
to be. The first farmer was the first man, and all his¬ 
toric nobility rests on possession and use of land. Men 
do not like hard work, but every man lias an exceptional 
respect for tillage, and a feeling that this is the original 
calling of his race ; that he himself is only excused from 
it by some circumstance which made him delegate it for 
a time to other hands. If he have not some skill which 
recommends him to the farmer, some product for which 
the farmer will give him corn, he must himself return 
into his due place among the planters. And the profes¬ 
sion has in all eyes its ancient charm, as standing nearest 
to God, the first cause.”—If agriculture really occupies 
this position among the industries, how important it is 
for the farmer to show proper respect for his calling, by 
doing his work in the best manner, by employing the 
best methods, by making use of all that science and ex¬ 
perience teach, in order that be may reap the greatest 
possible results, and thereby compel people in other 
callings to believe what Emerson says of this one. 
Oil Cake vs. Corn.-“V. S.,” Lena, HI. Where 
corn is worth 18 cts. a bushel and oats 13 cts., you can 
not afford to pay $3.00 per bushel for oil cake, either 
cotton-seed or linseed. For feeding to animals, oats and 
corn are about equal in value, weight for weight, though 
containing somewhat different proportions of food con¬ 
stituents ; decorticated cotton-seed cake is worth about 
twice as much per 108 lbs. for food as either corn or oats, 
but no more. In the Eastern States the latter stands no 
higher in the market than corn, and is often less in price. 
“A manual of Vegetable Plants,” is the 
title of a work by Isaac F. Tillinghast, of Wyoming Co., 
Pa. This work was sent to ns when it first appeared, 
and through some oversight it was not noticed at the 
time. The firm of Tillinghast Bros, are largely engaged 
in raising plants for sale, and this manual, by one of its 
members, gives the results of their experience, and their 
manner of operating. Its chief feature is the substitu¬ 
tion of hot-beds heated by flues for those heated by ma¬ 
nure—though its teachings throughout are full and prac¬ 
tical. The price, 75c., seems large for so small a work, 
but, as the author observes, the value of ideas is not to 
be estimated by the amount of paper used in conveying 
them, and we do not doubt that to those who would en¬ 
gage in this branch of gardening, the work will be found 
a profitable investment. Sent from this office. 
Butter-Packages. —The three engravings below, 
represent some of the butter-packages used ou “Deerfoot 
Farm,” which we de¬ 
scribed last month. 
Fig. 1, is a cubical 
wooden box, inside of 
which is a tight-fitting 
tin hox, each having a 
separate cover. In the 
center is a quart tin can 
for ice ; around this are 
arranged 4 one pound 
triangular “balls” of 
butter, each wrapped 
in a piece of muslin. 
These packages go to 
certain families who are 
regular customers. In 
fig- 2, is represented the 
package used in winter 
for shipping to larger Fig, 1 ,—box for summer. 
customers; it is a 
box made of extra heavy tin, about 2 ft. long by 15 
inches wide and 6 inches deep; the butter balls are set 
on end in this, being wrapped in muslin as before. Fig. 3 
shows the summer butter package; this is a wooden 
chest, about 2>£ feet long, by one foot wide and deep ; in¬ 
side this are set two tin boxes, each holding 4S one 
pound pats, and between them is left a space for ice. Mr. 
Burnett prefers tin to wood, as imparting less taste to the 
butter, though it should be remembered that all of this 
butter goes to hotels and families, where it is immedi¬ 
ately consumed, so that it lias no time to become injured, 
as might be the case if it had long contact with the tin. 
Bull-Yard.—A bull when turned into a yard sur¬ 
rounded by a rail or board fence, will often demolish it 
or injure himself, and we have known a handsome animal 
to greatly mar his appearance and cause himself much 
suffering by breaking his horns on a stone wall. On the 
farm ofE. F. Bowditch. Framingham, Mass., we recently 
saw a bull-yard that effectually prevents all such acci¬ 
dents. The yard was perhaps 20 feet square, and sur¬ 
rounded by a high and strongly built stone wall, against 
the inner side of which is built a secondary sloping wall 
of plank, as represented in the engraving. This pre¬ 
vents the bull from getting near enough (when approach¬ 
ing it sidewise) to injure his horns, as his blows will 
glance off and upward, and there is no chance to get a 
purchase with his horns in the wall. 
Water-Proof Boots.—“H. M.” It is not desir¬ 
able that boots, as a general thing, should be absolutely 
water-proof, as whatever keeps water out will keep it in, 
and whoever has worn India-rubber boots forany length 
of time, knows that retaining the perspiration of the 
feet soon puts them in a very unpleasant, half par-boiled 
condition that is not desirable. Still, water-proof boots 
are useful in an emergency, to be worn for a short time— 
as in doing the chores in bad weather. A pair of good 
rubber boots will answer this purpose, or a pair of 
common cowhide boots may be made water-proof after 
the method of the New England fishermen. These 
people, exposed to all weathers, have for a century used 
the following compound : Tallow, 4 oz.; rosin and bees¬ 
wax, 1 oz. each; melt together and stir in Neatsfoot oil, 
equal in bulk to the melted articles. The boots are 
warmed before a fire and this composition is rubbed into 
the leather, solos and uppers, by means of a rag. Two 
applications will make the leather quite water-proof. 
Pearl Millet in Georgia.— R. M. Wade writes 
from Whitfield Co. that he formerly cultivated Pearl Mil¬ 
let in the southern and middle parts of that State, and 
found it much better than any other green forage, but pre¬ 
ferred corn for dry fodder. He sowed it in drills 2 feet 
apart, plowed once, and hoed once; it gave from G to 10 
cuttings in the season, this being a much greater yield 
than is possible from corn. Mr. W. states that in Ga. it 
is known as “ Cat’s-tail Millet”—an appropriate name, 
as a ripened spike of it is much like a Cat’s-tail head. 
An American Forest In England.— Epping 
Forest, the remains of a royal deer forest of the olden 
time, stretching out from the eastern skirts of London, 
is to be “preserved forever as an open space for the re¬ 
creation and enjoyment of the public.” This comes 
after a struggle of 15 years in the courts and in Parlia¬ 
ment. And now Mr. Wallace, the distinguished natural¬ 
ist, in a magazine article reprinted as a pamphlet, asks 
“ How best to deal with it.” This is his plan. The part 
that is really forest now, is to be replenished with all 
British and Continental trees and shrubs, and so made 
to represent European forest. For the rest he proposes 
to establish, bodily and on a fairly large scale, separate 
forests of the trees and shrubs of each and every tem¬ 
perate forest region that will boar the climate. The 
richest will be on the one hand a Japanese forest, on the 
other two North American forests, one of the Atlantic, 
the other of the Pacific side. That will make an arbore¬ 
tum on a worthy scale. And England, of all the world, 
has just the climate for it. On reading Wallace's pam¬ 
phlet which sets forth this scheme, in a very taking way, 
an excellent friend of the American, Agriculturist , who is 
interested in every rural improvement, wrote to us, pro¬ 
posing that, we Americans shall furnish the material for 
the American forest, and offers himBelf to contribute at 
the rate of a thousand trees for it. This expression of 
an interest in his project, we suppose, will gratify Mr. 
Wallace not a little. Who will follow this offer up ? 
Scrappei—Another Kccipc.— In Nov. last we 
gave a recipe for making this preparation, which seems 
to be peculiar to Pennsylvania. The following by “F 
E. J.,” also of Pa., differs somewhat from the other, and 
is given as a seasonable item: “Boil head, liver, trim¬ 
mings from hams and shoulders, and skins from pieces 
intended for lard, until easily separated from the bone, 
then put them through the sausage cutter. Into the 
liquor iu which the meat was boiled, all the small bones 
being strained out, stir in equal quantities of Indian and 
buckwheat meal, sufficient to make mush—into which 
stir the chopped meat, with seasoning of salt, pepper, 
and sage. Allow the whole mixture to cook a few min¬ 
utes, stirring it constantly. Then pour it into vessels to 
cool. Being more thoroughly cooked than the usual way 
it “keeps” better. To serve it, it is sliced and fried. 
Corn and Cotton Compost.— “G. W. B.,” 
Cedar Bluff, Ala. If you have the material at hand, or 
can obtain it cheaply, you can not do better than to 
make a compost of wood-ashes and cotton-seed cake. 
The important point in making this is, to be sure and 
not allow the valuable ingredients to waste, such as the 
escape of the nitrogen in the form of ammonia. To 
prevent this, it is only necessary to eover the heap with 
fresh loam. If there is no smell, there is no waste. This 
compost will furnish all the elements of fertility re¬ 
quired by either the cotton or corn crop. Or an excel¬ 
lent compost can bo made of cotton-seed cake and stable 
manure, taking care to cover the heap with fresh earth. 
What or Which Is the “Farmer’s 
Frtde ? ”—It may be a pleasant thought for any one to 
ask himself, or herself, “ what is my greatest pride ? ”— 
Perhaps it will be as difficult for most to decide the ques¬ 
tion, as it is for our friend, J. S. Pound, School Superin¬ 
tendent of Yellow Medicine County, Minn. In sending 
for his American Agi'iculturist Engraving, he writes 
pleasantly thus As I am a farmer, I am quite anxi¬ 
ous to see what, less than the entire farm, can be a 
‘ farmer’s pride.’ This A. M., when I looked at my cows, 
I thought they were my special ‘ pride.’ Then when I 
fed my Berkshire pig, I called him my special ‘pride.’ 
When my Black Poland-China pigs came along asking 
mildly for their share of the basket of corn, I concluded 
they would share with the Berkshire. My Brahma and 
Black Spanish fowls called forth the same idea. Finally, 
when my old Mules,—that have done me good service for 
fourteen years,—ten years on a prairie farm, performing 
the duties of carriage team for the family, and drawing 
your humble servant over the county in the performance 
of my duties as Superintendent,—started aoross the 
prairie to town, drawing myself and daughter in a cov¬ 
ered sleigh at the rate of 8 or 9 miles an hour, and anxious 
to go still faster, I said truly, my team is my ‘pride.’” 
Sawed Fence Posts.— “W. E. If.,” Kidville, 
Mich., sends us the following sketches and description 
of his method of making fence posts :—“ The engravings 
show how to saw posts out of small timber. By°making 
a diagonal cut, as shown in fig, 1, two posts can be made 
from a comparatively small stick. If the log is a little 
Fig. 1.—THE FIRST CUT OF THE LOG. 
larger, a transverse cut, as indicated in fig. 2, will make 
four. It will often happen that a in fig. 1, the butt of the 
post being at the small end of the log, is only large 
enough for one post, while b may be cut into two. Fig. 3 
shows the finished post. The cost of sawing should not 
exceed three cents per post. The superiority of sawed 
Fig. 2.—FOUR POSTS FROM ONE LOG. 
fence posts over split ones is such that they should be 
used whenever the expense of obtaining them is not too 
great. Frost will frequently “ heave ” split posts out of 
the ground, but it is very rare that wedge-shaped sawed 
posts are thrown out. There is a great saving of timber 
Fig. 3.—THE FINISHED POST. 
effected by sawing, and tough, knotty trees that can not 
be split may be sawed into excellent posts. A straighter 
and better fence can be made with the smooth sawed 
faces than with the irregular hewn or split posts.” 
