1879 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
4:89 
sorbent. If swamp muck contains 2 per cent of 
nitrogen, some has been found to contain even 
more, a ton is worth $10 for this ingredient alone 
at its market price. No ordinary stable manure is 
so rich in nitrogen as that. A muck bed may well 
be said to be invaluable, for one acre 3 feet deep 
furnishes 2,500 tons, having a value, at the above 
figures, equal to twenty-five thousand dollars. 
How Swamp Muck may he Used .—Muck dug in the 
winter will freeze and fall into a fine powder. If 
put in heaps, with lime or a6lies, it will heat and ■ 
ferment, and will not freeze, but will be changed 
■ to a loose texture, and can then be handled with 
ease. In this condition it is best fitted for use in 
composts as an absorbent, or to put on the land. 
Compost Heaps .—If there is not sufficient rain to 
keep these moist, water should be supplied, even if 
it has to be hauled and poured on them. Decom¬ 
position is arrested when the heap becomes dry. A 
few barrels of water from the well will soon start 
up heat and decomposition in a dry pile of compost. 
Materials for Composts .—In several of the States 
compost heaps may be made of muck or earth for 
a basis ; to this may be added leaves, cotton-seed, 
ashes, gypsum, night soil, stable manure, trash 
from the fields (except weeds in seed), and all the 
slops from the houses and cabins. A plenty of 
water should be added. By turning the heap as 
previously described, the compost will be fine 
enough to use in the hill for corn or cotton. If de¬ 
sired, bone-dust may be added, but fine artificial 
fertilizers will be better if used by themselves. 
Horses.— No animal should be permitted to fall off 
in condition at this season. It is difficult to restore 
an animal when all the food and vitality are re¬ 
quired to resist cold and the hardships of a stormy 
winter. Horses that are not at work still require 
good and sufficient food, and warm shelter. Ex¬ 
posure to a storm may throw the whole system out 
of order and do mischief that months of effort may 
not repair. Prevention is the better plan. Good 
hay, with a few ears of corn, and an occasional 
warm bran mash, will keep horses in condition, but 
good, daily grooming must never be forgotten. 
The Dairy .—Dairy animals are worthy of the.best 
care. A good cow returns her value every year in 
milk and butter, and in some localities the ma¬ 
nure almost, if not quite, pays for her feed. 
The richer the feed, the better the manure. At 
any rate, a cow is one of the most productive of 
our farm animals, and the better she is, the more 
profitable. Only good cows should be kept; as a 
barren tree would be rooted out of an orchard, so 
should a poor cow be discarded from the dairy. 
Every dairyman or farmer may improve his herd. 
Thoroughbred Animals are not for the working 
farmer, they are not 60 profitable as grades. There 
are thousands of grade cows which will surpass an 
average thoroughbred in yield of milk and butter. 
The farmer’s plan is, to procure and keep, or use, 
the best bull he can find, raise the heifer calves, 
and select the best of these to breed from pure-bred 
males again. But only a strictly pure-bred bull, of 
the best kind, and from an excellent cow, should 
be used A vast improvement must be made in 
our dairy cows before the most profit can be made 
from them. The same is true of sheep and pigs. 
Sheep.— Let no sheep go into winter quarters in¬ 
fested with ticks. If no other method is possible, 
go over the sheej^one by one, on a warm day, and 
kill every tick with a pair of scissors. If a boy is 
given a cent a dozen for all the ticks he can find 
on a score ol sheep, he wW earn a dollar or two in 
a day from almost any farmer’s flock. If ticks are 
killed, the trouble and expense will be amply repaid 
in the better condition of the lambs by and by. 
Breeders are generally more careful in this respect. 
Brood Ewes that will have early lambs, are better 
in a yard and shed by themselves, as they need a 
more generous feeding than those coming in later. 
Rams and wethers should never be kept with ewes ; 
they are rough-mannered, and butt the weaker sheep 
too much. Sheep are better off if kept in an open 
yard and shed than if penned up too closely. 
Fattening Sheep .—Sheep that are being fattened 
for market and for the sake of manure, need to be 
fed with great regularity. A variation of half an 
hour in their foddering time makes them fretful 
and uneasy, and this causes loss of flesh and fat. 
If well littered, the manure may be left to collect 
in the shed until spring; the solid packing of 
the manure will prevent undue heating. 
Swine .—Swine that are fattening will do better 
with soaked corn than with dry. Corn steeped in 
water for 12 hours has been found more economical 
to feed than when ground into meal. The animals 
are sooner filled, the food digests better, and, con¬ 
sequently, the feeding is finished more expedi¬ 
tiously, and feed—which is money—is saved. 
Poultry .—Vermin are the greatest pest to fowls. 
They are worse in the winter than at other times, 
because the fowls are confined more closely, and 
have not opportunities to free themselves. Lice 
may be destroyed by whitewashing the house and 
roosts with lime-wash mixed with carbolic acid. 
Fleas may be destroyed by thoroughly greasing 
the roosts. Clean straw should be supplied to 
the nests, and glass nest-eggs provided for early 
layers. A glass-covered coop will be useful for an 
early sitting hen and a young brood of chickens. 
Sundry Matters .—A pair of cards and a brush 
should be in every cow stable, and cleanliness 
should be carefully observed. A thorough carding 
and brushing will not only increase the quantity of 
the milk, but will add to its purity... .Young calves 
should be freed from vermin by applying a mixture 
of linseed-oil and kerosene to the parts infested.... 
Water troughs should be emptied and turned over 
at night, to prevent them from being frozen up.... 
Tools will be safer when kept in a selected place 
than when lying about. Those not now in use will 
be much improved by soaking the wood with crude 
petroleum, and covering the metal parts with a 
coating of tallow ; or what is better, the mixture of 
lard and rosin mentioned last month on p. 455.... 
If accounts have not been kept, nor any daily rec¬ 
ord of farm work, the proper books should be pro¬ 
cured, and at the beginning of 1880 a commence¬ 
ment made. It is worth the trouble to know 
just how ©ne stands with himself and the world. 
Orchard and Garden Work. 
This month completes the circle of the year; we 
leave off, much as we begun, with looking for¬ 
ward. Every gardener, as well as every farmer, 
works with full faith in the return of “ seed-time 
and harvest.” These always come, but if their 
coming is somewhat different from the manner in 
which the experience of previous years have taught 
us to look for, we call it a remarkable or unusual 
season, and forgetting that the great promise has 
never yet failed, we are too apt to grumble if it is 
not fulfilled as we would have it. The autumn has 
indeed been an unusual, but thus far altogether 
a favorable one. The evils of the departure from 
the average season are mainly possible, and may 
yet be averted, while the benefits have been nu¬ 
merous. He must be a poor gardener who has not, 
In the sunny days of October and a part of Novem¬ 
ber, greatly lessened the amount of work to be done 
at the opening of spring. The few snow flurries, 
and the reports of heavy snows at the north and 
west, remind us that the warm weather, and with 
it the out-door work, is now (the second week in 
November) well-nigh at an end, and no doubt this 
will be read at the cheerful fireside. The long- 
looked for opportunity has come. We have prom¬ 
ised that we would look up this, and read about 
that, and now the promise to do these “when we 
had time ” can be kept. There is time which may 
be made most precious by reading, reflecting, and 
planning. There is scarcely a special culture, 
whether of farm or garden crops, but has one or 
more treatises devoted to it, while general works, 
and those which discuss the principles which un¬ 
derlie all culture, are many. There are books and 
books, but it is rare, indeed, that at the present 
day a book is not worth all it costs, if not in direct 
teachings, at least in the suggestions it imparts 
and the thoughts it awakens. Books giving the 
thoughts and the experiences of others are most 
useful companions ; there are other books which 
should be made our companions—blank books in 
which to record our own experiences, especially 
those which may be expressed in dollars and cents. 
A book for accounts and business memoranda is of 
no less value to the gardener and orchardist than 
to the farmer, as the details are far more numerous 
and burden the mind. If such a book has not here¬ 
tofore been kept, make a beginning at ouce. 
Orchard and IVitrsery. 
Apples are a short crop; and it is all the more 
important for those who are so fortunate as to have 
them, to keep them properly. The cellars, if 
separate from the house, should be of a tempera¬ 
ture just above freezing, and need not be ventila¬ 
ted. Those under dwellings must be so construct¬ 
ed that the gases rising from the ripening fruit may 
pass away, otherwise they will rise into the rooms 
above and endanger the health of the inmates. 
Fences and Oates should be kept in good order; 
and there is no better time for making gates and 
posts, etc., in the shop than during the winter. 
Cions are better if cut before they have been ex¬ 
posed to hard freezing. Select the most vigor¬ 
ous and well ripened shoots, and tie in bundles, 
label, and pack in fresh sawdust, or sand, if that 
can not be had, and keep in the cellar. 
Animals .—The injury done by mice, rabbits, etc., 
and the remedies, are fully treated under “ Caring 
for Young Trees,” page 508, of this number. 
Manures .—The application of manure to the 
orchard is too often neglected. Use well rotted 
stable manure. It may be drawn on at any 
time during the winter, most easily when the 
ground is frozen. When spread, it should cover 
the whole ground, and not be heaped just about the 
trunks of the tree6, where there are no small roots. 
Pruning of small branches may be done at any 
time when the weather is pleasant. A very little 
time spent on young trees will bring them into 
good shape and determine their future form. 
Seeds of fruit and of many ornamental trees, are 
best kept in damp sand, or sandy soil, and should 
be in a place so cool that they can not germinate. 
'File Fruit Garden, 
Mild days will give an opportunity to finish prun¬ 
ing the grape-vines, currants, etc., at the same time 
savingany wood that maybe needed for propagation. 
Strawberries .—Cover with a layer of straw, marsh 
hay, or leaves, just before the cold weather sets in. 
Baspberries .—Cover the tender kinds with earth. 
If the weather holds open, some of the work 
mentioned at considerable length in last month’s 
Notes may be done now. Read the Nov. Notes. 
Kitchen and Market Garden. 
Cold Frames need daily attention. The Lettuce, 
Cauliflower, Cabbages, etc., set in them should not 
grow , the great danger in winter is in having the 
frames too warm. They are cold frames, and only 
on the coldest days are the sashes to be kept entire¬ 
ly and continuously closed. When the tempera¬ 
ture is 10° the sashes should be raised slightly, 
and when 30° the frames should be open. 
Celei-y in trenches for the winter must not be al¬ 
lowed to freeze bard, though a moderate freezing 
does not injure it. The covering material, straw, 
hay, or leaves, should be at hand to put on when 
needed. A slight covering will answer until cold 
weather fairly sets in, but the winter covering 
should be about a foot thick. That put in the cel¬ 
lar in boxes, as described last month, page 453, is 
more likely to suffer from heat than from cold. If 
the temperature is too high, the celery will start to 
grow, and the stalks will become hollow. Keep 
the cellar near the freezing temperature. 
Cellars containing roots must be kept cool. A 
thermometer will be found useful in a cellar where 
roots or fruit are kept. In either case the nearer the 
temperature can be kept to 84° the better. Roots 
for table use, if kept in a warm cellar, should be 
covered with earth or sand to keep from wilting. 
Pirsnips .—A portion of the crop may be left in 
the ground; freezing makes them tender and im¬ 
proves their sweetness. Dig them during a thaw. 
