1879 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
495 
A Holiday Present Lasting All the Ifear. 
—A copy of this Journal for 1880, sent to a Son, Friend, 
or Neighbor, will be a fresh gift—a new reminder of you 
every time the paper arrives all through the year. — The 
multitude of useful hints and suggestions to be derived 
from its pages will be an additional cause of gratitude 
from the recipient towards the sender. 
Eight Hundred Original Engravings, at 
a total cost to the reader of $1 .50, at most, have been 
given in this year’s Volume of this journal. Many of these 
are small, but none Hie less valuable in bringing out. plain¬ 
ly to the eye useful contrivances, plants, etc., etc. Such 
illustrations exert a silent hut eminently educating influ¬ 
ence. In this age, work of all kinds is being wonder¬ 
fully aided by mechanical helps, and nowhere more than 
in farm and garden operations, and the household as well. 
In this matter of useful illustrations, the American Agri¬ 
culturist very far excels all other journals of like aim and 
purpose, and it may well find a place in every home—no 
matter how many local or other journals may bo taken. 
Carefully Preserve tlie Index Slieet, put 
loosely in this number, so that it can be bound.or stitched 
at the beginning of the volume. It gives over 2,000 page 
references to subjects treated, and to some 800 engravings. 
“By Return Mall.”—The request, “Please let 
me know by return mail,” is very often made by those 
Mho write asking some question. Persons who write 
thus apparently think that a mail goes directly from the 
office in Now York, to their post office. There is no such 
thing now-a-days, as “return of mail,” the railroad 
postal-cars have changed matters from what they were in 
the days of stage coaches, and mails on horseback. A 
mail starts in the direction west., south, etc., every few 
hours, anc all letters are started on their general route, 
to be assorted and made up as they go. 
Furniture Spots—Cleaning Stove Mica- 
Turnip Griddle Greaser.—One whom we know 
to be an excellent Housekeeper, sends to the American 
Agriculturist the following, which, she writes, were new 
to her, and may he to some others at least: Spots on 
Vaenisiied Furniture are readily removed by rubbing 
them with essence of peppermint, and afterwards with 
“furniture polish,” or oil. [Spirits of camphor answers 
similarly to the essence of peppermint.— Ed.]....Mica 
in Stoves (often wrongly called “ ising-glass,”) when 
smoked, is readily cleaned by taking it out and thor¬ 
oughly washing with vinegar, a little diluted. If it does 
not come off at once, let it soak a little... .Tuiinip Grid¬ 
dle Geeasek. —My new cook uses a small, flat turnip, 
cut smooth, slightly dipped in lard, and has hardly a hit 
of pancake smoke in the kitchen. After a few times, 
she does not dip it into the grease at all, but uses the 
same turnip as long as she can. 
Soluble Phenyl is another of the several useful 
products that modern science lias extracted from coal tar. 
The testimony in favor of its utility as a disinfectant, and 
destroyer of insects—especially sheep ticks is abundant. 
Tine 44 Greenback” Wheelbarrow.—A few 
days ago our attention was arrested by a peculiar, flat s 
Fig. 1.— THE BARROW FOLDED. 
rectangular, green package standing in front of A. B. 
Colin’s farr; implement ware rooms, 197 Water st., City, 
and upon inquiry found it to be a wheelbarrow ’’done up” 
and ready for shipment. By removing two nuts and a 
single bolt the barrow can be folded up in a very short 
time, so that it will occupy but a small part of its original 
Fig. 2.— BARROW READY FOR USE. 
space. It seems to us that this advantage of folding up 
is an important one to tlic farmer and gardener, as, when 
the season’s work is done, the wheelbarrow—a useful 
implement which every farmer should have, and one that 
is seldom properly cared for—can be folded up and put 
away, on a rack, or even hung up, out of the way. Mr. C. 
finds the folding of the barrow an important feature, in 
shipping, as the freight is not over one-third that on 
ordinary barrows, and as lie is sending them to many 
ports in Asia, South America, Australia, etc., the saving 
is considerable. The first figure shows the barrow 
folded as we first, saw it, and when ready for use it ap¬ 
pears as in figure 2. 
New Wheats.—The Royal Agricultural Society of 
England repeat their offer made last fall,'for 1880. The 
prizes are £25 and £10. As eacli competitor must send 
a sack (four bushels) of the grain for trial by cultivation, 
it is hardly probable that our growers of new varieties 
will be tempied by the sums to compete for the prizes. 
(Basket Items continued on page 519.) 
To Secretaries of All Agricultural - and 
Horticultural Societies. 
For several reasons, it is desirable to have a live 
Record of all the acting officers of ALL the Agri¬ 
cultural and Horticultural (including Pomological) 
Societies in the United States, British America, and 
so far as may be, of other countries as well. There 
are multitudes of instances all through the year, 
when it is desirable to make inquiries in regard to 
Fairs, and about some subject of general or local 
interest. We receive very numerous requests ask¬ 
ing for the names, location, etc., of some society 
here or there. We propose to open at the office of 
the American Agriculturist a RECORD BOOK, in 
which shall be entered alphabetically, under States, 
Counties, etc., the name of every such Society, 
with the name of the President and Secretary, noting 
changes from time to time. 
We earnestly invite every Secretary (or some other of¬ 
ficer who may see this), to send us immediately a slip or 
Postal giving, lsf, the State (or country); 2 d, the 
County (or Town); 3d, the President and his P. O. 
address; Ath, the Secretary and his P 0. Address. 
ALSO, that ALL CHANGES from time to time, in 
the names of these Officers or Post-Office Address, he 
promptly forwarded to this office. 
Fencing—A Most Important Subject—Re¬ 
cent Improvements—Much Cheaper, Bet¬ 
ter, and More Durable Fences Available. 
As intimated in the last American Agriculturist, 
our travels through the West the past season gave 
opportunity to look into this subject somewhat, 
and even enlarged our conceptions of its magni¬ 
tude and importance. We now purpose to take up 
the matter somewhat fully in this and following 
papers. We shall show an improvement, of our own 
suggesting, upon a previous recent invention that 
we now believe will be of great value, at least to 
our older, compactly settled farm regions in the 
Eastern and Middle States, and in many of the 
Western States. Whether it is the most desirable 
for all sections of the newer far western regions, or 
for any section, as for that matter, we leave to he 
developed by the further discussion of the whole 
subject. Let us say, here, that we have no pecuniary 
interest whatever in the new form proposed, or in 
any other. The claims of the manufacturers of dif¬ 
ferent varieties will be stated fairly, our readers will 
be a “ Committee of Judges,” and we earnestly in¬ 
vite them to send us hints and suggestions from 
their own experience. A thorough setting forth of 
the subject will be of great practical utility and 
profit to every individual land proprietor (including 
owners of village lots even), as well as to the whole 
country. 
Importance of the Subject. 
Cut up into small lots and larger fields, as are all 
the older lands, the cost of fencing is very great. 
A square farm of 100 acres, divided into an average 
of five 10-acre regular fields, and ten 5-acre fields, 
requires about 1,450 rods, or over 4s miles of fenc¬ 
ing, amounting to $725.00 at 50 cents per rod, which 
is only about half the present average cost of any 
good wood fence. The same farm divided into 
only ten 10-acre fields, and reckoning only half of 
the outside or line fence, requires 885 rods of fenc¬ 
ing. (If one_ can save 25 cents a rod, and get an 
equally good and more durable fence, it is a clear 
saving of $221.00 even on the ten-lot farm.) 
A Grander Illustration.— The following States 
and Territories contain 9^0,52 i ,920 acres, 
viz., Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, 
Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, 
Arizona, Wyoming, Dakota, Montana, and the In¬ 
dian Territory south of Kansas. Excepting North¬ 
ern Wisconsin and Minnesota, small portions of 
Southern Illinois, and some parts of Missouri, the 
whole of this vast region is practically treeless, ex¬ 
cept along some of the streams, and in some of the 
more mountainous regions. Deduct 20 per cent for 
these, and we still have 791,017,536 acres 
without native grown timber. If this region were 
divided into fields averaging 160 acres each—a pretty- 
large field, but we are allowing a good deal for 
waste land—there would be 4,917,609 such fields, or 
farms, each comprising a “ Quarter Section ” or 
half-mile square. Charging half the line fence to 
each field, we have one mile of fencing per 160 
acres. (Two cross fences to cut the 160 acres into 
40-acre plots would require another mile of fence.) 
Cost of a Mile of Fence-boards.— In these il¬ 
lustrations we will omit the posts, which are usually- 
about half of the entire cost of a board or wire 
fence. To build one mile of board fence, 4 boards 
high, requires 1,760 boards 12 feet long and 6 inch¬ 
es wide. Such hoards, of good durable quality, 
delivered in the timberless regions, would probably 
average $20 per 1,000 feet, board measure, or 12 
cents per board, or $211.20 per mile, for the boards 
only. For the territory above named, to simply 
fence it into 160 acre fields, or quarter sections, 
would cost for the fence boards alone the euor 
moussum of $1,014,935,020, or more than a 
Thousand Million Dollars ! and double this sum for 
40-acre fields. And yet as much fencing as this 
will be required within a very brief period—allow¬ 
ing for the great number of farms that will be cut 
iuto separate large and small fields. 
Cost of a Mile of Wire Fence.— Omitting plain 
wire as practically of little value, and leaving out the 
posts as above, a good “barbed,” galvanized steel 
wire or strap fence averages about 1 lb. to the rod, 
or 4 lbs. for a 4-wire high fence, or 1,280 pounds to 
the mile. This, at an average cost of 10 cents per 
lb., is $128 per mile. For the above territory (or 
4 / 5 of the region named), to supply such wire for 
fencing it off into 160 acre fields or farms, would 
require over Six Thousand Million pounds of steel 
(6,332,939,520 lbs.), or 3,166,464 tons, and would cost 
$033,293,953 for the wire alone, but still be 
a saving over boards of $411,611,068. (These fig¬ 
ures are, of course, only a rough approximate esti¬ 
mate, but they show the importance of the subject 
in the aggregate. When we come down to details, 
it will be found of decided practical importance to 
every owner of land, the entire country over, East 
as well as West and South.) 
Iron Fence Posts Wanted. 
In the above illustrations we have left out fence 
posts, because practically the costlier post is' about 
the same for board or wire fencing. But there is 
this important difference, viz., that many more 
posts are required for a board fence than for one 
of steel wire or strap. As the posts are more than 
half the cost of any form of plain fence, it is re¬ 
markable that the inventive genius of the country 
has not long since devised an iron post of such prac¬ 
tical utility and cheapness as to come iuto general 
use. There are a few varieties, in limited use as 
yet, which we shall describe hereafter. We refer 
to the subject now to call out information, and to 
stimulate inventors. There is an immense fortune 
in store for the man who shall devise an iron fence 
post that will meet the universal want of the 
country. We invite communications from any of 
our readers who have had at least one year’s ex¬ 
perience (summer and winter) with any form of 
iron post for field fencing. Of course it will be 
important to have only the experience of those who 
have no direct or indirect interest in either the 
making or sale of fences or posts—by themselves 
or friends. All we are aiming at on this whole 
subject is to get the best reliable information, pro 
and con, for the benefit of the people, and we have 
no intention of favoring any particular manufac¬ 
turers or dealers, except in so far as the real facts 
