264r 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
ameter of the tile should be sufficient to carry off 
any sudden excess of water that may fall upon the 
land. The diagram shows the drainage of a 10-acre 
field ; this (or one of 5 acres), may he of 3-inch tile ; 
the sub-mains of 2-inch, and the laterals of 1-inch. 
These are distinguished in the diagram by the let¬ 
ters a, 5,ande respectively,the mains or outlets being 
marked a; the drains are 66 feet apart, and connect 
with 2 sub-maiu drains and 1 outlet drain. In some 
cases the lower part of the sub-mains should be of 
the largest size, as they will sometimes receive a 
large flow of water. The small drains are laid in 
lengths of 165 feet and 66 feet apart, and may dis¬ 
charge, with a fall of 6 inches to the 100 feet, into 
the sub-mains with an equal fall or less, according 
to the character of the ground. Indeed, upon this 
will depend entirely the whole lay out of the sys¬ 
tem of drains. The joints of the laterals with the 
mains need to be carefully made. A good man¬ 
ner of making them is to cut an opening into 
the larger tile with a pointed mason’s chisel, and 
insert the smaller tile properly and cover the joint 
with cement. The points to consider in laying tile 
are: to have the drains at least 21 feet deep; 
to have the fall as regular as possible, lest sedi¬ 
ment be deposited in the slower running places ; 
to avoid broken tile; to lay from head to foot of 
the drain ; to pack the earth well about the tiles as 
they are laid, lest they be displaced in filling the 
ditches ; to have the tiles sufficiently large, and to 
use only well burned ones that ring when struck. 
Where ah important system of drains is to be laid, 
it will be -well for one not familiar with such work 
to employ a surveyor or engineer to make the lev¬ 
els, and lay out the ditches, but the works upon 
draining (see Book List) give sufficient instruction 
for all ordinary cases. The plan given herewith 
is calculated for a piece of land that is nearly or 
quite level, or has a moderate slope only in one 
660 Feet 
165 165 165 165 
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PLAN OF DRAINAGE OF TEN ACRES. 
direction, the fall being wholly in the ditches; it 
may be varied by placing the tiles from top to bot¬ 
tom of the field, and discharging the water directly 
into the outlet. In this case the upper part of the 
drains would be laid with inch tile, and the lower 
half of them with tile two inches in diameter. The 
outlet may be either an open ditch or a larger 
main flowing through a lower piece of ground. 
Late Chickens.— Late chicks may be made 
more profitable than early ones. Chickens from 
eggs set in August and September may be kept 
warm in a tight, glazed house, and fed so that they 
will grow continually through the winter, and if 
they come later all the better, if they are well kept 
and fed. The earlier broods will be salable at good 
prices, when the market is bare of chickens, and 
the later ones will furnish spring chickens, long be¬ 
fore the usual supply comes to hand. Spring chick¬ 
ens hatched in the fall or even in winter are rare, 
but not entirely unknown to a few persons, who 
have made the discovery, that, with good feed, 
warm quarters, a warm mess at least once a day, 
warm drink and cleanliness, there is no difficulty 
at all about raising them, and at a good profit. 
Amount of Food for a Calf.— Young ani¬ 
mals are more frequently injured by irregular or 
over-feeding, than by starving. A calf may be 
reared very well on 8 quarts of milk a day, up to 
the age of 10 weeks. It is then able to digest some 
solid food, and two ounces of mixed bran and cot¬ 
ton-seed meal, will be of great advantage, espec¬ 
ially if given with a little cut grass or hay. Water 
is necessary for a calf that is as yet unweaned, and 
some, fresh and pure, should be offered at least 
twice a day. An Ayrshire heifer calf, thus reared 
by the writer, is, at the age of 12 weeks, precisely 
half the weight of its dam, which is over 2 years old. 
Moles and Mole Traps. 
- —*4>- 
The request made in May, for the experience of 
our readers in the destruction of moles, was re¬ 
sponded to by a large number. The substance of 
what was said on poisoning the animals was given 
last month. In the way of traps, several of those 
sent are patented, and as these can not be made by 
our readers, we do not describe them. Of the large 
number of unpatented traps, we have selected those 
that seem to be the most unlike any that we have 
given in former years. In some cases, plans of traps 
upon essentially the same plan were sent by several 
different writers. The larger number of designs 
are like that shown iii figures 1 and 2, differing in 
some unimportant details. Traps that, like this, act 
by thrusting a number of long sharp points into the 
ground, may be called “ hatchel traps,” of which 
the numerous forms differ mainly in the manner of 
springing them. We select the plan sent by C. 
Van Houten, Esq., Essex Co., N. J., who writes: 
“ When 1 moved to my present residence, I was so 
overrun with moles that it was impossible to suc¬ 
ceed with a garden, and now I am free from them. 
There is no patent on this, and I hope it may 
benefit your readers as much as it has myself. 
Figure 1 shows the plan; A is a piece of 2-inch pine 
plank 48 inches long and 10 inches wide; _Z?isa 
piece of 2-inch plank 3 inches wide and 36 inches 
long, with stout, hard-wood pins in the ends to 
steady the trap ; C is two rows of pins, set 1 inch 
apart, and 8 in each row, made from hard iron 
wire, 10 inches long, and pointed at lower end. 
Figure 2 shows trap set; A is an ordinary figure 4; 
B a piece of 1-inch board, nailed over the pins to 
prevent pushing out; C is a stone to force the trap 
into the ground ; D the pins projecting 8 inches 
through the plank. To set the trap, select a main 
track, lay down your trap so that the pins cross it. 
Then press all the pins firmly into the ground. 
Raise and lower the upper end of the trap several 
times, in order to be sure of no obstructions, and 
also to facilitate the entering of the pins into the 
ground when the trap is sprung. Should the pins 
strike any hard substance it can be easily removed, 
or, in stony ground, the earth can be all removed 
to the wid th and depth of pins, and replaced by 
soil free from stones. Now firmly press down the 
track between the two rows of pins and set the 
figure 4 with its lower end, which should be two 
inches wide, directly over the track, and so ad¬ 
justed that a slight movement of the mole in rais¬ 
ing the ground will set it off. No matter from 
which direction he comes, there is a row of pins 
over him when he springs the trap, and the weight 
drives the pins through him when the trap falls. 
This is a sure thing if the trap is properly fully set. 
Care should be taken to dig doivn and get hold of 
the mole before raising the trap, as sometimes the 
trap may have just fallen, and the animal is not 
dead.”_We have room at present for but one 
more trap—the very simple one shown in figure 3, 
an account of which was sent by Wm. Richter, of 
Alabama. He places a jar in the ground below the 
level of the burrows; the moles fall into this as 
they pass along. An improvement on this method 
is used by a New Jersey farmer; he takes a 3 or 4 
gallon common glazed butter-jar, and cuts holes, 
which may be easily done with a cold-chisel, 3 inch¬ 
es below the upper edge, as shown in the engrav¬ 
ing ; the jar is sunk so as to bring the holes on a 
level with the run ; the cover is then put on and 
the earth replaced so as to exclude light. This 
trap has been found effective, as the moles easily 
fall in and can not climb up the smooth sides ; a 
jar with sides sloping outwards below should be 
chosen, if possible. A similar method is in use in 
England for catching field mice. In view of the 
fact that every one has neither the skill nor the 
patience to perforate the sides of a stone-ware jar, 
we would suggest that a large tin sauce-pan with a 
cover, and holes in the proper places, would answer 
as well. If the sides are made flaring downward 
towards the bottom, it need not be very deep, as 
Fig. 3.— STONE JAR USED AS A TRAP. 
the moles could not get up the sides, as they prob¬ 
ably can not jump far. Several other styles of 
mole traps must wait until we can give them room. 
Keeping a Cow upon a Small Plot of land. 
Many persons would keep a cow if they could 
be assured of a sufficient supply of feed. The 
average milk that can be purchased, and “ store ” 
butter, are very inferior to those made at home. It 
is a fact that a small cow can be well kept for 10 
cents a day, including winter feeding. With half 
an acre of ground devoted to producing fodder, a 
cow may be fed through the whole summer and 
part of the winter. For instance, half an acre is 80 
square rods. One square rod a day of good grass, 
corn-fodder, or oats and peas, will feed a cow of 
450 or 500 lbs. (the average weight of a Jersey or 
Ayrshire heifer) for one day, and there will be some 
to spare. The ground may be made to produce two 
or three crops in the season. Suppose a beginning 
is made now ; 20 square rods may be seeded down 
at any time in August with Red Clover and Orchard- 
Grass, and then afterwards top-dressed liberally 
with manure. This will give a heavy cutting in 
May or June, which will feed a cow for 20 days, 
and may be cut again in July or August. Sow 
twenty rods to rye in August, which may be cut 
before the grass and clover is ready, and may then 
be sown to oats or Hungarian Grass, which will be 
ready to cut in July ; and the ground sown to bar¬ 
ley, fodder-corn, ruta-bagas, or turnips. Twenty 
rods may be sown to oats in March or April, to 
cut in June or July, when the ground may be 
planted with sweet corn for fodder, with turnips 
sown between the rows. Twenty rods may be 
sown with peas early in April, which will be 
ready to cut in May or June, and the ground may 
be planted with cabbages at 2 feet apart, giving 
1,300 or 1,400 heads in the fall for late feeding. 
There will in all be the equivalent of an acre and a 
quarter of crops, which, well manured with the 
droppings of the cow, can be made to produce a 
very large yield. The foddering will be about as 
