1S6 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[May, 
classes ; those which make the marks with runners, 
and those that have pegs of some sort, which are 
drawn through the mellow soil. It is not necessary 
for us to decide which of the many home-made 
kinds is the best; but it is evidently the one that 
makes the best marks in the quickest time, and 
with the greatest ease. One drawn by two horses, 
which makes several marks or rows at a time, and 
permits the driver to ride, is certainly useful in 
large fields. We now only suggest here, that what¬ 
ever kind is to be used, it should be looked to, 
and put in readiness for the work it is to do. 
A Barn Corn Crib. 
On 6mall country places, a multiplicity of build¬ 
ings is neither economical nor desirable. A corn 
crib, however, is a necessary evil, and it may be 
provided for with much advantage, in a corner of 
the barn. An extra buildingis thus dispensed with, 
and the corn is where it can be reached very con¬ 
veniently. The crib may be built in the corner of a 
barn, figs. 1 and 2, on the upper or lower floor, as it 
is the most convenient, and the wall may be opened 
and fitted with lath work, and protected by falling 
Fig. 1.— BARN CRIB WITH DOOR. 
shutters when necessary, as in figure 3. When the 
corn is thoroughly dry, the shutters may be closed. 
Are Pigs or Shoats Best for the Vil¬ 
lager ? 
To the farmer who raises his own swine for fat¬ 
tening, and keeps over what he cannot sell, there 
is not much choice. It is his custom to fatten what 
he has on hand, and those are very often fall pigs 
when the sale is rather dull. The villager always 
buys the stock he wants to make pork of, and can 
generally put in his pen either wintered 6wine or 
spring pigs. Some always keep one or two pigs in 
the pen, and kill in the fall, and spring, putting 
Fig. 2.— SQUARE CRIB WITH “MAN HOLE.” 
only pig pork into the barrel, and usiug only pig 
hams and shoulders. The great objection to this 
course is the increased expense and trouble of 
making pork in the winter, in all northern climates. 
It takes a great deal of food to keep up animal 
heat in frosty weather and adds twenty-five per 
Fig. 3.— OUTSIDE FALLING SHUTTERS. 
cent to thb cost of making pork and hams. When 
made they are no better than the summer made 
meats. The waste of the kitchen may better be 
fed to poultry than to swine, and there is no 
economy in keeping pigs to save these wastes. 
Others make better calculations, and buy pigs or 
6 lioats, as suits convenience early in spring, and 
feed all the pigs will consume until November, 
when they slaughter them in the first hard freezing 
weather about Thanksgiving. The choice between 
pigs and shoats depends mainly upon the prices. 
At the same price per pound shoats are generally 
preferred. But not infrequently they are much 
cheaper from the supposed superiority of pig pork. 
But there is not much foundation for this distinc¬ 
tion, for the wintered pig weighing 80 to 100 lbs., 
and slaughtered at Thanksgiving, makes as nice 
hams and shoulders as the spring pig. His frame 
is already built, and other things being equal, the 
food consumed will give a larger amount of flesh. 
The hams will be larger, the pork thicker, the lard 
more abundant, and on the whole more desirable 
for family use. There is no difficulty in supplying 
all the hog products needed in a family ; pork, salt 
and fresh, ham, bacon, sausages, and lard from 
the summer fattened shoat. With pigs, the hams 
and lard often give out long before killing time. 
Whichever are selected, feed regularly and abun¬ 
dantly all that they will consume. A squealing 
pig disturbs the whole neighborhood, and at the 
same time impeaches the wisdom of the owner. 
The Distribution of Labor on the Farm. 
There are about as many kinds of farm manage¬ 
ment as there are kinds of men. To a certain ex¬ 
tent this is natural, because there are so many 
different products of the farm, almost any one of 
which may be taken as the primary, and all the 
others thus become of ouly secondary importance. 
If butter is the leading “ crop,” the system of the 
farm will be of one kind; if wheat is the primary 
product, the methods pursued will be different 
from those for butter, and this again will not be the 
same as when sheep are the main source of the 
farmer’s income. Circumstances of soil, climate, 
nearness to market, personal tastes, etc., will de¬ 
cide these matters. But whatever the system, 
whatever the leading crop grown—and we by no 
means believe that in all cases, or even in most 
cases, it is always better for a farmer to have a crop 
that is the leading one—there are certain general 
principles that should be binding upon one so 
soon as he becomes a farmer. He who by the 
soil would thrive, no matter what he is to make 
that soil produce, should so plan his work that 
there will be the least number of idle days, in fact, 
this means that there should be no days when the 
farmer has, as the common expression goes, to 
“kill time.” Every worker of the soil, whether 
he owns or rents the soil, and is, therefore, work¬ 
ing for himself, should put a definite market value 
upon his labor. This very many farmers fail to do, 
and overlooking this important fact, it easily and 
naturally becomes a source of loss. It is as much 
to the farmer’s advantage to have a full supply of 
labor for each and every work day, as for the day 
hand that gets his living from his daily labor. 
The vital importance of the proper distribution 
of farm labor throughout the season—yes, the 
whole year—being accepted as a leading fact in 
profitable agriculture — the question is, how to 
make the most of it ? In the first place it demands 
a careful planning of the whole season’s work, if not 
the work for several years. This plan should account 
for work for not less than 290 days in the year— 
and the work of each of those days should be of 
such a character as to pay—not work to be done 
for the sake of doing something, but seasonable, 
profitable labor. This principle at once points to¬ 
wards a variety of farm crops, mixed farming, a 
rotation of crops, the ideal farming, and the one 
towards which substantial agriculture is tending. 
A single example will suffice to illustrate and en¬ 
force the point. Let it be supposed that a farmer 
is growing roots, and that it is to his advantage to 
have the labor of the care of his roots distributed 
along through the season. Instead of putting his 
whole land into Swedes, and that in early summer 
when other labor is pressing, he can sow a portion 
of the land to Mangels as early as the ground can be 
worked, and later, after the Swedes are in, a part of 
the field may be put into Flat Turnips, which grow 
rapidly and must be fed so soon as grown. If 
soiling is practised the Flat Turnips may follow the 
early rye in July. In like manner there are many 
cases where the work that would otherwise come 
“all in a heap,” can be distributed through the sea¬ 
son, and “ all hands ” can be kept for several 
months and furnished with steady and profitable 
labor. The farmer who can best equalize his work 
and portion to each week and month its part, other 
things being equal, will be the most successful. 
A Farm Dog KenneL 
A correspondent from Morris Co., N. J., sends a 
sketch of a dog kennel, which is far more comfort¬ 
able for the tenant than is usual with such build¬ 
ings. It is common for the dog to be used as a 
homeless vagabond, and to be left to find shel¬ 
ter as he best can on the lee side of a fence, or in 
a hole under the barn. The dog may have sagacity 
enough to know when he is well or ill treated, and 
he may very reasonably lose his self-respect, and 
take to evil courses, such as prowling abroad, 
marauding and sheep killing, when not taught bet¬ 
ter, and provided with decent quarters at home. 
The conduct and attitude of a hardly used, half 
starved cur, is entirely different from that of a well 
fed, and decently kept dog, and every one who 
keeps a dog, should certainly take pains to treat 
him well, and train him respectably. A shelter 
of some kind should be provided, which the dog 
should recognize as his home, and the more com¬ 
fortable this is made, the more contented and home- 
A DOG-HOUSE. 
keeping he will be ; not to speak of the freedom 
from disease and vermin to be enjoyed. The ken¬ 
nel here described, is 7 feet long, by 31 wide, and 
has two doors, one opening inwards, and one out¬ 
wards, the latter door i6 provided with a bell, by 
which the owner can tell when the dog goes out at 
night. In summer one door may be raised for ven¬ 
tilation, but in the winter both should be let down. 
