42 
NEW YORK FARMERS’ CLUB.-AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 
The ground having been prepared in the manner 
before described, the cuttings are next to be planted 
in the centres of the trenches, so that each terminal 
bud will be even with the surface, and directed 
towards the south. Then the earth must be firmly 
pressed round each plant, and should it subse¬ 
quently settle and leave more than one bud above 
ground, more earth or mould must be added to bury 
them up. As soon as the season becomes hot and 
dry, it will be necessary to protect the cuttings 
from the mid-day sun, by means of matting or other 
materials, which should be removed towards 
evening, and allow them to remain uncovered until 
the next morning, at about the time of the disap¬ 
pearance of the dew. Strict attention must now 
be observed in keeping the soil around the cuttings 
continually moist, and should not this be effected 
by natural means, it must be done by sprinkling 
rain or river water over them, or what is still better, 
soap-suds, or other stimulating fluids, specially pre¬ 
pared for the purpose, but not too strong. Soon 
after the cuttings begin to take root, which may be 
known by the swelling of the buds above the sur¬ 
face, young shoots will gradually protrude, and the 
plants will require but little attention during the 
remainder of the season, except an occasional hoeing 
to destroy the weeds, and to loosen the soil in order 
to admit the air and moisture, about the roots. 
Should the season prove dry, however, and the 
earth.around the plants become .parched, it will be 
necessary to irrigate them frequently with rain or 
river water, or with prepared liquids as suggested 
above. Early in autumn, rub oft’ all the buds from 
each plant, except two, which are to be reserved 
for training the ensuing year, For subsequent 
treatment, see Browne’s Trees of America, page 
139. 
NEW YORK FARMERS’ CLUB. 
Cisterns in Barn-yards. —Dr. Underhill remarked 
that he had seen barn-yards so placed on the side 
of hills that most of the rich liquid manures con¬ 
tained in them drained off to the already rich land 
at the bottom of the hill, and sometimes into the 
streams of the valleys, thus carrying away the chief 
fertilizing salts in a state of solution. He recom¬ 
mended that a water-tight cistern be formed of clay, 
masonry, or planks, in the lowest part of the yard, 
into which all the liquid part of the manure may 
readily be conducted. Near this cistern he would 
make a heap, in layers, of alluvial soil and all ve¬ 
getable and animal matter at command, such as 
road-scrapings, turf-mould, leaves of the forest, the 
refuse of old wood piles, straw, refuse hay, potatoe- 
stalks, weeds and rubbish of all kinds from the 
garden, the refuse vegetables from the kitchen, the 
entrails and bones of fish, and the fragments of all 
dead animals. Between these layers he would 
apply sprinklings of pot-ashes, soda, shell-lime, 
charcoal, gypsum, soot, &c.; and then, with a crow¬ 
bar, he would make numerous holes quite to the 
bottom of the heap, and pour in at times the liquid 
manure from the cistern. ( a ) In thirty days, he 
said, he had made in this way 500 loads of manure 
good for all kinds of crops. 
Dr. H. A. Field stated that he had been busily 
engaged for four or five years in restoring his farm 
to fertility by drawing out muck in summer or! 
autumn, and forming alternate layers of it in his 
barn-yard, about a foot thick, wfith layers of animal 
manure three or four inches thick, scattering be¬ 
tween each a springing of unslaked lime, and ap¬ 
plying this compost the following spring and 
summer to his land and crops' He recommended 
that a layer of plaster, charcoal, or peat, should be 
put on the top of the compost heap, in order to pre¬ 
vent the escape of the ammonia and other gases 
evolved in the decomposition of the muck and ma¬ 
nure, which will be greatly accelerated by the lime. 
He said that he was aware that some loss would 
follow from the use of quick, lime in connection 
with putrescent manures; but he thought the pre¬ 
caution he had suggested, if properly observed, 
would fix most of the gases in the upper strata of 
the heap, and the little that would be lost w T ould be 
more than compensated by the rapidity and perfect 
manner in which the compost is made. 
(a) It is obvious that by the mode of making a 
compost as practised by Dr. Underhill, a consider¬ 
able portion of the most valuable part of the manure 
will be lost by the escape of the ammonia caused 
by the action of the lime on the animal matter con¬ 
tained in the heap. His plant in every other respect 
is excellent, and could readily be remedied by 
sprinkling over the pile a layer of plaster, pulver¬ 
ized charcoal, dried peat, or rich mould. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 
It is really a great satisfaction to get hold of an 
American treatise on Agriculture, that has a plain, 
practical, common sense character of its own. So 
many mere patchers and compilers are there, who, 
without any practical knowledge of their own, use 
their scissors shamelessly upon the productions of 
English authors, thus readily making books without 
taxing their own poor brains, books too, that are 
really of no value in this climate and country— 
books that only serve to puzzle and bewilder the 
farming novice—that,. w T e repeat, it is with unusual 
satisfaction w T e have opened this new, compact 
duodecimo volume, 
Mr. R. L. Allen, of Buffalo, the author of this 
work, is already known to the agricultural public 
as a thorough practical farmer and stock breeder. 
That he well knows what he is about on a farm, 
these pages abundantly show. No mere book¬ 
maker could have written such a book ; and we 
may add, also, that no mere practical farmer could 
have written it. A “ good practical work” can only 
be written by a man who has both thought and 
acted well. 
What distinguishes this volume, is its concise¬ 
ness, its clearness, and its perspicuous treatment 
of the subject in hand. The reason why most 
agricultural works are prolix and heavy, is because 
their authors had not made the subject thoroughly 
their own No man can write clearly and plainly 
about what he possesses only indistinct and confused 
notions himself. And no man can have clear and 
distinct ideas, regarding any practical subject like 
agriculture, however conversant he may be with 
Stephens’ Book of the Farm, Loudon’s Encyclopedia 
or Von Thaer’s Principles, unless he is able to digest 
all the more valuable theories contained in these 
