106 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Cheap Inside Finish for Houses. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
The following is, perhaps, mainly applicable to 
the cheaper sort of wooden houses made of ver¬ 
tical boards, &c., but will answer also for all 
others. 
Cover the inside of the rooms, &c., with cheap 
muslin stretched horizontally and well tacked with 
leather-headed tacks, and then paper on the mus¬ 
lin. If well done, this makes a snug and cheap 
finish, impervious to air, will last a long time, and 
one great advantage is that any one can put it on— 
no waiting for the slow notions of others—and the 
house may be occupied immediately. 
I have finished more than one house in this 
way, and lived in them too, and found them com¬ 
fortable. This finish would be just the thing for the 
cheap buildings described in the Agriculturist for 
March. E. F. Zevely. 
Cumberland, Maryland. 
- «*-,---- 
Blinks from a Lantern. 
BY DIOGENES (REDIVIVUS). 
T find that my lantern is likely to be in great 
demand, and that I shall have all the help I want 
in searching for a farmer. The next day after its 
light began to shine, I had a call from a man who 
farmed five hundred acres. He seemed to be 
greatly astonished that an inquiry had been made 
for a farmer. They were plenty in his region, 
and if I would call over, I could see one man at 
least, that understood his business. He had a 
very slim opinion of gardens and these seven by 
nine farms. He liked to do up business on a gen¬ 
erous scale. The man talked so fluently, and was 
so courteous that I immediately lighted my lan¬ 
tern, and went to see 
A I.ARGE FARM. 
On my way I pictured to myself a very splen¬ 
did mansion, large barns, good substantial stone 
fences, smooth meadows, large herds of cattle, a 
sty full of sleek porkers, yards full of fowls, and 
all the surroundings of a man of wealth. I found, 
instead, a two story dwelling house, that, but for 
its size, might have been mistaken for a packing 
box, and all the surroundings of a large owner of 
real estate, and a very poor cultivator. The barn 
was built to accommodate about twenty cows, 
and the pig-sty was simply a rail fence with a 
hovel in one corner used for three months in a 
year when the pigs were put up to fatten. He 
had carts, sleds, waggons, harrows, cultivators, 
sleighs, carriages, but no particular place for any 
of them except the carriage. That had a house 
built for it, and it was usually left there, but it was 
oftentimes hard crowded with plows, rakes, chains 
ox-yokes, and with the mowing machine which 
had just made its advent, and was the special pride 
of its owner. There was no particular place for 
anything, and just as we drove up, the colored boy 
was in a peck of trouble, about the pin to the cait- 
tongue. That useful article, it seems was made 
to do double service upon the tongue of the sled, 
the cart and the ox wagon, and in the change 
from the sledding to the carting it had been mis. 
laid , as the owner said, though I was not able to 
see how a thing could be mislaid, when there was 
no particular place assigned to lay it. The cart 
was under the shed and the oxen yoked, ready to 
be put on. The sled was under the apple tree, 
turned up side of the wall, where it had been left 
in the last snow. The ox cart was at the lower 
end of the wood pile under the big “ Ellum tree,” 
as they loved to call a gigantic elm, that was a 
real glory to the place, but which the owner did 
not seem to value much. 
“What’s the oxen stannin here for all the morn¬ 
ing Jo ?” 
“ Can’t find the cart pin Massa V’ 
“ Where have you looked for’t 1” 
“ I’se looked for him ebbery where Massa, in de 
sled, in de cart, in de carriage house, and in de 
corn crib. I’se looked for him all de morning, and 
no find him. Guy, Massa, make me tink, for all 
de world, of de song Aunt Sally sing so much.” 
“ Goosey Goosey Gander 
Where do you Wander.” 
“ I recken he’s lost.” 
“ Lost! you blockhead, I saw you crackin nuts 
with it, last week in the horse stable.” 
“ Whew, Massa, nebber thought of dat. Dis 
child rek’lects.” 
Jo stirred himself, diligently, upon this refresh¬ 
ing of his memory, and the lost pin was found, 
where it was last used, on top of a pile of walnut 
shells. The team was put upon the cart-tongue, 
and Jo went off to his work at ten o’clock in the 
morning. 
This little incident, very unimportant in itself, 
shed a flood of light upon the management of this 
farm. It had no efficient head, indeed I could 
see by the hang of Jo, and the other hired men, 
that I fell in with, that the owner did not exact¬ 
ly know, whether he was the head of the estab¬ 
lishment, or Jo, or big Mike, who had lived sev¬ 
eral years upon the farm, and knew all about the 
business, unless he was mistaken. It required no 
lantern to see, that things went easy with the 
hands, and that nobody felt conscience stricken, 
if he was not in the field by seven in the morning. 
The need of a ten hour system was not felt here, 
for the relief of oppressed labor. 
This five hundred acre farm was inherited, and 
the owner had been five years in possession. He 
also inherited some thousands of dollars in bank 
stock, and had sufficient capital to make every 
acre of it pay him handsome dividends. It was 
naturally good land, and with a judicious expen¬ 
diture of money and labor, it could be made a 
handsome fortune. I looked over the farm, 
lantern in hand, and found as stock, four horses, 
six oxen, thirty cows, and a few young cattle, and 
sheep. There were a hundred acres in mowing, 
fifty in grain and potatoes, fifty in woodland, and 
three hundred in pasture. The meadows cut but 
a trifle over a ton of hay to the acre, and the 
yield of corn was rarely more than thirty five bush¬ 
els to the acre. The root crops were not culti¬ 
vated with the exception of a few potatoes, and 
turnips for the table. The labor employed was 
in keeping with the crops. The owner himself 
did not work much in the field, and had no com¬ 
petent overseer to manage the help. I-t was left 
pretty much to the inspiration of Jo, and the wis¬ 
dom of big Mike, who staid through the whole 
year, while the other five hands only worked 
through the Summer and Fall. I endeavored to 
show the light of the lantern upon 
THE BAD ARITHMETIC 
ofthe owner. His present number of stock, and 
much more could be supported in good condition 
upon two hundred and fifty acres. One half of his 
farm, at least, was lying idle. It was like his 
cart pin when Jo could not find it, of no use to 
He did not use it, or get any je turns, 
from it, because a few cattle roamed over it ami 
grazed the scanty herbage. If >he whole farm was 
worth ten thousand dollars, there were five thou¬ 
sand dollars of dead capital, for which he received 
no returns. On the contrary, he had to pay taxes 
on it just as heavy as upon the pan ot the farm 
that he used. It was actually a bill of expense 
to him. But he could not understand this, at first, 
because he was very sanguine in the belief, that 
he did use the whole surface of his farm. But I 
showed him, that there were two ways, at least, 
of dividing a farm, perpendicularly, and horizon¬ 
tally. A farm has depth, as well as area, and he 
who only uses the first four inches of the upper 
crust of his farm as really loses the other half, 
below, as if he cut off one half of its superficies. 
This was a new sum in Arithmetic to him, and 
he confessed himself convinced. 
A PEEP AT THE BANK STOCK. 
This large farmer, as he loved to call himself’ 
had his five thousand dollars in bank-stock, pay¬ 
ing him, on an average seven per cent. His 
farming capital, as he managed it, did not 
pay him three per cent. Yet his neighbo., 
with only a hundred acres of land, not a 
whit better, makes his farming capital pay him 
ten per cent. He has no bank stock, but always 
keeps a few hundreds in the bank on deposit, 
ready to make a good bargain, when he wants to 
buy stock, or anything else cheap for cash. He 
says he can manage his own capital better than 
any body else can for him. He plows deep, ma¬ 
nures high, drains, and sees to his business in per¬ 
son. He uses as much labor as the man with 
five hundred acres, and actually cuts more grass, 
and gets more grain, using it all upon the farm, 
and sometimes buying. There is nothing to hin¬ 
der the large landholder from applying all his cap¬ 
ital to his business, and getting like returns for its 
use. The present account of his capital stands 
thus ; $5,000 in the surface of his farm, half used, 
three per cent; $5,000 in the unused subsoil, mi¬ 
nus one per cent for taxes and other draw-backs ; 
$5,000 in bank slock, seven per cent. The new 
account which he will open, when he opens his 
eyes wide enough, will stand thus ; 15,000 dollars 
all invested in his business, and paying ten per 
cent, with no failure of dividends, by reason oi 
defaulting cashiers, and presidents. Diogenes 
knows of men, who get twelve per cent for their 
farming capital, wholly employed in the legitimate 
business of tilling the soil, and selling its animal 
and vegetable products, and is still in doubt 
whether they come up to the true standard ot 
farming. 
As to this large farm, which is the type of at 
least one half the farming in the older States, it 
vanishes under the light of the lantern. It is no 
farm at all, but a half cultivated waste; an inge¬ 
nious contrivance to cheat men of fair dividends 
Shall I ever find a farmer l 
-— *-—- - 
Bioseorea at a Discount- -.Free! 
The following letter speaks for itself. “The 
Chinese Potato ” don’t seem to be valued at “$1(J 
per dozen” in Illinois, or else our old sub¬ 
scriber, Mr. Squires, exhibits a liberal public spir¬ 
it not common among us more Eastern men.— Ed. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
I have cultivated the Dioscorea for two years, 
and I now offer my entire stock (with the excep¬ 
tion of 100 seed tubers) amounting to 500 large 
roots, and as many seed tubers, free, to any of 
your subscribers or others who will be to the ex¬ 
pense of getting them, or any part of them. The 
large roots are from 1 to feet long, and from f 
to It inches in diameter. 
Geo. L. Squires, Galesburg, Knox Co., Ill. 
any body. 
