Hay and Grain Caps. 
In our last number, page 207, we described hay 
caps pretty fully, and gave directions for making, 
with original illustrations. We present herewith 
a second illustration, showing the caps in use, 
both for hay and for grain. We are not sure that 
they may not be considered quite as useful for 
grain as for hay. Many persons have called, and 
written, to inquire where they could be purchased 
ready made, but we could not reply to them, and 
our advice has been—make them yourselves. 
We have recently heard, however, that consider¬ 
able quantities have been manufactured by Messrs. 
Chases & Fay, of Boston, who write in answer 
to a note from us, that they have not advertised 
them much this year, because the immediate 
home demand has consumed about all they could 
manufacture. They are making them of several 
sizes ; No. 1—1$- yards square (sheeting), at 25 
cents each ; No. 2—50 inches square (drilling), 33 
cents; No. 3—2 yards square (sheeting of two 
qualities), 38 cents and 50 cents, and of drillling 
02 cents. These have metal eyelets in the cor¬ 
ners, with pieces of string attached (a good idea). 
They also furnish, at an extra charge, iron skew¬ 
ers—some persons preferring them to wooden 
pins of home manufacture. They say ‘‘the cloth 
is put through a process which renders it unsus¬ 
ceptible of mildew, and better adapted to shed 
rain.” This is, we think, hardly necessary or 
useful, for the cloth should be open to admit the 
passage of moisture, from the hay curing under¬ 
neath. They write, that they have no more on 
hand this year, except No. 1, and No. 2 of the 
50c. kind. Probably the market will be supplied 
with these useful implements next year, so that 
those not wishing to be at the trouble of making 
them can obtain them ready made, or have them 
manufactured to order. 
Green Corn Fodder. 
If the season, thus far, has been, or should con¬ 
tinue to be so favorable to pasturage, as not 
to require the feeding of the corn sowed for 
feeding green to milch cows, it will be well to 
husband all of it for Winter forage. It will re¬ 
tain its saccharine and nutritious qualities until it 
gets into the ear, and should not be cut for Winter 
feeding until that time. The chief trouble is to cure 
it, as it requires several sunny days to dry, and 
then, bound in small bundles, to mow away in the 
barn. Indeed, it is difficult, under almost any cir¬ 
cumstances, to cure it sufficiently to store away 
by itself, without heat or moulding. We would, 
therefore, recommend that it be packed away in 
layers of dry straw, or bay, which will receive 
its imparting dampness and flavor, and make 
such straw or hay partake of the odor of the 
corn itself. For calving cows, or lambing ewes 
in late Winter, or early Spring, this corn fodder, 
if tender and well cured, is a favorite food, pro¬ 
moting both flesh and milk. 
If stoutly grown, it should be made fine in the 
cutting box, and lightly sprinlded with mill feed, 
or corn meal finely ground, thus affording a more 
easily digested food than if fed whole in the stalk 
or sheaf. Calves, and colts, and lambs, the first 
Winter after weaning, will live well upon it, and 
their improved appearance in the Spring will test 
its value as a forage. By all means, let the corn 
fodder, of all kinds , be saved—and that too, be¬ 
fore it gets too ripe. 
- r - - 
Moss-Covered Pasture Lands. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist : 
Having read your article on pasture lands, and 
their treatment, page 173, allow ine to ask you a 
few questions, in regard to what is best to be done 
with a field, containing 32 acres. I was informed 
when I purchased the farm, that it had been 
plowed and seeded down, in timothy and red clo¬ 
ver, six years ago. Now, up to this date, the 
grass is not above three inches high, and the field 
is all covered over with a russet-colored moss. 
The land is flat, and the soil a yellow-colored 
loam, and is allowed by all who have known it for 
years, to be good. Now what can be the cause of 
this falling off, or decay of the grass, after such 
a favorable Spring for that crop 1 I do not see in 
your remarks anything that directly bears upon it 
or other similar fields, which is my excuse for 
troubling you at present, for I, as well as others, 
am in want of information on the subject; 
and if you consider this a desperate case, what 
would you recommend to be done with it 1 Should 
it be plowed, manured and seeded over again, for 
grass, or allowed to remain another season as it is, 
or be turned into fallow and a crop taken off next 
year 1 I may here state, that the surface is quite 
free from stones, and that the land does not re¬ 
quire draining. If you say crop it, what will 
be the best crop lo take off it. W. H. 
June 1st, 1858. 
Remarks —The “ moss ” in the above-named 
field is a bad sign, but not knowing, from personal 
observation, what is necessary to entirely satisfy 
us as to the difficulty, we will suggest : If he 
has manure enough (either street or common 
barn-yard) to give his field a thorough dressing, 
we recommend him to spread it on, and this I 1 all, 
say early in September, plow and put it into a 
crop of rye. Next Spring—in March, or early in 
April, sow on twelve quarts of timothy, and four 
quarts of red clover to the acre. If a quart of 
white clover, and two or three quarts of red-top 
be added, it will be all the better for pasture pur¬ 
poses. A good crop of rye may be thus obtained; 
the succeeding year a crop of hay, and pasture 
afterwards. Or, it may be be pastured at once, the 
next Spring after the rye is taken off. We would 
not pasture the young grass on the rye stubble the 
first year of sowing. 
Home Made Poudrette- 
There is a great annual loss of valuable manure 
at the rear of every house, which a little care 
would save. People have a prejudice against 
meddling with the contents of privy-vaults, which 
it is hard to overcome. If, however, the “ tem¬ 
ple ” were properly built, the trouble could be 
easily got along with. The practice of digging a 
deep pit or cellar beneath it, which it is almost 
impossible to clean out, is a bad one ; and the 
danger to the young children of a household, from 
such pits is not altogether imaginary. 
A privy should be built so high above ground 
as to allow of a large, moveable box underneath 
it, of the same superficial dimensions as the build¬ 
ing. This box should be made of pine plank, 
matched, and painted within and without, with 
coal-tar. It should rest on runners made of scant¬ 
ling, to which a horse can be attached, for the 
purpose of drawing it out when needful. 
Of course, some means should be used to deo¬ 
dorize the offensive gases. Happily, this is not 
difficult. Dried muck, burnt sods, saw-dust, char¬ 
coal, chip-dirt, ashes, and indeed nearly all refuse 
dirt about one’s premises will answer, provided it 
is dry. This last item, dryness, is important, to 
render the material a good absorbent. Lime is 
sometimes used, but not wisely, because it sets 
free and wastes the volatile gases in the air. It 
is an excellent plan to have at hand some of the 
absorbents we have mentioned, convenient for 
use. If they are not “ handy ” when wanted, they 
will seldom be used. Have some in old boxes or 
barrels by the side of the privy, under cover, 
where it can be drawn upon, daily, or .every few 
days, throughout the year. If a small quantity is 
used often, all smells will be prevented and the 
combination of the several parts as compost will 
be more complete. When the box is filled, let it 
be hauled out to the barn-yard and emptied, and 
then returned to its place. On returning it, let 
the bottom be covered with a good layer of some 
absorbent. We understand that some of the com¬ 
panies engaged in manufacturing poudrette large¬ 
ly for sale, use a solution of copperas to deodor¬ 
ize night soil before they remove it to their man¬ 
ufacturing grounds. Of course, this could be 
used by any one who had not a sufficient quan¬ 
tity of absorbents. 
Now that we are upon this subject, we will give 
some account of the manufacture of poudrette 
and Ta Feu, as it is conducted on a large scale, 
in the neighborhood of some of our cities. Cer¬ 
tain persons are employed to collect the contents 
of privies, sinks and sewers, and te convey them 
by carts and by sloops to the premises devoted to 
the manufacture of this article. It is then thrown 
upon a screen having holes an inch square, which 
cleans out all coarse rubbish. Then it is spread 
on large platforms, where it is mixed with ab¬ 
sorbents such as have been before mentioned, 
and then dried. “ If it is to be manufactured into 
poudrette, it is taken into a house where it is al¬ 
lowed to undergo a partial decomposition, and 
again screened through a cross-barred, half-inch 
screen, and then barreled. If Ta Feu is to be 
