1884.] 
AMElilCAX AGRLOU.IAURL^^r. 
5T 
tion produces butter chiefly, and another cheese, 
S3 in California, Marin county makes butter 
mainly, while Santa Clara supplies nearly one-third 
of all the cheese that gives the State its second 
rank in this line.—Delaware Co., N. T., and Del 
Norte Co., Cal., both butter counties, give the 
largest aggregate yield per cow; but Herkimer 
Co., N. T., a cheese county, gives the lowest yield 
per cow, and Humboldt Co., Cal., a butter county, 
is next to the lowest.—The table condensed from 
the Census aflfords other interesting comparisons. 
Portable Poultry Fence. 
Mr. “D. R. C.,” of Abington, Mass., sends us a 
sketch and writes: “It is often very convenient 
when poultry are inclosed during the growing sea¬ 
son, to have a fence for the hen-yard which can be 
readily moved from place to place. I have found 
•the contrivance herewith, practical and satisfactory. 
Cut the posts the same length as the pickets, and 
to the inner side of each attach two strong iron 
hoops bent into a semi-circle, one near the bottom, 
and the other half way up. Through these hoops 
drive stakes fitted to fill them closely, with sharp¬ 
ened points for easily entering the ground. When 
removing the fence the posts can be slipped oft. 
Physical Comfort from Old Newspapers. 
To be able to get for a few cents a neatly printed 
daily journal, having twenty-three feet of surface, 
on which, as apanorama, is spread out all the lead¬ 
ing occurrences for four and twenty hours just 
passed, is certainly a great comfort.—But that is 
not the comfort we now have uppermost in mind ; 
it is rather one that may be enjoyed all over the 
land in these chilly days, and especially in the 
abodes of the poor, in the dwellings out on the 
bleak prairies, on the stormy hill elevations, and in 
the frozen regions of the North. Let us illustrate 
hy experience : Providence, or chance, placed the 
writer in a farm dwelling almost as old as our 
Government, on very high land, but so situated be¬ 
tween the hills, that the mid-December western 
winds, gathered as in a funnel, swept through with 
terrific force, carrying off the heat from the house 
faster than a great box stove full of blazing 
hickory and black birch could produce it. But the 
worst thing was, that the aged floor, albeit of good 
matched pine plank, had shrunk until some air 
could and did sift in between the tongue-and- 
grooves ; and, driven as it was by hurricane force, 
the thick home-made rag-carpet was often lifted 
high up, and it too sifted through the freezing air. 
In fact, the only way to keep warm was to put on 
•extra thick clothing, and shielding the feet in arc¬ 
tics, keep them perched upon a supplementary 
chair. With more such days in prospect, we had 
about decided to fly at once to some more modern 
house, with hot-air furnaces and other conveni¬ 
ences, when, on opening a closet, we found a large 
bundle of various daily papers. No quicker thought 
of than executed, the carpet was raised, and those 
papers spread out ten to fifteen thicknesses all 
■ over the floor. They were laid down promiscuous¬ 
ly so as to secure thorough “ breaking of joints.” 
Additional listing was put on the doors, and 
another two extra angles and joints were added to 
the stove-pipe, giving it a complete curve up and 
down and securing some more heating surface. 
Result: AVe have now (Dec. 24,) just passed 
through the severest cold ever experienced when 
a thermometer was present to record it. Yesterday 
morning it was far below zero, and did not get 
above all day, while the winds were none of the 
quietest. But with one-third of the fuel used in 
the previous cold snap, our room is and has been 
as warm and comfortable as any furnace-heated 
city mansipn. The extra pipe helped a little, but 
those newspapers did the thing! Why, even the 
most brittle “ wood-pulp ” newspapers are more 
impervious to wind currents than the thickest car¬ 
pet. Three or four layers of them with the air 
spaces between, are as good non-conductors as a 
plastered wall with its minute air cracks, or as an 
ordinary bed spread ; and one or two placed be¬ 
tween the blankets are equal to an extra quilt, to 
keep in the warmth of the bodies of the sleepers. 
Tacked on the beams over a cellar, a few thick¬ 
nesses of newspapers are equal to an extra floor 
or ceiling placed there, in keeping the rooms above 
warm. Nailed up so that they will not be wet by 
rain, around the horse and cattle stalls, or the 
chicken abodes, or any buildings occupied by ani¬ 
mals, human or otherwise, newspapers are warmer 
than the outer board siding, rough or planed ; and 
they can be renewed at pleasure at no cost, and be 
removed in spring for additional ventilation. In 
short, the judicious use of newspapers may be 
made to save half the fuel in well-to-do homes, 
and supply its lack to the poverty stricken. AYe 
call the special attention of benevolent societies to 
this fact. Farmers may by using newspapers save 
much feed otherwise used up by the animals in 
keeping warm. Eggs will be far more abundant if 
the hens are kept warm, by lining their winter 
quarters with newspapers, and stock poultry go 
through well on half the feed otherwise required. 
A Revolving Sheep Hurdle. 
An easily moved feeding hurdle is shown in the 
accompanying engraving. It consists of a stout 
pole or scantling of any convenient length, bored 
with two series of holes, alternating in nearly oppo¬ 
site directions, and twelve inches apart. Small 
poles five or six feet long are so placed in the 
holes that each adjoining pair makes the form of 
a letter X. These hurdles are arranged in a row 
across the field, and the sheep feed through the 
spaces between the slanting poles. The hurdles 
A EEVOLVING HURDLE IBNCE. 
are moved forward by revolving them, as shown 
in the engraving. By using two rows of these hur¬ 
dles, sheep may be kept on a narrow strip of land, 
and given a fresh pasture daily by advancing the 
lines of hurdles. This method of feeding off a 
forage crop is one of the most effective and inexpen¬ 
sive for enriching worn-out land, especially if a dai¬ 
ly ration of grain or oil-cake is given to the sheep. 
Some Possibilities in Western Farming. 
PROP. S. K. TUO.MPSON, NKB. AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 
Many centuries ago an old Greek writer on farm¬ 
ing said ; “A farmer should be a seller and not a 
buyer.” This maxim is as good to-day as it ever 
was. It is still the business of a farmer to produce 
for sale. Some things he must buy, but as a rule 
he will be the worse lor it if he departs from his 
legitimate business to trench on that of the dealer 
by buying to sell again. In the regions west of the 
Missouii River fanners have to contend with two 
special difflculties : distance from market and want 
of capital. In any new country the first products are 
usually bulky, which aggravates the difficulties of 
distance from market. Not long ago it took the 
price of two bushels of corn to pay for transport¬ 
ing one ; that is corn sold for twenty cents, and it 
cost forty cents to send a bushel to New York. 
The first remedy is to condense products before 
sbippiup;. A busliel or fifty-six pounds of corn may 
be condensed into ten pounds of pork, which can 
be freighted anywhere for less than half it would 
cost to ship the corn. Grain may be condensed 
into butter and cheese by feeding it to cows. This 
condensation leads to other incidental but import¬ 
ant advantages, notably a diversifying of products. 
The most marked improvement in Western 
farming during the past decade is in this direetion. 
But there is still room for more. Many thousand 
hogs are shipped alive to Chicago every year, and 
tlieir cured meat is reshipped to the same place to 
be retailed. This double expense of freightage 
over many hundred miles is a waste of labor that 
ought to be stopped, and would be but for the 
scarcity of capital incident to new countries. Cer¬ 
tainly every farmer should cure his own pork. 
There is absolutely no good reason why we should 
import canned eorn from Maine, tomatoes from 
Maryland, not to mention pickles, beans, peas, 
cheese, crackers, ete. These can all be grown, and 
prepared here as cheaply as anywhere. It is safe 
to say that three bushels of sweet corn can be 
grown in Nebraska for what it costs to grow one 
in Maine, and perhaps the same may be said of to¬ 
matoes. Some of the idle Eastern capital might be 
invested here in canning factories and other ways 
with the certainty of a rich return. 
So too in the line of sweets. For many years 
sorghum has been grown in a small way, and syrup 
made from it on farms. A considerable amount of 
profit has resulted : but the great drawback has 
been that the article made has often been poor, 
never uniform, and has found no regular market. 
AVith the coming in of steam sorghum works, where 
the amount of capital invested justifies the em¬ 
ployment of experts, a different state of things has 
been brought about. A small steam faetory in 
this neighborhood made some thirteen thousand 
gallons of sytup last season, all of which was taken 
by the wholesale grocers almost as soon as made. 
The return to the farmers raising the cane varied 
from twelve to thirty-three dollars per acre. The 
common yield was about twenty dollars per acre 
for the unstripped cane sold. — The cane- crop 
seems peculiarly fitted for this soil and climate. 
It can be planted after corn is in the ground, and 
harvested before husking begins. In dry seasons 
when corn does poorly, sorghum usually makes an 
excellent crop. It requires a little more hard labor 
than corn, but returns more. Another crop for di¬ 
versifying our agriculture is broom eorn. It grows 
well, and wherever the necessary help for harvest¬ 
ing it can be procured at a moderate price the re¬ 
turn is most satisfactory. AVherever it has been 
tried, any failure to give satisfaction has been due 
either to lack of knowledge by the grower as to the 
proper method of handling and disposing of it, or 
to the lack of the requisite extra help at harvest. 
There are excellent openings throughout the 
AA''est for the employment of capital in factories for 
making sorghum sugar and syrup, as there are for 
canning eorn, tomatofs, beans, etc. Such estab¬ 
lishments are needed by the agricultural commu¬ 
nity, and if judiciously managed will pay the in¬ 
vestor well, and prove a benefit to the farm. 
