AMEETCAN AGETOELTEEISa! 
375 
1884 ] 
Above-ground Cellar of Brick. 
Abore-ground cellars are drier, cleaner, and 
more healthful and convenient than those situated 
under buildings. We gave in the April Amn-ican 
Agriculturist a description with engravings of one 
constructed of wood, and in answer to luan^’ in¬ 
quiries, we now present one made of brick. Stone 
is equally good, and may be used when cheaper 
than brick. Figure 1 shows the cellar, exterior; 
figure 2 is a cross-section, and in figure 3 is seen 
the ground plan. The two walls are twelve inches 
apart, the space between being filled with dry saw 
Fig. 1.— A BRICK ABOVE-GROCUD CELLAR. 
dust. Cross-courses tie the walls together, as shown 
in figure 3. The ceiling is inch-boards joined by 
tongue and groove, and nailed to the under edge 
of the tie beams. Two feet of dry sawdust is 
plaeed on the eeiling. . The roof is sheathed close 
and shingled, the ventilator being arranged to open 
and close. The window is double, with a sliding 
shutter inside. In cold sections, the entry may be 
Fig. 2. Fig. 3. 
lined with two-inch lumber. Both doors should 
be closely fitted. The floor may be grouted, or 
made of brick laid in mortar. This cellar can be 
of any desired dimensions ; the one shown in the en¬ 
gravings is fourteen by twenty-two feet, and seven 
feet high inside. It may be covered with climbers. 
Preparing the Granaries. 
The weevil infested our wheat granaries several 
years ago, and since then we have been care¬ 
ful to scrub them out once each year with boil¬ 
ing-hot salt-water. If the bins are not all empty 
when threshing time approaches, prepare those 
that are empty for the reception of grain, and 
transfer the old grain to these, and scald the bins 
just emptied. First, scrub the floor and sides with 
the boiling brine, being careful that it fills all the 
crevices. When this has well dried, prepare a 
thick white-wash, and with it coat the entire in¬ 
terior of the bins, filling the cracks with it. The 
day before threshing, take an old broom and sweep 
ofif the thickest of the white-wash. Since adopt¬ 
ing this plan, we have had no pests in the granaries. 
If the mice have gnawed holes through the sides, 
tack pieces of sheet-iron or tin over these, and 
place well-trained cats in the granary. It is much 
better to have the boards jointed than to place lath 
over the cracks, as the inclosed cracks will be in¬ 
habited by pests, very difficult to reach and destroy. 
The loss occasioned by pests is not measured by 
what they consume. Mice may not eat much, but 
they leave crumbs plentifully behind them, which 
detract from the appearance of the wheat and 
lower its price, when it is sent to market. Weevils 
may not destroy much grain, but many millers 
will not buy grain infested with them at any price. 
Hookertown Views of the Dog Question. 
TIMOTIIT BUNKER, ESQ. 
The Farmer’s Club and the agricultural journals 
make Hookertown very lively. The last topic stir¬ 
ring this rural region is the dog question. And 
nothing comes nearer the heart of the average 
landholder than his dog. The proverb, “ Love 
me, love my dog,” must have originated in the 
rural districts. The dog owner here jirizes his cur 
of low degree more highly than the aristocrat his 
St. Bernard or his fox hounds. Old Bose is the 
very jewel of his establishment, and any insinuation 
that he chases sheep, kills turkeys, steals bones 
from neighbor’s back-doors, or snaps at school 
children, is resented as a personal insult. Bose is 
a well-bred dog, grew up in the family, and never 
did any body any harm. Malice must be at the 
bottom of all evil reports about him. If one 
inquires of its owner what is the brute good for ? 
the responses are various and characteristic. 
George W^ashington Tucker says : “ that yaller 
dorg of mine is worth his weight in gold jest to 
watch the house at night. I’d jest like to see any 
tramp enter my j’ard when old Tige is ’round ; he’d 
make mince meat on him quicker ’en you could 
say Jack Kobinson.” The necessity of a watch 
dog about will be understood when it is known 
that Mr. Tucker lives in a hired shanty, rent two 
dollars a month ; live stock—one shote, five hens 
and a rooster ; household goods worth about fifty 
dollars ! Burglars are so prone to visit such estab¬ 
lishments that old Tige must stand sentinel inside 
by night, and worry his neighbors by day, the year 
round. Jake Frink is among the most stalwart 
vindicator’s of dog rights. “ I kalkerlatethat I’ve 
jest as good a right to keep a dorg as the next man, 
legislate:- or no legislator. What upon ’arth du 
they ’speet a feller is gwine to du with skunks and 
woodchucks and other varmints, ef they tax the 
dorgs out of existence. With woodchucks on y’er 
beans and clover, skunks after y’er eggs and 
chickens, and uosein’ round y’er garden-sass, and 
coons in .y’er corn, their’d he a mighty lean look 
for Thanksgiven, I tell ye. The Guverner might 
jest as well not issoo his proklermashun. I’m agin 
this dorg law.”—A look at Jake’s garden or corn¬ 
field in summer, will impress any one with the high 
value of dog power as an aid to cultivation. 
Seth Twiggs thinks dogs worth having for com¬ 
pany. “ Te see I’m lonesome sometimes, even with 
the old pipe and Tirzah for company. Mr. Spooner 
preaches that it’s scripture doctrin, ‘ It’s not good 
for man to be alone.’ Jess so, I believe that, I 
don’t know what the Almighty made dorgs for, if it 
wern’t fur company. Children take naterally to 
dorgs, as ducks du to water. I guess they are 
made to go together. The fellers we sent up to 
Hartford had better take care how they unsodder 
what the Almighty has put together. This tinkerin’ 
at the State House is bad business. I’d really like 
to see statesmanship once in a while.” The smoke 
was very thick abo-ut Seth’s head.—Benjamin 
Franklin Jones says, “ I believe in protectin’ sheep 
but can’t see jest how this dorg law is gwine to du 
it. It don’t seem to thin off the dorgs much. 
They multiply jest about as fast. What we want 
is an improved breed of dorgs. Shepherd dorgs 
won’t harm a sheep, and are a necessity for sheep- 
keepers. We can breed the thirst for blood out of 
the common cur, civilize him, and make him indis¬ 
pensable on the farm. He is in the process of evo¬ 
lution, working up toward the shepherd type. It 
seems a great waste of these hundred or more 
generations of ‘training, if our law-makers are to 
arrest him in mid career, as an unfinished, abortive 
sample of the Creator’s w'orks 1 take some stock 
in evolution.” Jones is one of the philosophers of 
our town. He lives in a tenement house—never 
owned a sheep, and probably never expects to, but 
ho has heard of Darwin, and, like others who have 
not read him, thinks he understands evolution. 
These, and many other things equally learned 
and lucid, arc said in behalf of the cur which is 
overwhelmingly the favorite type of dog in the 
rural districts. I admit for argument sake that 
even (he cur has his le.gitimate uses on the farm, 
and it is not quite the fair thing to e.xtcrminate him 
because he is the greatest hindcrance to sheep 
raising. The most devoted dog fancier and breeder 
of pups, must admit that he is a dangerous animal 
to have around, and that the owner of a dog, of 
whatever degree, ought to guard the public against 
the evils of his running at largo, and be held to 
strict responsibility for the damages to his neigh¬ 
bor. In many ways the dog is a heavy tax on his 
owner, and a terrible nuisance in the community. 
Every farmer having room for sheep, and wishing 
to raise them, wants legislation against dogs be¬ 
fore embarking in this business. Statistics show 
in part the thousands and tens of thousands of 
sheep killed by dogs in every wool-growing State, 
but cannot show the loss to this industry, because 
of the multitude of farmers who fear to raise 
sheep on account of this annual slaughter. It is 
one of the most profitable and helpful branches of 
agriculture in all the older States. Supplying 
lambs and sheep to butchers pays abundantly, and 
wool is a good crop to raise at long distances from 
market. There is nothing like sheep to keep down 
brush and briars, and to improve the quantity and 
quality of the grasses. Many farms now growing 
to brush in all the Eastern States, might be made 
profitable if only the dogs were out of the way. 
Foot Rot in Sheep.—French Treatment. 
Foot Rot in sheep, as is well known, is .ah inflam¬ 
mation of the whole hoof, accompanied by the for¬ 
mation of blisters whieh break and become ulcers. 
Fig. 1.— A LIME-WATER TANK. 
discharging fetid matter. It usually appears in the 
fore-feet first, and when sheep are seen to favor 
these, often to the extent of grazing upon their 
knees, they should be looked to at once. In France 
the milk of lime has been found useful in prevent¬ 
ing the spread of the disease, and for the cure of 
Fig. 2.— A SHEEP HOLDER. 
mild cases. Shallow tanks or trays are plaeed at 
the doors of the sheep barn, and the animals, as 
they go out or in, bathe their feet in the liquid. 
These tanks are about ten feet long, and of a 
width suited to the doors of the sheep-barn, as 
