40 G 
AMEEIOAI4 AGEIOULTUEIST. 
[October, 
Beautifying the Farm. 
There are ni-any owners of farms, especially those 
of moderate size, who would gladly gratify their 
tastes in beautifying the estates, did they know 
that this could be done at a smali expense, and at 
the same time not diminish the usefulness of the 
farms. In this country one rarely sees the fl-riiie 
oriiS (the ornamental farm) so common in France, 
which shows that a large share of garden beauty 
need not conflict with the strictest farm economy. 
There are in this country many farms of so much 
natural beauty, that it only needs to make the best 
use of the materials already on the ground, and to 
abolish the rectangular rail fences, those prolific 
nurseries of weeds, to convert them into scenes of 
rural beauty. Aside from the gratification such a 
change would afford the farmer and his neighbors, 
its gre.atly increased value, should the i>lace be 
sold, would warrant a much larger outlay than 
need be made in effecting the improvement. To 
show what may be done in this direction, we give 
Mr. Elias A. Long’s plan for tlie improvement 
of a small farm, concerning which, he writes ns: 
As shown there'are six fields, besides orchards, 
groves, kitchen garden, and grass plats, adorned 
with trees, shrubs, flowers, etc. The house, nearest 
to the street, and the barn a little further back to 
the left, are reached by drive-ways which lead 
gracefully to the main buildings, and throughout 
the farm. The grass plats in front of the house 
and barn, or any other building, may be kept 
closely clipped with the lawn mower, or else — 
especially the larger ones—they may be mown 
three or four times during the season for feeding 
to live stock. In such a plan the fields may be 
surrounded by hedges, or sometimes advanta¬ 
geously by wire fences. By running a wire fence 
AH' ORNA'MENTAT. I’A'RM. 
Drawn and Dnfjy'aved for the Americcni Agriculturist, 
around the iflat immediately back of the barn, and 
using it as a permanent pasture, it will present 
from the street and house the appearance of an 
extension of the ornamental grounds, because the 
grass being kept closely pastured, will look as well 
as if shorn with the lawn mower, while the fence 
may be so inconspicuous as hardly to be seen a 
short distance off. By running a lane from the 
pasture down through the center of the next 
section beyond, to the farm circle, located in the 
most distant point of the drive, live stock can 
easily be driven to any lot of the farm if desired. 
In the plan, a walk leads from the house to the 
light, past a flower bed 
in the lawn, to the 
kitchen garden, thence 
near the drive, with 
shrubs and hardy flow¬ 
ers in places at the side, 
to the grove on the 
right. Here may be an 
arbor to afford shelter, 
both from sun and rain. 
Another arbor occupies 
a grass plat in the center 
of the rear circle. Be¬ 
tween the drive and 
fence of this circle, 
there are five spaces of 
grass that m.ay have 
beds cut in them to be 
filled with shrubs and 
plants. A farm of any 
size, or a fruit and vege¬ 
table garden, laid out on 
some such plan, may prove on this account in 
itself a great source of pleasure to the residents of 
the place, as well as to persons who may be visitors. 
Prevent Chicken Cholera. 
We find that our flock of thirty Plymouth Rock 
fowls, coiifined in a small yard, eat eagerly, and 
thrive upon, any chopped green food offered them. 
When the early lettuce was gone, we by way of 
experiment gave them chopped sunflower leaves, 
which were greedily devoured. We are convinced 
that cholera among fowls—as among men—m.ay of¬ 
ten be prevented by cleanliness, especially in drink¬ 
ing water. Few fowls confined in chickeu yards, 
or even lunning at large, have access to perfectly 
pure water, or as much as they wish. The water 
left for them in vessels is soon soiled by their feet 
and excrement, and becomes a re.isonable source 
of disease. We have kept large sardine boxes, 
which are about deep enough for fowls’ con¬ 
venience, and a wooden trough in our little chicken 
yard. These arc emptied, rinsed, and refilled with 
fresh water twice a day—oftener if very warm. We 
have not lost a chicken by cholera, though our 
neighbors just across the street, and throughout 
the town, have lost r. great many with that 
disease. Our care with the drinking water has 
been I'ewardcd by plump, clean, young broilers. 
The Streaked Cottonwood-Beetle. 
The Cottonwood trees (Populns monilifera), 
through the west and south, have been badly 
infested with leaf-eating grubs during the present 
season, and in answer to inquiries conceniing the 
pest, we present the accompanying engravings. 
The fat brown grubs emit a pungent fluid, from 
Fig. 1.— BUANCII OF COTTONWOOD. — Engracecl fov the American Agriculturist. 
tuberculous spines situated back of the dark colored 
head. These voracious larvae soon eat out the soft 
part of the Cottonwood leaves, leaving only a net¬ 
work of fibres. The pupa, or inactive, state follow¬ 
ing the grub condition is passed upon the leaves. 
The mature beetle is black and yellow, variously 
mixed with three interrupted lines of black or 
bluish spots upon the wing-covers. The beetles 
and grubs may be destroyed by spraying the in¬ 
fested trees with a mixture of Paris Green or 
London Purple and water. Figure 1 represents a 
branch of Cottonwood with eggs at a, enlarged at 
b ; uewly hatched grubs at c. and enlarged ones at 
Dryness in the Fruit House. 
After a low and even temperature is secured, the 
other essentials in preserving fruit are : darkness ; 
an air-tight room, to retain the carbonic acid given 
off by the fruit, and a dry atmosphere. As stated 
elsewhere (p. 423), fruit in ripening gives off both 
carbonic acid and w<ater, or moisture. The carbonic 
acid, by excluding the oxygen of the air, aids in 
preserving the fruit. Moisture is undesirable, as 
it hastens dec.ay. The only effective' method of 
removing it is by exposing in the room some sub- 
staiice that will absorb it. The French use Chlo¬ 
ride of Calcium, which is a very difl'erent substance 
from Chloiide of Lime. This Siilt has such an 
avidity for moisture, that it takes it from tiie air 
of the room and becomes liquified. The objection 
to this is its expense. An American experimenter 
has found a substitute in the “ bittern,” or waste 
material of the salt works, which is thrown away. 
This is mainly a very impure chloride of calcium, 
.and answers the purpose. Tiie bittern, in a large 
iron pan, is exposed in the fruit room. When it 
has become liquified by the moisture absorbed, the 
jian is set over a fire and the salt dried, by driving 
off the water it has .absorbed, when it is again ready 
for use. This process may be repeated indefinitely. 
m 
c 
Fig. 2. 
d, a, d. A pupa is at e. Figure 2 shows the beetle 
at a, with a hair line at its right indicating the 
natural length. At 6, c, d, and c, are half-beetles, 
showing the variations in the color of this insect.. 
“Book Farmers.” 
All intelligent, successful farmers are book far¬ 
mers—just as all good lawyers and doctors are 
book lawyers and book doctors. It is monstrous 
nonsense to deride a farmer because he reads agri¬ 
cultural books and agricultural papers. He may 
be a great re.ader and a v:ry poor farmer. He may 
be a lazy man, that prefers to sit down rather than 
to hold the plow, or to read rather thfin to think. 
But thatis not the fault of the books, or the papers. 
He might do something worse. 
We hazard nothing in saying that the world 
never had better agricultural papers than to-d.ay— 
and never were papers more needed. The farmer 
who can read and does not take an agricultural pa¬ 
per, makes a great mistake. No matter how much 
experience he may have had, or how much he 
knows, he will be glad to see what others are doing, 
and to hear what they have to say. He is not 
obliged to .adopt their methods. Many silly things 
get into some of the papers. They raise a smile, 
but do no harm. The wise farmer will sift out the 
wheat from the chaff. He will find suggestions 
that are valuable. Nothing is easier than to forget. 
We know many things that escape our memory, 
and a good paper recalls them to our mind. 
We might make higher claims, but leave that to 
the intelligence and candor of the farmers. A good 
agricultural paper is worth ten times what it costs, 
and every intelligent farmer knows this. J. H. 
