1884.] 
AMEEICAE' AGEIOULTUEIST. 
487 
In 1882, the seventh crop in succession, the potato 
yield on the experimental plots was as follows : 
No manure.. 18 
Nitrate of soda alone. 83X 
Superphosphate alone.••. 1911^ 
Superphosphate, potash, etc. 180 
'■ “ * ( . 289'.' 
And nitrate of soda. S 
Last year, 1883, the results were as follows : 
No manure. 104 
Nitrate of soda aione. 125 
Superphosphate aione..199 
Superphosphate, potasii, etc. 198 
. ^ . , “ “ i. 325X 
“ From the results,” said the Doctor, “ it is quite 
clear that we can use superphosphate on potatoes 
with considerable profit.”—“There can be no 
doubt about it,” I said, “ especially if the land is 
in good condition ; for instance, if it is a good 
clover or grass sod, which, on decomposition, 
furnishes the nitrates, potash, etc. The super¬ 
phosphate alone would have a greater effect than 
in the above experiment, where ihe potatoes are 
planted year after year on the same land.”—“Tour 
method,” said the Deacon, “of applying super¬ 
phosphate to potatoes, is a good one, and ought to 
be generally known to American farmers.” 
The method which the Deacon alludes to is a 
very simple one, and is practised, I presume, by 
by many others. We mark out the land in rows 
thirty-five inches apart, and drill in the superphos¬ 
phate in these rows with our grain drill, and then 
drop the potatoes in the row about fifteen inches 
apart. The English farmers plant potatoes closer 
than we do. In the Rothamsted experiment, the 
rows were twenty-five inches apart, and the sets 
dropped twelve to fourteen inches apart in the rows. 
“Our farmers,” said the Doctor, “are applying 
superphosphate to the corn in the same way. The 
best field of corn I have seen this year was drilled 
in with a grain drill in rows forty-two inches apart. 
The drill has a fertilizer attachment. No marking 
out was required. The seed and phosphate were 
sown at one operation, at the rate of ten acres or 
more a day.”—“Tes,” said I, “the plan is an excel¬ 
lent one. I know the field you allude to. It was 
sown early, and kept very clean by the frequent 
use of the cultivator. The corn is remarkably well 
eared, and was cut September 8-12—the earliest in 
the neighborhood. The old-fashioned method of 
planting by hand in hills, ‘must go’.”—“Somust 
I,” said the Deacon, and he left. He has strenu¬ 
ously opposed the plan of drilling in corn for 
years. And he is right, unless other improved 
methods are adopted at the same time—such as 
early planting, thorough cultivation, and the use 
of superphosphate in the drill. The superphos¬ 
phate hastens the maturity of the corn crop. 
Wintering Young Pigs. 
Pigs born later than the first of October will 
need good care and skillful management to keep 
them in a thrifty, growing condition through the 
winter. This is partieularly the case it you keep 
them in large numbers, and it is a good plan to sell 
all you can before winter sets in. People who 
keep only two or three pigs to eat up the slops 
from the house can handle their late pigs to better 
advantage than the large farmer or breeder. Such 
young pigs need milk, greasy water, or broth and 
bread, or cooked potatoes, with corn meal pud¬ 
ding ; these are more likely to be liberally furnished 
from the kitchen when you have only two pet pigs 
than when you have two score or two hundred. 
Whatever method of feeding is adopted, let it be 
liberal. Let them have all the good feed they will 
eat—no more, no less. Let them have good, dry, 
comfortable quarters to sleep in, and disturb them 
as little as possible. Pigs are in part hibernating 
animals. The more they sleep the better for them 
and their owner. We do not want to fatten pigs in 
winter. We simply want to keep them in healthy, 
growing condition, and the fatter they are when 
winter sets in, the easier it will be to carry them 
through the winter. Pigs well wintered, are in 
good condition to thrive well on grass and clover 
next summer. They will do far better on pasture 
alone than young spring pigs. We are not now 
advocating having young pigs come in the autumn, 
but if you have them and cannot sell them, or do 
not wish to, then take the best of care of them, 
and feed liberally. The most profitable pork we 
have ever made, was from young pigs which had 
been well cared for through the previous winter, 
and the next summer fattened on clover pasture. 
Convenient Passage-Ways in Fences. 
H. L. C., Strafford Co., N. H., sends us a sketch 
and description of his cattle way. When, he 
writes, we bought our farm, there was a common 
set of bars at the barn-yard, and one also at the en- 
Fig. 1.— A CATTLE ENTRANCE. 
trance to the pasture. These bars being wider 
than needed for admitting any team or vehicle, we 
set an extra post three feet from one of the fence 
posts, with slat and pin for holding the bars in 
place. By sliding the bars far enough to allow the 
cattle to pass through, we avoid the trouble of 
dropping the bars, and of stooping to raise them 
into place again. The boards are less likely to get 
broken by the feet of the animals. Figure 1 repre¬ 
sents the upper bars nearly open, and the lower 
one closed. We have frequent occasion to cross, 
on foot, a lot where the boards of the fence are too 
near together to pass between them. We took off 
the middle board, pinned one end loosely to one of 
the posts, and placed a fastener or catch on the 
Fig. 2.— A LOOSE BOARD. 
other post, as shown in figure 2. In passing, we 
drop one end of the board, step through, and return 
the board to its place, with but little effort or de¬ 
lay, as illustrated in the engraving given above. 
TJnderdraining in Winter. 
Even when the thermometer was below zero, we 
have successfully and easily dug and laid tile 
drains. Two things are necessary ; we must make 
our arrangements before winter sets in, and the 
tiles must be laid every day as fast as the under- 
drain is completed. It is usual to finish digging 
the drain before commencing to lay the tile. We 
dig from the outlet up into the field to be drained, 
and when the diteh is finished, we commence lay¬ 
ing the tUes at the upper end of the drain, and 
work backwards, iaying tile after tile, until we 
reach the outlet. When draining in winter, we 
cannot do this. We commence at the outlet, dig a 
few rods of drain, and lay the tiles, and cover them 
up. It comes a little awkward at first to an old 
ditcher, and some care, sense, good judgment, and 
pluck are necessary. But the work can be done, 
and done well. We speak from experience. If 
you find water in the land, and the outlet below is 
free, there need be no fear of laying the tiles too 
deep or too shallow. The water will give you the 
true level. All you have to do is to cut the drain 
so that the water will pass off through the tiles 
below. If the land is nearly on a dead level, and 
you are anxious to get every inch of fall, you can 
cut the drain so that the water, before the pipes 
are laid, will stand in it nearly an inch deep. If 
horse-shoe tiles are used, this is not necessary, but 
with pipes you must allow for the thickness of the 
pipe at the bottom of the drain. We said it is 
necessary to make preparations before winter sets 
in. In the first place, make up your mind just 
where the drains are to be cut, and stick stakes. 
Then commence at the outlet, and with a good 
three-horse team plow two furrows at least two 
yards apart on each side of the proposed drain, and 
keep plowing, turning haw at the end, until the 
whole is plowed, and you have a good, deep, dead- 
furrow in the centre where the drain is to be cut. 
If it is stubble land, it is a good plan to plow this 
strip two or three times over, turning the furrows 
away from the centre every time. In this way you 
can break up the land where the drain is to be at 
least eighteen inches deep. The loose earth will 
fall back again into the centre, but if it does not, 
keep plowing until you have at least eight inches of 
loose earth on the surface of the land where the 
drain is to be cut. The object of this plowing is not 
merely to lessen the labor of digging, but to'fur- 
nish a mass of loose soil that will not freeze. To 
accomplish this object, the work must be thor¬ 
oughly done. The earlier you plow in the autumn, 
the better, but the final plowing should be ju.st 
before winter sets in, or better still, after there is 
an inch or so of frozen crust on the previously 
plowed land. A couple of men following the 
plow, will pull on one side, with potato hooks, 
large chuncks of frozen earth, and thus enable you 
to plow deeper in the centre where the drain is to 
be. In the winter, even when the rest of the field 
is bare, there will probably be snow in this deep, 
dead-furrow, and when it is shovelled off you will 
find loose earth beneath, or at worst, only a slight 
crust of frozen earth that can be easily broken up. 
Bare-back versus Blanket Saddle. 
As a boy I could throw myself on a horse, and 
with a withe-bridle go almost anywhere, across 
ditches, over fences, etc., and rarely thought 
whether the horse was fat or lean, or high or low 
withered. I do not remember ever being much 
troubled by the chine of the back-bone. But now 
I need a saddle. There were two of us to ride the 
other day, and only one saddle; so a saddle had to 
be improvised. I remembered that the cavalrymen 
used to fold a blanket so as to make a comfortable 
seat. I tried my hand, and I think hit it the first 
time. The horse was far from fat. The blanket 
was first folded narrow and smooth, about fourteen 
inches wide; the exact middle marked, and the 
ends rolled rather tightly to the centre. This rolled 
blanket was laid rolls down upon the back of the 
horse, one roll being on each side of the back 
bone, as shown in the engraving. A saddle-cloth, 
a sack, or a blanket may be laid over it, and strap¬ 
ped on with a good, strong surcingle. This fur¬ 
nishes a broad, level, easy seat. To make the 
saddle complete, a leather girth is needed with 
stirrup straps, and stirrups attached ; also a breast 
strap, made of a piece of surcingle webbing, con¬ 
necting with the girth between the forelegs, and 
AN IMPROVISED SADDLE. 
having its ends sewed together and attached to the 
girth at the withers by a buckle, or by two short 
straps and buckles on each side. A back strap and 
crapper may be buckled by the girth. This makes 
a safe boy’s saddle, which would be hard to beat 
for comfort or safety while riding. W. 
Hold on to the Sheep. —The depressing ten¬ 
dency of the wool market is apt to influence many 
sheep-raisers to get rid of their flocks at any price 
and go out of the business. We believe those who 
do this will miss it. Every business has its low 
tide, but it will surely rise again, and they who 
hold on to their sheep will be gainers in the end. 
The farmer or stock raiser should not be fickle. 
