AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
335 
2861 .] 
substantial manner, as before directed. Put on 
the sills, and frame into them widejoists, at least 
six inches deep. Then put on a tight sheathing 
of boards on the under side of the joists, and fill 
up the spaces between with dry saw-dust or 
tan-bark, and cover the whole with a good floor¬ 
ing. Over this raise a roof. This double wall 
overhead and the roof will be quite sure to keep 
out frost. The little room or attic above, may 
be used for a general store-room of farm uten¬ 
sils, etc. From the cellar below, a doorway 
should open near the door of the barn, and the 
doors should be double, to be frost proof, one 
opening outward and one into the cellar. Ven¬ 
tilation can be had by running up a square wood¬ 
en tube, six to ten inches diameter, from the 
middle of the cellar, to be closed when needful. 
In a cellar like the foregoing, special care will 
need to be taken, to have the roots thoroughly 
dry when stored, and kept dry during Winter. 
An occasional turning over will be useful. If 
the roots are kept in bins, as some prefer, these 
should be made with wooden gratings in the 
bottom, raised about six inches above ground, to 
promote ventilation. In a cellar like this, or a 
common barn cellar, where frost inclines to enter, 
the tops of the bins or shelves should be cov¬ 
ered in mid-winter, with a foot or two of straw. 
5. But supposing a bam cellar of no descrip¬ 
tion can well be had, then the roots must be 
pitted. Choose a dry part of the field for mak¬ 
ing the heaps. See that the roots are well dried 
before stacking. If there is any doubt about it, 
a very little quick lime should be sprinkled in 
the heap as it goes up. Each pile is to be about 
six feet broad at the base and four feet high. 
Cover with straw a foot thick, and six inches of 
soil. When mid-winter approaches, add eight 
or ten inches more of earth, pack it hard and 
smooth. Ventilation may be given to each heap 
by inserting half a bundle of straw vertically, 
like a chimney. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Clear up the Highway. 
One of the greatest trials to a neat and order¬ 
ly man, is the practice of obstructing the public 
roads, in various ways. This is sometimes 
done from mere shiftlessness, and sometimes 
from stinginess—a desire to get as much as pos¬ 
sible out of the public. During the coming 
Winter, we shall see piles of wood stretching 
along the side-walk, and often tumbling down 
upon it; also stacks of boards in the same pre¬ 
carious condition. Opposite a certain man’s 
premises, we constantly see fragments of old 
carts, sleds, and barrels, rotten logs, heaps of 
brush and other nuisances. And this man can 
not see any impropriety in this conduct. Is not 
the land his own—to the middle of the road ? 
Now, to say nothing about the looks of the 
thing, streets so encumbered are unsafe. Many 
horses take fright at such “pokerisli objects,” and 
become ungovernable. Every man, probably, 
must have piles of rubbish somewhere, but let 
them be within his own gates, and as much as 
possible out of sight. 
The roads are often obstructed by roving cat¬ 
tle. It may have been allowable for cattle to 
roam at large in the early settlement of the coun¬ 
try; it maybe still at the far West; but now 
in the older settlements, where farms are fenced, 
and where those who do not own land can get 
pasturage by honestly paying for it, there is no 
excuse for sponging it out of the public. There 
is more harm done now-a-days by trespassing 
Rattle, than m earlier times. Rich grain-fields, 
meadows, gardens, lawns—all brought int© 
their present state by hard labor and at great 
cost—are exposed to destruction by a single un¬ 
ruly beast. In the street, hogs root up the grass 
by the road side, and befoul the sidewalks. 
They, with the cows, rub down newly-planted 
shade trees; they soil neatly painted fences and 
buildings; and they are a constant occasion of 
fright to women and children. And then, if a 
gate happen to be left open, or if a board hap¬ 
pen to get broken from the fence, these hungry 
creatures are sure to find it out. The harm 
that follows, who can describe ? It is not alone 
the corn-fields' which the half-famished herd 
trample down, nor the ornamental trees, flow¬ 
ers, and shrubs, which they destroy—though this 
is enough to exhaust the patience of Job—but it 
is the alienation and bitterness of feeling between 
neighbors which ensue, followed up, perhaps, 
by a law-suit which costs the trespasser more 
than it would to have decently hired his stock 
pastured the whole Summer. 
Quiet and peaceable people don’t like to be 
continually scolding and quarreling with their 
trespassing neighbors. If they endeavor to get 
amends for injuries received, they may expect 
some kind of barbarous retaliation; and yet, if 
they quietly submit to abuse, the abuse will be 
increased. We have only to add, that this and all 
similar modes of obstructing the highway, are 
gross misdemeanors; they show a disposition 
to trespass on the rights of others; they are out¬ 
rages upon society in which no one can persist 
and claim to be a good citizen. Sufferer, 
County and Village Lectures this Winter. 
In these war times, all unnecessary expenses 
must be avoided; and among these, the fashion¬ 
able Lectures which cost from fifty to a hun¬ 
dred dollars the hour. Such extravagant enter¬ 
tainments may be indulged in at other times, 
but not now. We want plain, substantial food. 
We need something to relieve our minds occa¬ 
sionally, from the sad and stern realities of civil 
strife and bloodshed, but it should be something 
reasonable in its cost and in its character. Not 
wholly insensible are we to the attractions of 
wit and learning and lofty eloquence, but in 
these sober days, something plainer and more 
quiet conforms nearer to our taste and feelings. 
Accordingly, we suggest that when our vil¬ 
lage and country friends organize lyceums or 
associations for lectures and debates, for this 
Winter at least, the speakers all be home-made. The 
clergy, lawyers, and physicians of the town, 
should not indeed be excluded, but the main 
dependence should not be upon them. Farm¬ 
ers, intelligent mechanics, merchants, and busi¬ 
ness men of all kinds should be drafted into the 
service. Let each man lecture on the subject 
he is most familiar with, and in which he feels 
the deepest interest. Farmers have at hand a 
thousand topics, attractive and instructive to 
every body. Mechanics can discourse of imple¬ 
ments, of materials, of construction, of inven¬ 
tions and improvements in various handicrafts. 
Merchants can enlighten us upon the laws of 
trade, upon production and consumption, and 
the like. The learned professions may be looked 
to for filling the gaps in the Course of Lectures. 
Doubtless, the first and leading objection to 
this plan will be that the speakers proposed can 
not speak. What if they can’t, then let them talk. 
Fine writing, and carefully-practiced elocution 
are not asked for. We want information on 
practical subjects; and we want it from men 
whom we know and have confidence in- And 
besides, the call upon such men for lectures and 
debates will benefit them. It will incite them 
to reading and thinking, and perhaps to writing. 
It will teach them to arrange their thoughts in 
logical order, and to present them in some suit¬ 
able manner. 
What a happy influence such a system would 
have upon a neighborhood, if it were once 
heartily engaged in! The dormant talent which 
so many of our plain men possess, would be de¬ 
veloped and aroused to action. Instead of 
spending their evenings and rainy days at stores, 
saloons, or other lounging-places, they would be 
seen poring over books from the village libra¬ 
ries at home, preparing for their lectures or 
talks. Their conversation would oftener turn 
upon subjects of practical importance, and less 
frequently on neighborhood gossip. The chil¬ 
dren and young people would be occupied less 
with vicious or foolish amusements, and many 
a child of talent would be inspired with im¬ 
pulses for self improvement that would ere long 
place him on the high road to fame. * 
Farmers’ Libraries. 
Having frequently urged the organization of 
Farmers’ Clubs, we now recommend the forma¬ 
tion of Libraries for the same persons. If one 
wishes to inform himself well on the various 
topics which come up before such a Club, he 
must have books. Tradition, hearsay, and par¬ 
tial experience are not enough. He should be 
able to go to the bottom of every subject, to un¬ 
derstand its theory, its history, and the conclu¬ 
sions to which science and wide experiment 
lead. These things can be best got from books. 
But every farmer can not be expected to own 
all the books necessary for such investigations: 
he can not afford it. The only way, therefore, 
is for the agriculturists of a neighborhood to 
club together and buy a library by subscription, 
to be their joint property. Our school-district 
libraries generally contain a few volumes on 
husbandry, which answer well as far as they go, 
but they do not cover the whole ground. We 
want several encyclopedias of agriculture, books 
for immediate reference, giving the gist of a sub¬ 
ject in a very few paragraphs. Then we want 
scientific treatises on particular subjects, which 
go thoroughly and fully into all the branches of 
a topic. For instance, who does not like to 
“dip” at times into such books as Johnson’s 
Encyclopedia of Agriculture, and at other times, 
to take long draughts out of such books as 
Lindley on Horticulture, French on Farm Drain¬ 
ing, Downing on Fruits, Youatt on the Horse, 
etc., etc. There is a long list of such excellent 
books, which every farmer and gardener would 
like to read, though he might not expect to own 
them all. 
We repeat, then, that the way to get the use 
of such works is to form stock companies of 
some kind, and purchase them by subscription. 
Farmers’ Clubs might lay an annual tax of one 
or two dollars on each member, to be used in 
buying books, and in subscriptions to standard 
periodicals. These books and papers should be 
kept at some central and convenient point, and 
be drawn out, subject to certain rules. 
Does any body object to this plan on account 
of its expensiveness? Such contributions will, 
in the long run, fill the purse faster than they 
drain it. Their good effects will be seen in im¬ 
proved fences, buildings, stocks, and crops. 
They will appear, too, in the zeal, intelligence, 
economy and enterprize with which the farmer 
will pursue the labors of his calling. t 
