1877.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
3 
except poultry. Pigs should have only a very small 
quantity ; one ounce weekly, to each full-grown 
one, is sufficient. Horses, oxen, and cows may 
have one ounce daily, and sheep may be supplied 
with all they will consume. 
Sheep— A run in a stubble field when the ground 
is bare, or the snow is only three or four inches 
deep, will be of advantage to the sheep. Any 
weakly ones should be turned out by themselves, 
in a place where they can be looked after. A con¬ 
stant watch should be kept over the flock, lest one 
should fall into a furrow or drain and be unable to 
recover itself. Ewes may thus be lost if neglected. 
Never fail to count the sheep when they go out and 
come in. Never compel them to jump over bars, 
but remove the lowest one, lest legs be broken. If 
a sheep’s leg is accidentally broken, bandage it 
with splints, and keep it by itself for a week or 
two, until the fracture is repaired, which is easily 
done, without any dressing or other treatment. 
Ibultry .—If early eggs are desired, the pullets 
and young hens should be fed in the mornings 
with some cracked corn 6teeped in boiling water 
until it is only moderately warm. In the afternoons 
some corn warmed in the oven may be given. Be¬ 
tween these meals some mixed feed of potato peel¬ 
ings, house scraps, and wheat screenings boiled to¬ 
gether, and seasoned with red pepper, will be use¬ 
ful. A cabbage may be hung in the yard for them 
to peck at. Provide a clean, warm, but well ven¬ 
tilated house, and nests of clean straw. 
Sundry Matters .—Be careful of lights in the bams 
and stables. Safe lanterns only should be used. 
We have used the glass globe lanterns, protected 
with wire, for many years without the least acci¬ 
dent, or breaking one of them. Only perfectly 
safe oil should be used. Devoe’s and Pratt’s oils 
may be used with perfect safety anywhere. With 
these oils if a lamp should fall, there can he no fire 
if it is picked up again immediately. Choose a 
perfectly solvent Insurance Company in which to 
be insured, and take no risks. Keep roofs, roads, 
and sidewalks clear of snow. Ventilate the cellars 
whenever the weather is sufficiently mild. A tub 
of water placed in the cellar on very cold nights, 
will protect fruit or vegetables from freezing. 
Clean up all machines and tools and oil them, coat 
the bright parts with tallow, and cover them to 
keep out dust and dirt. Prepare for packing ice 
by and by, or pack it now if possible. A few loads 
of saw-dust should be hauled when convenient, so 
that it will be ready when wanted; when the 
wagon-box is filled, pile on filled bags to complete 
the load. Keep the shoes of horses and oxen 
sharpened or roughened, and do not attempt to 
drive un-shod oxen ; it is poor economy to save a 
set of shoes and lose half of their working power. 
Notes on Orchard and Garden Work. 
From the questions addressed to us, in cases 
where we know that an answer would have been 
found in these columns, we infer that these notes 
are not read by all for whom they are intended. As 
formerly headed, “Work in the Horticultural De¬ 
partments,” it is likely that many have hastily 
passed them by as being “ Horticultural,” and hav¬ 
ing no interest for them. On this account we 
adopt another heading, which is not open to this 
objection. At the beginning of the year it may be 
well, for the sake of our many new readers, as well 
as the older ones, to say a word about the scope 
and object of these “ Notes.” Horticulture is, of 
course, only a branch of Agriculture, and it is 
often difficult to draw a line between the two. The 
notes on farm work include all the farm crops, the 
farm buildings, and domestic animals. We expect 
that every fanner will have an orchard and kitchen 
garden; we would have every one own a fruit gar¬ 
den ; we hope that every farmer takes sufficient 
pride in the surroundings of his house to be inter¬ 
ested in the notes of the “Flower Garden and 
Lawn ” ; and moreover, that he or some of his 
family will keep a few plants through the winter, 
whether it be only a pot or two in a window, or a 
larger number in a conservatory or a small green¬ 
house. All these are rural matters, they concern 
all who own and cultivate land, and are regarded 
as belonging to horticulture. While some of the 
topics are, or should be, of interest to all farmers, 
all of them are so to some farmers. The point we 
wish to impress is this: the notes under these 
heads are intended for the same persons as are those 
on general farm work, which precede them. Of 
course all are not equally interested in such matters; 
the large grain grower, the dairyman, or cattle 
raiser, cares for fruits and vegetables only so far as 
his family supplies go, though if his sons or daugh¬ 
ters wish to cultivate choice fruits and flowers, he is 
uite willing, and will often encourage them-in it. 
he majority of farmers have small farms, they 
hold high priced land, and they must raise high- 
priced crops. The tendency of farmers in the older 
States, or anywhere near cities or manufacturing 
towns, is to convert their small farms into large 
gardens, and raise fruits and vegetables to supply 
the near market. Our letters show that as large a 
number of inquiries are on matters to which the 
cultivators of large farms scarcely give a thought, 
as they are concerning farm crops proper. These 
notes are not in any manner intended for profes¬ 
sional gardeners or nurserymen, but solely for 
farmers, or others who have a garden—small or 
large—and need such seasonable hints as are sug¬ 
gested by letters of inquiry, or by our own experi¬ 
ence. While they must of necessity treat of simi¬ 
lar subjects year after year, they are always fresh, 
and often embody new things, that might form 
topics for distinct articles ; moreover, the answers 
to various letters are frequently included—though 
without so stating—in these notes. No one en¬ 
gaged in any branch of agriculture, can afford to 
do without a book devoted to his pursuits. There 
were never many sneers about book-gardening; 
even those who ridicule book-farming—a class that, 
we are happy to say, is rapidly diminishing—seem 
to admit that a book on gardening may be useful; 
“ wise in their own conceit ” upon farming matters, 
they are quite willing to accept aid in matters 
about which they know nothing. A book—if it is 
one fit to be regarded as a standard—puts the pres¬ 
ent state of our knowledge upon its subject in a 
compact form, for easy reference, and no matter 
how full we may make the paper, it can never su¬ 
persede the use of books. It is the business of 
papers to record improvements and progress, and 
they can not consequently repeat first principles. 
Hence we say that, in every and all branches of soil 
cultivation, whether sheep-raising or strawberry 
growing, a book on the subject will,pay for itself 
many times over—provided it is studied and its 
teachings heeded. As this is the season for book 
and brain work, we give under each head the names 
of the most useful works in each department. 
Orchard and Nursery. 
An orchard is defined as “ An enclosure devoted 
to fruit trees,” and a nursery as “A place for 
propagating plants—particularly a place for propa¬ 
gating trees or shrubs for transplantation.”—As in 
the pooular idea a nursery is almost exclusively re¬ 
garded as a place where trees and shrubs are sold, 
no doubt that many, seeing the heading “ Orchard 
and Nursery,” have supposed that the notes refer¬ 
red to commercial nurseries, and passed them by 
as of no use to them. We do not presume to teach 
those who are in the nursery business, but our 
notes refer to such propagation of trees and shrubs, 
as may he practised by farmers and others. So 
with the orchard: one whose chief business is fruit¬ 
raising, does not look to his agricultural or horti¬ 
cultural paper for his guide, but in addition to his 
own experience, he has as aids all the standard 
works on fruit, looking to the journals for descrip¬ 
tions of new varieties and new methods, and the 
experience of others in the same occupation. But 
a dozen trees are as properly an orchard, as are a 
hundred acres in trees, and the owner of the small¬ 
er number is much more likely to need aid, than 
the regular orchardist. Hence our notes are main¬ 
ly, though not entirely, intended for the fanner, 
or the one whose orchard is of moderate extent. 
No fruit .—As strange as it may seem, there are 
many farms, and large ones too, on which there is 
no orchard. The settler in a wooded country is 
sure that trees will not grow on newly-cleared land; 
and the one who has opened his farm on the prai¬ 
rie, can not plant his fruit trees, until he has set a 
wind-break—and there is always something to pre¬ 
vent that. The years go by, and no trees are plant¬ 
ed, and the family go without fruit as a necessary 
part of their daily food, and only know it as a 
luxury seldom to be indulged in, on account of the 
expense. "It should need no argument to induce 
every farmer to have an orchard, large or small, 
and assuming that those who have no orchard will 
plant one, that those whose orchard is superanuat- 
ed will set a new one, and those who have already 
a small orchard will supplement it with another, 
we give a few hints as to 
Orchard Planting .—No one should plant an or¬ 
chard, unless he can give the land entirely up to 
the trees, when they come into bearing. In the 
older States we hear much about the orchards 
“ running out,” the trees cease to be productive, 
and we are told that the “climate has changed,” 
or that varieties have “degenerated.” In all such 
cases it will be found that it is the land that has 
“run out,” “changed,” or “degenerated,” and 
this because the land has been made to bear two 
crops, one of fruit, and one of something else; it 
has been “ skinned ” so beyond endurance, that it 
yields no fruit, and very poor weeds. Trees plant¬ 
ed at ordinary distances, meet at their tops, and 
the same thing takes place with their roots, which 
sp occupy the soil that there is not only no room 
for anything else, but they will themselves in time 
so exhaust the.soil that it must be enriched. 
Newly planted Orchards should be cultivated, and 
to secure this, crops may occupy the spaces be¬ 
tween the trees, allowing each full possession of 
as much soil as its size demands, growing only 
such crops as require manure, and will leave the 
land in as good condition as when the trees were 
first set. As the trees increase in size, more space 
must be given up to them, and the strips in culti¬ 
vation narrowed. When bearing begins, cropping 
should cease. Turning an orchard into a grain- 
field or a meadow, is a sure way to ruin the soil; 
turning it into a horse or cattle pasture will as 
surely ruin the trees. The best treatment of an 
orchard is to keep it in clover, and pasture pigs up¬ 
on it; this is excellent for both the pigs and the 
orchard. The occasional plowing required to allow 
the clover to be renewed, will turn under a most 
excellent fertilizer, and the land will be kept im¬ 
proving. An incidental advantage to both orchard 
and pigs will be that the fallen fruit will be eaten, 
and the increase of insects checked. As to the 
Selection op Vabieties. —Do not set too many 
kinds, no matter how highly they are praised by the 
catalogues or the books. Twelve varieties are a 
sufficient number for any fruit, whether for home 
use or market. If of apples, two of these may be 
of the very early, four for autumn, and six of win¬ 
ter sorts. What these varieties should be, is & 
matter of the greatest importance. It is impossible 
to give a list that will suit all over the country. The 
best guide is local experience, and one about to> 
plant, should take time and pains to leam what 
varieties have done well in his locality. In a per¬ 
fectly new country, it will be safest to plant those 
known to succeed over the widest range. 
Where to Buy .—We are frequently asked this 
question, and our advice is—other things being 
equal—to deal with the nearest nurseryman. We 
have often given our opinion of tree-peddlers, and 
again advise caution. Some good nurseries send 
out agents or canvassers, and when satisfied that 
one of these is duly authorized by a responsible 
nursery to solicit orders, it may be safe to deal with 
him—but be sure of this first. At any rate it is 
best to send to one or more nurseries for catalogues, 
to compare prices. If several can combine and 
order together from a nursery, it will save freight 
When to Buy .—Send orders before spring opens, 
that the trees may not get heated or dried out on 
the road. Should the trees get frozen in transit, 
put the package in a cool cellar, or cover it outside 
with a heap of hay or straw, to thaw gradually. 
