70 
AMERICAN AGrRICU LTU RIS T, 
[March, 
so full of water that no air got into it, from No¬ 
vember to May. Now the air follows every rain, 
anil every freezing and thawing disturbs the whole 
mass of the soil several inches deep. The me¬ 
chanical improvement of the soil seems to go on 
ipiite as rapidly in the Winter as in the Summer. 
Jack Frost, I guess, is about as good a friend as 
the farmer has, if he would only give him a 
chance to work. The tiles make a path for him, 
and be uses up the coarse lumps and clods a lit¬ 
tle better than any harrow I ever tried. 
Uncle Jotham has doubtless seen these things, 
though he has said nothing and would have prob¬ 
ably declared any time within the last three 
months, that tiles were the greatest humbug out, 
in his candid opinion. 
The conversation I have reported among the 
wiseacres of Hookertown, occurred last Fall. 
A feu^ days after I had occasion to go upon the 
Shad town road to see what had become of the 
load of tiles I found Uncle Jotham with three 
hands and a team, busy making ditches on the 
side hills around the drained pond. 
“ Good morning Uncle Jotham. I thought you 
didn't believe in crockery—rather pizen to the 
land 1” 
“ Wal now Squire Bunker, to tell the plain 
truth, this ’ere business has been brew in in my 
mind ever since that horse pond of yourn was 
dreened off. And when I come to let the water 
off here, and got my first crop on land that was 
once under water, I had to cave in myself, worse 
than the tad-poles, when the water left them. 
You see, the taters I raised here on these three 
acres the first season, brought me five hundred 
dollars delivered at the landing, and that amount 
of money, ye see, would make tearin work with 
almost any man’s prejudices. I found I could 
gel the Hartford tile down there pretty reasona¬ 
ble, and I jest made up my mind to finish the job. 
Am I duin it right Squire Bunker 1” 
I found he had determined to put in drains upon 
all the side hills sloping down to the reclaimed 
meadow, leaving the drains there still open. 
These hill sides embraced four or five acres, and 
were naturally a heavy clay soil, always wet, 
until mid-summer. The drains were about three 
feet deep, and I found he had got a man used to 
the business, to do the work in the best manner. 
I have frequently looked over the ground this 
Winter, and it is a charming sight to see the va¬ 
rious colored clays, and rough clods gradually 
breaking down under the action of frost and rain. 
The results of course, remain to be seen, but 
nobody who has seen the working of tiles, can 
doubt what they will be. 
Thus the leaven of new ideas is working all 
through this region. When one man gets a tile in 
his field, another is certain to get one in his head, 
and after carrying it a spell, it is in due time 
laid, and carries water. When Jotham Sparrow- 
grass tile drains, you may know the world moves. 
Yours to command, 
Honkcrtoum, Ct., Feb. 15 ] Timothy Bunker, Esq. 
Odd Hints for March. 
As iny and straw will become drier, with the 
progress of the season, the supply should he a 
little increased, fur feeding stock, and the quan¬ 
tity of roots not diminished. 
Grass-lands which failed to receive their dres¬ 
sing of compost last Fall, may be attended to now, 
before the ground becomes soft. Tbe manure 
dropped during tbe Winter, around hay-stacks 
in meadows, should he cleaned up and carted 
away on sleds before Spring opens : if left until 
May, the grass will be badly injured, if not killed. 
Dry meadows will take it kindly if you give them 
a bushel or two of plaster, or a few bushels of 
lime, or leached ashes, to the acre, and Winter 
grain, which got no plaster at sowing time, may 
well have it early this Spring. 
Fruit trees exhaust the ground of its peedful 
elements, and should be manured a little every 
year. A compost of chip-dirt and barn manure 
now spread over the orchard, will help the grass 
and the trees themselves. 
Water-courses which are allowed to flow over 
mowing lands, should be frequently changed, so 
that all parts of the fields may get benefit from the 
irrigation, and the grass in no part become rank 
and uneven. Now, or as soon as the frost is out 
of the ground, this should be attended to. 
If any dead animals—cats, lambs, dogs, calves, 
cows, horses, etc.—have accumulated around the 
premises during the Winter, now is the time to 
dispose of them. Instead of heing hauled into 
some retired spot, to decay above ground and fill 
the air with noxious smells, they should be taken 
to some unoccupied corner of a field and covered 
with six or eight inches of soil: this will not 
only obviate unpleasant effluvia, but will contrib¬ 
ute largely to the -manure-heap. 
Now is the time to look after seeds, if they 
•have not been already provided Let every ar¬ 
ticle be the best of its kind, if good crops are ex¬ 
pected. The garden should not he forgotten. 
Peas, beans, tomatoes, lettuce, radishes, and the 
like, should be provided for before the hurrying 
season comes. 
Now, split rails, and stack them where they 
will dry well, if they are not wanted immediately 
on the fences. Look well to all the farm-gates, 
bars, and bar-posts ; let none be out of repair af¬ 
ter this month. A broken fence often costs about 
the value of a crop. * 
Caution to Bee-keepers. 
Mb, E-ditor.— While you are in the way of ex¬ 
posing humbug advertisements for the benefit of 
your readers generally, I would ask a little space 
for the bee-keepers and myself, particularly. I 
find that many patent hive venders are very free 
with my name,—attaching it to recommendations 
of hives that I never even heard of, as an induce¬ 
ment to purchase their worthless trash. This 
has been done in some quarters, till my reputation 
for consistency is in great need of repair. Take 
a sample of one of the boldest, emanating from 
some point in Michigan, where it was supposed, 
no doubt, that it might escape my notice. 
“ This is the only Patent Hive ever used hv 
Quinby, the greatest Bee Raiser in the United 
States, who, before it was patented, offered $ 120 
for his individual right, now sold for five.” 
And to make it still more like truth, he gives 
my name among others for reference. Now I 
wish it distinctly understood that I never offered 
a dollar for a patent hive yet. That I never re¬ 
commended any of them hut those with movable 
combs. And to prevent being accused of inter¬ 
ested motives, even here, I would say that I have 
no interest in any of them beyond an individual 
right to use. Of these rights, I have any number, 
presented me, even the “ Crossbar Hive ” ! ! ! 
If you would assist in exposing this rascality, 
it might save some of your readers the trouble of 
writing, and of my answering numerous letters 
asking to he further assured of my opinion of 
this or that hive. M. Quinby. 
St. Jolinsville, N. Y. 
A man who is apprehensive of receiving in¬ 
sults is conscious of deserving them. True dig¬ 
nity never can he approached without respect, it 
is a coat of mail, which will always keep at a dis¬ 
tance the contemptible intruder. 
■ - *-*—— - ► - 
Advertising Information—Gratis—iX. 
(Continued from page 3S.) 
About these days, when the planting season is coming 
on, it will be well to guard against ihe specious adver¬ 
tisements of irresponsible and unknown persons, offering 
wonderful or extraordinary seeds, plants, etc. We are 
constantly plied with advertisements of this kind from 
some part of the country, and are trying, at considerable 
sacrifice of advertising receipts, to keep such matters out 
of our columns. We may sometimes err on the wrong 
side, by shutting out a good tiring, because it comes 
from an unknown party. Here are a few more items of 
“ advertising information”: 
[No. 27.] 
One of the largest advertising concerns in the country, 
is the so-called “ N. Y. Farmer’s Club.” This body af¬ 
fords peculiar advantages for all classes, since anybody 
can advertise through it without expense, anything desired 
—positively reaching all those gatherecLat any meeting, 
and probably a larger circle through reports of the doings 
of the Club, in lire papers. Though we long since ceased 
to waste time and patience in a regular attendance upon 
the Club, we beg to say that we do not now utterly con¬ 
demn it, for many good things are brought out at its meet¬ 
ings—ahmg with some things not so good. Formerly, 
when it was almost wholly under lire control of the su¬ 
per-phosphate Professor & Co., and chiefly used as a place 
for retailing large stories, and advertising articles of sun¬ 
dry kinds, we were quite willing to endorse the remark 
of an old Western farmer, who came to our office after 
his first attendance at a meeting. Said he: “• I thought, 
from the papers, that your N. Y. Farmer’s Club was a 
great institution, but I found to-day a gathering chiefly 
composed of old fogies and humbugs, with green-horns, 
like myself, who dropped in to be enlightened.” Latter¬ 
ly there has been a larger infusion of well-informed and 
well-meaning men—theie have always been a few such— 
and we hope it may yet prove a useful institution. The 
only remark we have now to make, is, that the distant 
reader must not place too implicit confidence in anything 
done, or said, or recommended there, fur the very good 
reason that everybody goes, and says, and recommends 
whatever may be for his pleasure or interest. The fact 
that a thing has been exhibited, and talked about, and 
recommended by somebody at the N. Y. Farmers’ 
Club, must not be taken as a guarantee that the said 
thing is to bo ardently desired by farmers everywhere, 
and procured at any cost. Here is a case in point: 
[No. 28.J 
In last volume, page 310, we merely described, without 
recommending it, a large onion from Portugal, which had 
been presented to us. A friend, with the best intention, 
borrowed the onion to show to some of his neighbors, and 
also exhibited it at the N. Y. Farmer’s Club. It was 
talked about, was admired, and the comparatively 
“ scentless” large onions raised in Portugal were spoken 
of. A report of the affair was, of course, published in the 
papers. As the result, we found in the Tribune of Jan. 
31st, the following, under the head of “ To Farmers and 
others.” 
P ORTUGAL ONION.—The subscriber, 
having imported a quantity of Ihe seed of ihe SCENT¬ 
LESS PORTUGAL ONION’, referred to by Mr. -in the 
Farmers’ Club, at. tlicir meeting, Dec. 19. 1859, will fonvaid to 
nnv direction, postpaid, a sufficient quantity to plant two square 
rods of around, on receipt of 50 cts. This Onion is of fine fla¬ 
vor and devoid of uuv offensive odor. Address 
’ JOHN HOWARD, New-York Post Offico. 
Not know ing any regular seedsman of this name, who 
could have had a slock of the seed of that onion on hand, 
we were a little puzzled to know how it could have been 
imported from Portugal in so short a space of tune, by 
any of the seven John Howards whose names appear in the 
New-York Directory, (including 1 tailor, 1 laborer. 1 car- 
man, 1 exchange broker, 1 grocer, and 2 clerks.) But re¬ 
calling that one John Howard, now deceased, was a great 
philanthropist, we thought perhaps our advertising John 
Howard might be another philanthropist, who, failing to 
otherwise exert a desired influence over our obdurate 
people, had concluded to try to bring them to tears, at 
least, and for litis purpose had provided a supply of onion 
seed from Portugal. Wishing, of course, to oblainsome 
seed of our onion, w e at once w rote an affectionate letter 
to the advertising John Howard, asking the price of one 
to a dozen pounds, and among other things, soliciting an 
interview with reference to the purchase. But we fear 
our one big onion (fortunate that it is large) must suffice 
for our table all this year. Our letter was duly deposited 
at the N. Y. Post Office over two weeks ago, but no ans¬ 
wer will the philanthropic or omon-thropie John 
Howard deign to give us .. Memorandum — Thorburn, A1 
