72 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[March, 
How to Keep Farm Accounts. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
The idea of keeping farm accounts, as recom¬ 
mended by your correspondent in the January 
No., page 8, I like very much, but I think he has 
spread the thing out too much. A plain farmer, 
like me, gets puzzled over a a journal, a ledger, 
stock look, wages look, etc. It seems hardly worth 
while for a man with an ordinary sized farm to 
build a separate barn for each kind of hay, grain, 
and roots. It answers the purpose better to have 
several divisions in the same building ; just so, I 
think it is better to have fewer books for accounts, 
and when people find out that it can be done easi¬ 
ly and without much 11 book learning," they will 
be more likely to try it. My plan is this : I keep 
with me a little pocket memorandum book, in 
which I note down very briefly such facts and 
figures as ought to be remembered, to be trans¬ 
ferred, (every night if possible) to the 11 Diary,” 
which I make thus : 
I buy a quire of foolscap paper, stitch the backs 
together, cover it with pasteboard or thick paper, 
and label it properly on the outside. In this book 
I write out more fully the entries in the pocket 
memorandum, and whatever else I think ought to 
be kept in mind. Here is a specimen : 
April 1st—Commenced plowing the North lot; 
ground in good condition.—John Glass com¬ 
menced work according to agreement made Feb. 
15 th.—Sold “ Brindle’s calf to butcher Egbert, 
for seven dollars, to be paid for April 9th.—Re¬ 
paired my half of line fence next to George 
Blair.—Bought 2i Bush, seed corn of L. Smith, 
at §1 per bush—to be paid May 1st.,” etc. 
A bound blank book, ruled plain, would not cost 
much, but as I commenced in this way years 
ago, and it answers the purpose, I have kept on 
using the stitched sheets. When a book is filled, 
it is numbered, and laid away with former vol¬ 
umes for reference. For my Ledger, the only oth¬ 
er book I find necessary, I buy a blank book 
properly ruled, containing about 4 quires. In this 
I keep a record of all money transactions, ac¬ 
counts with hired help, with persons trusted for 
articles bought, and with each field. Here is a 
sample. 
Date. 
1859. 
Ap’l. 13- 
14. 
p. 
WEST LOT. 
Dr. 
$ 
6 . 
To 4 Days Plowing (®$2.50. 
10 
1 Day Harrowing. 
2 
7. 
“ Seed and Sowing. 
3 
50 
25 
The column next to the date, marked P, shows 
on what page of the Diary other particulars of the 
work are recorded. A page may well be devoted 
to each lot; another to sheep ; another to cattle ; 
another to horses ; another to swine ; another to 
poultry ; another to household expenses ; one to 
each hired man ; and so on. Where there are 
a number of accounts, the book may be paged, 
and an index placed on the first leaf. 
Each account has two pages, one for Dr., the 
other and opposite one, Cr. When a page is filled, 
the account is balanced.and two more pages taken. 
I have an account with the farm as a whole, in 
which it is charged with the cost of the land, all 
permanent improvements, such as buildings, 
fences, ditches, new implements, interest, taxes, 
etc., and whatever is not fairly chargeable to any 
particular field or crops. 
The cash account is kept in the same book. 
All money received is put on the Dr. side, and all 
paid out on the Cr. side. This balanced at any 
time shows how much is, or ought to be, on hand. 
At the end of the year, all balances then due 
from individuals, the amount of the property on 
hand after deducting for debts due to others, to¬ 
gether with the estimated value of the Farm, are 
plaaed on the Cr. side of Farm account, and a 
balance taken, shows what I am worth. This 
balance compared with that of the previous year, 
shows which end of the horn I am coming out of. 
If I have lost money it is some satisfaction to 
discover the leak where it escaped, so as to stop 
it in future ; if I have gained, it is pleasant to see 
it in figures. Jonathan. 
Frost Work—A Phenomenon. 
[The followinginteresting letter arrived too late to have 
the engraving made for February. There are many 
strange phenomena exhibited in the effects of frost upon 
water, as every country dweller well knows. They are 
seen in brooks, on frosted windows—in short everywhere. 
We have not had time to devote to an examination of the 
case here presented, and if we had, perhaps could not ex¬ 
plain it. Water follows regular laws in crystalizing, and 
perhaps in this case, the expansion of the water in freez¬ 
ing forced some of it up gradually at one point, and it 
froze on the edges as it rose up, and thus produced the 
singular hollow tube. This is merely a suggestion at first 
thought. Some scientific reader will probably furnish an 
intelligent explanation.— Ed.] 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist : 
Having greatly enjoyed the monthly visits of 
your journal, and knowing you to be an ardent 
admirer of the varied works of nature, I‘send a 
pencil sketch, and description of a singular phe¬ 
nomenon. On the evening of Dec. 29, 1859, Up¬ 
ton R. Maul, Esq., of Harford County, Md., 
placed on a table in a cold room of his dwel¬ 
ling, a two-gallon tin bucket, nearly full of clear 
spring water. In the morning, the water was 
covered with a thin crust of ice somewhat rough 
and uneven. Near one side of the vessel was a 
beautiful triangular prism of ice, that had shot up 
above the surface, at an angle of precisely sixty 
degrees. This extraordinary formation was 4J- 
inches high, and terminated in an isosceles tri¬ 
angle, measuring 1| inches on each of its two 
equal sides, and 15-16ths of an inch on the third 
side, but was larger towards the base. It was 
hollow and full of water, the walls being about 
one.sixteenth of an inch thick at the top, three- 
eighths at the bottom, and transparent as crystal. 
To ascertain whether or not there was an open 
communication between the fluid in the prism 
and that in the bucket, the stem of an ordinary 
clay pipe was introduced, but the end of it rested 
on ice at the lower part of the column. As a 
second experiment for the same purpose, the 
feathers were stripped from a goose-quill, and the 
small end put gently down the hollow, and it 
passed through to the main body of water with¬ 
out any apparent obstruction. As the day ad¬ 
vanced, the liquid inclosed in the prism gradually 
congealed, until it became solid. Near the mid¬ 
dle of the base there was now seen a circle of 
about i inch in diamater, presenting the appear¬ 
ance of very fine white moss, coiled up in the shape 
of a button ; while the column was beautifully 
ornamented by delicate silvery threads, radiating 
from a straight central line, as regular as the 
fibers of a small feather, and not unlike them. 
Upon the whole it was a rare and splendid dis¬ 
play of Nature’s plastic skill. This curious spec¬ 
imen of frost work is still in a tolerably good 
state of preservation, at this date, and lias been, 
examined and admired by many gentlemen of'the 
neighborhood. 
And now, Mr. Editor, I earnestly solicit from 
scientific gentlemen, an explanation of the prob¬ 
able causes that led to this strange result By 
what law of congelation did this portion of ice 
ascend alone the surrounding level 7 Why did it 
crystalize in the form of a triangular prism 7 Why 
did it rise at an angle of precisely sixty degrees, 
rather than in a perpendicular direction 1 Why 
was it hollow , with the water unfrozen at the 
top and throughout the column, although exposed 
to the same atmosphere that covered the bucket 
with ice 1 Why did the cavity close up in the 
morning, when the air was evidently warmer than 
during the night 7 Did the water ascend by the 
influence of atmospheric pressure, or by capillary 
attraction, or by some other agency! 
Harford Co., Md., Jan. G. I860. Thos. HENDERSON. 
Horizontal Wells. 
Some of our cotemporaries are discussing hor¬ 
izontal wells as if they were a new idea. The 
principle is the same as that of artificial springs, 
with which most of our readers are familiar. It 
is claimed that in running a horizontal shaft into 
the side of a hill, we are more likely to strike a 
living vein of water, than we would be to go 
down the same distance perpendicularly. How- 
ever this may be, it is one of the most conve¬ 
nient methods of furnishing living water in pas¬ 
tures and mcali ws now destitute. The plan of 
bringing the water from some high ground at a 
distance of half a mile or more by means of a 
lead pipe, is frequently resorted to, and this is 
sometimes the only resource where the dwelling 
or barn stands upon high land. 
But when the object is to bring water into a 
large pasture and where any place will answer, 
it is frequently feasible to bring out a hidden 
vein of water at the lowest point of the pasture 
at very small expense. The detection of veins of 
water is regarded as a peculiar gift, and many 
have implicit faith in the hazel rod in the hands 
of these gifted individuals. The rod is said to 
turn down invariably over the vein. This is sheer 
nonsense, but there are indications of water 
veins, which any one familiar with the land for a 
year would readily detect. Where water is ac¬ 
customed to stand in Winter, or late in Spring, 
there must be a natural supply not far beneath. 
Where spots of grass remain green in a very dry 
time, or until late in the Fall, there is usually wa¬ 
ter not far off. 
But in any hilly land with a heavy clayey sub¬ 
soil, we would not hesitate to dig into any hill¬ 
side where there were indications of water. Wa- 
ter is often found at a depth often or fifteen feel 
from the surface, in tl.e dryest time. After the 
trench is dug up to the head, it may be enlarged 
to six or eight feet in diameter, stoned up three 
or four feet high like a well and covered. The 
drain leading to the outlet may be laid with tile, 
or common stone snugly covered. Such a spring 
when once made is just as good as a natural 
one. Upon the farm where we were brought up 
there were two of these fountains—in pastures 
once without water in Summer. Thither sheep 
and cattle resorted daily for water, and laborers, 
when they were at work in the neighborhood. 
Their value to the farm was beyond price. 
--—attHgrcr®-——»■ »-- 
Agricultural—What goes most against a tarni- 
er’s graimj—His mowing machine of coursq, 
w 
