I 860 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
359 
garden is not tile drained, the sink receptacle 
should be a cemented cistern. You can only- 
keep foul matters out of your well, by taking- 
care of them. Worked into the compost heap, 
and then applied to the lands, they will give 
you nice vegetables and health. In the wells, 
they will give you bad smells and disease. 
Yours to command, 
Timothy Bunker Esq. 
Hookcrtmun, Nov., 1800. 
._ —►-<>-——* 
Braining Pays. 
Two years ago, I put in stone drains about 
four rods apart, upon a piece of swale, with a 
muck top about a foot thick, and a heavy' clay¬ 
ey subsoil, a perfect hard pan, that could only 
be moved with a pick. This helped the soil 
very much, apd sunk all the springs that used 
to bubble up on the top in all wet seasons. I 
got a fan* crop of potatoes last season, but they 
rotted some, and the ground looked as if it want¬ 
ed more of the same sort. Last Fall I doubled 
the drains putting them in at two rods apart 
and about two feet deep, which was all the fall 
I could get. This season I have had a very 
large crop of Davis’ Seedling potatoes harvested 
without a rotten one, and a second crop of Cow- 
horn turnips. Two such years will pay all the 
expenses of drainage, and leave the land worth 
four times as much as it was before it was 
drained. It is now prepared to be benefited by 
manure. I think well drained land, like this, 
will pay the interest on two hundred dollars an 
acre as long as it is cared for. I am so Avell 
pleased with the experiment, that I shall lay 
down tiles on all my swale land as fast as I can 
attend to it. Exterimehtek. 
Amount of Rain in Connecticut. 
The following facts in regard to the fall of 
rain the past year, are given by Prof. Johnston, 
of the Wesleyan University. During four 
summer months, the whole quantity of rain was 
13 40 inches, while in the corresponding months 
of last year we had 19 inches. The average 
annual tall of rain in this region, according to 
the authorities, is 45 inches—snow being melt¬ 
ed and measured as water—but during the past 
year (from Sept, 1st,’59 to Sept. 1st, ’G0)^the 
whole precipitation has been only 33.53 inches, 
or about 11 j inches less than the average.... 
Though the fall of rain the last four months has 
been below the-average for the season, the chiet 
deficiency for the year ending; with the close of 
August, was in January, February, March, 
and April. During these months, the whole 
fall of water from the atmosphere was only 
7.7 inches, while in the corresponding months 
of the preceding year there was a fall of nearly 
23 inches.:. .In the Northern States, vegetation 
has suffered but little, owing to the frequent 
timely rains, though the entire amount of wa¬ 
ter which has fallen has been considerably be¬ 
low the average. ...The present season has 
been remarkably -productive, and yet, at the 
same time, remarkably dry—not in this region 
only, but throughout the whole extent of our 
country .. .We have therefore this "remarkable 
fact that the drouth of the.present Summer has 
been * occasioned chiefly by the deficiency of 
snow the last Winter! This and the other cir¬ 
cumstance, that, while severe drouth in a cer¬ 
tain sense has prevailed, vegetation has scaicely 
suffered, and the crops have almost every where 
been abundant, are the striking' peculiarities of 
the present season. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
To Clean Tomato Seed. 
Put the seed with the surrounding pulp on a 
piece of old muslin, G or 8 inches square, 
and sprinkle over it a small quantity of scour¬ 
ing sand. Gather the edges of the cloth in one 
hand, so as to hold the seed securely, and rub 
them gently in the palm of the other for a few 
minutes, dipping them occasionally in water. 
This rubbing will cut the pulp from the seed. 
Pour the seed and sand into a basin of water, 
so that the pulp may be .turned off. If the pulp 
is not all separated, add more Water, and pour 
off again till it is clean enough. Now by put¬ 
ting- in a little more wafer, and gently shaking 
and turning the basin, the seed may be poured 
separate into a sieve or cloth ready for drying. 
Perhaps somebody has a better way, which 
he will give for my advantage, and perhaps he 
has not this, which I give for his advantage. 
Litchfield Co., Conn. E. WHITTLESEY, 
Keeping- Cabbage in Winter. 
it is well known that freezing cabbages does 
not injure them materially, pro Added the frost be 
drawn out gradually, and it is a common prac¬ 
tice to bury them in pits or trenches out of 
doors, for keeping through Avinter. This 
answers a very good purpose, except that it is 
a rather troublesome operation to get at them 
Avhen the ground is frozen hard, or covered 
Avith snow. Keeping them in the cellar of the 
dwelling, is objectionable, as partial decay is in¬ 
duced by the warmth and dampness, and there is 
a most unsavory and unwholesome odor ascend¬ 
ing to the rooms above; or if the cellar be very 
diy, the heads do not retain their freshness. 
L. Bartlett in the Boston Cultivator, describes 
a method which he has used two winters past, 
by Avhich these objections are obviated. [We 
have often practiced the same method satis¬ 
factorily, and described it long since, Ave be- 
lieA r e.] He cuts off the stems, removes the 
loose outer leaves, and packs the heads in boxes 
or barrelsrftvith damp moss, such as is used by 
nurserymen in packing trees, roots, shrubbery, 
etc. These he has kept in the house cellar until 
March and in an out-door cellar, until late in 
Spring. Last Avinter, boxes so filled, Avere placed 
in the barn, and When frozen slightly were 
coyeyed with straw, Avhere they remained par¬ 
tially frozen, until April, Avithout rotting or 
shriveling. When Avanted for use, a head Avas 
placed in Avater an hour or two before boiling, 
and it then appeared as fresh as Avhen taken from 
the field in November. He also suggests that 
clean straAV cut fine and thoroughly Avettcd, 
might be successfully used instead of moss. 
It Avould be well worth while for market gard¬ 
eners and others Avho wish to preserve cab¬ 
bages, to make the experiment With straAV upon 
a small scale; if successful it Avould be quite a 
saving of disagreeable labor. 
Bo You want Eggs in Winter ? 
Then give the manufacturers materials to make 
them with, and a comfortable place to Avork in. 
Let the egg-less say what they Avill, we speak 
Avliat Ave knoAV, Avlien we assert that it is perfect¬ 
ly feasible to keep the hens laying all Winter. 
Give them animal food to supply the place of the 
insects they catch in Summer, and then let them 
have a warm place to run into, with plenty of 
unfrozen water, not snow, and a frequent taste of 
green food such as cabbage leaves, potatoes, etc., 
and remember to supply some gravel for their 
grinding mill, and lime to make shells cut of, 
and we will Avarrant the animals to repay all the 
care and food, hr nice plump eggs—no matter 
what the particular breed may be. Try it. 
A hen Avithout some kind of meat, and gravel, 
and lime, compelled to eat suoav for water or 
go without, can not make eggs. If she has to 
keep constantly changing from standing on one 
foot to the other to keep both from freezing, 
she can’t stop to think about getting up eggs. If 
all she eats and can digest, must be expended in 
keeping up the heat of her bodjg she has noth¬ 
ing left to turn into eggs. If her body is all 
shrunk up with cold, she hasn’t room inside for 
an egg of respectable size, and though her 
instincts may sometimes induce her to produce a 
thin shelled “ pullet’s egg” at the expense of the 
lime in her bones, her pride revolts against such 
a dwarfed production, and she seldom furnishes 
beyond tAvo or three. 
Give Madam hen the odd bits of fresh meat, 
and the other fixings named aboA r e, not forget¬ 
ting the water, and make her quarters so free 
from cold air-holes that she is comfortable , and 
she can’t help giving attention to her natural 
occupation of manufacturing eggs, much to her 
own satisfaction, and the profit of her owner. 
Hoav the Turkey was Named. —An Eng¬ 
lish Avriter says that in the time of Henry the 
Eighth, every thing foreign which was new and 
fashionable was called “turkey as the richest 
goods were imported by merchants Avhose at-s- 
sels sailed up the Mediterranean, and who were 
called Turkey merchants. When the noble 
Am erican bird was first served up on English 
tables, its excellence gave it the fashionable 
name “ turkey ” AAdiicfr has remained unchanged 
to the present. 
Market Fair in Westchester Go., IT. Y. 
A correspondent at Katonah, sends a full ac¬ 
count of a market fair for the sale of stock, grain, 
and other farm produce, held at that place Oct. 
17th, under the management of the Bedford 
Farmers’ Club. The numbers called out and the 
amount offered for sale, were greater than had 
been anticipated by the most sanguine. There 
Avere entered on the clerk’s books ; of stock, 95 
coavs, 53 horses, 15 yokes working and fat cat¬ 
tle, 10 young cattle, 5 bulls, 25 sheep, 13 hogs. 
Samples were sIioavu of over 1000 bushels of 
grain offered for sale. Dealers in agricultural 
implements, and also merchants Avith goods 
suitable for the domestic market, took advan¬ 
tage of the gathering, to exhibit selections from 
their stock, and many sales Avere made. 
About three-fourths of all the stock changed 
hands at private sale, and large lots of grain were 
disposed of satisfactorily. In the afternoon an 
auction was had, at which a large part of the 
remainder was sold. The necessary expenses 
Avere met by a small charge upon the various 
entries, and the affair Avas generally regarded as 
an entire success. 
Similar favorable reports have heretofore been 
made in the ferv other localities in this country 
Avhere the experiment of market fairs has been 
made, and it is probable, and we think very de¬ 
sirable, that they Avill in a few years become a 
fixed institution in all the more thickly settled 
portions of the country. 
To Owe Earns, first ascertain Avliat is the mat¬ 
ter. Then apply proper remedies; if you do 
not succeed in curing them, it isn’t your fault. 
