1862.] 
AMERICAN' AGRICULTURIST. 
15 
ing of tasteful architectural appearance. Before Winter 
sets in, this building should be whitewashed, and the floor 
covered with gravel; if you confine them to a yard the 
house must be kept whitewashed all the time. The prin¬ 
cipal cave of poultry in Winter consists in preparation for 
market, and obtaining eggs—in the latter, few succeed. 
Shelter and warmth are the first requisites—then clean 
straw and whitewashed boxes for nests, and plenty of 
food. A supply of lime, ashes, gravel, corn; and meat, is 
necessary, and if these and plenty of unfrozen water be 
given, there need be little fear that eggs will not be plenti¬ 
ful in January. X seldom if ever give my fowls enough 
animal food during the Winter; in the Summer they 
scratch up worms and insects for themselves. To fatten 
chickens for market, confine in small coops, keep them 
quiet and feed on-boiled corn or ground oats and milk— 
the secret is to feed often and but little at a time. If in¬ 
tended for a distant market they should be fasted for from 
twelve to fifteen hours before killing, or better yet, after¬ 
ward filled with powdered charcoal. Judge Buel assert¬ 
ed that they may be kept for two months by pursuing 
the latter course.—Tul keys consumfe so much food during 
the winter that it will generally be found advantageous 
to dispose of them early. They may be all fatted to¬ 
gether and killed, and then either filled with charcoal, as 
recommended for chickens, or frozen and kept so, this, 
however, some say affects the taste. 
Having no acquaintance with the management of bees, 
X must, with these remarks, close this essay on the Winter 
management of farm stock, well aware that I have not 
done the subject justice; and I am sure few have sufficient 
knowledge of all the different animals to give perfect 
rules for the management of each. Each kind is a study 
to which alone a man may devote a lifetime. R. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Too Much Eat. 
Mr. Editor. —The candle makers ought to 
pay some agricultural papers handsomely, and 
they could also well afford to grease a good many 
judges at Agricultural Fairs, for their efforts to 
make tallow and lard plenty. Thanks to the 
teachings and decisions of the above-mentioned 
authorities, the notion very largely prevails that 
the chief end of stock breeding and feeding is 
to make fat. Great stories are told of Mr. A’s 
oxen which dressed ever so many thousand 
pounds, with an unheard-of amount of rough 
taliow. The public are invited to examine ex¬ 
tra specimens of abundant tallow hanging in the 
stalls of the butcher who has paid premium 
prices for the great fat steer. When a farmer 
proposes to exhibit an animal at the Fair, he 
keeps a good path trod between the corn crib 
and the feeding place, and every ounce of fat he 
can crowd upon the creature’s ribs, he counts as 
one more chance towards a favorable opinion of 
the judges. If pure fat were desirable food, all 
this would be highly commendable, but the fact 
is, comparatively few eat the unadulterated ar¬ 
ticle, and most of it finds its way to the tallow- 
chandlers. A mixture of fat with the lean, is 
almost universally relished, and is not unwhole¬ 
some ; but an over-fed, enormously fat animal, 
such an one as attracts the gaping crowd, is not 
in a healthy condition, and can not furnish 
healthful food. It is the opinion of well in¬ 
formed men that many diseases arise from the 
excessive use of fat meat, particularly pork, 
which is common in this country. I believe it 
should be the aim of breeders to increase the 
quantity of meat upon an animal’s bones, with¬ 
out striving to cover it witlvtallow or lard. An 
animal of vigorous constitution well fed—not. 
stuffed—and properly exercised, will develop a 
■ large amount of muscle (good lean flesh), and 
by proper selection among such specimens for 
breeding purposes, this characteristic can be 
fixed in the progeny. Jonathan. 
' AN MtTmcfAL'Sow,— 1 The' Mark Lane Ex¬ 
press gives"ffiefoltewmg;:froina correspondent:. 
“A fine sow, having twelve sucking pigs, owned 
by a pork merchant in Monkwearmouth, died 
suddenly. The proprietor, who is an ingenious 
character, set to work and formed a rough mod¬ 
el of a sow in wood, hollow in the center, and 
furnished with twelve teats formed of raw hide. 
The interior was filled with milk, and the young- 
pigs took to it very naturally, and throve well!” 
For the American Agriculturist. 
How to get Good Crops. 
Manure is the great secret of profitable farm¬ 
ing. Skill and tillage are important in their 
places, but these avail very little without ma¬ 
nure. With plenty of manure, we can get al¬ 
most any thing we desire out of old land. With¬ 
out it, we can hardly get pay for our labor. 
To show the power of manure to produce 
crops and to make money, I will give the fol¬ 
lowing statement of the treatment and produce 
of three quarters of an acre the past season. 
The fieid was a worn out meadow, producing 
less than half a tun of hay to the acre, and had 
received no manure in twenty years, except from 
cattle pastured in it. The soil was a gravelly 
loam, and the subsoil a yellow loam of good 
quality. About thirty dollars’ worth of manure 
was taken to the field during the winter, prin : 
cipally night soil and hog dung. This was 
spread and plowed in in the Spring. At plant¬ 
ing time a compost was prepared of one hun¬ 
dred and fifty pounds Peruvian guano, a cord of 
muck, and a half cord of night soil, for drop¬ 
ping in the hill. This was mixed three weeks 
before planting, and put in a pile under cover. 
The lot was plowed about seven inches deep, 
and harrowed, and planted April 15tli, with Wen¬ 
dell’s Seedling potatoes, putting a handful of 
the compost in the hill. They came up in about 
three weeks, and as soon as the ground began 
to crack with the young shoots, the whole piece 
was run over with a light horse harrow, de¬ 
stroying every weed. This was equivalent to 
once hoeing, and gave the crop a good start. 
About the middle of June, the spaces between 
the rows were planted with beans, cabbages, 
and sweet corn for a succession crop. The po¬ 
tatoes were dug from the first to the twentieth of 
July, when the succession crops had the field. 
The cabbages were nearly a failure, owing 1 to 
depredations of worms, the last of July. As the 
corn began to give ears the last of August, the 
spaces between the rows were sown with white 
turnips—cowhorn, strap leaf, and other varieties. 
The receipts were 84 bushels potatoes—Sold at 
from 80cents to $1.20 a bushel, averaging $1....$84.00 
Beans and Cabbages. ... 2.00 
Sweet corn sold at 10 cents a dozen. 20.00 
Rock turnips, 39 busliels—sold at32>i cents. 13.00 
White turnips, 20 bushels—sold at 20 cents . 4.00 
White turnips, 50 bushels, for feeding, at 10 cents^._5U0 
Total from tln ee : fourths of an acre ..$128700 
The expenses of the crop were—Rent.$10.00 
Manure. V 40.00 
Labor. 25.00_ 
$75.00 
This shows a profit pf $53 on three quarters of 
an acre of land., If-we reckon one half of the 
manUre only as expended upon the crop, as is 
common, it will make twenty dollars more ad¬ 
ded to the crop this year. There can be no 
doubt that the land is in much better condition 
than before it was broken up. This statement is 
not given as an example of large productive- 
• ness, or extraordinary profit for market gar¬ 
deners who liaVe the 'conveniences for forc¬ 
ing and more abundant manuring. But it 
, shows wdiat may be done by farmers in the vi¬ 
cinity of good markets, by a little extra pains. 
Early potatoes, early planting, arid high manur¬ 
ing, will make at least a difference of three weeks 
in getting potatoes to market, and this adds 
about one half to the price. Potatoes that go 
quick at one dollar and a half a bushel July 4th, 
are worth but seventy five cents a month later. 
A great many acres conveniently situated to 
market, might be easily made to double their 
productiveness and their profits. Practical. 
Ice for Use and Ice for Sale. 
The ice crop is every year becoming more im¬ 
portant—no longer regarded as an article of 
luxury and an accompaniment of sumptuous liv¬ 
ing, but a necessity of life and trade. To our 
milkmen and butchers, in public and many pri¬ 
vate houses, especially in hospitals and sick 
rooms, it is daily bread. Our navy consumes 
immense quantities of ice also, and just so far 
as our commerce is re-established in the South, 
will the demand increase, while we at the 
North are annually increasing the home con¬ 
sumption of the article, in a ratio which often 
more than realizes the expectations of those 
upon whom the public depend for a supply. 
Should a general opening of trade with the 
South not occur until late in the Spring or Sum¬ 
mer, the demand for ice at large prices will be 
very great, and the price at points on the coast 
favorable for shipping will be greatly increased, 
unless a large supply is stored this Winter to 
meet this very emergency. 
Ice, to keep well, must be stored on dry 
ground, and protected from the sun, from rain, 
and from a circulation of ah-. The smaller the 
mass of ice the more thoroughly must these 
conditions be met. A house twelve feet square, 
double boarded, with a space of 10 or 12 inches 
filled with sawdust between the boardings, well 
roofed, and shaded from the mid-day sun, and 
situated on dry ground, and well drained, will 
keep ice well enough for a family, though the 
waste will be considerable. When ice is packed 
very closely and in very large quantities, a 
thatching of straw and hemlock boughs will be 
relatively quite as effective. The use of boards 
or rails to keep this protection in place, will be 
found advantageous, and it should be so dis¬ 
posed that rain will be completely shed; and all 
water, whether from ram, thawing of the ice, or 
other sources, must be carried away in surface 
drains around the outside. 
Places Wanted on Farms for Boys. 
Scarcely a day passes without inquiries ad¬ 
dressed to the Office of the American Agricultur¬ 
ist, in person or by letter, from business men 
who wish to place their sons upon farms with 
good intelligent cultivators, where they may 
learn both the theory and practice of farming. 
Many of these business men are able to pur¬ 
chase farms for their sons, but wish first to give 
them a preparation. A majority of them are 
willing to pay liberally for board, and oversight. 
Others desire their sons to work nearly or quite 
enough to pay their board. Now we think it 
would be for the mutual advantage of all con¬ 
cerned, if a considerable numbers of farmers of 
the right class, would take these boys; few of 
them are unruly, but most, quite the contrary. 
We will take it as a favor if any of our readers 
who know of good locations for boys on farms 
under good cultivation, where they could be 
taken into the family, will let us know the name 
and address of the farmers to whom application 
caii be made.' Such letters we will place on file 
to be referred to by those who may hereafter 
make inqumes of the character referred Vot 
