366 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
PROFITABLE WORK FOR WINTER. 
Gather a Supply of Fuel Early. 
The above scene will be realized on thousands 
of well regulated farms, at the first fall of 
snow sufficient for good sledding. The early- 
gathering of a supply of fuel for the year has so 
many advantages, that to neglect it indi¬ 
cates bad management. If left until late in the 
Winter, much fuel that might be turned to 
good account may be buried under the snow, 
and accumulating drifts often make the woods 
almost inaccessible, or greatly increase the labor 
of collecting and hauling. By having a large 
supply of fuel at the door early in the season, 
profitable work is provided for many stormy 
clays, in cutting and piling it under cover, which 
might otherwise be unemployed or wasted at 
the store or tavern. One of the secrets of suc¬ 
cessful farming is to so arrange the work that 
no hour .need be without its task; another is 
that no operation shall be allowed to encroach 
on the time needed for something else. Both 
these points are gained by preparing the year’s 
firewood early in the season. As we • stated in 
the Agriculturist Calendar for November, it takes 
the heat of almost one half of green or soggy 
wood to burn the other half. Water, in chang¬ 
ing to vapor, absorbs and conceals a thousand 
degrees of heat. A cord of charcoal gives out 
more heat in burning, than a cord of wood. A 
cord of thoroughly dried wood loses a thousand 
times less heat in the smoky vapor, than if burn¬ 
ed when green. Therefore, get the Winter’s 
fuel to drying out, under cover, as soon as pos¬ 
sible. It will save fuel, time, vexation, and 
health, and be of great benefit to the housewife. 
In most of the settled sections of our country, 
forests have been so reduced in extent, that it 
is an object to preserve and encourage their 
growth. In many places it is a question wor¬ 
thy of consideration whether it will not be more 
profitable to substitute coal for wood, and allow 
the forests to grow. Young trees increase rap¬ 
idly in. size, without any care, and the year’s 
growth on an acre will usually pay a large .per¬ 
centage. At any rate, a little management will 
aid in economizing the limited supply. By 
cutting out only full grown trees, or those par¬ 
tially decayed, and thus making room for those 
of thrifty growth, the year’s fuel may often be 
subtracted with positive advantage to the forest. 
The Arboretum at Chatsworth. 
A contributor to_ the American Agricullwist 
writes: Few readers need be told that an arbo¬ 
retum is a collection, into one place, of a large 
number of trees of different orders, species, and 
varieties, and arranged, more or less, in a scien¬ 
tific manner. They may indeed be distributed 
on px-inciples of taste, rather than of obvious 
science.' This has been undertaken in several 
small collections in this country, as likewise in 
the fine arboretum at Chiswick, England. And 
this plan is one that we should like to see fol¬ 
lowed in planting the grounds of our Colleges, 
and other large institutions. If no duplicates 
of either trees or shrubs are employed, a large 
variety can be got into a few acres. We 
have been shown a plan for embellishing a pri¬ 
vate country-place, of only about an acre in ex¬ 
tent, drawn up by a scientific landscape garden¬ 
er, in which upwards of one hundred species of 
trees and shrubs were noted down for planting. 
Such a mode of adorning a country home, 
must give it a peculiar interest. ■ x 
But for large grounds, as from five to twenty 
acres, the first-named plan is doubtless best: cer¬ 
tainly, it is the most scientific. And if the work 
is well done, it can be made to furnish at once 
an arboretum and a delightful pleasure ground. 
The famous arboretum at Chatsworth, England, 
is of this sort. It embraces, we believe, some 
forty or more acres, and contains upwards of 
two thousand species and varieties of trees. 
The trees, shrubs and plants are set'along the 
margin or within near view of a carriage road 
winch winds through the premises. They are 
all set far enough asunder to allow of their full 
development, and to admit of the subsequent 
introduction of other newly discovered species 
or varieties. They are classified in families; 
and it is very interesting to study out the rela¬ 
tionship, where the external resemblance is often 
very slight. The road which rambles through 
so many trees is about a mile long. The name 
•of every tree and plant is marked on a wooden 
label, and the letters are so large and distinctly 
painted, as to be read at ten yards’ distance. 
Each tree is marked with its scientific name, 
its common English name, its native country, 
the year of its introduction, and the' bight 
which it attains at maturity. 
All these trees and shrubs, it should be re¬ 
membered, are those only which are hardy in 
Great Britain; of course, then, many interesting- 
species have to be left out. It is an interesting 
fact that this vast collection of rare vegetation 
has net cost the owner of the property, the 
Duke of Devonshire, a sixpence. The ground 
has been prepared, the trees bought, and all 
other expenses paid from the proceeds of the 
timber trees with which the domain was origi¬ 
nally covered, and which were removed and 
sold only just as fast as the room was wanted 
for planting. This fact indicates either that this 
timber was of remarkable quality, or that the 
price of timber is vastly higher around Chats¬ 
worth than any where in our own country. 
As this public ground is centrally situated, and 
is generously thrown open to all visitors, its 
influence must be salutary and wide-spread. 
