AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
201 
will not be used in the same locality oftener 
than once in three or four years. Among 
the simplest of these contrivances are long 
pieces of twine tied to stakes in different 
parts of the field; irregular pieces of bright 
tin attached by long strings to the top of 
high leaning poles ; newspapers spread out 
in different parts of the field held down with 
small stones to prevent the wind from blow¬ 
ing them away ; stuffed clothes placed not 
in the open field but partly concealed by 
bushes or a pile of rails, which gives them a 
more suspicious look to the reasoning dep¬ 
redators ; the wings and feathers of dead 
crows or black fowls scattered over the 
field, &c. 
THE DROUTH IN MISSISSIPPI. 
Gen. Brandon, who resides near Fort Ad¬ 
ams, Miss., writes us the following, under 
date of May 23d : 
“ We are still affected with this terrible 
drouth, and the springs, creeks and cisterns 
are all dry. Artificial ponds, which have 
never been dry since they were made, are 
now dry. I saw yesterday in the bed of a 
creek in my Arcole plantation—which never 
before to my knowledge was dry—weeds 
and grass knee high. There are thousands 
of acres planted to cotton on the hill sides 
and what is called ‘ buck-shot land ’ on the 
Mississippi river, where not a seed of cotton 
has sprouted. The stands of cotton here 
are very indifferent; it ought now to be in 
bloom, and yet it is not more than four inch¬ 
es high, and will not, as a general thing, be 
in bloom for a month. The corn at this pe¬ 
riod of the year is usually five or six feet 
high and in tassel. At this time, except on 
the river bottom, it is not knee high. If it 
does not rain in ten days, most of the plant¬ 
ers will cut up their corn and plant again— 
which may make a half crop.” 
SUBSOILING VS. DROUTH. 
Nearly all who have tried subsoil plowing, 
acknowledge that the crops planted do not 
suffer near so much from drouth, as on land 
not subsoiled. Subsoil cultivation also is 
very beneficial, and it will not be too late to 
do this on some crops for two__ months yet 
to come. 
Mr. Saunders, of New-Brunswick, informs 
us that he planted his potatoes level last 
year, (we mean not in ridges,) and before 
hoeing, subsoiled between the rows, which 
made the ground very light, and raised it 
rather higher than at the rows. The pota¬ 
toes grew well and yielded a. much larger 
crop than where they were not subsoiled in 
cultivation. The same good effects followed 
in the cultivation of his corn. 
A one-horse subsoil plow is sufficiently 
large for this purpose, the cost of which is 
trifling. It is our intention to make the ex¬ 
periment this season in the cultivation of a 
crop of potatoes which have been up about 
a fortnight, and see what the result maybe. 
Somerset Oountv Agricultural Fair.— 
The second annual exhibition of the Somer¬ 
set County (N. J.) Agricultural Society will 
be held the first week in October, Wednes- 
nesday and Thursday, 3d and 4th. 
A Year Behindhand. —In May, 1854, the 
Philadelphia Ledger published an article, 
stating that the woodcock in New-Jersey 
were building their nests in low ground, 
which, together with other circumstances 
mentioned, indicated a dry season ahead. 
These prognostications proved too true ; but 
the best (or worst) part of the story is yet 
to be told. A large number of our exchanges 
have recently fished up the same article and 
are now republishing it as applying to this 
year. We beg to set them right by inform¬ 
ing them that the birds above alluded to 
have this year nested in their usual locali¬ 
ties, and that an unusually dry summer is 
not looked for in 1855. During the past 
week we have had abundant showers of rain, 
and this, as we learn from a number of per¬ 
sons, has been the case over nearly all the 
northern States. 
DOUBLING A CHAIN PUMP. 
We noticed a simple contrivance in the 
barn of W. R. Hazard, of Washington, N. 
Y., which others may somtimes find conve¬ 
nient. The water from the roof is conducted 
into a cistern in the sub-cellar; and from 
this is carried as wanted into the cellar 
stables, or to those on the floor above, by a 
single chain pump. Instead of one chain 
tube, as usually arranged, there are two. 
One of them extends to the second floor, 
where the wheel and crank is placed, and 
the other reaches only to the first floor; both 
having a discharge-spout. The same chain 
goes up through one and down through the 
other, according to whichever way the wheel 
turns. By turning the crank from right to 
lelt, the chain ascends through the long tube 
and elevates the water to the second floor; 
while turning the crank from left to right, 
the chain ascends through the shorter tube 
and discharges the water on the lower floor. 
CALF-PENS. 
It is customary to keep calves in a small 
pen inclosed with rails, and located in the 
corner of a meadow or pasture lot. The 
best arrangement we have seen of this kind 
is made by nailing together boards twelve or 
fifteen feet or more long, in the form of a 
square movable pen. The four corner posts 
may be scantling or pieces of rails having 
two sides squared to each other. The low¬ 
er ends of these corner pieces should be 
sharpened so as to enter the ground slightly, 
whenever the pen is set down. Two or 
three narrow boards will suffice for each side, 
and the whole may be strengthened by small 
perpendicular strips nailed between the cor¬ 
ner posts. The whole can be put together in 
half an hour. Some boards should be placed 
across one of the south corners to afford a 
shelter against both sun and rain. A little 
straw for a bed, and a movable feeding 
trough, is all that is wanted. The advan¬ 
tage of a movable pen over a stationary one 
is, that it can be readily moved about every 
two or three days. The calf will thrive 
much better by frequently giving it a new, 
clean plot of grass, than if confined for 
weeks upon the same spot, which soon be¬ 
comes trampled, and filthy with excrements. 
This method is equivalent to feeding stock 
daily with what hay is actually needed, in¬ 
stead of giving them a week’s supply at a 
time to be trampled and soiled. 
CONVENIENT AND WHOLESOME FOOD. 
A very cheap, convenient, and palatable 
dish may be prepared with the common pilot 
bread, which is a hard, dry cracker made of 
flour and water. These can be purchased 
by the barrel at a price but a little higher 
than flour, pound for pound, as they are 
generally made by machinery [and the cost 
of making and baking is but trifling when it 
is done on a large scale. VVe see the price 
of pilot bread is quoted in this market at less 
than half a cent per pound above good flour, 
and as they are nearly as dry as flour, they 
are about as nutricious. They will keep 
longer than flour without deteriorating or 
becoming stale. They can be used in a va¬ 
riety of ways, such as putting them into 
stews of meat, or meat and potatoes ; they 
improve “ hash ” materially, and are a gaod 
substitute for “ crust ” in pot-pie, having the 
advantage of always being light and whole¬ 
some. For an ordinary, every-day dish, put 
them into an oven after the bread is re¬ 
moved, or into a stove oven, and let them 
dry thoroughly; then break them up and 
pour boiling water over them, and add a lit¬ 
tle salt, and butter, cream or milk. We 
know of no more easily prepared, more 
wholesome, and more palatable dish than 
this, for the breakfast, supper, or even for 
the dinner table. 
SUNFLOWER SEED. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
You inquire for information of some one 
who has raised sunflower seeds for feeding 
fowls, as to their value. I have done so 
years ago, and tried the experiment thor¬ 
oughly. I was induced to try it from the 
fact that I had often seen my fowls eating 
the seeds, during the fall of the year, in the 
garden, and from frequently reading in the 
papers that they were profitable as a crop 
for that purpose, and planted about an acre 
of them—two or three stalks in a hill, and 
the hills at the same distance apart as corn. 
The land was good—they were well tended, 
and produced a fair crop ; but I became so 
disgusted with them before I got through, 
that I did not measure the product. When 
ripe, I cut them up at the roots, and scat, 
tered them in a grass lot near the outbuild¬ 
ings,[and let my turkeys, hens, &c., feed upon 
them as they liked. They did not like them 
so well as they did corn, oats, or barley, and 
apparently received but little benefit from 
them. The shell of the seed covering the 
meat (which is soft and oleaginous) is thick, 
hard, and husky, of two or three times the 
weight of the kernel. This shell, of course, 
the fowls must swallow, and masticate in 
the crop, and it passes off without yielding 
any nutriment to them ; consequently the 
