128 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[April, 
"Wliat to ink with Mcn-ManKre.— 
“ J. II. F.,” Lima, Pa., asks what is the best thing to mix 
with lien-manure to make a compost to put in the hills 
of corn. A mixture of hen-dung, unleached wood-ashes 
and plaster, frequently has a wonderful effect on corn. 
Whether they would not have just as good an effect ifap- 
plied without previous mixing, has not been determined. 
If the ashes and lien-manure arc perfectly dry , no de¬ 
composition or chemical change will take place when 
they are mixed together. But if moist, more or less am¬ 
monia will escape, and the plaster will not hold it. The 
only advantage of mixing these articles together, aside 
from the ease of applying them, is probably this : When 
the dry hen-manure is thoroughly broken up fine, and 
mixed with the ashes and plaster, and applied in the 
hill, the moist soil soon induces chemical action. This 
produces more or less heat immediately under the seed and 
favors germination ; carbonate of ammonia would also be 
given off and would be absorbed by the soil immediately 
in contact with the roots of the young corn plants, and 
would, if everything is favorable, cause them to grow 
rapidly and assume a dark-green color. And we all know 
that nothing is more important in the management of a 
corn crop than to give the plants a good start. But 'care 
must be used in applying the mixture or it may do more 
harm than good by burning the roots. It should be well 
mixed with the soil and not come in direct contact with 
the seed. Soaie farmers apply it on the hill after the 
plants are up, just as they frequently apply plaster or 
ashes alone. 
A Run-down Kliotle Island B’ansj. 
—A lady-farmer in Rhode Island says: “ I want to ask a 
few questions about bringing a run-down farm into bear¬ 
ing order. What is the best fertilizer, when stable-ma- 
nure is out of the question, for meadows without plowing? 
What would be the best to spread on a cornfield, with 
stable-manure, or on a soil that is not very light? ”—One of 
the best means of renovation for worn-out grass lands is 
a subsoil plow, run eight or ten inches deep at intervals 
of two feet, first lengthwise and then across. This 
should be done early in the spring, and followed with a 
dressing of two or three .hundred pounds to the acre of 
finely-ground bone-dust, Peruvian guano, or a reliable 
superphosphate of lime. After several rains have fallen, 
and before the grass has become too high, it will be well 
to pass a roller over It, to smooth down the elevated 
tracks of the subsoiler. Any of the special fertilizers 
mentioned above would be well to use in connection with 
stable-manure for corn ; one-half the amount being ap¬ 
plied in the hill before the first hoeing, and the other 
half is to be sown broadcast before the second hoeing. 
Tlie Cottage iritliont ;i Cess-pool. 
—A correspondent in Wcstboro’, Mass., asks, with refer¬ 
ence to the plan described on page 52 of the present vol¬ 
ume, what effect frost has on the drainage, thinking that 
the drains must be closed in winter when the ground is 
frozen.—The author of the article referred to informs us 
that, with more severe frost this winter than he has ever 
before known in Newport, there has been no trouble; 
the drains having worked uninterruptedly. In a colder 
climate, like that of Massachusetts, the ground imme¬ 
diately over the drains, and for a foot or two on each side, 
should be covered with a coating of coarse manure, or 
some other protection, unless there is a sufficient growth 
of grass to keep the frost from penetrating to the pipes. 
The covering should, of course, be removed early in the 
spring, as no manuring of the land will be necessary 
beyond what the house-drainage itself would supply. 
Multum in Parvo Pocket-knife. 
The various combination pocket-knives, are almost 
always too heavy and clumsy to be constantly carried in 
the pocket. When in London, four years since, we 
chanced to find the one here illustrated that contained 
many useful articles in a length of 3 inches, and only 
weighing abont 2 ounces. We have carried it ever since, 
and twenty dollars would not buy it if we could not get 
another. Its weight is not inconvenient in the pocket. 
The handle is of ivory. —Desckiption : Fig. 1 shows it 
closed, a, fig. 2, is an excellent saw with double 
teeth, so that it cuts smooth on both sides. We have 
often cut off an inch board 3 or 4 inches and more wide. 
It is very handy to cut a notch in a stick instead of strain¬ 
ing the hands in using a blade. Wc have found hundreds 
of occasions for using it. b, is a good pen, or nail- 
blade ; c, is a strong screw-driver, seen on one end of the 
closed knife (fig. B). This we have also used hundreds of 
times on all sizes of screws up to an inch or more; d, is 
the large blade ; e, is a very handy hook, useful for lifting 
stove covers, prying open small boxes, doors, etc., pulling 
on shoes, cleaning horses’ hoofs, and in many other ways. 
It is rasped at/, and, when shut down upon the hollow, 
< 7 , is a convenient small nut-crack. The flat back of e, 
when closed, is much used as a small hammer for driving 
tacks, pins, etc.; h, is a brad-awl for punching or enlarg¬ 
ing holes in wood, leather, harness, etc; i, is a good 
gimlet; j, is an effective cork-screw; A, when drawn out, 
is a good pair of twezers for extracting slivers, etc.; 
and l , when drawn out, is a long, slim, pointed brad-awl, 
or punch, for many purposes. There is no end to the 
uses for the various parts of such a knife. It has 
saved us a great deal of time that would have been con¬ 
sumed in looking after other tools. We have' no doubt 
that it saves us as much, or more, than the annual in¬ 
terest on a cost of $50 (one cent ^ day). After four years 
of constant use, every part is as good as new. We name 
it the “Multum in Parvo Knife”—“ much in little.” 
AVe have sent to London and Sheffield several times to 
get two or three dozen for friends and for holiday 
Fig. 1. 
presents, but never succeeded in securing one with all the 
parts in so convenient a size and weight. The original 
maker is reported deceased. At last we called upon our 
Bronxville friends, Messrs. Smith and Clark, and we are 
happy to announce that they have reproduced for us a 
lot every way like the original—a little better, if possible. 
They can be sold at $3.50 each, (sent by mail at same price). 
AVe intend them, however, chiefly as Premiums, and 
make the following offers: One of ,nese Multum in Parvo 
Knives will be presented to any Boy (or man) who will 
now send us eight subscribers for the American Agricul¬ 
turist for 1871, at $1.50 each; or four subscribers for 
Hearth and Home , at $3 a-year, to begin at any time. 
Or a club may be partly for both papers, counting one 
subscriber to Hearth and Home the same as two sub¬ 
scribers to American Agriculturist , or vice versa. It will 
also be sent for eight combined subscriptions—that is, 
eight subscriptions at $4 each for the two journals. The 
knives will be sent any where iu our country, post-paid. 
—^ 1 —Qi - 
Slow nnicSa Food aloes an Animal 
require to Sustain the Vital Functions?— 
Mr. R. S. Ilinman, of Conn., writes: “ ‘Walks and Talks,’ 
in the February No. of the Agriculturist, says he ‘ cannot 
find any experiments that show the exact maintenance 
ration of well-bred cattle, etc.’ In the same number he 
says: ‘An animal will eat 3 lbs. of hay per day for each 
100 lbs. of live weight.’ I have a breeding mare, weighing 
1,150 lbs, and a cow weighing, I judge, about the same, 
that I have kept so far through the winter on 1G lbs. of 
hay per day, and I think they are in as good order as they 
were last fall. I fed the same to a couple of heifers com¬ 
ing two years old, with calf, I suppose, but I find that 
growing animals need much more in proportioti to their 
weight; and 1 find that full-grown animals make more 
manure from the same amount of hay than growing 
ones.” These are precisely the kind of facts we want to 
get at — provided they are facts. All the evidence we have 
tends to show that, on the average, an animal that is 
growing, fattening, giving milk, or working, requires 
about 3 lbs. of hay or its equivalent per day for each 100 
lbs. of live weight. -And what we want to ascertain is, 
how much of this food is used to keep up the animal heat 
and sustain the vital functions and how much of it is left 
for the production of growth, or milk, or force ? Mr. 
Ilinman thinks about half the food is required for this 
purpose. If the animal is of a quiet dispesition and is 
kept warm and comfortable,, he is probably not far from 
right. But we believe that bwodhirds would be much 
nearer the average. That is to say, that a cow weighing 
1,000 lbs. and eating 30 lbs. of hay per day. would use 20 
lbs. of it to “ run the machine,” and only 10 lbs. of it to 
produce growth or milk. But this is precisely the point 
we want to get at. And we hope others will make similar 
observations to those of Mr. Ilinman, and especially as¬ 
certain the exact weight of the animal before and after 
the experiment. In regard to old animals-making more 
manure from the food consumed than growing animals, 
such is, of course, the case, provided the old animals do 
not use up as much of the food in fattening or in nourish¬ 
ing their young or in producing milk as the young ani¬ 
mals do in producing growth. The difference, however, 
is far less than is usually supposed. The heifers referred 
to must have grown better than we should suppose they 
could on the amount of food mentioned if they took out, 
for growth, 5 per cent of the food consumed. It requires 
liberal feeding and a well-bred animal to get 10 per cent 
of the food retained iu the growth. 
- — *--- —- 
About Railroads and Farmers. 
During a business trip out on the Erie Railroad the 
other day, we were particularly impressed by the frequent 
announcement “Passengers change cars for the-— 
Railroad;” that is to say, every few miles there w^s 
some branch railway extending oft" from ten to a hun¬ 
dred miles or more into a rich valley, so that the whole 
southern part of the State, but recently almost an inaccess¬ 
ible wilderness, is now supplied with a net-work of rail¬ 
roads that branch off from the great trunk line like the 
limbs or roots of a tree. And this is the case with the 
various trunk roads leading from the Atlantic sea-board 
westward. Each one of these roads, by bringing the re¬ 
gions through which it passes nearer to a market, greatly 
increases the value of every acre of land, and every house, 
for a wide distance on each side. AVe doubt not that it 
could be demonstrated that there is hardly a region pene¬ 
trated by a railroad where the real estate has not advanced 
enough to pay the entire expenses of the road. For il¬ 
lustration, suppose we estimate the cost of the railroads 
to average $31,6S0 per mile, or $G per foot. If we con¬ 
fine the benefits to a strip 6)4 miles wide on each side, - 
each foot of railway would then benefit 1*4 acres, and if 
taxed upon the land would amount to $4 per acre. Is 
there a region penetrated by a railroad where the advance 
in real value has not been more than twice $4 per acre 
on the average?.The annual interest on $4 we will 
call 30 cents. That is equal to 2 cents per bushel on 15 
bushels of wheat, or 1 cent per bushel on 30 bushels of 
corn; or 30 cents on a ton of hay, and so of other prod¬ 
ucts. Is there a point reached by a railroad where the 
advance in the value of produce has not been many times 
greater than this ? It would be nearer the mark to say 
that the advance in price is enough to pay for a new rail¬ 
road every year. The inevitable conclusion is that rail¬ 
roads are of an inestimable value to the agricultural 
regions of our country, and we hail with pleasure every 
new railway enterprise, no matter where it is located. 
As above stated, every great truiik railroad is the center 
or main artery of a wide system of branches. This is 
true of the N. Y. Central R. R., the Midland R. R., ap¬ 
proaching completion, theN. J. Central and Pennsylvania 
Central, and the Baltimore and Ohio R. R. And now we 
are soon to have still another further southward, the 
Chesapeake and Ohio R. R.—which will have advantages 
of grade, climate, etc., even more favorable than any of 
the others. The construction is in rapid progress, and 
will be finished by the middle of next year. All of these 
trunk lines, aided by their many branches and their 
through business from the great AVest, have proved prof¬ 
itable — at least their first mortgage bonds are, we believe, 
at par or above, and there is no doubt whatever that they 
will continue so. They furnish a safe, good interest-pay¬ 
ing investment for any surplus funds. The Chesapeake 
and Ohio R. R. offers a comparatively moderate amount 
of bonds per mile, as stated in the advertisement of 
Messrs. Fisk & Hatch in another column, and these bonds 
are especially inviting to all who have money to invest. 
Coi-Bi-Emasslsiaag- Maclaine ioa B£:oa- 
sas. — A couple of young men at Mission Creek, Kansas, 
who “ have each a homestead, and intend to make farm¬ 
ing their business,” wish to know if it would pay them 
to buy a husking machine. “ There is but one thrashing 
machine in this section, and it pays well.” No doubt; 
and so will the husking machine when it is brought to 
the same degree of perfection ns the thrashing machine. 
Until this is done, we Would advise our young friends to 
stick lo the farm and not invest their capital in new ma¬ 
chines. They can use their money to better advantage, 
in improving the land and introducing good stock. 
