104“ 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Errata.— In making up and printing the 
next eight pages before the rest of the paper, 
the compositor committed a blunder in the 
paging. 
The pages—97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 109, 103, 104, 
should be—105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112. 
The * figures and the last eight are in 
regular order as they will stand in the bound 
volumes, and the sheets wrongly paged are 
stitched in their regular place, so that no 
difficulty will be experienced. This is the 
first serious error our printer has committed 
in a long engagement, during which he has 
set in their proper places millions of figures 
and letters ; and considering that he, like “all 
the rest of us,” has been “snowed under” 
half the time for a month past, we ask our 
readers to do as we (editorially) will this 
time, “ touch him lightly.” 
TO CULTIVATORS OF SMALL PLOTS OF 
GROUND. 
We find among our readers an increasing 
number of those who are engaged in various 
business pursuits in this and in other cities, 
but who have their suburban homes where 
they own or rent small plots, varying in size 
from an eighth of an. acr«, to three or four or 
more. Such persons have little time, per¬ 
haps only a morning or evening hour, to de¬ 
vote to their homesteads, and having a lim¬ 
ited experience in garden or flower culture, 
they are often sorely puzzled to know how 
they can best use the little time, and the 
small space of ground at their disposal. The 
instructions found in books, or derived from 
professional gardeners, are often two vol¬ 
uminous or too indefinite to supply them 
with just the kind of information they need. 
To supply this want, in a measure, we have 
commenced a series of practical articles, in 
which we propose to direct to the selection 
of some of the lest varieties of flowers, shade 
trees, garden vegetables, &c., where only few 
are required, and to add plain and simple de¬ 
tails for their cultivation. 
In this number will be found articles giv¬ 
ing directions for making a small collection 
of the roses, another about camellias, and 
others upon Work for the Month, Early To¬ 
matoes, Radishes in March, Garden Soils, 
Gardening by the inexperienced, GrapeVines 
and Cuttings, Raising Plums, Pears, Bees, 
&c., &c. 
In the December number of this volume 
(xv), at page 66, will be found ample direc¬ 
tions for selecting some of the best shade 
trees, for private as well as public grounds. 
Those who find it convenient to refer to our 
thirteenth volume, at page 166, will find a de¬ 
scription of a “ Mechanic’s half acre,” show¬ 
ing how mnch, and how great a variety has 
been, and maybe raised by one who has only 
a village lot, and who works ten hours a day 
in his shop. The article is illustrated by a 
cut, showing the location and names of the 
trees, shrubs, vines, fruit trees, vegetable 
plots, &c. Those who can not conveniently 
obtain that volume, are invited to call in at 
any time and spend an hour or two in look¬ 
ing over our office copies. 
We maybe allowed to say, that in prepar¬ 
ing these articles we are assisted by a num¬ 
ber of gentlemen who are considered the 
best authority upon the various topics dis¬ 
cussed, and we feel quite sure that full re¬ 
liance may be placed upon the directions 
given. W T e shall devote considerable space 
to this branch of culture in each succeeding 
number, for such topics are not only useful 
and interesting to the class of persons indi¬ 
cated above, but also to all classes of soil 
cultivators, especially to those who are wak¬ 
ing up to the subject of improving and adorn¬ 
ing their gardens and other grounds con¬ 
nected with their rural homes. 
LOOK WELL TO I0UR CELLARS. 
In these cold nights, when the mercury 
goes below zero, the frost will penetrate the 
warmest cellars, unless they have a tempo¬ 
rary embankment upon the outside. The 
bank is’sometimes washed by the rain dur¬ 
ing a thaw, and needs replacing. Snow is 
a good substitute for dirt where it can be 
had, and a pile of snow about the cellar win¬ 
dows will save your roots from the frost. If 
the frost has unfortunately reached the po¬ 
tatoes, cover them with hay, or with any 
other convenient material, that it may be 
drawn out slowly. Fruits and vegeteables 
are not so much injured by freezing, as by 
sudden thawing. Even apples may be 
slightly frozen without injury, if they are 
covered with a thick cloth, and kept in a 
room of low temperature. Potatoes will be 
in good demand in the spring. Let them not 
be injured in their storage. A little extra 
attention to the cellar at this season will be 
money in your pocket. 
EARLY TOMATOES. 
This is one of the most difficult of veget¬ 
ables to force, and should be started very 
early in order to anticipate the season. 
Those who have greenhouses, and hot beds 
need no other facilities. But those who 
have only a stand of parlor plants, and keep 
up a constant fire for them, can start a few 
tomatoes with very little trouble. Take a 
half dozen 4 or 5 inch pots, and plant two or 
three seeds in each, in rich garden loam. 
The pots can stand with the other house 
plants, and receive the same watering and 
attention. When the plants are well started, 
pull up all but the most vigorous one in each 
pot. Stir the earth frequently around them, 
and they will grow rapidly and fill the whole 
pot with a mass of fine roots, by the last of 
May, when they will probably be in blossom. 
If they have rich soil and a good exposure 
on the south side of a wall or fence, they will 
suffer little check in the transplanting, and 
you will get tomatoes much earlier than from 
seed planted in the open ground in April. 
Our terms are advance payment. We no 
more think of sending this journal for ayear 
and then asking pay for it, than would a 
book publisher of sending his books unor¬ 
dered all over the country, and then send out 
bills at the end of the year, asking pay for 
them. Let it be understood, that wherever 
this paper is sent, it is considered paid for . 
We sometimes direct specimen copies to 
persons not subscribers. These are designed 
as a compliment, or to invite examination, 
and subscription if the paper is liked . Such 
copies need not be returned. When done 
with them, please pass them along to a neigh¬ 
bor. 
ANSWERS TO INQUIRIES. 
Pipes for Water. —E. A. Allen, Cha- 
tauque Co., N. Y.—Your inquiries as to iron 
and lead pipes are pretty fully answered on 
page 88 of the January number. Where 
water for drinking and cooking is moved 
slowly or only occasionally through lead 
pipes, they are generally objectionable. If 
there is a constant and somewhat rapid flow, 
there is little or no danger. In using lead 
pipes, long or short, all the water standing in 
them for any length of time should be entire¬ 
ly drawn off before any is taken for drinking 
or preparing food for man or beast. We 
are not aware that water-lime is used 
alone in the construction of pipes for con¬ 
veying water. It is substituted for com¬ 
mon lime in making mortar for laying 
brick and stone aqueducts. The price of 
water lime—usually called “ hydraulic ce¬ 
ment ”—is very variable, depending upon its 
quality, the nearness of the locality where it 
is found, the abundance of mills for grind¬ 
ing it, &c. The present New-York price is 
$1 to $1 50 per bbl. 
Beet Sugar. —P. W., Castleton, N. Y.— 
The manufacture of sugar from beets has 
been several times undertaken in this coun¬ 
try, but has been immediately relinquished 
in every instance, we believe. Nothing but 
a high bounty from government, or the ex¬ 
clusion of foreign sugars by a high protect¬ 
ive tariff, will at present warrant any one in 
going into its manufacture. Even then, cane 
sugar could be raised enough cheaper to suc¬ 
cessfully compete with it. We have no 
American treatise upon this subject, though 
some of the older volumes of the Patent 
Office Report, issued, say between 1840 and 
1846, contain considerable information. 
There are some French treatises quite full 
and explicit. An editorial upon the culture 
of sugar beets for feeding, may be found on 
page 113 of our last volume (xiv). 
THE LAIRING OF POULTRY. 
Whether or not the gander seeks his mate 
on St. Valentine’s day, as all orthodox poul¬ 
try women believe, it is a due time to make 
arrangements for the accommodation of 
your several varieties of poultry. The pro¬ 
miscuous herding of all sorts may be per¬ 
mitted in the fall and early winter, when you 
are looking mainly for flesh and eggs. But 
now that the breeding season approaches, it 
is important that they should have yards by 
themselves. The geese need a quiet pasture 
or meadow near the house. The several 
breeds of gallinaceous fowls require seper- 
ate yards early in the season, if you mean to 
keep the breeds in their greatest purity. If 
you want strong healthy chicks to rear for 
stock, confine your cock to four or five hens. 
Fifty Dorkings, the best of their kind, are bet¬ 
ter than a hundred poor late chickens. The 
more May chickens you can get the better. 
