340 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
kept undisturbed and in the dark. It is 
warmth and shelter that make the fatten¬ 
ing of swine so much easier in summer than 
in the winter. 
The form in which food is given is also 
worthy of attention. Dry uncut hay, as it 
comes from the mow, is a very expensive 
fodder. Grass newly cut, it is well known 
goes much further than after it is made into 
h j gy^ r ^nd the opinion is now becoming very 
generally prevalent that steamed, boiled or 
otherwise prepared food, is more wholesome 
for cattle, and more economical to the feed- 
erVthan the same food given in a dry state. 
The principle is now well established among 
intelligent famers that cutting hay with a 
gtood machine pays for the extra labor, and 
• Ifeives ^'handsome profit. A hay cutter is 
; Binong the'indispensable implements about 
i!a'4aj'ni , cTihis you may buy upon credit with 
safety,’if there is no other way to obtain it. 
5 ' ' " ’ CARE OF MANURE. 
'Hie cattle are now all housed, or at least 
should be, and manure-making should re¬ 
ceive constant attention. If muck has been 
throvvn out from ditches during the summer 
it should r now be carted into the yards and 
• ’ s-tableS as sooil as the ground is frozen so 
; that-theAeams can go into the swamps. An 
abu'ndarit 1 htipply of absorbants should be 
kept constantly on hand, and, if possible 
ShOtiTd'be putiiito the stables in a dry stale. 
' TflfOFests aFe hear, gather leaves for bedding. 
All thb ariimhls should have coarse hay or 
S : ffew, dr sOihe equivalent for a bed. These 
ntititdrials abs<irb v the urine and add to the 
Compost heap'. ' 
- ( ns oasrftm/q Blowing. 
December is often an open month, and the 
fields and gardens are not unfrequently in 
good condition for plowing or spading. The 
J^rojund could be. worked last year, in most 
parts of the north, until Christmas. We 
'plowed a piece of corn land very badly in¬ 
fested wall}Durfee g^ss on the twenty- 
fourth of this month last year. It helped de¬ 
stroy the roots, and has been much more 
easily tilled (luring the past season. With 
all the prejudice against fall plowing, it is 
winning its way into favor, and in all heavy 
loams and clayey lands the practice is bene¬ 
ficial. The frdst is a great disintegrator, and 
Should bfe allowed d fair chalice to work for 
uAwheh the plow is laid aside. We believe 
in fall plowing for such 1 lands, and keep the 
going- li&til the frost’Stops it. 
jiO '} OlOj-ftJ 
EARLY GARDENING, 
should have a few thoughts now, The spot 
^lexp, you j&j^h . to pjpht. e^rly potatoes, 
lettuce, cabbage, &c., should be manured and 
trenched before the ground is closed. It is 
a good plan to leave it in high ridges, so that 
„ ‘..asJarge J .a‘surface,. hs..,PQS.siblp J .> 
ij 03 ion Ison 
««i -!■*■!> Mi. 
honojIaBb 
hiian&iopvflfsilbem With old -hay or leaves 
a il Mmi yc&f ithci iVaaiie t ies ■ are > h Sidy. and; do not 
io ahsphH.el>irneedilC(ftYeringss:but all that/»we 
bins ,ioilod?, lofxin bol twrfw r hool oldclagov’ 
have ever cultivated, do much better for a 
light mulch. If in exposed situations the 
bean poles may be laid upon the hay, to 
keep it in place. Apprehension is some¬ 
times felt, that ground may be made too 
rich for this fruit. Our plants have never 
suffered from this cause, though we trench 
thirty inches deep, and put in stable manure 
liberally. The best fruit can only be grown 
by deep and thorough tillage. 
LAY DOWN RASPBERRIES 
Many fail of good crops, because they ne¬ 
glect this. The red and yellow Antwerps, 
the Tasloff, and the Franconia, are not reli¬ 
able, unless the canes are buried during the 
winter. They only need three or four inch¬ 
es of dirt, and when the stools have been 
properly set it is not much trouble to cover 
them. 
STORE YOUR MIND. 
While you are thus careful of the field 
and garden, and are providing for their fu¬ 
ture usefulness, do not neglect to furnish 
the mind with wholesome aliment. Now, if 
ever, the journals and books that pertain to 
husbandry must be read, and the plans be 
laid for future improvement. Your success 
in your calling depends quite as much upon 
your mental stores, as upon the fertilizers 
you store away in your soil. Brute-muscle 
no more rules the farm. Mind, enlightened 
by science, here gains its triumphs.—[En. 
FILLING ICE HOUSES. 
sides, the small crevices around each block 
should be filled up with pounded ice, or dry 
snow. If the weather is intensely cold, a 
very little water may be used at the cracks 
to make the union perfect. The more com¬ 
pletely you can exclude air from the body 
of the ice, the better it will keep. 
Having finished the first layer, sweep off 
clean, and put in the next, which cement 
together with the pounded ice like the first. 
Continue this process, until the last layer, 
which cover with saw dust, or straw, or sea 
weed if more convenient, eighteen inches in 
thickness. If the ice house is properly made 
and good ice put in it this manner, you 
will find it very little diminished next May, 
when you open it to get the first block for 
the refrigerator. 
A subscriber asks if an ice-house can not 
be filled by pouring in water from time to 
time and let it freeze. This might perhaps 
be done on a small scale, should there be a 
long continued succession of freezing days. 
But the operation snould be very tedious and 
in the end, even if successful, more expen¬ 
sive than cutting ready formed ice.— Ed. 
It sometimes happens, that the best ice in 
the whole season is made in the month of 
December. It is always well to secure the 
first good ice that makes, say one foot in 
thickness. This, if it be perfectly clear and 
free from frozen snow, is thick enough, and 
the sooner the crop is secured the better. 
Those who have large houses and harvest 
ice for the markets have their own methods 
and need no hints from us. But there are 
many among our readers, who have fol¬ 
lowed our suggestions on building an ice 
house, and who will be ready this month to 
lay in their summer stores. For such we 
would offer a few plain directions. 
The first business is to cut the ice into 
suitable blocks for packing. Where there 
is no machinery to be employed in handling 
the blocks, two feet by three will be found 
a convenient size, for a house twelve feet 
square, as they will make a perfect flit in the 
packing. The ice should be first marked off 
with some sharp tool, and a crevice be made 
to be followed with a coarse saw, a cross¬ 
cut saw with one handle out, or an old saw¬ 
mill plate with a handle added, will answer. 
The saw should follow the marker as close¬ 
ly as possible, to make straight edged blocks. 
It will take twenty four of these blocks for 
the first layer of ice, and if one foot thick, 
288 blocks will fill the house. 
In selecting ice for cutting, take that which 
is perfectly clear and solid. Air or dirt, 
frozen in, will not keep so well. Care 
should be taken also to keep the blocks 
clean, while laying them in. After the first 
layer of blocks is put down, and the saw 
dust or sea weed is packed in solid at the 
THOSE MANURES. 
We direct especial attention to the article 
on Artificial Fertilizers, on page 350. There 
has been an almost incalculable amount of 
fraud perpetrated upon Farmers, during a 
few years past in the artificial manure busi¬ 
ness. Thousands of tons of these articles 
have been sold at thirty to fifty dollars per 
ton, which have not been worth ten to the 
purchasers. This they have proved, and 
will not be caught in the same trap again ; 
but there are enough others who will, and 
tho swindlers continue to fill their own pock¬ 
ets at the expense of new victims. We 
have upon our programme for the next vol¬ 
ume some pretty hard hits at these humbug 
manures. Our own opinion of the relative 
value of several fertilizers was given briefly, 
but definitely, by an illustration in our Sep¬ 
tember issue. We are quite confident that 
those who buy their fertilizers by the 
“ scales” there given, will not go amiss. Let 
all read Prof. J.’s article, in this number. 
Note especially the last paragraph but four, 
commencing “ The other superphosphates 
turned out very poorly.'" We have the names 
and the figures of most of them, which may 
be given hereafter if deemed necessary and 
expedient. 
In regard to the superphosphates, we 
would not, for our own use, buy at any price 
any one of them, except, perhaps, De 
Burg’s or Coe’s, no matter what pretensions 
may be put forth as to their being ammonia- 
ted, nitrogenized, or superhumanized.— [Ed. 
To Dress Skins with Wool or Fur on.— 
Take two table spoonfulls of saltpetre and 
one of alum ; pulverize freely ; mix them to¬ 
gether and sprinkle carefully over the flesh 
side of the skin. Then roll the skins togeth¬ 
er and let them remain a few days according 
to the weather. Unroll and scrape them with 
a chip, dull knife, or draw them over a board 
fence until they are dry, soft and pliable. 
