AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
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i A 
once in our lives, it would be a vision of 
splendor never to fade from our memories. 
“ Now appear 
The various labors of the silent night, 
Prone from the dripplingeave and dumb cascade, 
Whose idle forests only seem to roar, 
The pendant icicle ; the frost work fair, 
Where transient hues and fancied figures 
Wide spouted o’er tire hill, the frozen brook 
A livid tract, cold gleaming on the morn ; 
The forest bent beneath the plumy wave, 
And by the frost refined, the whiter snow 
Inerusted hard, and sounding to the tread 
Of early shepherd, as he pensive seeks 
His pining flock.” 
But the snow and frost leave their impress 
upon the soil as well as upon the husband¬ 
man himself. There is a direct utility in 
these winged messengers that throng the 
stormy air, and in the binding frost. Snow, 
it is now ascertained, contains a perceptible 
amount of ammonia, and the proverb that 
“snow is the poor man’s manure,” may not be 
without some truth. Where large banks of 
snow accumulate under the south and east 
side of walls, the grass starts earliest, and 
shows the greatest luxuriance during the sea¬ 
son. It may be that the ammonia of the 
dissolving bank has something to do with 
the richer growth of grass. 
Then the snow forms a thick, warm 
blanket over the soil, preventing the escape 
of the heat that has accumulated during the 
summer. Many of the plants of the temper¬ 
ate regions are indebted to this covering for 
their lives. The hardy grasses are some¬ 
times k^led in exposed situations during 
winter, when there is little snow. Many of 
the evergreens suffer and perish in similar 
situations from the same cause. Wheat flour¬ 
ishes best only in those regions where the 
snow lies on steadily all winter. The great¬ 
est wheat seasons are those when the plant 
is best protected by snow. Every wheaten 
loaf, with its snowy slices, is a remembran¬ 
cer of the kindly influence of the snow. 
Then the frosts are doing a work of disin¬ 
tegration in the fields, which the most per¬ 
fect implements of tillage fail to perform. 
No harrow or rake can break down the 
rough clods into so fine a tilth as the sub¬ 
tle agency of frost. This moves every par¬ 
ticle in the whole mass, and changes its rel¬ 
ative position. The clayey subsoil that the 
best tillage last summer left in lumps will 
all be pulverized by the frosts of this winter. 
Blessings then be on these dreary snows and 
frosts ! They are doing a good work for 
man, and making human labors more availa¬ 
ble for the sustenance of the race. 
But let us not dream that they will do up 
our appropriate work. They will not, as 
those farmers will discover who failed to 
leave their heavy clay soils unplowed last, 
fall. With every thaw look to 
THE DRAINS AND WATER FURROWS. 
It is a matter of great importance that 
these should be kept open, to carry off the 
water. If the drains are clogged, grass land 
is often flowed and injured. Surface water, 
especially if frozen, is ruinous to some crops 
and injurious to all when long continued. 
You will notice that the wheat and rye are 
most effectually winter killed where the wa¬ 
ter stood in small puddles and froze. 
LOOSE BOARDS AND SHINGLES 
demand your care. The wind at this sea¬ 
son often takes liberties never dreamed of 
in speech. Here a board is gone from the 
fence, or from the barn, and there a shingle 
or clap-board from the house. “ A stich in 
time saves nine,” is as good a proverb for 
the farmer, as for his wife. Make every 
rent snug without delay, and keep the cattle 
comfortable and the provender dry. 
EXAMINE THE ROOT DEPOSITS. 
These are often buried or covered in large 
heaps, where root cellars have not been pro¬ 
vided. They should be looked to, and kept 
secure against the frost. Root cellars, in 
extreme weather, may need an extra bank 
of muck or hay along the outer walls. Fro¬ 
zen roots for cooking or feeding animals are 
not the thing. 
TALK WITH YOUR SONS. 
You will probably find them making plans 
for the future as well as yourself. Are they 
contented with their calling ? It is in your 
power to make farming attractive to them, 
and to have them go forth from you, when 
they must, with memories that shall make 
them home-sick for the old farm their lives 
long. To do this farming must be made to 
them a business of intelligence and taste, 
and as lucrative as other callings. The mind, 
as well as the muscles, must be employed, 
and the boy be made to feel that, his interests 
and happiness are identified with the soil. 
Encourage your sons and daughters in read¬ 
ing books and papers connected with their 
calling. They will be intelligent in their 
business just as they read and study its de¬ 
tails. You can make no better use of ten 
dollars than to invest them in journals devot¬ 
ed to your business. They will fertilize 
your acres more rapidly than guano, and 
make your flower beds glow with a richness 
and beauty to rival the garden of the citizen. 
HAVE YOU BUILT A MANURE SHED ? 
You have often seen remarks in the pa¬ 
pers of the superior quality of manure made 
under cover. Has the thought occurred to 
you that you might make this article as well 
as your neighbors ? You might easily run 
up a cheap shed, covered with boards or 
slabs, on each side of the barn yard. If you 
had these sheds, most of the manure would 
be dropped under them, and all the muck de¬ 
posited there would be turned to the best 
account. There are few cattle that will not 
prefer a shed to the open air, in stormy wea¬ 
ther, even in summer. If you have not put 
up these sheds, now is a good time to get the 
timber for them. 
By all means build a good substantial shed 
if you have the timber upon your farm. It is 
not a very expensive affair, when you are 
once about it. The wood you have for the 
drawing. The bill for sawing will not be 
very heavy. The saw-mills and shingles are 
not far distant. A few pounds of nails, and 
the carpenter for a day or two, with your 
own help, will complete the job. Can’t 
you afford it ? Well, dispense with the car¬ 
penter, then, and the nails, and build cheap¬ 
er still. You can at least get some long 
poles for the ridge, and a good many shorter 
ones for the rafters, and make a skeleton 
roof. Now cover this with refuse straw or 
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sea-weed, thick enough to shed the rain, and 
you have a shed, a great deal better than 
none. 
A friend of ours has tried the difference 
the past season, between manure made un¬ 
der cover, and that made in the open yard. 
He spread equal quantities on equal areas of 
ground, and planted with corn. That there 
might be no unfairness, he followed up the 
two plots of ground with the same cultiva¬ 
tion. He did not have to wait until harvest 
to make up his mind that sheltering manure 
was good economy. The corn where he put 
in the manure made under cover was far 
more luxuriant to look upon, came on fast¬ 
er, and matured earlier, and the yield was 
about one-third more of good sound corn. 
He has since put up two manure sheds, 
and we think has begun a course of improve¬ 
ment that will not end with sheds. They 
are cheap affairs, but a good beginning. 
They will give him twenty cords of undilut¬ 
ed manure, instead of the same amount of 
washed and leached manure, he has been 
accustomed to put upon his land. He has 
begun to use muck and to gather up the 
droppings in the yard every morning, and 
put them under cover. The manure sheds 
will pay good interest. Let them be put up 
this winter. 
THE RACE-COURSE ON THE FAIR GROUNDS. 
We are glad to see that that enterprizing 
body, the Massachusetts Board of Agricul¬ 
ture, have adopted resolutions unanimously 
recommending the various Agricultural So¬ 
cieties of that State to take such measures 
as are necessary to divest these shows of all 
characteristics of the horse-race, and as far 
as possible of all immoral tendencies. They 
have also declared their conviction that the 
premiums usually offered for these races 
are a perversion of the funds of the State ; 
that a mile in four minutes is a rate of speed 
high enough for all farm uses. Any horse 
driven at a faster gait, the Board think 
should be ruled out. This is a move in the 
right direction, and we presume will put a 
stop to this nuisance in the future shows oi 
that State. We trust the recommendation 
of this Board will have due weight with the 
managers of Agricultural Societies in other 
States. 
LETTERS UNANSWERED—AN EXPLANATION. 
At this season, when everybody is renewing his own 
subscription, or sending his neighbor’s, a great number ol 
persons add. totfieir business letters sundry items pertain 
ing to agriculture. Letters of this character count by 
hundreds, if not by thousands. They are opened and ex 
amined by our business clerks, the business portion at¬ 
tended to, and then passed to our desk, witli sundry 
markings, such as “ friendly communication,” “ wants 
immediate attention,” “ to be read at convenience,” &c., 
&c. Now it is absolutely impossible for us to even read 
all of these until the hurry of the business season is over 
We beg to assure our correspondents, that their letters 
are never neglected, though they may appear so to be 
Some of them are answered privately, sobner or later. 
Others are ultimately passed over to one of our several 
associates, who reside indifferent parts of the . country, 
and many of them we take into consideration, when we 
have time to do so. Hundreds of letters of this kind are 
not directly referred to, as there are often ten, tw enty, or 
thirty on the same subject; but they very often furnish a 
topic for a future article. Sometimes a single article is 
written purposely to answer a whole hat full of letters. 
So, good friends, keep writing, but do not blame us if we 
fjpd it impracticable, nay impossible, to devot* an imme¬ 
diate hour or two, more or less, to the consideration of 
your individual letters. Their influence is not lost. No 
thought vou can offer, be it ever so common-place, is la¬ 
bor wasted. 
