■Ill 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
WHAT OUR AGRICULTURAL 
JOURNALS ARE DOING. 
It is the weakness of all callings, perhaps, 
to magnify their office. In no case is there 
more occasion for “ making a fair show in the 
flesh” than in that of the agricultural press. 
There has been in the last ten years an un¬ 
precedented improvement in all our farming 
interests. Even while the Eastern States 
have been depleted of their wealth and popu¬ 
lation by emigration, and thousands of men 
and millions of money have gone West, there 
has been a steady increase of population, 
and a larger addition to the annual produc¬ 
tiveness of our farms, than was ever known 
at any former period. This is seen and un¬ 
derstood in many small districts by men 
who are making improvements in husbandry 
themselves. This increase in the aggregate 
for the Eastern States must be enormous. 
• In the model State of Massachusetts, they 
take more pains to ascertain the statistics of 
their industry than elsewhere, and from 
their last returns for 1S55, we are' able to 
form some correct idea of the progress hus¬ 
bandry is now making all through the older 
States. The Governor, in his late message, 
compares the returns of 1855 with those of 
1845. He finds the annual value of all the 
industrial products of the State have been 
more than doubled in this decade. The in¬ 
crease in the department of agriculture is 
still more marked. The value of these pro¬ 
ducts in 1845 was $26,234,453, and in 1855, 
$62,853,488. The increase in these and 
Other industrial products of that State was 
one hundred and thirty-eight per cent., while 
the increase of the population during the 
same period was only thirty-four per cent. 
This shows a great adva? re, and gives us 
very brilliant hopes for the ic./ure of Ameri¬ 
can agriculture. The increaw i:; he pro¬ 
ductiveness of farming in Connecticut and 
Rhode Island has, we think, been quite as 
large as in Massachusetts. In the remain¬ 
der of the New-England States, and in the 
Middle States, it has been rapidly improv¬ 
ing, and for the next, ten years, we think, 
will compare favorably with the model State. 
There are doubtless a variety of causes 
contributing to this large increase in our ag¬ 
ricultural products. But underlying them is 
the agricultural press, stimulating the people 
to form Farmers’ Clubs, and State and County 
Societies, for the exhibition of all farm pro¬ 
ducts ; and then multiplying the power of 
these societies for good a hundred-fold by 
spreading their proceedings before the com¬ 
munity ; scattering broadcast the experi¬ 
ments and (lie teachings of hundreds of mr 
best practical farmers ; publishing io the 
world accounts of the best stock, the best 
tools, and the best fruits and vegetables. 
These noiseless labors of the press are doing 
a great work upon the farm, and we are but 
beginning to see the results of an improved 
husbandry upon our soil. Could we look at 
this matter in detail, we should find that 
nearly all this increase of productiveness is 
in those districts where these journals have 
the largest circulation, and that that soil 
yields most abundantly that has the most 
intelligent labor bestowed upon it. It is a 
comfort to know that this once-despised 
book-farming has added thirty-five millions 
to the annual agricultural products of a 
single State. 
ACCOMMODAT ION FOR HORSES. 
Now that the Winter is approaching, we have 
a few words to speak in behalf of that noblest, and 
most abased of our domestic animals, the horse. 
That sign, which used to hang out upon country 
taverns of the old school, “Accommodation for 
man and beast,” was usually a great fraud upon 
the public, at least in the latter part of its pro¬ 
mise. The accommodation for the horse was 
generally a narrow stall, in an over stocked stable, 
with a hard plank-floor, and a mere apology fora 
bed of straw. Here, after a long day’s work upon 
the road, old Dobbin was expected to refresh his 
weary limbs. The thing was impracticable in 
that atmosphere, foul with the breath of twenty 
other tired horses, and with the effluvia of ammo¬ 
nia coming up from the saturated floors ; and upon 
those hard planks, where the weight of the horse 
made a firm pressure upon the wearied muscles, 
as he lay down to sleep. There was no chance 
for that relaxation of the muscles, which is as 
necessary to the brute, as to man. 
At home, the horse was little better off, except 
that the stable was not full of horses, and be had 
a better atmosphere to breathe. There was the 
same hard bed, and the same pungent smell from 
the filthy floors. Notone horse in a hundred is 
properly accommodated in the Winter. In the 
Summer when turned outto pasture, they resume 
their natural habits in some measure, and regain 
that health which is so often lost in their Winter 
confinement. The benefit of the Summer pasture, 
which is universally conceded by all who have any 
acquaintance with this treatment, is not more 
owing to the change of food, than to the change of 
atmosphere and bed. The horse, in his native 
condition, breathes the pure air of the prairies, and 
has under his hoof continually the soft turf. 
When he lies down, it is upon a bed of grass 
which yields to the pressure of his body, and puts 
every muscle at ease. 
Now, we believe, that all the conditions of the 
pasture, can be supplied to the horse in his stable, 
and that he can be kept in the highest health and 
spirits, in the barn, the year round. We speak 
now r of horses upon the farm, where green fodder 
is accessible for a part of the year. In the city 
though their condition might be ameliorated, it 
can not be entirely remedied. Nature gives us 
the needful hints, if we will but heed her voice. 
The horse can have as pure wholesome air in 
the barn, as he has upon the prairie, without any 
exposure to the keen winds and storms that as¬ 
sail him in his natural state. Barns are generally 
constructed, without any attention being paid to 
ventilation. The walls are nearly tight, and not 
unfrequently the supply of hay is stored in the 
mows over the stables, so that all the foul odors, 
escaping from the lungs and bowels of the horse 
are absorlTed by the hay, until it becomes unfit for 
food. He is compelled to breathe over, many 
times, this foul air, and finds no relief except 
when he is taken out of the stable. Is it any 
wonder, that horses become diseased under this 
treatment, and die prematurely 1 
A barn should be constructed with ventilators, 
of a size corresponding to the number of animals 
it is designed to accommodate, so that the air 
will be changed as fast as it is breathed. This 
can be done so that the animals wall not be ex¬ 
posed to currents, or suffer from any undue degree 
of cold. 
Again-we can prepare a bed in the stable quite 
as comfortable, as any the horse finds in his grassy 
pastures. The best bedding we have ever found for 
a horse, is a coat of dry peat, muck or sods, cov¬ 
ered with straw. It should be a foot thick, and 
the drier the better. This makes a soft warm 
bed, and while it accommodates the horse in the 
best manner, it furnishes in the course of the year 
an enormous quantity of manure. The straw, and 
the solid fioeces are removed every morning, and 
all the liquid is immediately absorbed. The stall 
should be at least six feet wide, and about a hall 
cord of muck will make a good bed. This will 
last nearly two weeks before it becomes so sat¬ 
urated as to emit the smell of ammonia. A horso 
stable should always be as sweet as a parlor, and 
it is a constant waste for a man ever to have it 
otherwise. Of course, it requires more labor to 
furnish a horse with these accommodations, but 
we know from our own practice of several years, 
that the labor is abundantly paid for, not only in 
the health of the horse, but in the manure made by 
this process. We are confident that no farmer, 
who adopts this plan and learns its advantages, 
will ever abandon it. 
We have lately seen stables constructed with 
deep cemented pits under the horse, instead of a 
plank floor. The pits were four or five feet deep, 
and would hold perhaps two cords ofmuck or loam. 
They were filled with loam to the ordinary level 
of the floor, and the horses stood directly upon the 
loam, having a bedding of straw, of course, at 
night. The advantages of the pits are, that they 
save the expense of flooring, and the muck does 
not need removing so often. Such stables, of 
course, have to be upon the ground floor of the 
barn, and can not be had in all cases. 
The bed of muck well covered with straw, ant. 
the ventilation, are the things of chief importance, 
and these are within reach of nearly all farmers. 
Attention to these things would add greatly to the 
power of their horses, and to their own pecuniary 
advantage. 
SMOKY CHIMNEYS. 
Next to a scolding wife, a smoky chimney ranks 
first among domestic annoyances. It will bring 
tears into the eyes even of those “ unused to the 
melting mood,” quicker than almost any other 
evil. And yet it is no uncommon thing to meet 
with such chimneys. You see the signs of them 
in the ugly ventilators, cowls, smoke-jacks and 
other paraphernalia which disfigure so many 
houses in city and country. Ask the masons the 
cause of their smoking, and one will lay it to the 
shoulder of a neighboring hill, another to a peculk.i 
current up the valley, and another to the unfor¬ 
tunate situation of the house with respect to the 
points of compass. 
But is there not some known method ofl.uilding 
chimneys so that they will ordinarily have a good 
draft 1 Yes, there is. Smoke being warmer and 
therefore lighter than the surrounding air, tends 
to rise, and it will rise, unless it meets with some 
obstruction, until it becomes as cold as common 
air; then it will stop. One principal use of a 
chimney is to keep the smoke warm and so pro¬ 
mote its ascent. If a flue is built of uniform size 
from bottom to top, it will draw well in calm 
weather because it meets with no obstruction. 
But when gusts of wind blow around it, and 
down it, what shall hinder its smoking 1 The 
blow which a flaw of wind strikes on the top of 
an ascending column of smoke, is felt throughout 
its whole extent, and must cause it to puff out at 
the bottom into the room. Yet this difficulty can 
be remedied, at least in a great measure. Con¬ 
tract the flue just over the fire-place, where the 
draft is strongest, by throwing out a shoulder 
