I860.] 
53 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
they can be raised. They hesitate to buy seed¬ 
lings that have been thoroughly tested and are 
fully indorsed by our best horticulturists. This 
•want of faith is the reason, mainly, why agri¬ 
culture does not improve more rapidly, and why 
other callings are crowded with adventurers at 
the expense of the farm. The merchant makes 
ventures, whenever he sees a good opportunity, 
not only investing all his spare capital, but often 
all that he is worth, in a single enterprise. The 
ventures of the fanner would never be so largely 
and suddenly lucrative as those of the mer¬ 
chant sometimes prove to be, but then he runs 
no such risks. It is safe to make ventures in 
barn cellars, and in the very great enlargement 
of the manure heap, in underdraining, in lime 
and clover, in improved tools and stock, and in 
new varieties of fruits and vegetables. We 
should show by our investments that we have 
faith iu our business, and that we expect to make 
a living by it, and get handsome returns for 
our capital. This done, our young men will 
quit measuring ribbons and tape, and go to meas¬ 
uring land and working it. Lotus have faith. 
A Very Good Milk-rack. 
A note came to ns, signed A. W., without 
date or other signature, containing an excel¬ 
lent idea for a milk-rack, which we have not 
met with else¬ 
where. The writer 
describes it as a 
6x6 pine stick, 
placed upright, 
having slats of 
half-inch material 
nailed up on each 
side of th® post. 
Two pans of milk 
are supported by 
two such slats on 
opposite sides. 
We have had an 
engraving made 
which scarcely 
needs any descrip¬ 
tion, and in it sug¬ 
gest a slight im¬ 
provement upon 
the plan of our 
correspondent -— 
namely, putting 
the post upon a 
pivot, so that it 
will revolve. If 
arranged in this way, the cream pot need 
not be 'moved in skimming a whole rack 
full of pans.' ' One advantage of such a rack 
over shelves is. that the air lias free play 
under as well as over and around the milk. 
Summer-fallows for Wheat. —J. B. E., of 
Monticello, Iud., writes: “Neighbor Keener bad 
a piece of wheat sowed on summer-fallowed land, 
one-half of which was plowed the second time. 
The six acres plowed but once yielded 23 bush¬ 
els per acre. The six acres plowed twice 
yielded 38 bushels per acre. He sold the wheat 
for $2 per bushel, and thus received $180 for 
about three days’ work with a man and team.” 
Fanners differ as to whether it is better to plow 
a so-called summer-fallow for wheat more than 
once. Some, who have had considerable expe¬ 
rience, contend that if the land is broken up 
with care in June, and the cultivator and har¬ 
row are used freely afterward to kill weeds and 
piellow the surface three or four inches deep, 
this method is better than a second plowing. 
This may or may not be the case. It depends 
a good deal on the nature of the soil. One thing 
is sure, it is vain to expect the full profit of a 
summer-fallow unless the soil is thoroughly 
worked and the weeds destroyed. If this can be 
best done by a second plowing, well; if by cul¬ 
tivating and harrowing, that is well, too. The 
method which will develop the most plant-food 
and clear the land most thoroughly is the best. 
Improving our Stock of Common Fowls. 
While we advocate the introduction of new 
and improved breeds of poultry, we would still 
more earnestly urge our readers to improve 
their stocks of common fowls. It often happens 
that when a pair of chickens or ducks are want¬ 
ed for dinner the best of the lot are selected— 
which is very nice for the present time, but 
ruinous for the future. A better plan is to 
select the worst, and if not fat enough—as 
they probably will not be—shut them up by 
themselves for ten days or two weeks, and feed 
them all they will eat. Or select the best and 
keep them separate for breeding stock. 
A selection of cockerels for stock birds may be 
made by tlie time they weigh one and a half or 
two pounds, and are fit to market as broilers. 
Large, full-breasted, broad-backed, flat-iron-- 
shaped, strong-limbed, small-headed birds 
should be chosen. They will, of course, be taken, 
if possible, from the earliest broods, and thus 
come from the best early-laying hens. It makes 
a great difference in the stock what eggs are set; 
those of many hens never ought to be batched. 
It rarely pays to winter more 
than twice any but very 
superior liens, of choice 
breeds, and throwing well 
marked chickens. Keep on¬ 
ly very good common hens 
over winter, but thin out the 
ranks and fill them with 
early pullets. There is al¬ 
ways some member of the 
family who knows more 
about the fowls than all the 
rest. Summon that one and any others in¬ 
terested. A good word may be said for some 
old liens that might otherwise be condemned, 
and bad traits or shortcomings recollected in 
others that a superficial “scale of points” would 
induce us to retain. A hen that deserted her 
nest, or is a special nuisance in the garden, or 
is a poor layer, or a bad mother, or that kills 
the chickens of other hens, should have little 
time wasted on her care. Away with her! 
Those that are known to be good layers will be 
entitled to much consideration, and this point 
being established, good size, good shape, and a 
tendency to fatten, must be looked for. The 
latter quality is very desirable, provided the hen 
is also a good layer. But hens that lay a great 
many eggs are seldom inclined to fatten rapidly, 
though the two qualities may be combined. 
In selecting pullets, one should be guided by 
the character of the hen that laid the egg in 
each particular case, if possible; by their early 
maturity, large size, perfection of general char¬ 
acteristics, and by their health and vivacity. 
Especial points are a full breast, straight breast¬ 
bone, a flat back, broad between tlie shoulders, 
deep body, small, short, and delicate legs and 
feet, small head, full, clear eye, and smooth, un¬ 
ruffled plumage. Such will probably be gentle, 
quiet, and familiar; if not, these points must be 
Sought, for a quiet disposition is a great point in 
favor of any hen. Our object will be attained 
if we induce our readers to attend to this matter. 
Let one select tlie best according to his own 
notions, and he will be astonished at the quick 
time in which he will have a superior lot of fowls. 
Although great and rapid improvement may 
be made by careful selection and the occasional 
interchange of eggs with neighbors, or an ex¬ 
change of cockerels, (which is, perhaps, a better 
way of getting fresh blood,) yet no way is nearly 
so rapid as breeding from cocks of some pure 
breed, well adapted to our wants, for the im¬ 
provement of our dunghill fowls in all useful 
qualities,—hardiness, earliness, size and eggs 
combined. The Brahmas and Cochins undoubt¬ 
edly are the best with which to cross. The 
Gray Dorking cross of the first season is less 
hardy, but superior as a table fowl. The prin¬ 
ciples applicable to breeding cattle, sheep, and 
swine, are perfectly applicable to poultry also. 
--•»-*-■— -- 
Wagons Upon Runners. 
In the January number, page 15, is an article 
upon the conversion of wagons into sleighs. 
Another method, occasionally resorted to, is 
worthy of notice, as being sometimes convenient 
under circumstances similar to those specified 
in the former article; that is, when accidentally 
caught away from home upon wheels, by the 
fall of a great depth of snow. There is seldom 
real necessity for putting a wagon upon runners, 
but if an occasion occurs, as when the snow 
is soft and deep, the labor is not much, and 
the relief to the team may be very great. Two 
stout hickory or ash saplings are taken, smooth¬ 
ed upon two sides, and the points marked where 
the wheels will rest when placed upon them, as 
in the accompanying engraving, the huts being 
to the front. If the buts are not placed to the 
front the sticks must be squared throughout the 
whole length. When the places for the wheels 
are marked, grooves may be cut for them to 
stand in, and the poles may be shaved down in 
front so as to bend. The runners are fastened 
to the wheels by boring holes through them and 
winding stout iron wire many times around the 
fellies and through the holes in the runners, 
the bent ends being fastened in the same way. 
Runners which are narrower in front than be¬ 
hind are often very hard on the team, especi¬ 
ally so when running in frozen sled tracks. 
The Best Way to Store Manure. 
Farmers are often perplexed as to the best 
means for storing their winter-made manure. 
As an almost universal rule they seem to have 
fixed upon the side of the barn where there is 
the greatest drip from the eaves. This practice 
is so evidently a wasteful one that more careful 
men adopt various devices to avoid the exces¬ 
sive leaching of more than an ordinary rain fall. 
They pile their manure in large heaps in the 
field, put it under sheds, deposit it in cellars, 
MILK-RACK. 
WAGON ON RUNNERS. 
