00 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[March, 
•wheat in spring, pasturing lightly in autumn, and 
heavily ■with sheep the next spring, till I got it 
. plowed. In this way I did well. 
“ Fallowing is the true way to raise good wheat 
crops, at le.ast on clay soil. Still, if manure enough 
can be obtained, it is more profitable to take a 
barley crop and sow the stubble with wheat—the 
barley crop getting the first chance of the manure. 
"Wheat does not require much manure, but I never 
j'et g.ave spring barley loo much. I had nearly 40 
bushels of spring barley per acre last year.” 
It is not common to apply manure directly to the 
barley crop, except artificial manure; it is not con¬ 
venient to do so. Barley is usually sown after 
corn, and the manure is applied to the corn. I 
presume this is tlic plan adopted by Mr. Johnston. 
He puts the manure on the grass the fall previous, 
and then plows up the sod in the springaud plants 
corn, followed by barley and then wheat. It is not 
considered a good plan to grow three grain crops 
in succession, but if you can manure highly enough, 
and cultivate the corn thoroughly, there is no ob¬ 
jection to it. If the land is not I'ich, however, 
better seed down the barley in clover and let it lie 
one or two years, and then break it up for wheat. 
If you like, the wheat can again be sown withgrass 
and clover, or it may be followed with barley. 
Clover is our great renovating crop. We cannot 
BOW too much of it. We should grow our own 
seed, and sow it as often as possible. One of my 
neighbors threshed Ids clover seed a few days ago 
and got 12>^ bushels of clean seed from 2X acres. 
From the same l.and, before letting the clover grow 
for seed, he cut 14 good two-horse loads of clover 
hay. Such a crop pays better than wheat. All he 
did to it was to sow a bushel of plaster per acre on 
the clover last spring. 
One of my horses sprained the muscles on the 
inside of his thigh. He w.as quite lame, and appar¬ 
ently in eonsider.able pain. The leg became hot 
and swollen, and 1 was afraid he would be laid up 
for several weeks. It is a bad place to get at. 
Knowing that there is nothing so good for a 
sprained ankle as pouring cold water on to it, I got 
the hydropult and forced a stream of ice cold water 
on to the inside of the thigh. It seemed to relieve 
the pain at onee. I repeated it every few hours, 
and in three days tlie horse was entirely well and 
at work again! Great are the virtues of cold water. 
I have just sold one of my little pigs. They arc 
not quite four mouths old and the one I sold 
weighed 117 lbs. Is not that pretty good ? I got 
$17.50 for her, while a farmer in the neighbourhood 
sold some of his last month that are about the same 
age, at $7.00, and thouglit he had got a good price. 
So much for a little blood. 
In the neighborhood of large cities, where fresh 
pork is in demand, the small breeds of pigs, such as 
the Essex and Suffolk, arc more profitable than the 
large breeds. I question if we can compete with 
the West in the production of heavy hogs for 
packing or for bacon. Dressed hogs the past season 
have not brought in Rochester over half a cent a 
pound more than in Chicago, while the corn on 
which they feed is twice as high. In most of the 
interior towns in the far West, corn is not wortli 
over 20 cents it bushel, and in some, not over 10 
cents, while here it is fi'om 75 to 80 cents. Can we 
feed hogs and compete with the West ? In raising 
nice, fresh pork for the butchers in spring and 
summer, we are not brought in competition with 
the West, and this is the kind of hog-raising that 
will pay. You want a breed that will fat at any age, 
from six weeks to six months, tliat you can have 
ready .at any time the butcher needs them. 
In the Agriculturist last monlh there is a table 
showing the ainoiint of produce exported from New 
York during the last seven 3 'ears. It seems that in 
18.59 the total amount of wheat exported was only 
297,.587 bushels. Tlie next year we exported over 
thirteen, million Imslnds! and in 18(51 nearly twenty- 
nine millions. Have we ever exported so large a 
quantity in any single year before ? In 1862 we 
again exported twenty-five millions, and in 1863 
fifteen millions; in 1864 twelve millions, and in 
1865 only two and a half millions. This is a great 
falling off .as compared with the four years previous, 
but it is more than I expected. I think most of it 
must have been exported early in tlie year and is in 
reality a part of the crop of 1864 r.ather than of 1865. 
But is it not remarkable, that during the four 
years from 1861 to 1864, while we were engaged in 
a most gigantic war, wc were able to spare, and did 
spare, over 82,000,000 bushels of wheat, besides 
flour equal to 50,000,000 bushels more; or in all, 
132,000,000 bushels of wlicat! These figures show 
how much the country was indebted to its agricul¬ 
ture for the means to carry on the war. 
The export of Indian corn last year was over 4X 
million bushels as compared with 846,831 in 1863. 
The English farmers are beginning to appreciate 
our corn as a food for fattening stock, and doubt¬ 
less the demand will continue. One of the leading 
English .agricultural papers recently asserted, and 
unquestionably with truth, that Indian corn is the 
cheapest food the farmers can purchase, and that 
there is no sense in their paying $55 per ton for 
oilcake, when a ton of corn can be had for $33. 
There is an unusually large quantity of corn in 
w.arehouses and in the hands of farmers, and wo 
can meet any demand that can be made upon us. 
With the high price oT meat, however, it would be 
well to feed it out at home more liberally. What 
a shame it is to send lean c.attle to market when 
good beef is so high, and the means of fattening it 
60 abundant. In Chicago, inferior cattle are sold 
as low as cents per pound, while choice fat 
c.attle bring from 7j^ to 8 cents. A steer weighing 
1200 lbs. in the. one case would bring $96, while one 
weighing 1000 lbs., if sold at Sj^cents, would bring 
only $32..50 Now, I do not say that the addition of 
200 lbs. of flesh and fat would convert one of these 
“scaliawags” into choiee beef, but it would cer¬ 
tainly go far towards it. 
We must pay more attention to breeding cattle. 
There is a ci-ying necessity for welt bred stock. 
Greatly as our cattle have improved within the 
last fifteen or twenty years, it is still difficult to 
find a good well bred steer. The majority of ani¬ 
mals are so ill bred, that it is impossible to fat 
them till they are four or five years old. Now how 
much does it cost to keep a steer t-ivo years ? It 
seems to me, that this sum, varying in different 
localities, say fro'm $40 to $75, is the difference in 
the profit of feeding a good and a poor animal. Is 
there any error in this statement ? I do not ask for 
thoroughbreds, only for grades. It may cost fifty 
cents or a dollar more to obtain such a calf, but 
will it not pay ? 
I do not know of a first-class Shorthorn bull in 
this county. A few years ago a liberal-minded 
gentleman purchased one from Mr. Sheldon, and 
kept him a year or two ; but the farmers begrudged 
the extra 50 cents, .and the gentleman sold his bull 
in disgust. Had he kept him a few years longer, 
until his calves showed their superiority, he would 
have been appreciated. 
“ But the Shorthorns are not good for milk 1” 
Some of them are not. They have been bred for 
beef. But a cross with our so-called “native” cows 
often produces excellent milkers, and if any of 
them prove poor, they can readily be disposed of to 
the butcher. I was t.alking to Lewis F. Allen about 
this matter the otlier day, and he says he knows no 
way in wliich we can so readily and so surely obtain 
a good lierd of dairy cows. Use a tlioroughbred 
Shorthorn bull, raise all the calves — and llicy can 
lie raised on very little milk—and then iftheheifers 
jirove good milkers they will be vei'g good. If they 
do not, fat them for beef. 
I saw a st.a'enient the other day in an English 
jiaper, of a farmer who lives in a dairy district, that 
bought the calves from his neighbors when a few 
days old, and raised them by hand. By buying 
them at different times, he said he had raised as 
many as fifteen calves on the milk of one cow. He 
gave them a little new milk for a few days, and af¬ 
terwards skimmed milk, with the addition of linseed 
tea, scalded meal, etc. This practice might be adopt¬ 
ed here. Get a good Shorthorn bull, .and then buy 
the calves when a few days old. It would pay. 
Something' that Will Pay. 
Every cultivator ought to raise enough first-rate 
seed of all his st.aple crops to at least supplj’ his 
own needs. But comparatively few will give the 
extra care in cultivation, selection, etc., necessary 
to secure a prime article, and lienee ciioice samples 
always have a ready demand, at top pi-iees. Here is 
an opportunity for some one in every neighbor¬ 
hood to make money. Select some one or two 
staple articles, and make a specialty of raising them 
for seed. Each year, sow or plant none but the 
best, place it under the most favorable conditions 
possible, as to exposure, soil and cultivation, and 
in a few seasons by judicious management a grade 
may be reached and a reputation be made that will 
give a rich return. "Whoever could to-d.ay offer 500 
bushels of oats, barley, or spring wheat acknow¬ 
ledged to be the best of their kind in the country, 
could command his own price, within reasonable 
limits, and perhaps a little beyond. 
The Uses and Management of Cold 
Frames. 
BY PETER HENDERSON, JERSEY CITY. 
"We use cold frames for preserving cauliflo'wer, 
cabbage and lettuce plants during the •winter 
and the forwarding of lettuce and cucumbers in 
spring and summer. 
To make the matter as clear as possible, "we 
will suppose that the market gardener, having 
five or six acres of land, has provided himself 
with 100 of 3 X G feet sashes. The cauliflower, 
cabb.age or lettuce plants which they are intend¬ 
ed to cover in winter, should be sown in the 
open garden from the lOlh to the 30th of Sep¬ 
tember and when of sirfflcient size, which they 
will be in about a mouth from the time of sow¬ 
ing, they must be replanted in the boxes or 
frames, to be covered by the sashes as winter 
advances. 
The boxes or frames xve use, are simply two 
boards, running parallel and nailed to posts to 
secure them in line. The one for the back is 
ten or twelve inches wide, and that for the front 
seven or eight inches, to give the sashes, when 
placed upon them, pitch enough to carry otf 
rain and to better catch the sun’s raj-s. The 
length of the frame or box may be regulated 
by the position in which it is placed ^ a conve¬ 
nient length is fifty or sixty feet, requiring 
eighteen or twenty sashes. 
■ Shelter from the North-west is of great im-* 
portance, and if the ground is not sheltered 
naturally, a board fence six feet in height is 
almost indispensable. The sashes should face 
South or South-east. Each sash will hold five 
hundred plants of cabbage or cauliflou'er, and 
about eight tandred of lettuce. These numbers 
will determine the iM'oper distance apart, for 
those who have not had experience. It should 
never be lost sight of that these plants are almost 
hardy, and consequently will stand severe 
freezing Avithoiit injury; but to insure this con¬ 
dition tliey must be tre.atcd as their nature de¬ 
mands, that is, that in cold weather, and even in 
clear winter days, avlien the thermometer marks 
15 or 20 degrees in the shade, they must be 
.•ibiindanlly aired, either by tilting up the sash 
at the b.ack, or better still, when the day is mild, 
by stripping the sash clear off. By this hardening 
process, there is no necessity for any other cov¬ 
ering but the sash. In our locality, we occa- 
