134 
AMEFtfCAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[April, 
drained, at least a foot in depth beneath the wall, 
and the house must be kept well ventilated, to 
avoid dampness, which is the most injurious thing 
possible for fowls. Otherwise the plan sent would 
be unobjectionable. As to interior arrangement, 
there should be an entrance as shown at a, fig. 2, 
opening on to a plank extending the whole length 
of the building, from which the fowls can reach 
the roosting poles. Beneath the poles there should 
be a sloping partition, upon which the droppings 
may collect and slide down to the plank walk 
already mentioned. From this they should be 
swept off every day, and carried away. To prevent 
the droppings from clinging to the partition, it 
should be well dusted every day with dry plaster, 
road dust, or sifted coal ashes. Beneath the plank 
walk let the partition extend to the floor, dividing 
the house into two apartments. At the front of 
the house a row of nest boxes, supported by braces, 
as seen at 6, should be made. The rear partition 
may be devoted tu hatching and rearing chickens, a 
door at the further end of it opening into the front 
apartment. This would make an excellent poultry 
house for a village lot, being cheap, plain, and 
including many conveniences under one roof. The 
sash in front sloping to the South, would keep the 
house warm during winter, and with proper care 
to feed the fowls well, and keep the house perfectly 
clean, eggs might reasonably be expected all the 
winter. Figure 3 is an illustration of a good nest, 
which may be kept free from vermin, and being 
open permits the air to circulate amongst the eggs 
when a hen is brooding upon it. It is made of 
wire, or may be woven of willows or splints by any 
ingenious boy. A round piece of wood is fastened 
to the front for the hen to alight upon, iron or 
wire hooks are fastened to it, by which it may be 
hung upon nails driven in the wall, and a piece of 
shingle planed smooth, is fastened to the front, 
upon which the date when the hen commenced to 
sit, may be written. When a wire nest needs clean- 
Fig. 1. — EXTERIOR OF POULTRY HOUSE. 
ing, it is laid on the ground in the yard, the straw 
set on fire, and after that is consumed there will be 
no vermin left to infest the nest. A basket nest 
may be drenched with boiling water, and purified. 
Field-Markers for Corn, Potatoes, etc. 
A correspondent sends us descriptions of markers 
which may be used for laying out rows or hills for 
corn, potatoes, beans, or other hoed crops. That 
shown at figure 1 is made by affixing short runners 
with sharp beveled sloping ends, to a plank to which 
a tongue is attached. A different number of run¬ 
ners is affixed to each side of the plank, so that rows 
of different widths may be marked by turning over 
the plank and changing the tongue to the other 
side. The implement shown at figure 2 is made 
with a seat, so that the driver may ride. A frame 
consisting of as many bars as there are rows to the 
marker, is put together, and at both ends of each 
bar a small wooden marker is fastened, which plows 
a light furrow. By removing the markers and 
drawing the frame by the side bars across the rows, 
the seed may be covered and the ground left per¬ 
fectly smooth and level. The marker in fig. 1 may 
be converted into a “planker” for the same 
use, by removing the markers from the plank. 
A Gardening Success Under Difficulties. 
The Balt, and O. Kailroad has several fine hotels 
along its line for the accommodation of summer 
visitors. One of the most prominent is the Deer 
Fig. 3.— WIRE NEST. 
Park Hotel, some 200 miles west of Baltimore, and 
on the summit of the Big Savage Mountain, 2,800 
feet above the level of the sea. For such an estab¬ 
lishment an abundance of fresh vegetables are 
necessary, and the managers acted wisely in secur¬ 
ing Mr. John Taylor, a market-gardener of experi¬ 
ence, from Frederick, Md. He started under the 
most unfavorable auspices, on land 
which had never been cultivated, 
save in the rudest way, and with the 
assurance of all his neighbors that it 
would be impossible to establish a 
garden in such a locality and climate. 
The season was especially unfavor¬ 
able, owing to the severe drouth, 
which checked the growth of the 
crops, and encouraged all manner of 
insect enemies, which swarmed from 
the surrounding woods like the lo¬ 
custs of Egypt. The chance for sav¬ 
ing any of the crops was almost a 
desperate one, and the emergency 
was met by Mr. Taylor in the most 
expensive and troublesome, (but in 
the only sure), way, that is, by hand¬ 
picking. For weeks together, morn¬ 
ing and night, the whole garden 
had to be gone over, and the bugs picked and 
killed one by one. Few men would have had 
the energy to carry the process to completion, but 
it was so carried, and the result most satisfactory. 
We were so much interested in this experiment 
that we asked Mr. Taylor for a statement of his ex¬ 
perience, which he modestly gives as follows: 
“ I take great pleasure in answering your ques¬ 
tions. Of course it can’t be expected that I could 
give a very glowing account of my gardening ex¬ 
periment from one year’s trial, for be it remem¬ 
bered, it was only an experiment made under a 
Fig. 1.— SIMPLE CORN-MARKER. 
good many discouraging difficulties. In the first 
place, persons of supposed experience discouraged 
me, (or tried to do so), by saying hot-bed plants 
would not do here, and that I could not raise cab¬ 
bage, sweet corn, etc., on new ground. Others 
said they were acquainted here for the last twenty 
years, and more, and never saw any vegetables 
raised except potatoes. Now, sir,^ am happy to be 
able to state that under all the diffieuities, my luck 
exceeded my brightest anticipations. I raised some 
of the finest tomatoes I ever saw. Trophy, Hatha¬ 
way’s Excelsior, Tilden, and Large Red. Flat Dutch 
cabbage was excellent, some heads weighing 25 
pounds ; the other varieties were early kinds, and 
all perfect. Sweet or sugar corn was splendid, 
‘ Stowell’s Evergreen ’ was the best. Peas and 
beans were good. Carrots, parsnips, radishes, 
beets, and all other roots gave good satisfaction. 
Cucumbers did better than I ever saw before. Can¬ 
taloupes and melons grew very well, only the nights 
are almost too cold for ripening the fruit. Lettuce 
good, also celery ; in fact all vegetables flourish 
here, only the seasons are sometimes too short. 
“ This part of the State is unexcelled for raising 
oats, rye, buckwheat, and grass, and (I almost for¬ 
got to mention it), the potato, which is, I may say, 
the staple crop here; I have heard a man say he 
raised as many as 400 bushels to the acre ; the same 
man told me he raised 106 bushels of wheat on 3 
acres, or an average of 351 per acre ; still there is 
very little wheat planted. 
“My greatest difficulty was with the Colorado 
potato-bug, which bid fair at one time to take all 
my tomato plants, (when in the hot-bed.) The lit¬ 
tle black beetle, or cabbage flea, is also very de¬ 
structive ; the people here have to raise all then- 
cabbage plants on a scaffold, four or five feet high, 
or in small boxes ; however, I raised all of mine in 
the hot-bed, although I lost several hundred after 
planting out. The cucumber bugs also gave me a 
great deal of trouble, but I kept them down pretty 
well by going over the vines mornings and evenings 
2.— CORN-MARKER WITH SEAT. 
when the dew was on; that, I think, is the only ef¬ 
fectual way to get clear of that pest. But I think 
the drouth was the greatest difficulty of all. We 
had not a good rain to plant by from May until the 
25th of July; consequently, the plants that were 
set out made no growth, and the different kinds of 
vermin seemed to increase.” 
