138 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
ments, one for vegetables, fruits, etc , and one for 
furnace, and coal or wood The coal or wood is 
under the library, and is easily thrown in through 
the window. 
--- 
Preparation of Ground for a Country 
Residence 
In the March No. of the Agriculturist (p. 80), 
we gave some rules for “ Choosing the site of a 
house.” A few words now on that lopic, and we 
will speak of preparing the ground for planting. 
It is generally recommended to choose a spot 
already clothed more or less with forest trees. 
There are advantages, truly, in having such a ba¬ 
sis for one’s future operations. Life is short, and 
rt takes nearly one generation for some newly 
planted trees to attain any considerable size. 
And then, it saves a deal of trouble to buy one’s 
trees already grown. This is all very well, if 
you can find such spots, combining also the other 
requisites of which we have spoken. But these 
sites are not often to be had. And where they 
are not, we would choose one possessing the 
other more important qualities, and proceed at 
once to make the spot all that skill and labor 
could accomplish. Trees well planted and cared 
for, grow very much faster than those which are 
neglected, and they develope a higher beauty 
than can be found in the tall, naked denizens of 
forest. We, on the whole, advise lazy folks to 
buy their trees ready made; but industrious, en¬ 
terprising people will find greater enjoyment in 
selecting and planting their own, and watching 
their growth from year to year. Around such 
trees a multitude of interesting associations clus¬ 
ter. They are your trees; you chose them, 
planted and watered and pruned and protected 
them in their youth ; you watched from year to 
year their spreading limbs and thickening shade, 
until at length you come to leel that they are a 
part of your family ; your own history is bound 
up in theirs ; they share your affection almost 
equally with the children of your household. In¬ 
deed, for our own part, we should shed few tears 
on bein ,r obliged to build upon a site without a 
single tree upon it, so far superior do we consider 
the pleasure of creating an attractive place of re¬ 
sidence, to that of sitting down with folded hands 
upon one already manufactured. 
But now to the subject before us. If the land 
lying round the chosen site for the house, is notin 
the right shape for convenience and beauty, it 
must be graded. But grading is sometimes un¬ 
wisely done. Not every knoll should be leveled, 
not every hollow should be filled ; if left un¬ 
touched, they may add more life and variety to 
the scene than any stroke of art could give them. 
If some retired part of the proposed pleasure 
grounds contains n few boulders or rocks crop¬ 
ping out in a picturesque manner, by no means 
disturb them, but rather add a few more of the 
same sort, plant a few ferns and mosses and vines 
and native trees among them, and this little wild 
scene will heighten the effect of the surrounding 
cultivation. 
The ground immediately in iront of the house, 
and on the side, devoted to ornamental purposes, 
should be graded into a smooth lawn. It should 
partake of the air of refinement which prevails 
within doors, and form a sort of connecting link 
between the house and the neighboring grounds. 
In grading, it is very important to preserve the 
top-soil. Instead of carrying off to fill up some 
low corner, remove it carefully aside to some con¬ 
venient spot, until the sub-soil is plowed and 
scraped and brought into the required shape ; 
then return the good soil to its proper place on 
the surface. 
At this point, if not before grading, examine 
the ground in every part to see whether it needs 
draining. If there are any wet, springy places, 
any spots covered with sorrel, moss, or coarse, 
wiry grasses, there, of course, ditching is a ne¬ 
cessity. You may plant trees, shrubs, and flow¬ 
ers in such a soil, and they may live, but they 
will lead a miserable existence. Indeed, there 
is hardly any land which would not be improved, 
as a residence, by underdraining. A surface al¬ 
ways dry is greatly conducive to health as well 
as comfort. Indeed, we would advise thorough 
draining, at least of all ground near the dwelling, 
in almost if not in every case. 
Next in order, comes a thorough breaking up 
of the soil, by sub-soil plowing or trenching, ac¬ 
cording to the size of the premises. Does any 
one ask, what need of all this trouble I There 
is no need of it, unless you want your trees to 
grow, and your sward to hold its freshness 
throughout the heats of summer. If, however, 
you are so particular as to desire this, then thrust 
down your plow-point or your long spade into the 
yellow soil with a strong arm. And let a little 
manure go with it, not so much for the sake of 
making the soil very rich, as of making it warm 
and porous to a considerable depth. If you ma¬ 
nure the ground over much, it may produce 
coarse and too luxuriant grass ; if you enrich only 
the surface, you will get a thrifty growth of grass 
in the Spring, but barrenness in mid-summer. 
Trench it, and make it moderately rich through¬ 
out its whole depth, and you will get a fine, 
smooth turf, which will defy the dog-star and the 
severest drouths. 
The importance of this thorough preparation 
of the soil can hardly be over-estimated. Most 
persons, in constructing a rural home, lay out 
all their spare money on their house, outbuild¬ 
ings, fences, furniture, and equipage ; leaving 
the work of preparing their ground for garden¬ 
ing purposes until the last thing; it is then 
done in haste, and, of course, imperfectly. The 
best soil is often scraped off and covered up, 
and the poor sub-soil is used for planting in. 
Alas, for the Arcadian scene which is expected 
to spring up on that ground ! The trees and 
plants set out will not grow, and the grass 
starts feebly only to die out in mid-summer. 
The proprietor loses his patience and cries out: 
‘‘The seedsman must have palmed off worth¬ 
less seeds upon me ; the nurseryman has sold 
me sickly trees ; my gardner is a num-skull; 
Providence is my enemy ; horticulture and coun¬ 
try-life are a humbug ! ” Now, who can not 
see that the fault lay in his own careless and 
niggardly management 1 To succeed well, he 
should have laid out at the beginning a liberal 
sum for preparing his soil in the best possible 
manner. Then, the roots of his trees, vines, 
and plants would have grown vigorously, and 
furnished him a constant source of delight. It 
is impossible to improve the soil properly, after 
it is once occupied with trees and plants: the 
work should be done at the outset , and be thorough¬ 
ly done. Well, says a judicious writer: “We 
hope we shall never again hear it said, ‘ I will 
plant my trees now, and improve the ground 
afterwards, as I have leisure.’ Would it not 
be as wise to say, • I will erect my house now, 
and hereafter, when I have leisure, I will dig 
the cellars and construct the foundations.' ” 
---—i-o.- 
Hood aptly says : An irritable person lies like 
a hedge-hog rolled up the wrong way, tormenting 
himself with his own prickles. 
Cowa Slinking their Calves. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
Quite a serious loss is sustained by many of 
the farmers in this town, in consequence of the 
cows slinking their calves. It seems to be a 
well ascertained fact that when one cow slinks 
her calf, it proves contagious, and others follow 
her bad example. Can you Mr. Editor, or any of 
your numerous readers, suggest * remedy that 
will stay this unnatural propensity and save the 
hard working farmer from serious loss 1.T 
have just heard that 32 cows in one dairy have 
this Winter, in quick succession, slunk their 
calves. The owner estimates his loss at $500. 
Blooming Grove, Orange Co., N. Y. N. 
Remarks. —We can not enlighten our corres¬ 
pondent with any certainty as to the cause of these 
cow abortions, nor give any particular remedy 
for them. We have known instances before 
which appeared for the time to be both epidemic, 
and contagious—the contagion being by sympathy. 
The grass on which they feed, or the hay made 
of that grass has been ascribed as the cause : 
that is, some peculiar quality affecting the grass 
for the season. Accident sometimes causes abor¬ 
tion in one cow of a herd, and from her it will go 
through the herd, with few exceptions. When 
such cases occur, we know of no remedy so 
sure as to scatter, and remove them to differ¬ 
ent farms. In Mr. Flint's new and valuable work 
on “ Milch Cows and Dairy Farming,” we find 
the following remarks on this subject: “ Cows 
are sometimes liable to slink their calves; and 
this usually takes place about the middle of their 
pregnancy. To avoid the evil consequences, so 
far as possible, they should be watched ; and, if a 
cow is found to be uneasy and feverish, or wan¬ 
dering about away from the rest of the herd, and 
apparently longing for something she can not get, 
she ought to be taken away from the others. If 
a cow slink her calf while in pasture with others rhey 
will be liable to be affected in the same way. 
In many cases, physicing will quiet the cow’s 
excitement in the condition above described, and 
prove of essential benefit. A dose of one pound 
of Epsom or Glauber’s salts, and one ounce ot 
ginger, mixed in a pint of thick gruel should he 
given first, to be immediately followed by the 
salts, in a little thinner gruel. 
When a cow slinks her calf, there is great risk 
in breeding from her. She is liable to do the 
same again. But when the slinking is caused by 
sudden fright or over-exertion, or any offensive 
matter, such as blood or the dead carcasses of an¬ 
imals, this result is not so much to be feared.” 
---- 
“In-and-in Breeding.” 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
A writer in the March number of your journal 
(p. 75), to illustrate a position in regard to in-and- 
in breeding, makes reference to Ohio cattle thus : 
“For instance, when the Scioto Valley Cattle 
Company brought out their first importation of 
Shorthorns in 1834, among which were four or 
five very fine animals, strongly in-bred with Mr. 
Bates’ celebrated Duchess blood, would not that 
Company have done better to have bred that 
blood closely in-and-in for a while, the bulls and 
cows together, instead of crossing their cows, 
which possessed it, with the coarser and less high¬ 
ly bred bulls, they bought of Whitaker and others." 
Without intending to interfere with the argu¬ 
ment of the writer, I beg respectfully to ask him 
to reconsider what he has stated about “the 
coarser and iess highly bred bulls,” etc. The 
Whitaker bulls of that importation were Duke of 
York (1941), Prince Charles (2461), for George 
Renick—and Grecnholme Experiment (2075). I 
