1873.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
a57 
fast. Where they are not very numerous (or if 
scab is present but slightly) the carbolic solution 
may be poured along the back and guided 
through the wool. This is wasteful if the flock 
is large, but may do for a small one. It will 
have to be repeated, however, at intervals. 
Milk-Cellar. 
Several inquiries, mostly from Southern cor¬ 
respondents, ask how to build milk-cellars 
which can be kept cool. These inquiries bring 
to our recollection a milk-cellar which we saw 
a few years ago in North Carolina, and which 
we have not since seen improved upon any¬ 
where. It was built in connection with a very 
pleasant and comfortable although an old man¬ 
sion. The entrance to the cellar was from the 
porch which ran around the house, and adjoin¬ 
ing the rear or kitchen door. A handsome 
shade-tree and a grape-vine protected the en¬ 
trance, which had lattice-work on three sides, 
with a door, also partly of lattice-work, in the 
front. A few steps led down into a very cool 
apartment about six feet below the ground,well 
lighted from a glazed cupola in the roof, and 
built of brick, and whitewashed. It was circu¬ 
lar, with a raised hatchway in the center, which 
MILK-CELLAR—ELEVATION AND SECTION. 
could be closed up tightly or opened at will. A 
trap-door at one side led to a stairway to a 
lower cellar, which was the milk-room. The 
upper apartment was used as a store-room for 
kitchen utensils, churn, and other similar arti¬ 
cles* The lower cellar, when the hatchway was 
open, was well lighted. It was also of brick, 
and cleanly whitewashed. The floor was of 
brick, not cemented together. Shelves ran 
around this cellar at a convenient height on which 
were kept milk, cream, butter, and other things 
proper .to a milk-room. Although it is now five 
years since we saw this cellar, its coolness, per¬ 
fect cleanliness, and sweetness was so impres¬ 
sive that the remembrance of it is still perfectly 
distinct. The cellar was circular, about 10 feet 
in diameter, and in all about 14 feet deep. The 
lower apartment was ceiled over with wooden 
beams and a tight floor. The cost of the whole 
would uot be beyond the means of almost every 
farmer, and its peculiar construction adapts it 
excellently to the needs of Southern farmers 
and planters on account of the extra coolness 
gained by the division into two apartments. 
We give on this page an engraving showing the 
plan of construction, which will make the de¬ 
scription perfectly plain, giving the entrance 
building above ground, and a section showing 
the part beneath the ground. 
--»-g>- - 
Waste from Woolen Mills. 
Large piles of waste are frequently left about 
woolen factories, or are thrown into the water 
to float down the streams. A few manufac¬ 
turers who have land to cultivate know that it 
is good manure; but its value generally is very 
much underrated. The 
owner of a ivoolen mill 
recently remarked that 
he thought it was worth 
about as much as so 
much snow to manure 
the fields. The price 
varies according to its 
supposed value. In 
some places they are 
glad to give it away to 
have the rubbish re¬ 
moved. In others it 
sells from one to ten 
dollars a cord. It is 
composed very largely of refuse wool made 
in the process of dyeing, carding, spinning, 
weaving, and dressing, with some chips and 
dirt. Wool, it is well known, is very rich in 
nitrogen, and makes a very valuable fertilizer. 
In this waste the particles are fine, and soon 
form food to be appropriated by the plants. We 
have seen this waste used with excellent effect 
in various ways. It does well as a top-dressing 
for meadows and lawns, spread at any season 
of the year when it can be procured. If evenly 
spread, it will generally disappear in. a single 
season. If anything remains over it can be 
raked up and put in the compost heap. For 
hoed crops, it is better to compost it with other 
manures, covering the whole heap with a thick 
layer of peat or turf, and fork it over after lying 
two or three weeks. This woolen waste should 
be looked after by the farmers, who carry their 
produce to the factory villages and want a return 
load. The transportation will cost but little, 
and every load of woolen waste will add some¬ 
thing to the productiveness of the farm. The 
product of wool in this country is estimated at 
128,000,000 lbs., and a very large quantity is 
imported in addition. All this wool, either as 
waste in the manufacture or as goods worn out, 
ought to be returned to the soil. Fertilizers are 
every year becoming more valuable, and all 
these wastes in the process of manufacture 
ought to be carefully gathered and utilized. 
We have noticed that our most thrifty farmers 
who market their wares in villages seldom 
go home with empty wagons. 
A Safety Chicken Coop. 
A chicken coop, which maybe called a safety 
coop, is shown figured below. It consists of a 
frame, made of three boards six inches wide 
and about two to three feet long, one end being 
wanting. Upon this frame two other frames of 
strips two inches wide are nailed, so as to meet 
at the upper part. These two frames are cov¬ 
ered with wire-gauze or mosquito-netting, and 
a handle of wire is fixed on to the top by which 
it may be lifted about. When a brood of young 
chicks is put into a coop, the safety-coop may 
be placed in front of it, under which the chick¬ 
ens can run free from danger of getting into wet 
grass, or wandering away from the hen; and safe 
from rats, skunks, or hawks. When one brood 
is old enough to take care of themselves, the 
protection may be used for another. 
A Cheap Rain-water Filter. 
In many parts of the country there is a 
scarcity of water during two or three months 
of the year. At that time the ground lias be¬ 
come parched, and all the rain which falls be¬ 
comes quickly evaporated by the heat and dry 
winds, and none of it finds its way into the 
springs or wells, which are very often dry. 
Rain-water then becomes the only dependence. 
This, with those farmers who can not afford the 
expense of a cistern, is gathered into casks or 
barrels, and soon becomes foul and unfit for 
use. By a little contrivance, this water saved 
from the roofs of buildings may be kept per¬ 
fectly sweet. It will be a matter of great im¬ 
portance in the cases referred to that tight 
A Second Crop of Potatoes. —“ N. E. B.” 
If the soil is in good condition, one crop of 
potatoes may succeed another on the same plot. 
The best manure for potatoes, as for all crops, 
is well-rotted stable manure. Fresh manure 
tends to make scabby tubers, and promotes rot. 
Next to stable manure are wood-ashes and the 
mineral manures, such as phosphates, and, on 
some soils, guano. Very stimulating manures 
are apt to cause a great growth of tops, and 
few tubers proportionately. 
spouts should be provided, so as to secure all 
the water that falls on the roofs. This should 
be conducted into a barrel or hogshead provided 
with a close-fitting cover. Another cask or 
hogshead should be placed by the side of the 
first one, and both should be raised from the 
ground on some suitable support. The two 
