98 
AMERICAN AGrRICULTURIST. 
[Matich, 
skill in the use of tools, should be able to build 
a gate after the accompanying sketch.” 
Fuame Gate.— Seth Clark, of Wellsboro’, 
Pa., writes, “ I have made several gates of this 
kind for myself and my neighbors, and they give 
general satisfaction. Figure 1 represents tlie 
gate and the frame in which it hangs (which 
should be a little wider and higher than the 
barn doors). The cross piece {A) may be made 
either straight or slightly arching, and in either 
case is mortised upon, and braced, as shown 
into the posts. _ The posts (B) (5x5 studs) are 
framed into sills, as seen in Figures 2 and 3, 
which effectually prevents a tendency to lean 
to either side. The hinge-piece (E) of the gate 
rests on a pivot inserted in the sill (Fig. 4), which 
should be wide enough to receive the post and 
lunge-piece without crowding. The upper hinge 
IS of wood, and is shown in Figure 5. Figure 3 
shows how the posts are framed and braced on 
sloping ground, which does not interfere with 
the gate if it swings open down the slope. The 
long braces of the gate (G and Z), Fig. 1,) are 
placed on opposite sides, and the gate is made 
very light. The gate may be hung upon iron 
hinges if preferred. Such a frame will last as 
long as the best posts set in the ground, and 
has the advantoge of being always erect.” 
An excellent gate is one framed much like 
this, except that the cross-piece (J.) is straight, 
and instead of being at the top, is three feet from 
the bottom of the posts, and well beneath the 
surface of the road, being strongly braced into 
the posts below, they being set a little more than 
three feet in the ground. The posts extend five 
feet above the ground, and the gate is hung to 
them in any desirable way. The hinge-piece 
of the gate, if hung as above described, should 
rest on a block, pinned to the post and resting 
upon the cross-piece. A gate made after this 
l)lan is very convenient and firm. 
Fall Plowino to Kill Grubs.— “ IT E. IT” 
wiites, I am turning over a heavy sod (in 
December), to kill grub-worms, so that they 
will not destroy my corn, next June. Will I 
accomplished the object? Is fall plowing ever 
an injury to the soil ? ” You will probably dis¬ 
turb and kill a good many grub-worms. Your 
corn will not be so weedy as if plowed in the 
spring. And the fall plowing will have done 
nothing but good. A very light sandy soil nat¬ 
urally dry and warm is not benefitted by fiill 
plowing for the frosts and weathering cause 
the organic matters in it to decompose rapidly, 
and these are essential to its integrity, but all 
loamy and clayey soils, or those rick in organic 
matter, and most gravelly soils are decidedly 
benefitted by fall plowing, if it be not done 
when the ground is wet, and even this is much 
less injurious than plowing wet soil in spring. 
Building in Cold Climates. 
The house room of all sorts should be con¬ 
tained within four walls for this (unless it be an 
octagon or some other yo?i), gives the most room 
per foot of wall, admits of the most thorough 
warming, and the least radiation of heat into 
universal space,” there being the least outside 
surface for radiation; and the advantage is as 
decided in summer, for then there is the least 
surface for absorption of solar heat. There 
should be as few windows and doors as possi¬ 
ble on the north side, and few on the west side; 
and on those sides should be the halls, pantries, 
and other small rooms, and the wood-house 
apartments, to serve as air-chamber bulwarks 
betw'een the north-w'estern winds and the 
living rooms on the south side, where the sun 
brings light, heat and health. Cistern, cistern- 
pump and drain should never be on the north 
side. Outside walls should be lathed and plas¬ 
tered between studding, as well as on the face of 
it; the economy of double walls is great, in the 
course of time. The cellar wall should be lathed 
and plastered from sill to a lower level than 
outside surface of the ground. Keep a sharp eye 
on carpenters, lest they fur out the outside base 
or drip-board, in a way to let the wind blow up 
behind the siding. Finally, front the house east, 
so that the front verandah may be shady in the 
afternoon for out-door sitting in summer, and 
so that the sitting-room, back of the parlor, may 
have a sunny outlook in winter. IT W. P. 
Cranberry Culture. 
Mr. Gilbert Conant, of Ipswich, Mass., received 
a premium from the Essex Agricultural Society 
for his success with cranberries. We give the 
essential portions of his report, which is some¬ 
what peculiar, as it describes a method of grow¬ 
ing cranberries without setting the plants. This 
can, of course, be useful only in localities where 
cranberries grow spontaneously, but it shows 
how a natural and unproductive patch may be 
converted into a cultivated cranberry meadow. 
“ In the summer of 1861 I prepared about an 
acre of meadow, by cutting a ditch to drain it, 
and in the fall I plowed it from four to six inch¬ 
es deep, according to the hight of dilferent parts 
of the meadow. Since then I have fiowed it 
annually about the first of November, and let 
the water off about the first of May. 
“The first summer after preparing the meadow 
as stated, vines sprang up and grew considerably 
on the lowest parts of it. The second summer 
the vines increased and grew rapidly. In the 
fall of that year I gathered about a half bushel 
of cranberries. In 1864 the vines blossomed 
full, and after the berries were set, gave promise 
of a fine crop; but an early frost, while they 
were quite green, injured them so that I gath¬ 
ered but about a bushel. In 1865 the vines had 
increased in some spots on the meadow, so that 
they had almost killed out the grass, and in the 
fall, when the berries were ripe, they lay so 
thick that the vines were scarcely visible. I 
gathered twenty bushels of cranberries, worth 
three and a half dollars per bushel. The ex¬ 
pense of gathering and marketing these berries 
was less than ten dollars. This year there are 
but very few cranberries in this section of coun¬ 
try, though my vines are bearing better than I 
have seen any others on fresh meadow. 
‘ The expense of draining this meadow was 
nothing. The peat taken from the ditch paid 
the expense. It cost me but $5 to flow it. This 
was done by a small flood-gate at the bridge. I 
spread upon the ice in the winter of 1863 two 
loads of yellow sand, which cost but $2.50, mak¬ 
ing the whole amount that it has cost me to 
prepare the meadow, but $7.50. I would here 
state that the vines on the spot upon which the 
sand was spread were far more prolific last year 
than any other vines upon the meadow. 
“ I have had experience in preparing several 
other pieces of meadow in the same manner, 
foi the cultivation of the cranberry, and in every 
case have been successful. I neither plant vines 
nor sow the seed. Whenever any meadow 
adapted to the cultivation of the cranberry is pre¬ 
pared in the manner that I have prepared mine, 
vines will spring up and bear spontaneously.” 
Jolm Johnston on Drainage. 
In a recent letter this pioneer of drainage 
says : “I commenced in 1838, aud have drained 
280 acres, laid over 200,000 tile. Drains should 
run directly down the slopes. You never can 
make thorough work by running them across 
the slopes. My drains are from twenty-five to 
perhaps forty feet apart—very few of the latter, 
generallj'' about thirty-three feet. In soft soils, 
and where you have to go four feet deep and 
lower, before getting on hard bottom, drains 
might be fifty or sixty feet apart, and dry the 
land perfectly; while in stiff clays, eighteen or 
twenty feet hiay be rather too wide. I estimate 
that the excess of two wheat crops on drained 
land will pay the whole cost of the improvement. 
I took up the first drain after twenty years, 
and found the tile as good as ever. Although I 
paid twenty-five cents a rod, and board, for dig¬ 
ging some of the drains, two and a lialf feet 
deep, I g'ot the great majority dug at twelve to 
fifteen cents per rod, without board. The later¬ 
al drains need not be over thirteen inches wide 
at the surface, and ivide enough at the bottom 
to take in a two or three inch tile. Main drains 
cost much more.” We must add that, however 
much we value John Johnston’s experience, 2’] a 
foot draining is considered too superficial to be 
ever recommended if one can go lower. 
Garden Irrigation, How Practised. 
BY “TESUQtTB,” NE-^V MEXICO. 
The subject of irrigation has of late attracted 
considerable attention in parts of the country 
where it is not, as it is in New Mexico, absolute¬ 
ly essential. The following article, prepared at 
our request by a gentleman living near Santa 
Fe, gives very clearly the plan of irrigating a 
garden as practised in that country. The wwiter 
promises to resume the subject, and we hope to 
be able to present the details of operations upon 
a larger scale. —[Eds.] 
I submit a few general principles, as pi-actised 
here, in the hope of seeing in your paper some 
hints by >>'111011 we can improve upon our pres¬ 
ent system. But, before I venture farther, I 
