300! 
AMERICAN ACRIGULTURIST. 
f OCTOJBKil, 
Mouutilius is a variety of the American Black 
bear, {ITrsus Americanus,) which has a reddish 
fur, varying also considerably' in different indi¬ 
viduals, but generally of a cinnamon color. 
It is, besirles, usually more slender than the 
common black bear, but otherwise has the same 
habits and characteristics. Baird describes the 
fur of a specimen from Oregon as longer and 
softer than that of the black bear, and says that 
the color is of a nearly uniform dark chestnut 
or cinnamon hue, with a purple reflection in 
certain lights. 
The Use of the Plow m Draining. 
After such a season as we have just expe¬ 
rienced—wet in one section, and dry in another 
—farmers consider thorough draining, to see if 
the claims of its advocates are really true, and if 
the distressed tillers both of wet and diy soils 
may not find in it a panacea for their troubles. 
We encounter one stubborn fact at the outset, 
namely', that draining is expensive, even if we 
put the drains barely' below the reach of frost 
and the plow. Next, we are forced upon an¬ 
other fact, which no sophistry' can budge, and 
that is, that the most expensive draining is shal¬ 
low draining. As we make up our minds to do 
deep draining, the fact is turned up with each 
spadeful of earth, which, if we heed it, teaches 
that thoroughness and cheapness in the long 
run are identical. That is, reasonable expense 
for thoroughness’ sake is the strictest economy. 
Referring our readers to arguments in favor 
of deep laid tile drains; in former numbers of 
the American Agriculturist, and the works on 
Drainage in our book list, we discuss now the 
cheapest way of placing a course of drain tiles, 
four feet deep on an average, in an ordinary 
soil. Every farmer who wants to dig a ditch, 
thinks of his plows, for they ^yi^ turn out the 
soil ten inches deep with comparative ease. If 
a man is to have a ditch four feet deep dug with 
spades, he ought to try to move as little earth 
as, possible, and as sixteen inches has been 
found about the least width that a man can 
Avork in, he should try to have his ditch no 
Avide,r. , If he can use ploAvs to facilitate his 
work, he need not be so particular about this, 
although a, narrow ditch—the narrowest pos¬ 
sible—is best under all circumstances. 
We pieter to use, to cut the sod, a plow that 
will cut eight inches, and lay the slice over true 
and flat. Then we take a stout stick, like a 
short bean pole, as long as the plow beam, lash 
one end to the beam at the nigh handle, brace 
the other end out sixteen inches from the land- 
side of the beani, and attach a short chain to this 
cud. The brace is a half-inch strip, three inches 
wide, made fast by the clevis bolt, and, if neces- 
saiy', a big^iron vvasher. In plowing, the team 
is driven so that the chain will drag along the 
edge of the first furrow, and aids the judgment 
of the plowman materially in determining the 
width of the slice. Ivlen must follow and throw 
the sods out. The trench will now take a plow 
of the largest size, and it should be drawn by 
two yokes of oxen, or two pairs of horses, work¬ 
ing so as to tread neither in the trench nor on 
the sod near the edge. This is accomplished 
in either of two Avays. Each team may draw 
independently, one upon each side of the ditch, 
fieing adached to the plow by a log-chain, and 
1 ho chains being braced apart, so that the draft 
snail be reasonably trUe, that is, parallel to the 
Inic of dratt. The other way is to AvorlcTlie 
exon upon teu-fdot yokes, and the'liorscs'of 
each ihuf tipoli long fevfeners, the],' being drivep 
by outside reins only, and the heads of each 
pair being held apart by a stick. 
The large plow may' be run in the ditch tAvo, 
three, or four times, according to the soil, or it 
may' be best to use a smaller one, and as com¬ 
paratively little earth can be thrown out by the 
plow, men must follow, and shovel as fast as 
the soil is loosened. After the loose earth is 
removed to the depth of twelve to eighteen 
inches, according to its character, a sub soil 
ploAV Avill be found of more service than a sur¬ 
face plow. With this, we can Avork down, little 
by little, into the hard pan. So large a force of 
hands is not needed when the sub soil plow is 
used, for the earth broken up by' this plow does 
not interfere Avith its deeper working as is the 
case when a surface ploAV is used. The success¬ 
ful employment of the sub soil plow is limited 
both by the ditflculty of ploAving in very hard 
ground AA'ith the plow two or three feet beloAV 
the team, and in the handles interfering with the 
sides of the ditch. There are, however, ^aIows 
constructed to run deep enough to be of very 
essential service to a depth of about three feet. 
This use of the power of animals greatly less¬ 
ens the expense of digging the ditches, and va¬ 
rious forms of scrapers expedite the filling, so 
that, after a little experience, the formidable 
difficulties which at first may' apjAear as insur¬ 
mountable obstacles to a poor man’s doing much 
thorough draining, disappear, especially Avhen 
Ave consider that a moderate outlay of money or 
labor, expended with discretion, almost imme¬ 
diately begins to make large returns, fifty per 
cent, per annum being not uncommon. 
Earth Closets vs. Water Closets. 
The manure Avastes of civilization are vastly 
greater than those of saA'age or nomadic life. 
Even on most farms Ave lose more or less ashes, 
bones, and other valuable fertilizers. Much of 
value escapes from the fermenting manure 
heaps, much is Avashed aAvay', while four-fifths 
of all human soil and liquid is lost; and Ave 
think if Ave were to say nine-tenths, we should 
be nearer the truth. In the cities almost the 
Avhole is virtually lost, and AA'ere the system of 
water closets, now so much in vogue, to extend, 
all would be washed out to sea. Among sav¬ 
ages and wandering tribes, the wastes are left 
upon the surface of the ground, or slightly bur¬ 
ied, and so the earth is not robbed to benefit 
the ocean. The manurial value of the sewage 
of cities, which is emptied into the rivers and 
flows out to sea, consists chiefly in the urine and 
soil of the inhabitants. A great reform has 
been commenced in England in regard to this 
subject, and the long known deodorizing and 
purifying effects of dry earth are systematically 
applied not only to rendering human excre¬ 
ments inoffensive, but at the same time pre¬ 
serving them for manure, in a form which may 
be economically transported many miles. This 
principle has been already explained in the 
Agriculturist, but the way of operating the 
eaith closets” was not described, the closets 
being a source of profit to somebodv', and 
hence involved in a little mystery. 
A Sewage Congress has lately been held at 
Leamington, Eng., and at this meeting a paper 
was read by a Mr. Janies, in regard to some sim¬ 
ple closets which have been introduced upon 
the estate ot the Jewish banker, Baron Roths¬ 
child, at Hallon. These consist of simple boxes 
or shalloAv, tight A'aults, which receive the soil 
aud-ltc|Ltid of thg. family, and into wliieh, ati 
eyenmg, finoh^li 'tkdrdlrghly ' dried ' 6arth ' is‘ 
thrown to cover all, being about a pound and 
a half per day to each adult. This quantity is 
found to be sufficient to deodorize the soil and 
absorb the liquid. The accumulations, v/hen 
these boxes and vaults become full, are dried in 
the sun without any unpleasant odor, and when 
dried and pulverized, may be used again and 
again, the substance becoming a more concen- 
ti-ated form of manure with each repetition. 
The author of the paper alludes to the natural 
instincts of animals, cats for example, and to 
the instructions of the great Jewish lawgiver to 
his people, (Dent, xxiii, 12 and 13,) as both pre¬ 
cept and example in favor of using dry earth irr 
this way. The advantages claimed are, increased 
cleanliness, freedom from bad odors, that the 
waters of wells are not contaminated by privy 
vaults in the vicinity, that brooks and rivers are 
not rendered too impure for valuable fish to 
frequent them, that the closets may even be in 
the house, without offence, and the saving of 
great quantities of valuable manure. 
These seem to be strong and rather startling 
propositions, but the writer is able to cite his 
own experience duilng the heat and W'et of the 
past summer, to corroborate many of the claims 
of the advocates of earth closets in England. 
A privy was built Avith a simple draAV of 2 inch 
planks, AA'ell put together, and on runners set 
beneath the seats, and the deposits kept con¬ 
stantly covered Avith sun-dried and sifted garden 
soil, Avhich entirely suppresses all odors. We 
have not thought it necessary to re-dry the 
earth, as fresh soil must be more easily prepared; 
besides, fresh earth is a more agreeable sub¬ 
stance to handle, if one is inclined to humor his 
prejudices, as most of us are. We secure in this 
AV'ay a rich and concentrated manure, though 
proportionally more bulky than if passed sev¬ 
eral times through the closet. This manure is 
free from Aveed seeds of course, and may be ap¬ 
plied immediately, or, if desired, dried and kept 
under cover a long time. 
Improvement of Land by Grazing. 
If the soil can have all its crops returned to 
it in kind, or in the shape of manure made 
from feeding them to animals upon it, it Avill 
constantly improve. A worn-out soil left to 
grow up to forest Avill recover its fertility in due 
time. Cow pastures decline in productiveness 
because the cows are usually yarded at night, 
and a large part of the manure, as Avell as milk 
and calves, is removed from the soil. It ic 
different Avith the grazing of beeves or of fatten¬ 
ing sheep. Where the object is to make beel 
for market, bullocks of three or four years of 
age are bought in the spring in good condition, 
and turned into the pasture as soon as the grass 
is sufficiently groAvn to support them, and are 
sold off in the fall. It is considered a matter of 
great importance bj' graziers that the pasture 
should be large, and should have only so many 
cattle as it can carry through ihe season. It 
has been found in experience tnat the changing 
of beeves from one pasture to anotuer has a bad 
influence upon them. Tiiey -oecome restless 
and lose flesh. In many districts where ground 
plaster does Avell, it is teoivn at the rate of a 
bushel or tivo to the acre every spring. Even 
in this small quantity the effect is often aston¬ 
ishing, bringing in Adhite clover, and on pastures 
Avhere it has not been applied before, it Avill 
sometimes increase the feed four-fold. -With 
this cheap dressing and g'laziug beeves, many 
run doAVn farms have been,brought-Up to a high 
dh^esf 'df ^.proflnetivenes's. Sctite boast that 
