4.02 
[November, 
AMERICAN AG-RICULTURIST. 
travelers, by fishermen much as dogs are in hunt¬ 
ing. A peculiarity of the American ottei is its 
habit of making smooth tracks upon steep banks, 
down which it slides into the Avater. In the 
summer time, clay banks are preferred to any 
other, and in the winter they do not forego this 
pleasant recreation, for they have tlieir sliding 
pastime upon the snow-banks as systematically 
as the boys have their coasting parties. ^ Traps 
are usually placed at the foot of these slides, in 
the water, or near the entrance of frequented 
burrows w''hich always open under "water, at 
ordinary stages. The fur of the otter is of two 
kinds, one fine and dense, the other coarse and 
glossy. The color is browm, varying somewhat, 
being nearly black in summer, and in autunln 
and Avinter quite dark and very glossy, the head 
light colored, and the chin and throat often whit¬ 
ish. Otters bring forth tAVO 3 -oung early in sprihg. 
More Barn-room Wanted. 
Shifts are alloAvable in the early history of the 
farm that ought not to be tolerated later. The 
farmer in the clearing, or upon the prairie, has 
everything pressing upon him at once, and must 
meet his most imperious Avants first. He must 
have shelter for his fainilj'-, and food for himself 
and stock. The log-house and barii Upon the 
most limited scale Avill answer for a while, but 
both are temporary expedients to be superseded 
at the earliest moment by something better. The 
new house and barn are not merely matters of 
taste, but of econoinj’". An ample barn for the 
storage of crops and the shelter of stock should 
be regarded as a necessary investment of capi¬ 
tal in all farming in the Northern and Eastern 
States. This is better understood in Pennsyl¬ 
vania than in any other part of the countly, 
and the barn that bears the name of the State 
is, in many respects, a model. It contemplates 
the shelter of all stock, and the storage of all 
crops raised upon the farm ; and if it also pro¬ 
vided shelter for manure, it Avould, Avith abun¬ 
dant light and free ventilation, meet every want. 
Such a barn upon every farm where mixed 
husbandry is pursued wmuld soon pay for itself. 
It prevents the deterioration of crops and of 
manure. The loss from this source is immense 
in all parts of the country. Even in thrifty 
New England, Avhere a barn of some kind is 
found rrpon every farm, large part of the hay 
and corn fodder is stored in stacks, and the operr 
yard is still often met Avith as the only recep¬ 
tacle for manure. There is Avaste of labor in the 
topping and securing of stacks, and AAnste of 
fodder in all that part of the stack that is ex¬ 
posed to the ground and to the Aveathei-, and, 
judging from the fact that barrr hay alwa)^s brings 
the higher price, there is deterioration through 
the Avhole mass. In the West there is rnrrch 
more loss from this source, for there is much less 
barn-room, and, in addition to this, great dam¬ 
age from the exposure of the grain crops to the 
weather. The A\dieat crop for this year has been 
gathered in excellent condition, for very little 
rain fell in all the grain growing districts during 
harvest. But this is an exceptional season. If 
those districts had been visited Avith the rains 
and cloudy Aveather that have prevailed aloim 
the seaboard, Ave think the grain crop would 
have been damaged U i.ie amount of one-third 
of Its value. Tins sometimes happens, and 
theie is much more damaged than sound wheat 
m the market. Ordinarily the wheat is left in 
small shocks, with tw® bundles laid crosswise 
for a cap, until the thrashing machine comes, 
which maybe within two weeks or two months 
after cutting. If the weather is bad, the grain 
moulds and sprouts, and the market is crowded 
Avith damaged Avheat. The straAV also is injured 
for feeding purposes. The loss to the country 
from this source amounts annually to many 
millions of dollars. If it could be saved, it 
would pay all the taxes laid upon farmers. 
Then, a good barn saves immensely in the 
expense of keeping stock and in the conven¬ 
ience of feeding them. It is a common estimate 
that shelter saAms one-third in fodder. This 
estimate is certainly not too high for the north¬ 
ern half of the Northeiui States. The consump¬ 
tion of food to keep up animal heat in freezing 
AvCather is Amiy great, and this does not benefit 
the farmer. lie AAuants an increase of fiesh and 
fat, articles that a stack-jmrd regimen rarely 
giAms. With a plenty of grain, an animal wdll 
thrive out of doors, but he does not thrive as he 
■would under shelter. It is too expensive, even 
ill the grain districts, to substitute corn for 
hoards. Without barns, also, the farmer is very 
much at the mercy of thq grain speculator. 
With them, he can store his hay and grain, and 
sell AAdien the market suits. The speculator 
knoAvs the situation, and Adsits the regions AA'here 
the barns are jmt to be built. He knows the 
farmer must sell, for he has no place to store 
his grain. He generallj^ prefers the tender 
mercies of the speculator, Avhom he knoAA^s, to 
the commission merchant in the city, whom he 
does not knoAv. He Avants the cash in hand 
and takes what he can get. As wheat often ad¬ 
vances fifty per cent, in a season, the farmer 
ought to be able to take advantage of the rise. 
If grain could be kept more in .first hands, it 
AAmnld benefit consumers, for it AA'onld tend to 
make uniform prices. Nobody but speculators 
Avould suffer. In the plans of barns that we 
frequently present in these pages, some of 
them giving the results of years of stndj' by 
practical farmers to meet their own AV’^ants, our 
readers wrill find manj^ profitable suggestions. 
What Shall the South Do for Manure? 
The great AA’"ant of Southern Agriculture is 
manure. It is the want of systematic agri¬ 
culture everyAvhere. Some land gains fertility, 
if left fallow, or from crops which may be turn¬ 
ed under for manure, or if left in grass, which 
forms a sward of matted roots that read¬ 
ily decay Avben ifiowed under. For land too 
poor for grass to make a good sward, and too 
light to bear lillage Avithout a crop, (clay land 
Avill be improved by simple tillage,) manure is an 
absolute necessity. Unskilled laborers must be 
employed usually at coarse, common, field work; 
hence there is a tendency to cultivate a few, 
chiefly market, crops. Tliis makes the demand 
for manure tlie more imperative, and the call 
from the Southern States is at present absolutely 
painful; this is the universal need. The eager¬ 
ness with AA'hich manures have been bonglit the 
past season, in the hope of making or saving a 
crop of corn, of cotton, or tobacco, has opened 
Avide the door for extensive fi-aiids, ruinous to 
manj^ of tiie victimized planters. We are grati¬ 
fied to ieam that some of these purchasers of 
fraudulent manures are combining to institute 
suits against those aa^Iio make and deal in them. 
The question presents itself, then, with pe¬ 
culiar force, “ What shall tlie South do?” The 
problem has a simple solution, but the cure is 
applicable at first over but a small area upon 
each farm. It is, to make more manure. Tliis 
may be done. The labor of the place may be 
profitably employed during a considerable part 
of the year, in taking care of, working over, and 
increasing, the amount of manures and composts. 
Keep hogs confined. The noj’thern farmer saves 
himself the expense of guano by keeping his 
hogs always penned and supplied with all kinds 
of weeds and litter, thus making tons of excel¬ 
lent manure every year. Five tons of manure, 
Avorth not less than $5 per ton, if Peruvian 
guano is worth $80, may be made from one hog 
in a j'ear, provided a sufficiency of muck, straAA’, 
or litter of any kind, be supplied. A fair pro¬ 
portion of the manure thus made should be 
saved for fertilizing ground for a large crop of 
pumpkins or squashes, corn sowed in drills, 
j^amSjOr whatever else Avill grow rapidty and pro¬ 
duce surely and freely, good feed for the hogs, 
Avhose numbers should be each year increased, 
until large quantities of manure are made. 
Control all the Poultry., at least so far as to 
make them roost ahva^^s in coiwenient places 
Avhere their manure may be saved and com¬ 
posted with dry muck, gypsum, coal ashes, or 
other good absorbent. Thus a fertilizer may be 
obtained in moderate quantities of exceeding 
richness, admirable for exact!}’ those purposes 
for Avhicli Peruvian guano is employed. 
MaJce dead animals into compost. Many an old 
horse is actually worth more in the compost 
heap than in the stable or pasture. One dollar 
a hundred pounds is a low estimate of the value 
of any living animal for manure alone. Every 
farmer Avho is buying fertilizers can Avell afford 
to pay that, and usually the carcasses may be had 
for their removal. The way to handle them is to 
cut them up, using axes and butchers’ saws, into 
pieces of, say 20 pounds Aveight, and then to com¬ 
post them in layers with plenty of swamp muck, 
crumbly peat, grass sods, or loamy soil. Do this 
in an out of the way place, and while it is attrac¬ 
tive to dogs, be on the lookout with a rifle and 
add to the heap cA’ery dog that comes near. 
Otherwise drive stakes around the place, making 
a compost yard, inaccessible to those “vermin.” 
It is some little trouble, but will stand the finan¬ 
cial test, and surely pay. Within six months or 
a year,the heap maybe overhauled, mixed, the 
hard bones thrown out, and these put into the 
next heap, or into any manure, or compost 
heap. The hardest will become soft in a year or 
two, so that they may be mashed Avitli a shovel. 
Mahe poiidrette. Hints are given in previous 
numbers of the Agriculturist on the subject of 
earth closets. Offer to the foremen of gangs 
of hands, to those who keep the houses where 
the hands are boarded and lodged, and to such 
as have their OAvn cabins, a moderate price 
per barrel or per load for all the poudrette of 
good quality which they Avill make, using a def¬ 
inite quantity of dr}^ earth or muck. So far as 
onr observation extends, every particle of hu¬ 
man soil is lost to the agriculture of the South, 
and Ave hesitate not to say that were this saA’cd 
it would have ten times the A’alue of all the high 
priced fertilizers Avhich the people of the 
Southern States import from year to year. ’ 
How to Yoke Oxen. 
The hints Ave drop noAv and then in regard to 
the sounder philosophy in Avorking oxen by the 
head instead of by neck yokes, bring occasional 
responses of corroborative vicAvs, one of Avliich 
we give below, from Mr. Josiali M. Hubbard, 
of MiddletoAA’n, Conri. Until Ave can fairly try 
the experiment ourselves, Avliich may not be 
for years, Ave Avait patiently for a fair test of the 
two systems on the same cattle. j\Ir. H. Avrites : 
“Your remarks concerning the defects in the 
