FACTS IN PRUNING.-LOOK TO YOUR TOOLS, ETC. 
317 
U kSZ. . T ~— - 
drains, say eight or ten in length, at intervals of 
ten or fifteen rods, about one foot deeper than the- 
general depth of the drain, and filling them to a level 
with the bottom, with small stones, over which 
the drain is filled as if they were not there. 
These serve as places of deposit below the bottom 
of the drain, and the pure filtered water runs off, 
leaving the deposit where it can do no harm. 
After the entire bottom of the drain is paved with 
srones, of the size above named, the largest to be 
used are then to be thrown in promiscuously, taking 
great care not to cave in the side of the drain : then 
the next largest are used, and the work with the 
stones is completed by using the smallest that can 
be obtained, and levelling it off neatly ; the whole 
depth of stone need not exceed 12 or 16 inches. 
The stones are then to be covered with pine 
shavings, if they can be obtained, if not, with straw, 
brush, leaves, or turf, as is most convenient. 
The earth having been all thrown on one side, is 
returned by the use of the side-hill plow, and should 
all be placed back over the stones again, so as to 
•ensure the-surface of the soil directly over the drain, 
being higher than the adjacent surface, to present a 
channel for surface water, being formed in the loose 
-earth directly over the stones in the drain. Care 
should be taken not to have the direction of the 
drains such as to make too great a fall in them, for 
they may not be liable to wash in the bottom ; be¬ 
sides, they are more effectual when they run diago¬ 
nally with the hill side. 
They should not be filled nearer the surface, than 
14 or 16 inches, in order that they may admit of 
thorough subsoil plowing to that depth. No 
work on the farm has ever given me a better return 
than thorough draining. In many instances, I have 
reclaimed land that was hitherto worthless, and at 
an expense of $12 or $15 per acre, and have suc¬ 
ceeded in enhancing the value to $200 per acre, for 
farming purposes. John Wilkinson. 
Agricultural Institute , Mount Airy , Sept. 1848. 
Look to Your Tools. —See that these are always 
in good order, and ready for use. Get good ones 
at first, and take care of them afterwards. A man 
may do twice as much with a good as with a bad tool. 
How few think of the loss from this cause. With 
a bad plow, a man loses by his team, his driver, 
his plowman, and his crop. A good harrow will 
do twice the work, and materially increase the crop 
over that of a bad one. With a poor wagon, or 
cart, or even a wheelbarrow, less labor can be done 
with the same force. Team is wasted as well as 
the time of the laborer, and nobody is the gainer. 
When not in use, always keep your tools dry, well 
painted, or oiled, and free from rust. This will add 
to their durability as well as value for immediate use. 
Gypsum as a Manure.— Gypsum, or plaster, 
ought to be used wherever it can be advantageously. 
It is not only one of the cheapest manures, but one 
of the most beneficial. It affords direct food to 
many plants; draws the nutritious gases from the 
atmosphere for the support of plants; and it con¬ 
centrates the dews upon them, early in the after¬ 
noon, and late in tbf* morning. When plaster is 
applied and suited to the soil and crop, you can dis¬ 
cern its effects for several miles. 
FACTS IN PRUNING. 
The action of roots, and that of leaves are re¬ 
ciprocal. If you diminish the quantity of foliage, 
you will proportionably lessen the increase of roots. 
If 100 represent the quantity of roots made by a 
tree with all its foliage, then 50 will represent the 
quantity of roots formed by a tree similar to the 
other, in every repect, except in having the produc¬ 
tion of foliage repressed, by whatever means, to 
the extent of one half. You will therefore per¬ 
ceive that by summer pruning, both roots and tops 
are equally reduced, and that what may be termed 
the balance of power between these is still main¬ 
tained. On the contrary, if you prune only in 
winter, the roots are in consequence but little af¬ 
fected, their increase for the season having been 
completed in the previous summer; and in the fol¬ 
lowing season ‘the whole amount of force exerted 
by the full complement of roots is brought to bear 
on a top limited by winter pruning, and this force 
is evinced by over luxuriance, which some remedy 
by root pruning. 
With regard to young spray springing from the 
ends of previously-shortened shoots, it may be cut 
back to two eyes in all cases.— Lindley. 
SAGACITY OF THE WILD GOOSE. 
As you have taken considerable interest in 
developing the extraordinary sagacity of the brute 
creation, I am induced to relate a very singular cir¬ 
cumstance, concerning the instinct of the wild 
geese, that migrate from the south to the north in 
the spring of the year. 
A few years since, a neighbor of mine shot at a 
flock while passing to the south, wounded one in 
the wing, took him alive, and very soon domesti¬ 
cated him. He soon became very tame, and went 
with the other geese. I bought him, and kept him 
three years, and then mated him with an old native 
goose. (The wild goose does not lay till four years 
old). They had several broods of young ones, and 
the old goose became very feeble ; so much so, that 
she could not sit long enough to hatch out her eggs, 
I accordingly put them under another goose, where 
they did very well. In the fall of the year, I gave 
her away, and mated the wild gander with another. 
In the spring following, about six months after, I 
heard that the old goose had got better, and was in 
good health. She was brought home and put into 
my poultry yard. The wild gander and his new 
mate were at a distance of about eighty rods, in an¬ 
other pasture, on a high hill. As soon as the old 
goose was put into the yard, she made aloud noise, 
which the wild gander heard. He immediately left 
his new mate, and came down to the yard, recog¬ 
nized his old mate, entered into close conversation, 
and appeared extremely happy in seeing her again. 
His other mate followed him, and wished to join the 
party, but he appeared much offended, treated hej 
with the greatest indifference, and drove her from 
him. The old goose soon began to lay; and as 
soon as she set, I put under her, besides her own 
eggs, three laid by another goose. They all 
hatched out, and the goslings all looked precisely 
alike—no one could tell the difference ; but as soon 
as the wild gander saw them, he appeared to take 
particular notice of three of them, and looked at 
