REVIEW OF THE FEBRUARY NUMBER OF THE AGRICULTURIST. 
115 
REVIEW OF THE FEBRUARY NUMBER OF THE j 
AG-RIO ULTURIST. 
As this is a short month of short days, let us 
make short work of it. 
A Great Milker.— Truly a great account, and 
I have no doubt true. 1 wish all strippers in 
pint cups could read and realise its truth. But 
I suppose this cow had something to eat besides 
stone walls, rail fences, thistles, briars, elder 
bushes, toad flax, and daisies, which seem to 
me the most prominent features in some pastures. 
Substitute for an Ice House. —I venture to say 
that some cute fellow might cut out this item 
and sell it as a great secret, for much more than 
you charge for a thousand equally valuable 
ones to your readers. 
Cure for a Bellowsed Horse .—Just as intelligi¬ 
ble as half the recipes published—all wind. 
Chain Gates .—A new idea, which I like very 
much. Will some of the universal nation go to 
work at it, and give us cheap chain gates ? 
Village Lectures .—What a fund of valuable 
information is contained in these articles. To 
prevent the effects of decomposition, so delete¬ 
rious to health, let the farmer not abandon the 
process of making manures, lest it cause sick¬ 
ness upon the premises. But let him study how 
to counteract the effect by adding charcoal, if 
he has it, and gypsum, to absorb the escaping 
ammonia, by which many a dung heap is ren¬ 
dered almost worthless during the process of 
decomposition, and the vegetable fibre almost 
as effectually burnt up as though it had passed 
through the fire, and left nothing but the ashes, 
while the great fertilising principle had passed 
off in the form of smoke, and become lost to the 
husbandman, and poisoned the atmosphere that 
his family were daily compelled to breathe. But 
to know this, the farmer must read; to read 
anything connected with farming, is to subject 
himself to the ridicule of the biggoted who are 
anxious that none should possess any more in¬ 
formation than themselves. This difficulty will 
never be overcome before agricultural chemistry 
is taught in common schools, by teachers of 
common sense. 
Notes from a Kitchen Gardener’s Memorandum 
Book .—Here is one of the very kind of teachers 
required. He talks about the reason why dif¬ 
ferent kinds of manures are beneficial to differ¬ 
ent plants. How did he obtain the knowledge ? 
Was it instinctive, or has he come by it by study, 
by experiment, and careful observation? If so, 
then why should not all who can read profit 
by his experience? It is a lamentable truth 
that most of us are not only excessively ignorant, 
but excessively fond of the article. It is sur¬ 
prising to hear what a vast number of excuses 
some people can invent to satisfy their con¬ 
sciences for refusing to buy a book, or subscribe 
for a journal devoted to the object of giving 
them knowledge of the pursuits' of their lives. 
Ventilation. —I am glad to see this important 
subject touched upon in your columns. It is 
one which requires the united efforts of all 
thinking men to combat. In my opiniqn, the 
want of ventilation causes more sickness in 
families than any other household arrangement. 
How much it is neglected in stables, barns, and 
granaries, as well as in dwellings. 
Value of Dogs. —Horrible! But this is only 
one item in ten thousand. Yet, if half the world 
were to die with the hydrophobia, the other 
half would keep dogs. 
The Princess Tribe of Shorthorns. —Another 
bull fight, of no interest whatever to one reader 
in a hundred, and will not be read by one in 
ten. You cannot take a more sure way to les¬ 
sen the public estimation of the Agriculturist, 
than by these personal disputes about nothing. 
[We totally disagree with the “ Captain ” in the 
above conclusion.— Eds.] 
The Hen Fever .—This article, or rather the il¬ 
lustration accompanying it, burst so suddenly 
upon my organ of the ludicrous, as I sat alone 
in the library, that I went off into a perfect 
guffaw of laughter. This brought the girls all 
in a bunch from the parlor, to see “ what in the 
world ails father.” I could only tell them I had 
got the “ hen fever,” and that set them in a twit¬ 
ter, and this altogether brought Old Black Joe up 
from the kitchen, to see what had broke loose 
on deck; and the whole made up a show pretty 
nigh equal to the “great poultry sight” at Bos¬ 
ton, which I have just been reading about. 
“ Wal,” says Joe, when made to comprehend 
the subject. “ Dat Boston are a cute place, and 
dem Yankees always ready for spec’lation. If 
de Cap’n knows half so well how to handle big 
roosters as him do big ship, could be sittin’ on 
de fence now crowing over fortune made by de 
hen business. ’Cause, spose we had bought 
dem big roosters used to see in China, and sell 
him here for sich price dat you read about 
—r’aly, I should like to go in de hen trade 
mysef.” 
Effects of Irrigation. —Things talked of, but 
seldom practised. 
' Salt for Cattle and Sheep. —-As it is a matter of 
no consequence with some stories which end 
you begin at, I will commence upon the last 
part of this salty article. I hope it will be con- 
