DIRECTIONS FOR CUTTING TIMBER IN THE SOUTH. 
369 
orchard saving time by saving a few winter 
apples. The girls, two of them are getting 
breakfast, and the others are in the cow yard. 
Now let. us accompany father , who is almost 
as fond of his cows as his girls, and take a look 
at them. Certainly they are a beautiful herd, 
all red, with fine Devon points, gentle and good 
milkers. Two sides of the yard are fenced with 
a very high stone wall, and the other two by the 
barn and long shed, capable of sheltering forty 
or fifty head of cattle. The center of the yard 
is a basin, which is kept constantly filled with 
muck, sods, weeds, and all sorts of trash capable 
of making manure, or saving it by absorption. 
A New England Barn .—Now let us look into 
the most important building upon every farm. 
It is 40 by 60 feet and 18 feet high. This door 
opens into a stable 40 feet long and 14 wide* 
provided with stanchions, which hold the 
heads of the cows in winter; each one of which 
is so trained as to know her place, and walk up 
to it as orderly as the well trained horse, which 
occupies a box at one end of the stable. Two 
great folding doors open upon both sides of the 
barn, so that a load of hay can be driven in 
from either side, and the empty cart pass out at 
the other. Over the stable is a tight floor, upon 
which there is a great mow of rye, and on the 
other side is the bay, filled with hay and oats 
from ground to peak. Old Zeph, a neighbor¬ 
ing negro, is just clearing off the barn floor to 
commence the seemingly endless task of beating 
out all that grain with a flail. But he will do it, 
and then winnow in the wind, and carry it upon 
his back to the bins in the carriage and corn 
houses. And such is a picture of New England 
farming in old times. Solon Robinson. 
DIRECTIONS FOR CUTTING TIMBER IN THE 
SOUTH. 
The following extract is from a letter of Judge 
Capell of Mississippi, which has been some 
time on hand, waiting for an insertion entire. 
In speaking of one of his neighbors, who is 
an old experienced wagon maker, he says, “he 
is one of the most particular men about his work, 
and always cuts his timber treds during winter. He 
selects them of a young and vigorous growth, 
with healthy looking tops, the limbs inclining 
upwards, instead of horizontal. The best he finds 
in the pine woods on the. little creeks, where the 
soil is rich and has considerable sand in it. For 
spokes, he cuts trees about eighteen inches in 
diameter or smaller; and always selects timber 
of a young, thrifty growth, with a coarse grain; 
the heavier the better, as fine grain and porous 
wood is always brash, and light. He prefers 
trees for felloes that grow on the sides of hills. 
Such timber does not crack so much. The most 
important point is to have the timber got out im¬ 
mediately after cutting the trees; have it chop¬ 
ped, split or sawed into proper sized pieces, and 
laid in the shop to season. In making a wagon, 
he has the timber dressed out, (after lying in the 
shop for a year,) one or two months before put¬ 
ting together, as oak timber will shrink every 
time it is dressed. He uses for hubs the best post 
oak, and red • elm, selected from thrifty trees, 
clear of any rot or sap, and turns and bores 
them immediately, and lays them away till 
seasoned; they crack very little in drying, (the 
finest hubs I ever saw were of his make.) Mr. 
Gray, a gentleman of experience, says, the tim¬ 
ber here is much tougher and better than in 
Pennsylvania. I believe this information is 
worth a year’s subscription to the Agriculturist, 
to any man who feels interested in getting out 
wagon timber. E. J. Capell. 
Amite County , Miss. 
--.O.-- 
FARMING IN CALIFORNIA. 
In a letter just received from Mr. Tyler of Sa¬ 
cramento, he informs us that thousands of tons 
of hay and wild oats have been secured the past 
season, so that forage is likely to be plenty at 
the mines and elsewhere in California. During 
winter they hope to obtain $90 to $130 per ton 
for it. At harvest time they paid laborers from 
$75 to $150 per month. 
Everything in the way of vegetables sells by 
the pound. Potatoes are worth 5 to 5^ cents per 
pound, and grow from one to five pounds weight. 
Beets 5 to 7 cents per pound, and one grown 
there the past summer weighed forty-six pounds. 
Cabbages, 8 to 10 cents per pound, a head of one 
of which measured forty-one inches in circum¬ 
ference. Onions, 20 to 25 cents per pound, tur¬ 
nips 6 cents, tomatoes 10 to 15 cents; of the 
size of these last nothing is said, so that our 
readers may imagine them as large as they 
please—say,as big as a quart pot, up to around 
half-bushel. 
The land on the Sacramento is very fertile, 
and no matter where you plant, things are cer¬ 
tain to grow if you will only irrigate the land; 
but directly after a rain is the best time. Mel¬ 
on-vines may be seen with ripe fruit and blos¬ 
soms at the same time. 
The climate of Sacramento is very fine. The 
absence of rain during the summer is not so 
great a drawback as one would suppose, as the 
nights are quite cool, and considerable dew falls. 
Mrs. Farnham of La Libertad, near Monterey, 
has sent us some California wheat, a fair sample 
