MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
creased value of the stock aud the improvements 
made on the farm. Nothing that is consumed 
at home can be counted as profit from the farm, 
unless there are members of the family who are 
not laborers, or animals kept for hire. The 
value of the hay aud pasture, is realized from 
the profit of the animals which consume it. You 
must not estimate the value of the corn raised, 
and the amount received from the pork of the 
hogs which eat it. Then the farm must be 
charged as Dr. to all the labor performed, your 
own, as well as the hired, the women as well as 
the men, for the past year— Winter as well as 
Summer—the expense of wear aud tear of stock 
and tools, which is a heavy amount, if you will 
foot up the blacksmith bill, the wagon-maker, 
the ham ess-maker, the plow-maker, and the 
furnaceman’s bills, together with the price of the 
forks, rakes, hoes, scythes, and cradles, which 
were bought the past season, and the interest 
of the capital invested, which includes the cash 
value of stock and tools, as well as the price of 
the farm ; the expense of repairing fences and 
buildings ; highway and county taxes ; the cost 
of the groceries consumed by the laborers—all 
have to be paid for, from the products of the farm 
and have to be charged as farm Dr. Deduct the 
debt from the credit, and you have ihe profit of 
the farm for one year. But there is often so 
much difference in the amount of productions, 
and the market value of farm commodities in 
different years, that it is necessary to take an 
average of a number of vears to ascertain the 
real profit of farming. 
But if farming is such a slow business to 
make rich, how has it happened that the Farm¬ 
ers of Western New York have got so well 
along ? It has been by forty years of unremit¬ 
ted exertion, and most rigid economy, that they 
have accumulated their property, and there are 
few vocations in this country where faithful in¬ 
dustry cannot earn more than it is necessary for 
them to spend in procuring the comforts of life. 
June, 1856. W. Garbott. 
BOARD PENCE MAKING—AGAIN. 
Friend Moore :—When I wrote the article in 
the Rural of the I2ih inst., in reply to R.’s 
communication given the 28th of June, I had 
not noticed the comment on my first article, by 
M. W. H., published June 2lst, which latter 1 
think needs from me at least a passing notice, 
especially as the suhject of fence is becoming 
quite a serious matter. By your leave, I will 
remark upon the several improvements he pro¬ 
poses, as foilows : 
First.—Sawing ofF the buts of the posts. I 
do not think it will pay, or even that the fence 
will stand as erect; for you will not of course 
always saw off the posts perfectly square, or 
leave the bottom of the hole perfectly level,—a 
failure in either of which will have an effect to 
sway the fence more than if the bottom of the 
post is rounded. When ready to put on the 
cap, which should be the last part, (except 
completing the filling up of the holes.) your 
fence will have swayed more or less, and the 
posts become somewhat loose in the holes. If 
then your cap is straight and stiff, the act of 
nailing it firmly will bring the top of your 
fence into a perfectly straight line. 
Second.—“ The earth should not be slightly 
yacked," Ac. On this head we are decidedly at 
issue. I know it is quite common to pack the 
earth very lightly about the posts. It is also 
quite common to see the posts lifted up by 
the frosts. The harder it is packed the 
deeper it freezes, aud the longer it is in 
thawing. If any one doubts this, let him 
dig across a foot-path before the ground thaws 
in spring. The preservation of the perpen¬ 
dicular of the fence depends much on pack¬ 
ing the earth only as close as that which 
surrounds the holes. 
Third.—Sawing off the boards. My plan is, 
for two to hold up the board to the post, mark 
it, saw it off and nail it on, without laying it 
down, ■which way I think is a saving in time. 
Fourth.—Nailing on the bottom board first. 
I think I can tack on the lop board as quick as 
he can adjust his line for the bottom board, and 
get the top board right and well nailed long be¬ 
fore he can the bottom one ; and then it is 
much easier measuring for the other boards, 
from the top, by a measure hung on the upper 
board, than to measure from the bottom up. 
Fifth.—As to the battens on the posts. He 
says, “by all means have them," and relates 
his experience as to the preservation of the 
joints. Now, I have no doubt but that pine 
boards, and perhaps hemlock and oak, will be 
well preserved under a batten and cap well put 
on ; but I think he will find that fences built 
of ash, elm, maple and whitewood will surely 
rot first under the battens. A year since, I 
took down fifty rods of old board fence built of 
ash, elm and whitewood, all battened and cap¬ 
ped, and I found hardly a sound joint. I have 
also removed a few joints of pine board fence, 
battened and capped, and the joints were more 
or less rotten, while the rest of the boards were 
sound ; the caps, however, were badly put on. 
Tis true that the battens stiffen the fence, but 
as to the drawing of the nails by the sun, that 
is merely from the warping of the boards, or the 
swaying of the fence—the former of which pine 
and hemlock rarely do. I have just examined 
pine board fences built by me six and eight 
years since, without battens, and a part with¬ 
out caps. The capped part has generally pre¬ 
served its perpendicular position, and the boards 
remained all tight and firm, but the uncapped 
has swayed some,and many of the nails started 
in consequence. 
The main thing, friend M. W. II., in building 
board fence, is, to build of lasting materials, and 
keep the fence upright,—the latter of which has 
received from me more attention than any other 
branch of farming ; and it is to this, and mainly, 
that I recommend small posts, little surface ot 
boards, light packing of the earth, no stones in 
the holes, alternate or broken joints, level 
around the posts, a plenty of large, strong nails 
and a stiff narrow cap. If you and I do not en¬ 
lighten each other on this important subject, 
perhaps we may some one else who has be¬ 
stowed less attention to it. h. 
Gorham, July 14,1856. 
TURNIP SEED. 
Friend Moore : —So far as we are aware 
seedsmen in this place have made it a rule for 
the last twelve years to recommend the sowing 
of one pound of seed, of either of the large 
variety of turnips, to the acre, or from one to 
one and a half pounds of the small table varie¬ 
ties,—and an experience in the seed business, 
aud in the growing of vegetables thatleDgth of 
time’ has proved the rule to be a very correct 
one. Should, however, the seed when sown be 
put in positions, and the condition of the soil 
be such as to make each a “producer,” and 
should none of the plants be destroyed by in¬ 
sects, it would be necessary to thin out the 
thickly sown parts. Any one who knows the 
size of well grown turnips can determine pretty 
well the distance apart the plants should be 
permitted to grow. Better have the plants too 
Lhin than too thick. In one case turnips would 
predominate, and in the other turnip tops. 
Turnip seeds are grown in this country to a 
very limited extent, those sown being mostly 
“imported" from England. Efforts to raise 
turnip seed in our climate are generally fail¬ 
ures, and when success is attained, the crop is 
always inferior in quality and quantity to the 
imported. The cause of this is the difference 
in the climates of the two countries. Our at¬ 
mosphere is comparatively hot aiid dry, and so 
is the soil—and that of England is cool and 
moist. Here the seed is matured so rapidly 
that it is pinched up and its germinating pow¬ 
ers crippled, and sometimes entirely destroyed 
—none coming to a healthy and vigorous ma¬ 
turity. There it matures perfectly, and a crop 
seldom or never fails to be rea ized. The im¬ 
ported seed is large and healthy, and having no 
doubt that such seed will produce larger and 
better plants and better crops of turnips than 
the small and badly matured American seed, 
we import mainly our supplies of turnip seed, 
never selling this country grown without ex¬ 
planation, aud at a much less price than the 
imported. We have no further reply to make 
to H. H. Doolittle's foolish assertion in regard 
to “ imported” seed. 
Turnip seed is occasionally sown and no 
plants, to the appearance of the interested par¬ 
ty, come forth. To such party we would say, 
sow again, after a sufficient time has passed, 
and if necessary again, and out of the same lot 
of seed, for not one failure to realize a crop in 
a hundred, if imported seed is sown, is occa¬ 
sioned by badness of seed. By repeated sow¬ 
ings a condition of the soil and atmosphere will 
be hit which will bring success. Seed may 
be sown as lale as the 15th of August and good 
crops expected. 
Although not aimed at us, still we would say 
that such unkind insinuations as the one con¬ 
tained in the remarks under H. H. Doolittle’s 
communication in the Rural of the 5th, are 
occasioned, more than ninety-nine times out of 
a hundred, by the “ somniferousness ” of the in¬ 
dividual expecting the crop. Plants come up, 
and are sometimes so soon destroyed by the 
' black bug, that it is necessary to be wide awake 
and on one's taps to know whether the seeds 
slept or did their duty. Seeds are also often 
destroyed by laying a length of time in a hot, 
dry soil. The last spring we received from 
Paris, France, seventeen different varieties of 
turnip seeds. We wished to ascertain if there 
were any new kinds we could introduce here in 
quantity to advantage. The seed was sown in 
June by an experienced grower, and all came 
up finely, but in a very short space of time every 
plant disappeared. The drouth and bug had 
done the work. Some would have said the seed 
was “ somniferous. Briggs A Brother. 
Rochester, July, 1856. 
THE MOON: IT 3 ACTION UPON VEGETATION 
AND THE WEATHER. 
Under the above heading, in the Rural of 
July 5th, I notice a few rather strong observa¬ 
tions, which savor so much of irreverance to¬ 
wards that beautiful luminary, the Moon, that I 
am resolved to throw down the gage in her de¬ 
fence, and call upon you, or your contributor, to 
“argue” the matter a little. You assert that 
“ the experience of ages has not yet disabused 
the minds of men, even in this enlightened pe¬ 
riod, Ac., of the perfect fallacy and moonshine of 
the signs,” Ac. So far your article appears to 
show that, however painful the reflection may 
be to us enlightened ones, the experience of the 
past has not been sufficient to confute those 
signs and give them the lie in toto, however ab¬ 
surd they may appear. 
You refer to “ a German philosopher, a very 
learned, acute and observing man for 60 years 
of his life,” who “noted every change of wind 
and weather, and compared all the signs of the 
dry and wet moons at every quarter,” Ac., Ac., 
and “came to the conclusion that its pretended 
influence was wholly due to ‘they say'—illusion 
and prejudice." I do not suppose that by this 
you mean to say that this German kept a record 
for “sixty years,” or that he “ noted every change 
of wind and weather, and compared all the signs of 
wet and dry moons;” but simply that he was a 
very observing man and examined the matter 
of the lunar influence with care. I presume 
the philosopher referred to is Schubler, who 
has certainly examined the subject with great 
care, and -with good success, although he did 
not see it. The tables of this philosopher, 
when examined as they stand, appear to show | 
nothing and to prove nothing; but when we 
question these tables in view of the influence of 
the moon’s light on the weather, then they give 
us replies which should satisfy us that there is 
at least something stronger than mere “they 
say,” to support the popular impression that 
the moon affects the weather in some manner. 
His tables show that during the period of twen¬ 
ty years, there were, at the time of least 
moonlight, 414 rainy days—while, during the 
period of greatest moonlight, there were 470 
rainy days—leaving an excess in favor of the 
full moon of 56 days of rain, which gives an ex¬ 
cess of rain at the 4 days nearest full moon of 
nearly one-seventh of the whole number of 
rainy days over an equal portion of the days 
nearest new moon. Other philosophers have 
arrived at similar results. These facts disprove 
your further assertion that “the subject in fact 
will not bear examination or intelligent induc¬ 
tion one consecutive portion of a minute.” 
You admit that the moon sends a feeble re¬ 
flected light to the earth, the effect of which is 
inappreciable to chemical or mechanical tests, or 
nervous sensibility, and conclude that “ therefore 
its only action must be either attraction, or re¬ 
pulsion,” <fec. Now, this “feeble reflected light ” 
of the moon is a peculiar light, its action is pe¬ 
culiar and powerful, as I have before this at¬ 
tempted to prove by records of thermometric 
observations, and as far as the short time em¬ 
braced by the records could give any weight to 
a position, so far were my positions fully sus¬ 
tained. I have therefore “pretended that the 
moonlight has an effect upon sublunary affairs,” 
leaving cucumbers aud fresh fish out of the 
question. Now I may be wrong in my conclu¬ 
sions, but I may be right, and in either case 
your article is too strongly, or too loosely word¬ 
ed. An ordinary reader would suppose that 
the moon was condemned as a useless thing, 
judging from the tone of your article. I do not 
think we can boast of advancement over our an¬ 
cestors to a great extent concerning meteorolog¬ 
ical affairs, for we have not been long enough at 
the work of minute observation and registering, 
to be able to say that we know, or do not know, in 
regard to very many mooted points, among 
which is yet to be found the question of the 
Lunar influences. C. H. Strowger. 
Penfield, Monroe Co., N. Y., July, 1856. 
CONDENSED CORRESPONDENCE. 
ELEPHANTIASIS.—REMEDY WANTED. 
Eds. Rural :—I love agricultural and horti¬ 
cultural pursuits as I love my life, and for the 
last fifteen years have been a reader of various 
works on those subjects, but none of them well 
deserve the appellation of being perfect as your 
own, on rather I should say the People's Rural 
New-Yorker. I have always made it a rule 
to cut out all the best pieces for my scrap book 
when and wherever I came across them for fu¬ 
ture use, and I could but^ notice that before I 
got through the R. N. Y., it’s about off used up. 
[Of course you cannot cut all the “ good ideas” 
from the Rural and have much left. The best 
way is to save all the numbers for binding, as 
do hundreds if not thousands of appreciative 
readers.] But my principal object in writing 
was to make a request through your valua¬ 
ble paper for a good, practical recipe that will 
cure the disease known as Elephantiasis, 
.or, as it is sometimes called, Leprosy. The 
skin and hair turns white in spots on different 
parts of the body, and whenever there is an ir¬ 
ritation, a kind of scurf or dry skin is thrown 
off by rubbing it. Such information would be 
thankfully received, and might confer benefit 
upon others besides your constant reader.—T. 
J. L., New Haven, N. Y. 
MEADOW MOLES.—INQUIRIES. 
Eds. Rural : —Can you or some of your 
many readers inform me what to do with the 
very numerous army of meadow moles or mice 
that infest our land, eating out our substance, 
and have been the last winter girdling and 
destroying our choice fruit trees ? To destroy 
them seems almost impossible, and though 
many are killed they seem to be on the increase. 
Is there no way to poison them or thin them 
out, or any application to be made to the trees 
to prevent their destruction ? Will tar, soap, 
or paint, be of any use, or will its application 
be injurious to the trees?—G. D., July, 1856. 
POLAND OATS, ONCE MORE. 
Eds. Rural :—From reading the experience 
of J. Young, and others, in the culture of Po¬ 
land oats, I am induced to give mine also. In 
the spring of 1853 I obtained half an ounce of 
Poland oats of I. W. Briggs, West Macedon, 
N. Y. From the first sowing, I had 3 lbs. 4 oz. 
My second product was 6 bushels. Last fall I 
harvested my third crop, it being 190 bushels. 
Mine are the white oats, weigh 40 lbs. to the 
bushel, and from my experience with them thus 
far, 1 believe they are preferable to any other 
kind that I have tried. —Wm. Waid, Dover, 
Fulton Co., Ohio. 
Rocky Mountain Flax. —Can you or any of 
your numerous subscribers tell whether there 
has been any of the Pocky Mountain Flax 
cultivated in this part of the country, and if 
there has been, what is the result ? It is said 
to grow spontaneously and in great abuudance 
on many of the rivers running west from the 
mountains.—W. C., Five Corners, Cay. Co., N. Y. 
A Suggestion. —Farmers, halter-break your 
sucking colts. Then, if you drive the dam on 
the road, you can tie the little baiter of the colt 
to the harness, and it will soon learn to trot 
along by the side of the old animal. Thus you 
need have no fears of its getting lost in the city, 
or following off other teams. Try it, farmers. 
—J. Sibley, Forestville, N. Y. 
^Eitral Uotfs ^ 
The Discussion, in late numbers of the Rural, 
on “ Salt, Plaster and Ashes for Corn,” has ap¬ 
parently created some personal feeling between 
the combatants. Having given to each “ fair 
play,” we intended to add to the long article in 
last number that our belligerent and iDclined- 
to-be personal correspondents had so nearly ex¬ 
hausted the subject as to render a change to 
some other topic desirable I As both are good 
writers, and we doubt not experienced farmers 
and naturally amiable gentlemen, we trust they 
will govern themselves in accordance with this 
suggestion—and furnish us the results of their 
experience on other subjects. Meantime we 
shall be glad to hear from those who can throw 
more light upon the use of Salt as a fertilizer 
for Corn and other crops —including two or 
three friends who have promised the results of 
experiments. 
The Oswego Co. Ag. Society has wheeled 
into line, under a new organization, and is em¬ 
ulating other County Societies in the purchase 
and fitting up of permanent Fair Grounds. A 
pamphlet comprising Premium List, Regula¬ 
tions, Ac., for next Fair—to be held at Mexico, 
Sept, 17th and 18th—states that the Society has 
purchased ten acres of land, beautifully located 
and easy of access—that commodious fixtures 
are in course of preparation for the permanent 
accommodation of the Society—and that the 
premium list is increased 100 per cent, over 
that of any former year. All which speaks 
well for the progressive spirit and enterprise of 
the officers and members of the Society, among 
whom we notice the names of many of the most 
prominent and influential farmers of the county. 
Wheat Midge in Canada —Our accounts, by 
letter and otherwise, have given very favorable 
reports of the prospect ot the wheat and other 
crops in Canada. The Toronto Globe of a late 
date, however, states that the wheat midge has 
made its appearance in various parts of the 
country. Welland, Kent and Middlesex Dis¬ 
tricts are particularly mentioned as being visited 
by the insect in sufficient numbers to cause ap¬ 
prehension. The same paper speaks of rust and 
drouth, in some sections, but we apprehend 
that none of the evils mentioned prevail to such 
an extent as to materially diminish the yield of 
the staples of the Province. 
Western Farm Journal. —We are in receipt 
of the first number of a handsome sixteen page 
quarto weekly, bearing the above title, com¬ 
menced on the 5th of this month as the “ Organ 
of the Kentucky State Agricultural Society.” 
It is edited by W. D. Gallagher, Esq., and 
published by Jas. P. Hall A Co., Louisville, 
Ky., at $2 per annum. The Journal presents 
an exceedingly fine typographical appearance, 
and gives internal evidence of becoming an 
earnest and influential promoter of the cause 
espoused. Extending a cordial welcome to 
every worthy laborer in the field of Rural Im¬ 
provement, we heartily shake the proffered 
digitals of our new, good-looking and determin¬ 
ed contemporary. 
Agriculture in the Territories. —In the ex¬ 
amination of exchanges, such as we receive 
from our States in embryo, we note frequent 
calls for the formation of County Agricultural 
Societies—and the papers, generally, have de¬ 
voted a column or two to the discussion of such 
matters as will interest and instruct the farmer. 
Minnesota, Oregon, and Nebraska will have a 
thorough-going and enterprising class of agri¬ 
culturists long before they are numbered amid 
the galaxy on the flag of the Union. The right 
spirit seems to be awakened and the farmers in 
those sections should nourish and protect it. 
Sheep as Bush-Killers. —An article under 
this head appears in the Boston Cultivator, show¬ 
ing that the sheep is quite effective in destroy¬ 
ing brambles, and various sorts of useless 
shrubs. We have had frequent occasion to no¬ 
tice this fact. It results in part, if not wholly, 
from two causes—the closeness with which the 
sheep crop the leaves aud small twigs, which are 
regarded as injurious to vegetation. The aid of 
sheep in destroying such shrubs, is quite im¬ 
portant on rough side-hills, or wherever the 
plow or the scythe could not be easily used. 
But the quickest way to rid an open field of 
such annoyances, is to crop the land a year or 
two, and lay it down to grass. They will dis¬ 
appear at once, or very speedily. 
Gadflies. —The gadfly not only persecutes 
by its bites, during summer, healthy oxen, but 
but also deposits its eggs in their skin, which 
give rise to tumors on the back and other parts, 
in which the larvm become developed ; they 
live there on the succulent fluid which the soft 
parts secrete, and make their escape thence in 
the following spring, in order to become meta¬ 
morphosed. The greater the number of tumors 
the more is the strength of the animal dimin¬ 
ished by the pain and suppuration. For this 
reason we should endeavor to free the animal 
as soon as possible from these larval pests by 
frequently washing these tumors with cam¬ 
phorated brandy, or forcibly compressing them, 
which either crushes the insect or forces it lo 
make its exit. When they have attained the 
size of a filbert an incision must be made into 
ihe part, which is then to be covered with a 
pitch plaster. A few doses of sulphur are to be 
given internally. We are told that those oxen 
which have taken sulphur for a long period of 
time are not infested by gadflies.— Gunther. 
Fences operate in two ways ; if good, they 
are a defence ; if poor, they are an offence. 
JULY 26.* 
WASHING BUTTER. 
We have long believed that if all things in 
connection with butter making are right, butter 
should not be washed, if the object is to pro¬ 
duce the finest quality. It is not denied that 
washing is in many cases a convenient way of 
getting rid of the butter-milk, or that where 
proper facilities in regard to the manufacture 
are not available, working may not be the read¬ 
iest and most economical mode. But this is 
not the point at issue—it is this : Supposing 
the temperature is at the desirable degree thro’ 
the whole process, from the time the milk is set 
to the close of churning, and all other circum¬ 
stances are of the most favorable nature, could 
the best butter, as to flavor and keeping quali¬ 
ties, be made by washing or without ? The 
expediency of washing butter is another matter, 
and must be determined according to certain 
contingencies. 
The author of a very able article on butter¬ 
making, in the Rural New- Yorker, says the gen¬ 
eral practice in Jefferson county, N. Y., is to 
wash butter, though “some few make an excel¬ 
lent article without washing.” He thinks it 
difficult, in warm weather, to get out the butter¬ 
milk without water. Yet he candidly adds, in 
regard to the makers who do not wash their 
butter—“ It is but just, however, to say that 
some of this small class, when the weather is 
favorable, or where they have extra facilities, 
get up an article every way superior, and of 
very fine flavor." 
We go for the “extra facilities” aud the “ar¬ 
ticle every way superior.” If the Rural cor¬ 
respondent will give us the names of those who 
make this “superior” butter without washing, 
we will engage them good customers and an 
extra price for all they can supply.— Rost. Cult. 
How they Farm it in Nicaragua. — The 
Louisville Courier, published a letter from Lieut. 
Coleman to his father, at present, member of 
Congress from Mississippi, from which we clip 
the following, relative to agricultural pursuits 
in the Tropics. He says :—“ They plant their 
corn as the Kentucky farmers sow wheat—scat¬ 
tering it broadcast. There is one striking dif¬ 
ference, however, the field in Kentucky is 
plowed before the seeds are sown. But here 
the trash and underbrush is burned off entirely; 
then the grain is thrown upon it, and the rains 
do the rest. With such cultivation as this, the 
corn is by no means bad, the ear is not so large 
as the best of ours in the States, but it is well 
filled with a flue, large, flinty grain. The su¬ 
gar cane of Nicaragua is superior to that of 
Louisiana, being sweeter and decidedly more 
juicy. Two crops can be obtained yearly, and 
the fields need replanting every fifteen years. 
I have made a calculation as to the coffee crop 
as it is cultivated here. Each acre will yield a 
nett profit of about $60, and a good hand can 
cultivate twelve acres. But the cacao and van¬ 
illa bean are decidedly the most lucrative aud 
beautiful crops. The former commands a fine 
market here, even, for the natives are very fond 
of it, and the latter is worth $26 per pound.— 
The cacao requires seven years before bearing, 
but then it will yield $1,000 per acre. The 
vanilla bean will yield even more. Besides 
there are medicinal plants of the rarest and 
most valuable kind.” 
Solubility of Bones in Water. —When bone- 
dust, such as is commonly employed as manure, 
is left for sometime in contact with water, aud 
the latter is filtered away, it is found to con¬ 
tain appreciable quantities of the phosphates of 
lime aud magnesia. The same result is ob¬ 
tained when the water is freed from carbonic 
acid by long boiling. By filtering water for 
months through the same mass of bone-dust, it 
was found constantly to contain these earthy 
phosphates, aud their quantity even appeared 
to increase in proportion as the organic matter 
of the bones became putrid in consequence of 
its long contact with water and air, and the wa¬ 
ter flowing off became turbid and offensive.— 
This fact seems to have some practical value in 
agriculture, as it shows that, without any arti¬ 
ficial preparation, the earthy phosphates may 
be extracted from the bones, and introduced in¬ 
to the soil in a state of solution, perhaps exactly 
in the quantity necessary for their appointed 
functions, and that in the employment of bone- 
dust as a manure, all the preparation is, per¬ 
haps, to lay it in heaps during the summer, and 
keep it constantly moist.— Prof. Wohler. 
Parsxips for Stock. —The Prairie Farmer, 
in a valuable article on the parsnip, says:—It 
is excellent as food for horses, cattle and swine. 
It is more nutritious than the carrot.- The 
winter butter from the cows of Jersey and 
Guernsey, fed on the parsnip, is almost as rich 
in flavor and color, as when they are fed in 
pastures. It bears frost well. If left in the 
ground all winter, it will be good in the spi ing. 
Its ash has 36 per cent, potash. Wood ashes 
make a good manure for it. It is more hardy, 
and less liable to disease and to insects than 
the carrot. It may be sown in the fall. 
Ventilating Hay Stacks. —The British farm¬ 
ers have a method of ventilating their hay, oat 
and barley stacks which we may frequently 
adopt with advantage ; and in stacking corn¬ 
stalks it would be always beneficial. They fill 
a large bag, say ‘6% feet high and 20 inches in 
diameter, with straw, and place it vertically in 
the centre of the stack, putting the barley, oafs 
or hay, whichever it may happen to be, round 
it. As the stack rises they lift the sack ; and 
so on to the top. In this way there is a chim¬ 
ney formed in the center of the rick or bay, into 
which the steam or gases generated find their 
way and escape readily. 
