ing flavor of the butter. I would add that, to 
secure uniform sweetness to butter apoii filling 
tub. take a cloth sufficiently large to a little more 
than cover top of tub. and melt butter enough to 
thoroughly saturate the doth: then spread over 
the top of tub, take a knife or ladle and crowd it 
down on the inside of the tub, putting the cover 
on firmly. Butter so managed, properly made 
and stored in a dry, cool cellar, will not lose its 
freshness. 
White ash, next to oak. is the beBt timber for 
butter tubs or firkins. All the butter, or nearly 
all, made in Northern New York, is packed In 
tubs made of white ash, and aro known in mar¬ 
ket as “Welsh tubs.” The tubs should be 
soaked in sour milk or water for two or three, 
days previous to the filling, and then scalded by 
turning hot water inside. For tubs to put sum¬ 
mer butter in, the heart of the timber only should 
be used. L. D. Plumb. 
Martinsburg, N. Y., 1863. 
like every other which affects human happiness, 
should be considered carefully, and argued with 
candor and earnestness. 
To begin at the beginning, why do men in the 
rudimentary states of society refuse to perform 
the necessary labor of tilling the soil? In the 
first place, because the idea that toil Is disgrace¬ 
ful is common to all savage and semi-civilized 
nations. In the second place, they know no 
law but the law of “might makes right,” and so 
compel their women to bear the burdens of life. 
For themselves they prefer the more manly exer¬ 
cises of hunting, fishing or scalping and roasting 
their enemies. In time the world progressed far 
enough to sea that labor was not disgraceful for 
commoner. but only for kings,priesta and nobles. 
It was reserved for the “Indefatigable Yankee” 
to demonstrate to the world the fact that a man 
may labor with his hands, may be a “plow- 
jogger," yet. at the same time, a “country 
gentleman." 
Now, can any man or woman give a good 
reason why any labor which is refining and ele¬ 
vating for a man, is at the same time coarse and 
degrading for a woman? Women have as many 
sets of muscles as ineD, and ure commonly re¬ 
ported to possess an extra rib. Is it more 
debasing to exercise those muscles in plowing 
the soil or sowing grain where one’s lungs are 
regaled with the pure, air of heaven, than in 
washing, ironing or scrubbing, or, worse than all, 
in cooking Indigestible compounds (commonly 
called food) where one is obliged to inhale the 
filthy odor of burning fat? 
Your correspondent alludes to the degraded 
condition of woman in civilized countries, even, 
that are obliged to labor in the fields for a liveli¬ 
hood, and thinks that “even Mr. Wkkiht him¬ 
self would he disgusted with them." No doubt 
of iL Mr. Wright would be disgusted with a 
soulless and sensual woman, whether she was 
harnessed with an ox to plow the earth, or clad 
in silks and resplendent with jewels, the petted 
slave of a lustful master. It is slavery and not 
honest and virtuous labor, that degrades and 
debases woman, from the beautiful but soulless 
“Pride of the Harem'' to the disgusting and 
filthy squaw amoDg the savage Sioux. And 
here allow me to say. if there is one man who, 
more than another, has labored for the true ele¬ 
vation of woman, that man is Henry C. W 
potatoes, &c., with judgment, are generally in 
better condition than those who neglect to do so. 
Thi8is however less, perhaps, from the benefit 
derived, than from their closer personal atten¬ 
tion and general economy in feeding, that it 
indicates in the tamer. My motto is to save all 
that has value, the saving of which will not cost 
as much or more than it is worth. 
POTATO PLANTING. 
Should potatoes be planted fresh from the pit 
or wilted ? Let them wilt, by all means. 1 
once overlooked a few rows dropped, which re¬ 
mained unnoticed and consequently uncovered 
during several clays, and not only wilted but 
considerably dried. These had the advantage in 
the strong and healthy appearance of the tops 
throughout the season, and in the tubers at dig¬ 
ging. over those covered fresh from the pit Cut 
the potatoes and scatter on a little plaster (a very 
little lime will do.) to prevent bleeding, and 
allow to wilt if time and circumstances will 
admit. a. w. t. 
Nay, Bradford Co., Pa., 1863. 
the comb-frame, and the comb-guide, are solid; 
that is, they are not made of separate pieces, as 
formerly. Bees follow this guide with very 
regular combs. Still we do not depend on the 
comb-guide alone. Guide-frames are used in 
connection with them when bees are building 
comb. We can, by the use of guide-frames, 
secure straight combs with very little trouble. 
The combs made between them are as uniform 
in thickness as a pane of glass! It is no longer 
my general practice to reverse the combs to 
secure them straight Such was my practice at 
the time the article to which you refer was 
written. 
4th. The frames, when seven-eighths of an 
inch wide, should be placed about one-half of an 
inch from each other. A hive fourteen inches 
wide, inside, is wide enough for ten frames. I 
have used eleven combs in a hive of that width. 
They were made, however, between guide- 
frames. 
5th. The honey-board should not rest on the 
frames. The bees would fasten it to the frames 
with bee-glue! This would render its removal 
quite difficult Besides, in replacing it, more or 
also Editor of the American Edition of “Yoaatton the 
Uop(e,’ - of which over thirty thousand copies Iistc been 
sold. The author of The Practical Siibcskrp ig well 
known as the Ablest and most reliable writer on Sheep 
Hu-bandry in this country, and the work cannot fail of 
becoming the standard authority od the subjects discussed 
It must prove indispensable to every American flock 
master who wishes to be thoroughly posted in regard to 
the History and Descriptions of the popular breeds of 
Sheep, their Breeding, Management, Diseases and Reim- 
dies. The work is intended to give that full and minute 
practical information on all subjects connected w ith Sheep 
Husbandry which its author has derived from the direct 
personal experience of thirty five years with large flocks, 
together with that knowledge of different modes and 
systems which has flowed from a very extensive corres 
pondence during a long period with leading flock-masters 
in every part of the world. 
The history, statistics, and what may be termed the 
literature of Sheep Husbandry, have already occupied 
many foreign and domestic peas—among others that of 
Dr. Randall. His ‘‘Sheep Husbandry in the South,' 
embraced a vast amount of this kind of matter, and no 
other American work on Sheep has been received with 
more general favor His Report on Fine Wool Husbandry, 
drawn up in 1862, at the request of the N. Y. State Agri¬ 
cultural Society, contained some of the most valuable 
original facts of the above kinds, comparative statistics, 
etc It has been received with high favor In England, 
and reviewed in the Agricultural periodicals of that conn 
try with a degree of respect rarely accorded to foreign 
writers. The object of Tax Practical Shepherd is 
different. Great changes and improvements have been 
made within a few year* In the practical processes of 
Sheep Husbandry, especially in the United States In 
some important particular} they hue been essentially 
revolutionised, No work before the American public 
brings down information concerning these improvements 
to the present day. It is the object of The Practical 
Shepherd to do thi*. It is the author’s aim to make It a 
WILL SALT PRESERVE FENCE POSTS 1 
Yes,— and something else it will do! I like 
thoroughness in anything undertaken, and would 
not like to see an article in the Rural squinting 
in the wrong direction. But, sometimes people 
“ overdo the matter.” A near neighbor of mine, 
who amassed a competence years ago, had occa¬ 
sion to build a dam across our creek, at his 
grist milL Now, the General is a “thorough 
mam” I presume he was maturing plans three 
years previous to his building it; some twenty 
years ago. Well, much to the surprise of prac¬ 
tical men. the dam yielded last August to the 
pressure of water, and it went out. Now, for 
the reason. During the months of July, August, 
and a part of September, in each year, he could 
use all the water of th6 creek for his wheels, and 
he watched his dam, day and night, letting no 
water go to waste. Having made his dam so 
faithfully by planking, and packing with hard- 
pan clay, it was positively tight, and during the 
two monlhs which no water was allowed to pass 
over the dam, the timbers got partly dry,~- and. 
consequently, rotted. When ho built that dam, 
he did not expect to live long enough to see it 
rot away. But the best laid plans “aft gang 
agee.” Had the timbers been wet every day in 
the year, the dam would have been sound to- 
day. My reason for writing the above is, that 
the reader must not cover a blind ditch with any 
kind of lumber, unless it is to be continually wet, 
and no mistake about it, else it toill decay. 
Now. about the salt in posts. Some eight 
ABOUT MUCK, 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker:— I am pleased to 
learn that Friend Hoehandle has turned a 
“ secessionist,” and wish there were many more 
of the same stripe. If he is certain that the 
hard-pan is not higher than the second rail, it 
muy be some consolation to him to know that 
his farm can be rejuvenated by a compost made 
from muck. Now, I am willing to give Friend 
Hoehandle the benefit of my experience; hav¬ 
ing been raised in Massachusetts, where sterility 
compelled tho farmer to resort to his muck bed 
for a fertilizer. The usual method was to have 
the barn-yard entirely clear by the end of har¬ 
vest; as the muck bed was generally dry at that 
season of the year. The yard was then filled to 
the depth of six or eight Inches with muck. 
Upon this the cattle were yarded through the 
season, and foddered during the ensuing winter. 
In the following spring, after the cattle went to 
grass, the manure and litter from foddering was 
thoroughly mixed with the muck; being forked, 
or pulled over with hooks. This process was 
repeated two or throe times during the summer, 
the whole remaining spread over the yard, that 
the cattle might be herded on it nights, and by 
August a rich compost was formed. When used 
for corn and potatoes it was placed in the hill, 
but always as a top-dressing for grass, spread on 
in the fall; or if drawn out late, was left, in heaps 
and spread early in the epring. By this process, 
I know that heavy gras3 can lie raised on some¬ 
what exhausted land. Peter Killthistle. 
Chili, Monroe Co., N. Y., 1863. 
gmjuims mitt gtostner# 
1 oppixcs op SUGAR Cast* —Will aoine of your nutner 
OU8 readers inform me through the medium of vour ex¬ 
cellent jiaper what the topping* of an ucre of cane are 
worth for Seeding stock where Timothy hay is worth $6 
per tun ?—N. McCall, Lake Minn 
Wilt. Cau-Smokc Affect Bkk.s f —I would like to in¬ 
quire. through vour valuable paper, If the smoke of the 
ear* will affect bees, and how, it passing about two rod* 
from them 'f If any one who lias had experience will 
answer, they will very much oblige —A Scrsckhikr II- 
linoll, April, 1803. 
RIGHT. 
I know nothing more than your correspondent 
of Mrs. Roberts and her daughter, but I will 
venture to affirm that for real Intelligence, for 
wealth of mind and heart, they would outweigh 
all the fashionable and charming ladies of Snob- 
dom, with all their jewels, dowel's, feathers and 
laces thrown into the scale. 
About the girl of thirteen who plowed an acre 
and a half per day, taking care of her own team, 
does any one think it would be a severe or de¬ 
grading task for a boy of that ago? I do not. 
Then why should it be for a girl whose parents 
do not consider it a disgrace for girls to 
be healthy, and bring them up accordingly. 
Shall we look with contempt upon our grand¬ 
mothers who so bravely bore their part in our 
first war for liberty? God forbid! Yet they did 
not pause to inquire what tasks were strictly 
feminine. “What their hands found to do they 
did with their might,” and we, their grand¬ 
daughters and great grand-daughters, before this 
second revolution has passed, may be compelled 
by stem necessity to perform duties far more 
onerous than “ riding a horse with ease and ele¬ 
gance." 
Your correspondent says with truth that men 
“monopolize most of the callings in which 
women are well qualified to act,” and cites 
teaching in particular, justly observing that 
there should be no difference made in their sal¬ 
aries—that the woman who teaches as well as a 
man, should be paid the same wages. Ac. All 
correct; but what course shall be pursued to 
bring about this “ consummation so devoutly to 
Coloring Hair and Fur os Skins, Ac —1 am desirous 
ot learning how to eolorithe fur or hair on skin* with dif¬ 
ferent tolors, especially black and brown. Also, how to 
tan tin- hide* without injuring the fur or hair. I will bo 
verj much obliged to you if you will send mo the above 
information, or direct where I can obtain it_ John S. 
Miller, Wyvmitoj , A Y 
SoJUNo —Sometime since a gentleman asked through 
the Rural for the Dr and Cr. of soiling, and it ha* not 
been answered I believe. I* it possible that there arc no 
readers capable of answering such a question f I felt 
much interested in that query, and have been waitiug pa 
tiently to have it answered. 1 am obliged to soil my cow* 
as I have no pasture, and have too much respect for niv 
self to become a highway robber by pasturing the road 
W hen I cut ray Clover and oats for the cow*, had It better 
be fed green, or cured before feeding f—A. K J., Shiloh, 
Cumberland Co., JV. J. 
Bees and Bee Culture.—Answers to Inquiries. 
For the past year I have written but little 
for the press concerning bees and their culture. 
One reason of this is, that it has taken about all 
tile time I could spare to answer private letters 
on these topics. It is now my design, Mr. Edi¬ 
tor, with your permission, to answer such inqui¬ 
ries as I think may be of interest to your many 
readers, through the Rural. By this means, 
many others, aside from the inquirers, may be 
lamented. In pursuing this course I will sup¬ 
press tho names of the inquirers, unless I have 
their permission to put them “In print.” Mean¬ 
time, I should be pleased to have bee-keepers 
generally send along their inquiries. The more 
inquiries sent the better. I shall reserve the 
Culture ok tiik Qsikk Willow.—1 wish to make some 
inquiries through the Hcrai. about the culture of the 
0*1 cr Willow 1st. Wh«t kind of noil i* adapted to the 
willow • 2 d. Is tlu-rc more than one variety v if so, which 
i» the mart profitable 1 3d. I* it propagated by cutting* f 
1 th. When Is the taut to plant or set ? £tb. Where oan 
the cu'tlngs he obtained, and at wbut price per thousand • 
6 th. Will the Willow culture pay with proper attention 1 
Any other light bearing upon this Fubjecl (Willow cuJ 
tm e,) will be very gratefully received by the writer, who is 
much interested in the weekly perusal of vour excellent 
paper—A Si iiscbiber, Lima, iV. Y. 
wood will not decay when wet, and not exposed 
to the air. But the salt, attracting moisture from 
tho ground, and keeping the wood moist, will 
not allow the paint to stick to the wood. So it 
scales off in patches as large as my hand. And 
then, again, the salt acting on the nails causes 
red oxide of iron to permeate through the wood, 
and exude through the paint, forming ill-looking, 
rusty streaks down the posts. If the readers of 
the Rural, or any one of them, like the notion 
ot painting a front fence every year or two,— 
following the above plan, I suggest that the posts 
be painted t.be color of rusty nails. r. g, b. 
Camden, Oneida Co., N. Y., 1863. 
Overstocking the Country with Bees.— There is a 
difference of opinion on this subject among bee men— 
some claiming that it Is Impossible. I do not believe it 
so. I believe there are localities in the Weal where the 
indifferent success with large apiaries is due to an over- 
stoek of bees and a want of hopty - producing plants. It 
seems to mo this subject of the forsee eanacitv of the 
POTATO PLANTING. 
Dear Rural: —Forasmuch 
Culture of Peppermint—C an you. or some of vour 
renders, give me some Information In regard to cultivating 
Peppermint, and when and bow to eoinmonco with it ? 
Or do you know of any manual on the culture of Pepper 
mint? If so, please Inform me through the columns of 
your Rural where I can obtain one, ami thus much oblige 
—A Subscriber, Organs Od , a Y. 
There la no work on Peppermint culture to oar knowl¬ 
edge, and but little has been published on the subject in 
this country Peppermint is cultivated to a considerable 
extent in some parts of this State, especially in Wayne 
county, and we invite those of our readers posted to im¬ 
part the desired information. Briar, iu his ‘•family 
Kitchen Gardener,'’ says Peppermint “may be increased 
with facility by young offset plants or shoots, or by plant¬ 
ing the roots iu spring, or by planting cuttings during 
any of the summer months in a moist soiL" 
Flax and Flax Cotton in the West. —According to 
information received from Western letter* and papers, 
considerable attention is being given to Flax culture aud 
the manufacture and “cottonizing '* of flax fiber. One 
exchange states that fiux is now used quite extensively in 
some parts of Wisconsin for manufacturing purposes. At 
Milwaukee there are exhibited specimen* of flax white as 
snow, and also colored with the most brilliant hue; calieo 
made of fifty per cent of flax; cotton-flanuel, one half 
flax; felted cloths, and a variety of other manufacture* of 
which flax is a component pait. The market sales of these 
calicoes is six cents a yard. As handsome un artielc of 
broadcloth is manufactured from this cottonized flax as 
could be desired 
do their kitchen work, or make their clothes, but 
if I carry any wheat, corn or other produce to 
market, they will hardly inquire whether I, or 
my husband, or some other man. has grown it. 
Therefore, 1 say, girls, don’t “lay down the 
shovel and the hoe," but rather take them up; 
for thus you may dig your way to a competency. 
Sylvester, Greene Co.. Wis. C. L. Morgan-. 
A New “Steep” for Seed Corn.— A writer in the Co. 
Gentleman says he last year adopted the plan of wetting 
or oiling his seed corn with kerosene—using about a quart 
of oil to a bushel of corn. TLc com wa* placed in a tub 
aud the oil poured upon it—not enough to swell it, but to 
moisten or oil the outside of the kernels. It remained in 
this condition from six to twelve hour#. It w as then dried 
off with flour Plaster, of course, would have been better 
The object in view was to prevent the crows and birds 
from pulling the young corn. The experiment was suc¬ 
cessful so far as their eating the com was concerned, for 
the strong and repulsive odor of the oil rendered it entire¬ 
ly unpalatable to the bird6. 
Salt for Posts.— In answer to J W. N., on salt for 
posts in Rural of April 1 >th, I give my experience. 
Thirty eight years ago 1 selected thirty chestnut post* of 
equal size. Half of the number 1 bored with an inch 
auger just at the top of the ground, slopingly, eight inches 
deep, tilled them with salt, and plugged them up The 
first post set was salted, next not salted, and so on until all 
were set. The result was the posts all failed alike, prov¬ 
ing to roe that salting was lost labor. My mode of setting 
posts in sandy ground is this—I dig two and a half feet, 
set the post, fill with the same dirt to within six or eight 
inches of the top of the ground, and fill the remainder 
with clay. Posts set in clay will last one-third lunger than 
those set in sand. Where the ground heaves by frost I 
dig the hole large and set the post by filling in stone. I 
have a fence thus treated, set ten years since, not a post 
of which has moved; all erect.—J W, Oaks Comers. 
ANSWER TO “ QUESTIONS FOR DAIRYMEN.” 
A Reliable Commission House.—W e refer those of 
our readers interested, and especially such as have lately 
inquired of us on the subject, to the Commission House 
of JoatAH Carpenter, New York, which has been adver 
Used in the Rural for several nuouths From what we 
know of Mr. C. as a business man, and his references, we 
have no doubt he is eutirely responsible aud reliable, and 
therefore cumraeud his establishment to the attention of 
those sending produce to New York. Mr. C. issues a val¬ 
uable Price Current, weekly, which any of our readers can 
obtain by addressing him as advertised 
up some vamaoie miormation irom its pages, 
finding in every number articles worth a year's 
subscription. But to the text. First, as to sepa¬ 
rating the milk of farrow cows from the rest of 
the dairy. Milk so separated, and cream taken 
off and treated in the same manner as the rest of 
the dairy, will produce butter in the same time; 
hence there can be nothing gained by separating. 
In cheese, also, it will make no difference. 
As to size of packages:—For spring butter 50 
to (>0 pounds is the most salable size in market. 
During the summer it depends upon the size of 
dairy; for 20 cows and upward, SO to 100 pounds 
is best. The reason why I mention size of dairy 
is, that 20 cows will fill a 100-ponnd tub as 
quick tvs 10 cows will fill a 50-pound tub. The 
object in using a size to correspond to the num¬ 
ber of cows is, that the longer a tub is exposed to 
the air, or not sealed, the more danger of impair- j 
FEEDING ROTTEN POTATOES, &c. 
Value or Hungarian Grass — Bro. Hoyt, of the 
IFi'i Farmer, expresses as his conviction that the Hunga¬ 
rian Gras*, though answering a very good purpose for 
wintering cattle, has nevertheless been somewhat overru 
ted On a good soil it unquestionably jiolds largely, but 
it is equally true that it is correspondingly exhaustiv e of 
the fertility of the soil. Its chief advantage, in his opiu 
ion. Is in its adaptability to soils and climates less favora 
ble to clover and the ordinary grasses. Can any experi¬ 
enced Western correspondent of the Rural controvert 
the apparently sound opinion of our contemporary ? 
Some years the rot does not penetrate potatoes 
much beyond the rind. I have found profit in 
feeding such. Never knew stock injured by eat¬ 
ing rotten potatoes, apples, Ac., if not allowed to 
over-feed. This would injure, and sometimes 
kill, if the potatoes, apples, <fcc., were sound; or 
if allowed thus to gorge themselves on any kind 
of grain that they are fond of. I have noticed 
that the stock of those who feed them rotten 
