circumstances. The holes through the posts 
were bored with n half-inch bit. The end 
posts were large and firmly set. One cud of 
I each wire was put through the post atone 
I end, wound around rhe post once and twist¬ 
ed, to fasten. Then the wire was passed- 
1 through each post to the other end post, 
' where it was wound two or three times 
a round a horizontal capstan, consisting- of a 
Hound block of hard wood three oi* four 
invehes in diameter and a, foot or eighteen 
iu ches long, through each en cl of which was 
covering a house. Now cover boards with 
corn Btalks, straw or hay, n. foot thick.—then 
pub on dirt, until a foot thick, and your pota¬ 
toes are safe, until spring. Cover the e xposed 
end of flue with abroad board, to keep water 
from riimiing down sides of (lue. 1 never 
put a. shelter over my potatoes. 
The second is from Summit, Miss., and the 
writer says:—“Tell C. L. F., that we have 
for thirty-live yearn put up our sweet pota¬ 
toes after the following plan, and novel 1 hav¬ 
ing lost, any from rotting,, conclude that it 
that- the protection of the pollen against (he 
injurious effect of premature moisture is the 
more perfect the smaller the number of flow¬ 
ers and of pollen-grains in the individual, the 
greater their degree of coherence and the 
more exclusively the (lower is fertilized by 
insect agency. In those plants where the 
flowering extends over a great space of time, 
where the anthers in the same flower vary in 
the period of their dehiscence to. allow the 
escape of the pollen, and where t-lie number 
of flowers in an inflorescence is very large, 
the protection of the pollen against- the influ¬ 
ence of the weather is reduced to a minimum, 
as in UinheiliiVre and many species of (Jmci- 
fei'Li- <m d KuxilYngn. 
Finally, Kernel 1 draws the conclusion that 
those plants whose coherent pollen renders 
insect agency necessary fur their fertilization 
can only have existed in very recent geologi¬ 
cal periods ; ami those new species or varie¬ 
ties must necessarily have, the advantage, 
and tend to become perpetuated, which pos¬ 
sess superior advantages, in respect to the 
climate in which they grow, for the protec¬ 
tion of their pollen from all injurious influ- 
o,uces. 1 ho plants, the remains of which are 
found in the oldest geological formations, are 
generally of that class which do not require 
insect agency for their fertilization. 
RENOVATION OF LAND 
AUSTRALIAN METHOD OF COOLING 
WATER. 
NEGLIO-E BAJ3.KET. 
inserted a short lever with which to turn it. 
This capstan was laid against the side of the 
post, just under the hole through which the 
wire passed. One man took hold of the wire 
and another turned the horizontal capstan, 
thus straining the wire tight. Then, when 
the wire, is taut, one of the men, with a bas¬ 
ket of white pine or cedar pings previously 
whittled to the required size and soaked in 
oil, passed along the entire line of posts and 
drove with a hammer one of t hese, plugs into 
the hole on each side of each post over the 
wire, thus dividing the strain of thy wire 
among the posts and protecting it from water 
where it enters the same. After these plugs 
wore driven, the wire was taken from the 
capstan, carefully, and wound about and 
fastened to the end post. The wires wen- 
then painted. So made, the fence proved an 
effectual one against horses, cattle and 
sheep, and will last twenty years without 
repair. No. 9 wire wus used, and the posts 
were of the usual size for an ordinary board 
fence. Some find twelve feet apart near 
enough to set the posts. We should prefer 
eight'feet for a pasture fence. The cost will 
depend upon the cost of wire, of the posts, 
and of labor in the locality where it. is made. 
IjAkue buckets of canvas, says the Bulletin 
du Musee, are. made about 4 feet high and 15 
inches in diameter. A bag of linen or flannel 
stretched across the top serves as a sieve and 
a siphon ; a wooden oock and a canvas tube 
inserted below the level of the water are 
used to draw off the content*. These reser¬ 
voirs are suspended to branches of trees in 
shady places and exposed to the light breezes 
which in summer always exist in Australia. 
From the damn surface of l.lm w*u.l« . i.i 
these one foot into the ground and leaving 
tom feet above. Around this on the ground 
put pine straw 8 or 10 Inches thick, then pile 
up the potatoes to the top ol the stake, giving 
the. pile a neat -say a sugar-loaf form. Cov- 
or potatoes with pine straw 8 or 10 inches 
thick. Over this, put pine bark, placed so as 
to turn water—finish with a piece of thick 
bark on north side at top, over-lapping the 
top of the stake. Cover the whole with earth 
0 or 8 inches thick. Should be thick at base 
ol the bark, Ray 13 inches, to facilitate, tile 
lodging of tlie earth on the bark, as It is 
worked Lo the top. This is the old Indian 
Mound plan, we doubt not is the best and 
HOW TO KEEP SWEET POTATOES 
The Southern Cultivator publishes the fol¬ 
lowing answers to an inquiry upon this sub¬ 
ject. The first is from Artesia, MissThrow 
lm. A. Jvkrner reprints from the “pro¬ 
ceedings of the Medical and Scientific Society 
ot Innsbruck ” an interesting memoir on this 
subject. Pollen is of two kinds, powdery 
and coherent. The former kind is found al¬ 
most exelusivaty in those plunts whose fertil¬ 
ization is effected by the agency of the wind. 
I’he quantity of pollen is iu these eases enor¬ 
mous ; tlie anthers are frequently attached 
very slightly to the end of elongated fila¬ 
ments, so that the pollen is shuken out of 
thorn by the least breath of wind ; the flow¬ 
ers grow on the most exposed parts of the 
plants, frequently appearing before the 
leaves, so as to give greater facility for the 
dispersion of the pollen, und are. not provided 
with bright ly colored corolla, powerful scent, 
or nectar, for Ihe purpose of attracting in¬ 
sects. Plants, on the other hand, whose 
pollen is coherent, arc dependent on insect 
agency for its dispersion and transport to 
the stigma. In is therefore absolutely essen¬ 
tial in these eases that some means should be 
pi ovided for its protection from moisture, 
whether rain or dew, which would immedi¬ 
ately destroy its efficacy, until such time as 
it may be carried away by insects, A varie¬ 
ty of contrivances is actually found in na¬ 
ture for effecting this end, which may be 
classified under the following heads : 
1. Protection by portions of the pistil or 
stamens themselves, as in the petaloid stig- 
ias of Iris. 3, By portions of the calyx and 
corolla ; this occurs in an immense variety 
of forms. 3. By sheaths, bracts* or fnlirt oi»_ 
FACTS ABOUT THE SIPHON 
In June last, John Welt* of Truxton, 
Cortland Co., N. Y., laid a-half inch lead pipe 
according to the following survey billThe 
ground rises from the spring in a distance of 
34 rods 10 links, 17 feet 5inches ; from thence, 
in a, distance of 05 reds, there is a fail of 30 
foot, leaving a balance of 13 feet, 7 below the 
spring. Ever 1 since the water was started 
WIRE FENCE 
c. D. B., Clyde, O., writes : — “I wish to 
inquire concerning wire fence—first, what is 
the size of wire used, and about what the cost 
per IOO pounds ? How many wires does it 
require to make a fence to turn all stock but 
bogs ? What is the proper distance for posts ? 
How is the expansion and contraction caused 
by heat and cold prevented ? Have wire 
lences, when built, generally proved satis¬ 
factory ?” 
Some of these questions, we hope, our 
readers will answer. We answer such as 
come within range of our own experience. 
We once made a wire fence in this way : 
Larch or red cedar posts were set eight feet 
apart and three feet in the ground. Holes 
were bored through the posts six, eight and 
twelve inches apart., the lower wire being one 
foot from the ground, the two wires above 
khc inches apart, and another eight inches 
above und the last t welve inches above that, 
ihese distances were varied according to 
SCIENTIFIC AND USEFUL NOTES. 
Gutta-Percha Cement.— Dissolve as much 
gutta-percha in a mixture, of 10 part* of 
bisulphide of carbon with L of oil of turpen¬ 
tine, so as to make a thick mass. Clean the 
leather to be united from all grease, heat the 
surfaces before applying the cement, and dry 
under pressure. 
Weiss Beer.— A correspondent asks if we, 
or our correspondents can give the composi¬ 
tion of the German weiss beer. We carmot. 
We understand it is made from wheat, but 
know nothing of the process. 
Water-Proof Garments— It is asserted that 
soaking the clothes for 34 hours, ffi-st in a 
watery solution of alum and then of sugar 
of lead, and drying them, will prevent the 
rain from penetrating. 
EASTERN WATER COOLER, 
up the ground, where your bank is to be, 
twelve or fifteen inches above the level—take 
four planks four, five or six inches wide, and 
six inches longer than your bank will be 
high ; nail them together, making a flue, or 
what will answer the purpose, get a hollow 
pole, bore several inch holes on all sides—now 
set your flue in center of bank and pile your 
potatoes nicely around it, from twenty-five 
to forty bushels. Now cover with boards 
from bottom to top, breaking joints a* in 
