362 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
dfyimcrmg. 
SMALL SEWERS BEST. 
Col. Warivo in the November Atlantic 
Monthly says Sowers choke and overflow 
during heavy storing mainly because they 
are too large for the work they are ordinari¬ 
ly called on to perform. If a sewer is so 
small that its usual flow is concentrated to a 
sufficient depth to carry before it any ordi¬ 
nary obstruction, it will keep itself clean. 
But if. as is almost always the case where 
the engineer lacks experience, or where he 
defers to t he ignorance of the local authori¬ 
ties, it is so largo that its ordinary flow is 
hardly more than a film, with no power 
even to remove sand, we may Vie quite sure 
that its refuse solid matters will gradually 
accumulate until they leave, near the crown 
of the arch, only the space needed for the 
smallest constant Btream. And, in order to 
make room lor a rain-fall flow, the whole 
sewer will have to be cleared by the costly 
and offensive process of removal by mnuual 
labor. A smaller sewer would have been 
kept clear by its own flow. 
The Bame advice holds good with regard 
to common farm drains. Twenty-two years 
ago when the writer of this commenced 
under-draining on his father’s farm in 
Western New York we had lirst to make 
some large outlet sewers. They were made 
of stone 6x8 or even ten inches, and in a few 
years were badly undermined by skunks. 
Smaller drains built of stone also the same 
or succeeding years remained perfect and 
are yet In good condition. We very soon 
learned that where no overflow of water 
was to be carried off a very small tile would 
drain a long distance. Whore there are no 
large springs and surface water merely soaks 
into the tile a small opening will suffice. 
Sometimes from adjacent hills water will 
come down and flood the land a few hours 
or even dayB but without doing auy damage 
to either drain or crops so long os an active 
circulation of water through the soil to the 
tile is kept up. It is stagnant water re¬ 
maining on or near the surface till it gradu¬ 
ally "dries out" thab does the damage and 
is to be guarded against. A two Inch solo 
tile or three inch horse shoe will answer for 
most places where no Hood of water comes 
from higher ground above. It must be 
remembered (hat drained soil will hold all 
the water needed for any crop up to the 
point of saturation, and only the excess is 
carried away through the drain. A two- 
inch tile gives four cubic inches and a three- 
inch tile nine cubic inches. This volume of 
water flowing night and day will soon carry 
off a largo surplus. 
The mistake made in farm drainage is 
generally in making the cellar drain too 
large a h&rhor for rats and coarse vermin. 
In almost any case a two or three-inch tile 
is better than any larger size, and especially 
better than a drain made of stone. 
DRAINAGE. 
TnE following practical thoughts upon the 
important subject of drainage are from Dr. 
Geo. B. Lori no’s "Farm Yard Club of Jo- 
tharn,” in the Boston Globe : 
" I would not be understood as saying that 
an indiscriminate application of thoi-ough 
drainage to all soil is to be recommended. 
There are soils which do not require drain¬ 
age. Heavy day soils are a bane to the 
farmer without it—a blessing with it. There 
is a large quantity of what is called cold, 
springy land—land in which the water per¬ 
colating from the hillsides is caught and 
held, and in which the springs thus fed are 
constantly seeking nu outlet on the surface 
for the want of any other mode of escape, 
which would bo made highly valuable by 
thorough drainage. 
1 am frequently told that the purchase of 
tiles is an unnecessary expense, inasmuch as 
nature has provided most of our farmers 
with materials for drainage close at hand, in 
the stones of their fields, and that they can 
be made to answer the purpose of tiles them¬ 
selves. I am aware that it is a good plan to 
bury the stones which interfere with culti¬ 
vation. But T doubt, the economy of en¬ 
deavoring to convert them into drains, ex¬ 
cept for the purpose of constructing a large 
free water passage, tapping a copious spring, 
or furnishing a culvert for a rapid stream. I 
should never expect a thorough drain with 
stones ; and I should consider it a misfortune 
to find enough in my land to tempt me to 
use them. Stone drains cannot bo con¬ 
structed as economically tt8 the tile drains. 
They require vastly more digging, and they 
are bulky and heavy to transport. They 
cannot be laid so as to prevent the particles 
of earth from entering their crevices ; and 
their walls offer retreats for moles and mice 
too comfortable to be neglected. Owing to 
their liability to be obstructed, they are not 
permanent ; and, except as conductors for 
rapid streams, I doubt if they are ever 
effectual. 
This brings up for consideration a point 
frequently brought forward in all discussions 
upon thorough drainage with tiles. Place a 
tile in the hands of auy man, or show him a 
tile draiu laid and ready for covering, and he 
will almost invariably ask you how the water 
enters the pipe. We are told that five hun¬ 
dred times as much water enters a drain at 
the crevices or joints, as through the pore* 
of the tile. This may be so. But one thing 
should be remembered—that no crevice 
should ha large enough to admit particles of 
earth with the water, if the water passage 
is to be kept free from obstruction. The 
great advantage of tiles over stones is that, 
they strain the water out of the soil without 
admitting any particles along with it—an 
operation impossible in a stone drain, and 
unless the crevices or joints are close enough 
to perform this duty the drain must be a 
failure. Now take any number of feet of 
two-inch pipy properly laid, with the joint* 
carefully adjusted, and the space occupied 
by the crevices is very small In comparison 
with the cubic Inches of the bore. Yet from 
this pipe will be discharged at timeR a stream 
of its full capacity. Would not crevices 
large enough to admit this volume of water, 
endanger the drain < I have no doubt that 
tiles act as strainers all along their course. 
May not the very philosophy of tile draining 
with its strange success consist in this that 
on every square iuch of its surface are mul¬ 
titudes of orifices draining the water away 
from adjacent, soil, and acting as outlets for 
the porous earth as the water is distilled 
away from it ? Else how is a tile drain so 
much more effectual than any other drain 
ever invented ( Crevices and joints do not 
account for this. 
1 trust that you will not forget that 
thorough drainage does not belong to pio¬ 
neer farming. It is no part of the work of 
clearing the forests and expelling the wild 
beasts. Neither does it belong to what is 
called fancy farming alone. Every man in 
the region of this town aud country who 
can keep his farm through care and industry 
and thrift, can just as well afford to drain a 
portion of it as he call afford to fenc^t and 
manure it. Tf he can afford to do the onfe, 
he can afford to do the other. If ho applies 
his Industry to one. he can better apply it to 
the other. For he may build the most sub¬ 
stantial walls around fields loaded with ma¬ 
nure, and yet find himself enclosing nothing 
but. “vexation of spirit" aud a reproach to 
all his labor, because he lias failed to lay the 
foundation of his agriculture on a well- 
drained soil. Every mechanic who owns his 
cottage and a few adjoining acres will do 
well to begin at the bottom of his soil, if he 
hopes to reap the reward of the farming 
which lie snatches from the bench and the 
workshop. 
-■■ - 
CHEAP MANURE. 
Wilen one goes to buy a farm, his first con¬ 
cern is about cheap laud. Next he considers 
how he can get cheap labor, and with these 
he is generally satisfied. Indeed, with many 
the prico per aero is the main consideration. 
J f 8150 . say, be the ruling price per acre, and 
he can buy for 1100, it is a chance if the bar¬ 
gain is not at once made. 
It is not often that, cheap manure is 
thought of, and vet we think it is of as much 
importance as all others. We have indeed 
beard it. put as a truism by farmer* about 
Philadelphia—an I put in a way as if assured 
of uo contradiction—that no man could af¬ 
ford to pay more than A150 per acre aud 
thrive. It is looked on as wholly a matter 
of the price of laud ; but there can bo no 
doubt that, one can better afford to pay $300 
where manure is abuudunt and cheap, than 
$150 where it is not to be had at any price. 
There are men about all large cities who 
either farm or garden land worth several 
thousands of dollars an acre. They do not, 
perhaps, buy land at this figure and farm it; 
out their rent and perhaps taxes would rep¬ 
resent the interest of tins great sum. It is 
often said it is because they are near to 
market. They grow heavy articles that 
are costly to transport long distances, and 
the saving is here. There is some force 
iu this ; but little in comparison with the 
facility they enjoy in cheap manure. The 
country farmers have no idea of therichuess 
ol't heir lands, xmd by which they can take 
off three or four crops of different articles a 
year.— Qern i antoum Telegraph. 
There is much of truth in the above, but 
it is not the whole truth. Inability to pur¬ 
chase manure in quantity is a greater evil 
than any dearness in price. It is not the 
cheapness of manure that has made the for¬ 
tunes of New York market gardece: s, but 
the fact that they have always purchased 
largely, though often at extremely' high 
prices. Market gardeners and farmers near 
large cities, have always had an important 
advantage in this over those far from market. 
The more expensive, but more concentrated 
commercial fertilizers, partially neutralize 
this advantage and make thorough manur¬ 
ing and high farming possible where bulky 
barnyard manures would not pay for haul¬ 
ing. This we regard as one of the chief 
benefits to A morican farmers. By the use of 
commercial fertilizers, every farmer knew 
that the few fortunate land owners near 
large cities, could make their soil rich and 
reap large profits from city stable manure. 
But this knowledge was more tantalizing 
than beneficial or practical, Honestly made 
and reliable commercial fertilizers have 
placed all farmers so nearly on a level with 
regard to the enrichment of their soil, that 
Ihe natural advantages of cheaper lands are 
again beginning to be felt. With cheaper 
lands, the severe system of cropping pur¬ 
sued near large cities, does not become neces¬ 
sary. Clover and other renovating crops 
may be grown and the improvement of the 
farm be hastened, It is a fact that com¬ 
mercial fertilizers have heretofore been used 
more by market gardeners than by farmers 
—more by men who could easily and cheaply 
buy stable manures than by those to whom 
they were practically inaccessible. We bc- 
liovo, however, that this is to change. 
Market gardeners will not use less of com¬ 
mercial manures, but the large majority of 
farmers, at a distance from markets, and 
who have heretofore been compelled to 
leave much of their land unfertilized will 
use vastly more. 
Jjguafomdrg. 
BLOOD DISEASES AMtJNG LAMBS. 
On this subject the Edinburgh (Scotch) 
Farmer discourses as follows : 
From various districts we learn that losses 
of greater or legs numbers have been taking 
place among lambs and sheep from an affec¬ 
tion which exhibits similar signs iu both 
parents ami offspring. In the outset it ap¬ 
pears the Iambs were first to suffer, and they 
gave Indications of great, pain, lameness, and 
subsequently swelling in a lilud or fore quar¬ 
ter. Somewhat later a aero-sanguineous or 
blood and water discharge issued from the 
affected part, and the animals died in from 
four to four-and-twenty hours. 
In one instance that has come beneath our 
notice we are informed that the lambs were 
finely grown and in an excellent condition, 
aud shortly after the tails were amputated 
the mortality took place. Later, the sheep, 
which were subjected to the operation of 
clipping, have also become affected, and, 
after suffering in an identical manner, die off 
as the lambs did. From a careful considera¬ 
tion of the details as they reached us, we do 
not hesitate to conclude the disease in both 
young and old animals is the same—a blood 
poison, known as black quarter, quarter 
felon, black pauld, etc. 
It will not be without interest if we exam¬ 
ine what connection there may be existing 
between the appearance of the disease and 
the operation. There cannot possibly arise 
any question of probability that either dock¬ 
ing or clipping were the causes primarily, 
but that both were instrumental in hasten¬ 
ing the development of conditions necessary 
for the outbreak of the disease is not at alt 
unlikely. The lambs, after losing their tails, 
may possibly have moved about less, and 
thus favored local congestion, and the sheep, 
after losing their fleece, being deprived of 
that which requires much support, possess 
within themselveb a larger amount of rich 
blood than is needed. Besides, the skin 
without the fleece would be less vigorous in 
throwing off the impurities of the body, and 
thus an additional cause of blood-poisoning 
would arise. But the primary and neces¬ 
sary causes are of anterior date altogether. 
When the body Is charged with a supera¬ 
bundance of morbid elements, many simple, 
conditions, as operation, change of food, 
pasture, etc., unnoticed and iunocuous at 
other times, suddenly swell in the list of im¬ 
portant collateral agents in the production 
of general disease. There is wry much to 
be taken into consideration in relation to 
food, water, manure, drainage, locality, age 
of pasture, etc. 
■- 4 -*-* - 
SHEEP ON OLD MEADOWS. 
Mr. R. G. Hill, in an address before the 
farmer’s meeting at Morrisville, Vt., on Cots- 
ivold sheep, related the following in connec¬ 
tion with the effect of sheep on meadows : 
“To try the effect of sheep on my mowing 
land, I took a lot of about twenty acres of 
pretty dry ground that had not been plowed 
for some fifteen years, but had been occa¬ 
sionally top-dressed, turning them iu as soon 
as the grass started after getting the hay off, 
and feeding in quite close. In the spring I 
turn them in pleasant days until they can go 
i u pasture. This I have done but a few years. 
The grass has improved both in quantity and 
quality every year since thus managed. 
While cutting the grass the past season, the 
haymakers said they should think there had 
been a heavy top-dressing of ashes applied, 
the white clover was so abundant. I am now 
satisfied by my own experience that these 
sheep are a* much before cows to keep up 
the mowing as they arc in the pasture. To 
do this we must have sheep that will stay 
where we put them aud that can be easily 
handled. I can handle my sheep as 1 can my 
cows. I can go myself alone and drive any 
one of my full blood sheep to anj* part of the 
farm. 
The above is by no means a conclusive in¬ 
dication that sheep are beneficial to grass¬ 
lands, and especially to meadows. The 
white clover came in, evidently, because the 
sheep had destroyed the original sod. Though 
white clover is a nutritious and palatable 
food, it is not a productive or profitable crop 
where the red clover or t.lie grass can be 
grown. In well cultivated and well ma¬ 
nured fields, an abundance of white clover is 
looked upon as a misfortune, as indicating 
that the more valuable seeding has failed. 
-- 
N0TE8 ON SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 
Profitable Sheep .—A correspondent of the 
Prairie Farmer, who has kept sheep for ten 
years, gives the following statement of his 
expenditures and receipts. He commenced 
with thirty-two sheep, and at different times 
bought forty-two more. He has raised 356 
lambs, killed 158 sheep, sheared 726 fleeces, 
or 4,136 pounds of wool, worth $1,857.92, and 
has sold 206 sheep for $475. Each sheep has 
paid him $2.51 per year. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH HONEY, 
A correspondent of the Scientific Amer¬ 
ican gives his experiments with bees in 1874: 
I put up six one-pound cans of beautiful 
linden honey, being careful to make it one 
homogeneous moss by stirring. It was 
thrown from the combs by an extractor on 
July 20, and put into cans on August 1. The 
••ana were placed respectively a* follows : 
One In a dark, dry cellar, one each under 
shades of red, yellow, green and blue glass 
and the sixth can in full light. On November 
8 the honey in the cellar candied to a white. 
November 22 to December 10, honey under 
colored shades candied, first in the red, next 
in the yellow, green and blue; while the 
honey in full light remained transparent un¬ 
til January, when it soon candied after ex¬ 
posure to intensely cold weather. From my 
experience an equal temperature would pre¬ 
serve certain kinds of honey, while other 
kinds would candy under almost any circum¬ 
stances. 1 think that candled honey, instead 
of being looked upon with disfavor, should 
be recognized evidently pure. I hope, 
however, that the above experiments will 
lead others to follow up the light theory with 
beneficial results. 
-■» » ♦ 
HONEY PRODUCT OF CALIFORNIA. 
The Los Angeles (California) Express says ; 
“It is stated that the honey product of San 
Diego county, this year will be fully six hun¬ 
dred tons. One million two hundred thou¬ 
sand pounds of honey is prodigious for an 
industry only about three years old. Los 
Angeles county, also, is making tremendous 
advances in honey culture, and in a few 
ears the two counties will supply the world, 
he honey of Southern California is without 
a rival in quality and flavor in market. It is 
only during the last twenty years that bees 
have been known in California, aud to-day 
the business of the apiarist promises to be 
one of the most important iu the Southern 
portion of our State. 
“From the same county, San Francisco 
has received since December last over 5,000,- 
000 oranges, aud 6,000,000 lemons, while the 
industry is rapidly extending to the other 
parts of the State." 
- - - 
A Plant Destructive to Bees.— The 
large podded milk weed, almost iuvariably 
causes the death of every bee alighting upon 
it. The bee either adheres to Mm plant or 
else bears away a small scale sticking to its 
feet, nnd cripples itself fatally in attempting 
to remove the annoyance. 
