k; 
fed to tlio working team three times a day. Ono 
of them ia almost twenty-four years old, and the 
other i- nineteen. Jack, the oldest one, gets 
bay, ami Jim is still eating straw on account of 
his hen.von, They work every day and aro doing' 
well, their coats being bright and glossy. A 
groat many farmers think that corn ground with 
tho cob will kill a horse if fed to him. We 
have found, on the contrary, from experience, 
that it is a healthy food, and that a team will do 
hard work on Ibis diet and keep iu good condi¬ 
tion. If our old team were fed oats unground, 
ono half of thorn would pass through them with¬ 
out mastication or digestion. Wo have tried 
this to our entire satisfaction, hoping by feed¬ 
ing gnuu wholo, to save the miller's toll. If it 
is necessary to feed grain whole, it is host to 
feed corn in the oar. Some horses will eat it, 
cob and all, hut most of them prefer to shell it 
oil'and then eat it. A team fed on corn will 
sweat easier arid more than when fed on oats, 
but this does not injure them any. For hard 
driving, oats is the best food, and when fed to 
old horses, they should be ground. Tbe meal fed 
to our horses is always wetod just beforo foedir.g. 
Tbcn it is sweet, and palatable. Corn meal will 
soon get sour wbou wet, and on thiH account 
should be freshly mixed, as a horse abhors any 
sour or rancid feed. We commenced t his para¬ 
graph by speaking about the little wastes in the 
daily feeding—three spoonfuls a day scattered 
from off the heaped measure make one thou¬ 
sand and ninety-five in a year; this is equivalent 
to 27.3? quarts—almost a bushel a year. The 
same little waste occurs in the grain fed to 
other animals, which would add at toast aa much 
more to tho averago waste for the year. 
Esquire Davidson has just lost a fat cow, 
which may teach us all a good lesson. The cow 
was very old and ho commenced fattening her 
early in tho season. 8ho did well so long as she 
could got plenty of green and suoonlent food. 
IIo intended to dispose of her to a butcher be¬ 
fore winter set in, but did not succeed in doing 
so. About a week ago, she refused to eat, and 
soomed to he in very great pain. Physio was 
administered with no effect. 8ho has since 
died, and an examination showed that her 
paunch, or first stomach, was full of unmastica- 
ted food. Not being masticated properly, it had 
remained in tho stomach until it had formonted, 
producing colic, and resulting in death. Old 
cows as well as other animals intended for 
slaughter, should bo gotten into condition be¬ 
foro winter, as they will fatten much easier on 
green feed, and tho risks can be avoided of dry. 
unmasticatcd food, which is liable to produce 
either scours or colic, as in the eaBC of this cow. 
A better plan is to turn off all animals beforo 
their teeth aro worn out and while they aro in 
full vigor. 
According to tho statements of several of the 
neighbors, Guinea fowls have a now field of use¬ 
fulness. The neighbors say they will eat potato 
bags and keep the vines clear of them. One 
man id going to winter fcwonty-livo on the 
strength of his faith iu them. Tho experiment 
is worth trying, as they arc an ornament to tho 
farm, and their eggs aro tho beat for making 
cakes, and they are good layers. 
A Dorking hen was found dead tho other 
morning under the roost. 8ho was very fat, and 
unquestionably died from apoplexy, which is a 
common diaoasoof over-fat fowls. Largo breeds 
are much mot e liable to this disease than smal¬ 
ler ones. Sonic of our chickens persist in roost¬ 
ing in the stock-barn on tho partitions between 
tho stalls. Thecattlo in those stalls invariably 
get lousy, and tho pests must come from the 
chickens. Wo never could make them roost in 
the hennery before snow came, and then some 
of them would make their way back to tho stalls, 
however ofton they might bo carried to the hen¬ 
nery. Such haH been our experience for yoars, 
and there is no reason to suppose that these 
chickens will be any more obedient than the 
others. It occurred to us, that, however they 
might delight to sit on this roost, they would 
not like to slick last, so wo have to-day daubed 
coal-tar all along on the edge of the top-boards, 
between tho stalls, and now we congratulate 
ourselves that tho liens will vacato that most. 
P- 8.—Later.—Tirno has demonstrated the 
perfect success of tho experiment. 
Thero wore so few books on swine, and these 
were so antiquated, that they gave ns but a lim¬ 
ited idea of the progress in this important in¬ 
dustry, and especially in the establishment of 
American breeds and tho more modern ideas 
which have been developed among swine breed¬ 
ers, that WO give a hearty welcome to the recent 
work on "8wiuo Husbandry," compiled and 
written by Mr. F. D. Coburn, of Kansas. The 
fact that from this infant State, which was an 
Unknown region thirty years ago, thero should 
emanate a valuable and instructive book on Iho 
subject is wonderful, but not so much so as the 
fuct that this fruitful commonwealth is now 
really an empire in production and promise. 
Mr. Coburn's work brings the history of swine- 
breeding, and tho literature pertaining to this 
industry, down to tho present time. Tho au¬ 
thor has becu careful and painstaking, and has 
endeavored to troat the different breeds of pigs 
and sections of the country with equal fairness. 
4fatm (fronomij. 
SOMETHING ABOUT MANURE. 
(1.) Can forest leaves be rotted by the first of 
next May, and what would he the most rapid 
process for decomposing them without using 
horse manure, as I would like to procure an al¬ 
most pure leaf mold. (2) I am saving, sepa¬ 
rately, liorso, hog, cow and hen manure, and 
wish to learn for what garden crop each is most 
suitablo according to tho latest experiments and 
best authorities. (3) Iu saving manure is it 
well to add ashes in alternate layers, and what 
is the most rapid method of rotting hon, liog 
and cow manures, so as to have t,liom ready for 
uso next spring. A. BansenniEn. 
Ans. (1.) Yos, sufficiently for uso in flower¬ 
pots or in tho gardorf: mix with them a small 
quantity of lino wood-ashes and moisten tho 
mixture oocasionally. A layer of powdered 
charcoal, mold, or earthy matter of any descrip¬ 
tion. spread ovor the mass, will absorb and re¬ 
tain any evaporating ammonia. (2) It is neith¬ 
er customary nor advisable to keep separato tho 
manure from tho various sorts of auimalson tho 
farm, except perhaps, that from pigeons and the 
different species of poultry. Hog, and cow 
manures are both cold and somewhat slow in 
decomposing, whereas horse dnng is hot and 
ferments readily, and when composted with the 
others acts as a leaven to tho whole mass. 
Moreover, when the voklings and Utter of the 
different animals aro piled Ugother, now chem¬ 
ical combinations take place, the contents of 
the whole heap are broken down more thor¬ 
oughly, made finer, and consequently more 
soluble anil therefore more readily available 
for mammal purposes; for it should he borne 
in mind that all fertilizers nmflt bo reduced 
either to a liquid or gaseous condition before 
they can be absorbed as food by plants. This 
probably accounts tor tliu fact that no one has 
hitherto thought it, worth while to attompt to 
overcome the groat dHTioultLea in tbe way of 
making accurate experiments with regard to 
the comparative effects of tho manure from dif¬ 
ferent animals on various crops. 
Just think for a moment of the arduous nature 
of such an undertaking. Tho crop to which 
each sort of manure would have to bo applied, 
must be grown on soil equally favorable to its 
special Requirements, receive relatively the same 
degree of attention, and experience weather 
equally conducive to its growth. Moreover, 
each of these dungs is subject to great varia¬ 
tions in efficacy on account of the age of the 
animal, its treatment, the purpose for which it 
is used, the amount and quality of the litter, 
tho length of lime during which tho manure has 
been kept, the way it has been preserved, and, 
more than all, by tho quantity and quality of 
the food upon which the auimal has been fed. 
On Iho last point an experiment mado by Mr. 
Lawks, tho celebrated English agriculturist, is 
highly suggestive. Ho found that while a given 
quantity of voidings from cattlo fed on ootton- 
soed meal was worth $27,915 ; the same quantity 
produced from carrots and turnips, was worth 
only 80 cents. Accordingly before a just es¬ 
timate could bo made of the relativo values of 
tho manures from different animals upon various 
crops, so many circumstances would have to 
bo taken into account and providod for, that tho 
resultwould not repay the consequent expense 
and labor ; and neither practical nor scientific 
men aro likely to incur a great- deal of either the 
ono or the other to gratify mere curiosity. 
With regard to hen manure, however, experi¬ 
ence turn shown that it is equally good for straw¬ 
berries, melons, squashes, sweet-corn, tomatoes, 
ami, in fact, for all bulbs and herbaceous plants. 
Properly treatod this is tho most valuable man- 
urn produced on the farm. It may bo kept mix¬ 
ed with mold, dry muck, or coal ashes, or pre¬ 
served separate in barrels. In the latter case, 
when about to be applied, it should be reduced 
to a powder, and mixed with at least four or fivo 
times its bulk of mold, muck, or some other sub¬ 
stance, for if applied undiluted, it will burn and 
kill tho seeds and prevent germinatiou. Or, 
just before placing it in the hill or drill, it may 
be beneficially mixed with wood-ashes, but eare 
must be taken that fermentation does not take 
place befovo the mixture is buried, otherwise 
there will bo a proportionate loss of ammonia. 
Moreover, to prevent injury to tbe soed there 
should always boa layer of earth, a couple of 
inches thick, between tho seed and tho poultry 
manure. 
(8.) It is not advisable to mix ashes with de¬ 
composing manure, as their action is so power¬ 
ful as to cause a too [rapid fermentation and 
consequent escape of ammonia. Nothing ac¬ 
celerates tho uniform decomposition of all or¬ 
ganic subatancoa more than putrid urino, or 
liquid manure; hence the advantage of a liquid 
manure tank In tho neighborhood of a manure 
pit. Moreover, by pouring urine over the mau- 
ure heap, this valuable fertilizer becomes in¬ 
corporated with the mass, vastly improving its 
quality, whilo danger of its being wasted is in 
this way avoided. The fermentation of dung 
should not bo carried on further than ia abso¬ 
lutely necessary, for even with tho greatest 
procaution, the loss by the escape of valuable 
volatile fertilizing substances cannot bo alto¬ 
gether avoided. 
- 4 ~*~»- 
SYSTEM IN FARMING. 
There must be a system in every business if 
it is to succeed, and whoever ignores a clear 
foroBighted way of conducting farming will soon 
have no farming; for if ho is dopouding on it 
for a living he will beoomo bankrupt., or if do¬ 
ing it foramusoment, the drain on capital will bo 
so heavy as to cause prudence to step in aud 
end such a losing transaction. 
8omo men aro so opiniated as to imagine them¬ 
selves competent to manage a farm without any 
looking forward, and they will make inadequate 
preparation for winter and have nothing iu 
readiness by the time it is wanted, and if any¬ 
thing goes wrong it is laid at the door of some 
other than tho right person. There is not a 
more pitiable and coutempliblo man than tho 
one who thinks himself smarter than any one 
else, and yet ruus around seeking to charge all 
his shortcomings to others while he alone is to 
blame. 
Thero aro men who are too stingy to make 
good fences or properly repair those which are 
rotting or tumbling down, aud who yet talk of 
being stock farmers, and they will buy grade 
short-horns, grade Jerseys, mongrels of all col¬ 
ors and sizes, and expect the puplie to ad- 
miro their animals and believe them to bo some¬ 
thing superior. Now bv using good pme-brod 
bulls and raising tho calves, improvements could 
be mado in these grades, but those niggardly 
souls will begrudge the trouble to raise the 
calves, and either sell them for veal or let them 
go with the cow T to a dairy-man. 
8ystem would raise all the heifer calves, and 
by using good bulls each generation would be¬ 
come better. Or, any man with sufficient capi¬ 
tal would commence with some really good pure- 
bivo :^-.)Ck, and breed and sell first-class animals, 
and thus conduct the breeding on a system of 
continually selling at double and treble tho 
price of common stock and gaining extra profits. 
System, too, will cause any man of intelligence 
to have every department methodically con¬ 
ducted, aud not to have anything delayed or 
capriciously changed from tho rotation or regu¬ 
lar course. But the miserable, shiftless farmer 
will havo a piece pf plowing in the middle of a 
meadow and a field of corn or grain with no 
fence between it and the pasture,: ml then every 
neighbor will bo complaining of injury from 
stock through tbe. bad fences. Hu will also b“ 
so simple as to attempt to fatten, in tho winter, 
cows which have been iu milk aud havo lost 
their flesh and perhaps sqm© coarse, thin, big¬ 
boned steers. A Working Farmer. 
ancons. 
RURAL TOPICS. 
T. B. MINER. 
WORK BY THE JOB OR CONTRACT. 
When ono knows what it is worth to do a 
thing, as to split a thousand rails, make a certain 
number of rods of stone-wall or board-fence, put 
up an outbuilding, or paint a fence or house, it 
is better to have the w’ork done by contract than 
by the day, unless the owner has men tired by 
tho month, who «an do some of these things, or 
unless he intends to work regularly with the man 
or meu who are selected to do the work. It is sur¬ 
prising to seo how the great majority of mechan¬ 
ics, and Others, will "nurse "a job when at 
work by tho day ! They will frequently do a 
piece of work by contract iu three days, that 
they would spend a week on if-omployed by the 
day ; and there is no remedy for such robbing 
of an omployer, as they keep busy the most of 
the time; but it is often in trying to seo how 
loug they can make the job last. But there aro 
some jobs, as repairing buildings, when ono does 
not know exactly how much is to be done, till he 
has commenced the work, tho condition perhaps 
of timbers not being known from the first; anil 
all such generally have to bo done by the day; 
ana a good way in such oases is, first to obtain 
all tho materials to bo used, boforo the work is 
commenced, or as nearly all as possible; and 
then let the owner bo "on hand,” when the 
carpenters commence work and seo that it ia 
done rigid, and ho will often make ’good wages 
for himself , in merely letting liia men see that 
he is superintending the work, although ho may 
do no work himself. 
Another important point is to have a plain 
agreement as regards what ia to be done in con¬ 
tract work. There ia no use in being sensitive 
iu regard to telling a man, "hero is what. I 
shall expect you to do, put in writing. I dislike 
to have any altercation ovor work after it is 
done, and I have stated plainly what you are to 
do, and what I am to do; and then there can be 
no disputes between us. I take you to be an 
honest man, but there is no harm in both of us 
signing this contract to keep us honest." If it 
bo a job of uo great importance, no witness will 
be needed to the signatures; but in case of 
putting up a barn, or other bnildiug, it would bo 
best to call a third party aa witness. No man 
ever lost money or character by being cautious 
and particular in his business ; but many a man 
has become poor from a neglect to exercise 
these qualities. 
LAY IN YOUR WOOD. 
No good farmer will neglect to cut wood this 
winter, to he used a year hence, a9 it is poor 
management to burn green wood ; and it is 
always best to have your wood for yonr family’s 
uso to bo under cover, and so connected with 
the house, that it can bo got at from the kitchen 
without going out of doors. If your wood-house 
ia of ample sizo, it will afford a place to do 
many little jobs iu rainy weather, and yonr boys 
can split tho wood under it, and pile it upon, 
wot days. When I Hea a farmer’s wood-pile at 
liia kitohonnloor, a lot of logs to be cat as the 
wood is wauteil, and green at that, I know his 
entire character; and I might write it out thus : 
" This man was brought up from boyhood to be 
slack in bis farm duties, doing nothing but 
what he could not well omit, lie has no idea of 
there being any benefit in " driving things,” 
and he takes the world "easy.'’ He denies 
that there has been any progress made in farm¬ 
ing since he was a boy ; consequently, his farm, 
dwelling, and general surroundings have an 
aucient look, just as farms had fifty years ago : 
and his children are growing up to be " chips 
of tho old block," and his boya will, probably, 
die as their father will, with a pile of green wood 
at their doors. 
If a farmer has uo other reason, why he should 
provide dry wood for his family, except that it is 
cheapor than green wood, as regards the heat 
given out, that alone ought to be a sufficient in¬ 
ducement for Lira to provide it; but tho com¬ 
fort of sitting by a dry wood fire in winter of it¬ 
self ought to stimulate every farmer to have an 
ample-sizod wood-house, filled with a year's 
supply of wood, and cut of the size suitable for 
use, for having to cut. and split wood daily, as it 
is used, is a way of managing fuel that no good 
farmer should tolerate. 
INCUBATORS. 
Having roceived a description of "The 
Eclipse Self-Regulating Incubator ” from its in¬ 
ventor, E. A. 8 amDA id Waltham, Maas., I will 
give my opinion of it, as ono of tho oldest fowl- 
breeders of tho United States. Over 30 yoars 
ago incubators were offered for sale in this 
county, their inventors claiming that they 
would hatch chickens cheaper than could be 
done by hens; and, of course, it was so demon¬ 
strated on paper. I have closely watched their 
success since 1815, aud havo failed to hear of 
but one ease as being a success, out of their in¬ 
ventor’s hands, and that was where many thou¬ 
sand dollars were invested iu tho business. 
It may be said, "perhaps your information 
on this subjoot is limited, and that there may be 
many in use, a notice of which has not come 
under your observation.” To which I reply, 
that for thirty years I have received from twenty 
to thirty of the leading agricultural and poultry 
papers; and I claim that if incubators aro a suc¬ 
cess anywhere, I ought to know it. 
Now, these incubators eau bo made to hatch 
eggs, when iu a room heated somewhat by a 
atovo in cold weather; and by devoting time 
enough to attending to them ; but the objection 
is "it costs too much to run them." Tho 
changes in our climate aro too great and smldeu, 
I think, to render incubators profitable. In 
Egypt, whero the thermometer stands at about 
80 1 tho wholo year, with uo rain, it is oasy to 
hatch chickens, as is done, by the million, and 
they will live without any special care ; but here 
wo may havo an incubator iu operation at night, 
iu March or April, with the tliermonietor out of 
doors at 50", and in the morning, perhaps, down 
to zoro 1 Thus when the chickens are hatched, 
it is not possible to rear them with as good 
success under "artificial mothers," as under 
hens. 
A young man came to me last winter to ask 
my advice, as to buying an incubator. I told 
him that he had better trust to hens to hatch 
his chickens; but, like hundreds of such young 
men who think they know a good deal more 
than they really do, he bought one for some $G0, 
and after a fair trial, he was so disgusted with 
