JAW. 24 
the time of digging, that the tubers should be 
harvested as dry as possible and afterwards 
kept in a dry place. 
As regards the utilizing of potatoes when the 
wet-rot has appeared amoDg them, the authors 
urge that by rapidly drying potatoes thus 
affected, the starch in them may be saved; that 
is, the most valuable iugredient of the tubers. 
the cattle can pass from one field into another. 
Finally, where the farm is adapted to such a 
purpose, cattle may be fattened in winter, and 
none kept on the place in summer at all. 
Here, there would be no need of any division. 
The whole farm, except so much of it as would 
be required to supply the cattle with grain, 
would be mown. Cattle of 'the necessary size 
and weight should be bought in November and 
sold in April, having been thoroughly fattened 
in the interval. This plan, like that of soiling, 
would be suited to plaees that are level but 
badly watered. The advantages to be secured 
in this way, besides the item of fence saving, 
are apparent. A better price would be obtained 
for the cattle in the spring tbau in the fall. 
The manures from the grain fed being richer 
in all the elements of plant food, would prob¬ 
ably more than pay for the expense of feeding 
the cattle, and the land would not be tramped 
to death in wet weather. 
I have said nothing in this article about 
sheep, because they cannot be kept long on 
the same range. Those who wish to keep 
sheep must make up their minds to keep up 
division fences between their small fields, or 
else to employ hurdles or movable fences. 
Sheep must be frequently changed from one 
pasture into another, otherwise they will soon 
become diseased beyond remedy. 
Pulaski Co., Va. 
Jarra (fcrottomii. 
AN “ OVERSKIRT ” ON THE CORN-CBLB. 
A year ago last Octobor I built me a corn 
crib. During the fall, after it was filled with 
corn, the strong southeasterly wludsdrovein the 
raiu, and wet the corn pretty thoroughly. This 
dried off, however. Later, the northwest winds 
filled all the crevices between the ears with 
snow. Lnckily we had no thaws all winter ; 
bat when, in February, the crib was resorted 
to for corn to he taken to mill, the ears on the 
westerly side were as closely packed in frozen 
snow as eggs in brau. lu handling and shell¬ 
ing, a good deal of this came off, bnt there 
was also a good deal in the shelled corn, and 
when this was ground the meal was sensibly 
damp from it. 
• VERSKIKT FOR CORN CRIB. — FIG. 19. 
This year I resolved to make an improve¬ 
ment, and have clothed my crib in an overskirt 
of half-inch boards, as shown in the sketch. It 
keeps out rain and snow perfectly, and gives, 
what I did not expect, a stronger draft of 
air through the corn than before. The coru was 
not so well dried before husking this year, as 
it was in 1878, but it has dried out completely 
in the crib. The first grist was taken to mill 
in November, and was in excellent condition 
for grinding. T. h. h. 
lomolofjiral. 
THE MAGOG RED STREAK. 
This apple originated as a seedling on the 
farm of William Warren, in the town of New¬ 
port, Vt., on the west shore of Lake Memphre- 
magog, near the Cauada line. Within the last 
ten or twelve years it has been quite widely 
distributed, and is reported as succeeding well 
in Northern Maine, Lower Canada, Wisconsin, 
Minnesota and Iowa. The last report of the 
Iowa Horticultural Society speaks of It as 
“the beautiful Magog Red Streak," and the 
secretary, Prof. Budd, of the State Agl. Col., 
thinks it a very promising sort, especially for 
the colder parts of tho State. The writer was 
the first to propagate it, and has now a con¬ 
siderable number of trees in bearing. He finds 
them extremely thrifty in growth, perfectly 
hardy, early, regular and good bearers. Trees 
13 years planted, give a yield of 1$ to 2^ bar¬ 
rels of merchantable fruit. 
The Magog Ked Streak is roundish, approach¬ 
ing ovate in form; medium to large in size, 
yellow iu color, with more or less streaks of 
red, especially on the exposed side ; mild sub¬ 
acid in flavor ; good to very good in quality. 
Flesh yellow and fine-grained; core, medium. 
Keeps through March, and sometimes longer. 
Though not so eonieal and never tibbed, the 
general appearance of the apple is like that of 
the Yellow Bellflower, but with red stripes on 
its sunny side. T. H. Hoskins, M. D 
MAGOG RED STREAK. —FROM NATURE.— FIG. 18. 
pasture land comes next for consideration. 
Under our present system of agriculture, it is 
necessary for the purposes of rotation to keep 
the farm divided into a number of fluids, small 
or large, according to the size of the farm itself, 
which are separated by cross fences. If tho 
divison above proposed were adopted, only one 
cross fence would be needed. Precisely how 
in this country, to give their cattle, when these 
are flr6t turned out to pasture in the spriug, all 
the rauge which they intend for them to have 
during the season. It is alleged that the cattle 
are more quiet and contented iu this way than 
when they are turned into fresh fields at Inter¬ 
vals. All the cross fences between the different 
pasture fields are laid dowu iu Places, so that 
ON FENCES. 
H. L. WYSOR. 
The Rural’s leader in the issue for Dec. ti, 
on Highway Fences, contains many pertinent 
and suggestive questions, of which some, as 
the writer truly stales, are more easily asked 
thau answered. As to the question whether 
there should be any road-feuces at all, it would 
seem for mauy prudential considerations, 
which will suggest themselves to any one who 
considers the subject, that it is to the interest 
of the farmer that these should he kept up. 
Whether ho should build aud keep up all of 
these feuecs, or ouly part ot them, or no part 
of them, is quite a different matter. It is to lie 
remembered, however, that in most cases the 
law allows him, or at least intends to allow 
him, damages sufficient to cover the cost of 
once buildiug his highway fences. But is there 
not more material used in the construction of 
these fences than would, be at all necessary if 
it were not for certain kinds of stock usiug 
the highway as a public common? A fence 
to keep out pigs would require just twice 
as much material as one that would keep out 
cuttle aud horses, aud, of course, it would 
cost in the same proportion, if it were de¬ 
signed, for instance, to coustruot a hoard or 
a wire fence, two or at most three boards or 
wires to the pauel would be amply sufficient 
against cattle aud horses, hut against pigs five 
would be needed. 
Now, a man can, if he chooses, keep his 
own swine where they will not annoy him; 
but, unless there is a law to protect him, he 
cannot keep those of other people out of the 
roadway. It seems reasonable that the law 
bhould require every man to keep his own 
slock within his own limits, leaving him at 
liberty to du so iu whatever manner he may 
think proper—by building feuees, by soiling, 
or by lierdiug, as he may choose. This, in 
brief, is actually the law iu some of our States. 
Iu others, us here iu Virginia, the law requires 
farmers to keep their highway fences aud 
those between themselves aud their neighbors 
of a certain bight, which varies iu different 
places. Here it is five loet. The result of this 
law is that per»ous who either own no laud 
whatever or else keep what they have under 
the plow, make use of the public road as a 
pasture ou which they turu their milch cows 
and other stock, which are a constant source 
of auuoyance both to those who travel the 
road aud to the farmers who live along the line 
of it. There have been iustauccs in which 
farmers have knowingly overstocked their 
pastures, aud when all the grass was consumed, 
have turned their stock out iu a body to graze 
ou the highway. Yel, so far as is known to 
tho writer, the luw does not even pronounce 
these thiugs to be nuisances; at any rate it 
does not forbid that the highway should be 
made use of in this manner. 
After all, however, the farmer could well 
afford to keep up his road feuecs, if there 
were not so many other fences besides, which 
constantly demand his time aud attention. It 
is tho objeet of this article to inquire whether 
there are uot more of these other fences thau 
there ought to bo, and to suggest ways iu which 
a great part of them may he dispensed with. 
Before quitting the subject of highways, it is 
proper to remark that they should always, 
wherever it is practicable, be laid off on the 
division lines between neighboring farms, so 
that one man may uot have all the burdeu ot 
keeping up the fences on both sides of the 
lane. In a level or a prairie country this is 
generally very easily done, especially where 
the laud is laid off iu sections and parts of 
sections. Iu a broken country, it may be a 
matter of some difficulty. In auy case, the 
interests of individual farmers should bo con¬ 
sulted as well as those of the public, aud 
where they conflict, some sort of a compromise 
ought to be made. A road ought always to be 
so located that it will occasion the laud-owuer 
the least possible injury and cause the least 
amount of fencing to be done, while at tho 
same time its grade should he easy and its sit¬ 
uation such as not to make it too difficult to 
he kept in repair. A road should never run 
tor auy great distuuce parallel with a stream 
of water which is necessary for the use of 
the stock ou a farm, nor should it he so sit¬ 
uated as to cut off auy large proportion of 
a place from water. 1 know farms of which 
four-fifths are deprived of water in this way. 
Want of water is more frequently the cause 
of breachy cattle than anything else, and the 
best of fences will give way before the assaults 
of a thirsty ox. 
It has been often asserted—and no doubt 
truly—lhat the value of all fencing in the 
United States, together with tho annual cost of 
keeping it iu repair, amounts to more than 
the sum of our public debt. Unquestionably, 
this division should be made—how many acres 
ought to be included in the arable side and how 
many in the pasture land—would depend upon 
quite a variety of circumstances, such, for 
instance, as the size and situation of the farm, 
water, etc. Of eourse, the arable land—within 
which should be included the meadow—should 
SECTIONAL VIEW OF MAGOG RED 8TREAK.—FROM NATURE.—FIG. 17. 
this item of fencing is a heavy burden upon 
the farmer, and one that teuds greatly to di¬ 
minish the profits of his farm. How this bur¬ 
den may he brought within more reasonable 
limits is a question which merits our serious 
consideration, in view of the fact that the 
time is rapidly approaching when timber, even 
iu the best wooded districts, will have become 
too valuable to be used tor purposes of fenc¬ 
ing. it becomes us to inquire how the annual 
destruction and waste of trees may be largely 
reduced. Already Iron and steel are coining 
into use in place of wood for this purpose, but 
these are too expensive to be used in keeping 
up fences as they are now kept. Let us see, 
then, what can be done. 
In the first place, some disposition must be 
made of the hogs ; as has already been said, 
they cause more fencing than all the other 
stock put together. Let the farmers in those 
States where such laws do not already exist, 
urge upon their legislatures the necessity of 
passing snch as will restrain swine and other 
stock from ruuning in the public roads, under 
the penalty of being taken up as estrays and 
impounded. Then, let every farmer keep bis 
own hogs either in pens built in his barnyard, 
or in a lot cut off especially for them. There 
Is certainly no need of allowing hogs to run all 
over the farm; for uuless their noses are 
rightly cut—which is a barbarous thing to do— 
or rings are used—which more often than 
otherwise do uot serve their purpose—all the 
grass is rooted up and destroyed. 
The practice of soiling will occur to mauy as 
a good way iu which to save a vast amount of 
fencing Knowing nothing of the merits of 
this system, I pass it by with the remark that 
it would be adapted only to such places as are 
level or only moderately rolliug, since the labor 
and expense of getting green food from steep 
hillsides would be too great to make it profit¬ 
able, aud in many cases it would he altogether 
impracticable. 
A division of the farm into arable land aud 
be sufficiently large for all the grain and hay 
needed on the place to be grown on it. To 
illustrate; 1 know a place which consists 
of 240 acres. Of these, 200 are hills and 
woodland, the other 40 are river bottom 
Between the 300 and the 40 runs the public 
road. As the 200 acres are composed of hills, 
they should be kept permanently in grass and 
be grazed by calves or yearliugs, since heavier 
cattle could not be kept on such land. Of the 
40 acres, 10 should he cut off as pasture for the 
horses and milch cows needed on the place, 
which, in this case, would not be more thau 
two of each kind. The remaining 30 acres 
should contain thegarden, orchard audthcland 
to be kept under the plow. In no case, when a 
good sod has once formed on a steep hillside, 
should a plow ever touch it, for one heavy 
rain-storm may wash away more soil thau can 
be put back in a life-time. How grass may be 
renewed without the use of the plow when 
it begins to fail or has run ont, will be a mat¬ 
ter tor anomer article. 
The failure of the grass on the pasture land 
would he the principal objection to this system. 
All the manure saved in the barn-yard—and 
this would be large in quantity if the stock 
were kept in the barn during the winter—and 
all the commercial fertilizers purchased, must 
be applied auuually on the arable part, which 
must be kept iu the highest possible couditiou. 
Let us suppose another case, and say that a 
farm is composed of 100 acres level or gently 
rolling. Let 05 acres be devated to pasture ; 
then there will be 10 acres for meadow; 10 
each for wheat and coru, used alternately—the 
10 which are in wheat one year being plauted 
in corn the next, and oice versa —and live for 
gardeu and orchard; all these together will 
comprise the arable land. In this manner the 
right sort of a division, such as is suited to his 
circumstances aud surroundiugs, will occur to 
any farmer who gives the subject a thought. 
In support of this plan, it is worthy of notice 
that It is now the practice of the best graziers 
