most and the finest hay. Nevertheless, I 
would have a field of each kind. In preparing 
for seeding at least 200 acres of laud, I am lay¬ 
ing out 100 "for Orchard Grass and 100 for 
Timothy and clover; the first for pasture and 
the other for hay. * * * 
Experience teaches. When I was sendiug 
spring lambs to the New York mar¬ 
ket I soon fblind the extra value of 
smut-faced lambs; and Mr. Woodward’s re¬ 
mark to the same effect in regard to lambs 
for wiuter feeding is most noteworthy. I 
think the Hampshire, which has the black¬ 
est faces, is the best sheep to cross on 
the natives for this use, on account of its 
large size and weight. The South Down is 
very good, but when spring lambs are bring¬ 
ing 25 cents a pound the weight tolls—heavily. 
* * * 
is it any worse or more disagreeable to work 
butter with the bare hands than to knead 
the bread which is eaten with the butter. A 
young lady with a due sense of the unities and 
proprieties of life may do either without of¬ 
fense: but iu the ordinary dairy where the 
maid is a coarse creature with a beard adowu 
which trickles a little brown stream of tobac¬ 
co juice, and who knows not the use of a pock- 
ethandkerchief, such handiwork is to be ob¬ 
jected to. The Scotch lassies are usually re¬ 
markably clean and ueat and make very good 
butter, and in Europe more butter is worked 
by the bauds than is made by the ladle. 'Nev¬ 
ertheless, I prefer the ladle, if for no other 
reason than that the warmth of the bauds in¬ 
jur cm the grain of the butter. * * * 
What may come of the Rural wheat-rye 
hybrids? Who can tell? But what if a gram 
having the excellences of wheat and the hard¬ 
iness of rye and its ability to thrive on infer¬ 
ior laud should result? Many would rise up 
and call the Rural blessed. We want such a 
grain. As 1 write there is a small field of rye 
green and even luxuriant; it is said by passers- 
by to be the best rye in the county. There is 
(or was) a piece of wheat on similar ground, 
but the dry fall and the later frosts have 
utterly ruiued it, and not a blade is to be seen. 
This experience is so common that if a hybrid 
grain having the good cjuahties of both wheat 
and rye could lie produced, it would be a vast 
gain to the world. 1 have had much l'aitli in 
this experiment from the fust. Persevere! 
* * * 
The Rural is right, a “general-purpose” 
stomach has not yet been found. If a man 
would live well aud happily he must study 
his stomach and understand his digestive 
ability aud control his appetite. The majority 
of men kill themselves by errors iu diet; for 
“what is one man’s food is another’s poison. 
* * * • 
The effect of ashes on the vines of the po 
tatoes grown on the Rural Farm was very 
probably due to the lime eoutaiued iu the 
ashes. Ordinary unleached ashes contain 
nearly 40 per cent, of lime, eight pier cent, of 
potash and per cent, of phosphoric acid. 
When leached, the potash aud half the phos¬ 
phoric acid are lost, leaving 50 per cent, of 
lime. The ash of potatoes contains 50 per 
eent, of potash and two per cent, of lime, the 
ash of the vines contains 40 per cent, of lime 
and six per cent, of potash. Are not the heavy 
growth of the tops aud the small yield of 
tubers clearly accounted for? 
i'loriai lim'd l. 
constant warring of the high temperature in¬ 
side against the freezing outside. I first, con¬ 
structed my greenhouses on Jersey City 
Heights with eight-inch brick walls. They all 
crumbled in five or six years, and since then 
all our new structures have been made with 
wooden walls, which, when properly construct¬ 
ed with locust or cedar posts will last for 25 
3 'ears. A common error is to build the walls 
hollow aud fill in with sawdust. This is not 
only more expensive than to line with tarred 
paper, but the sawdust soon decays aud rots. 
I have said that the all-important point in 
constructing greenhouses is light, if wanted 
for the winter forcing of either flowers, fruits 
or vegetables, so that now all greenhouses 
properly constructed have the glass not less 
than 12 inches wide. This, of course, admits a 
great deal more light than if but six or eight 
inches wide, the size that was mostly iu use 
20 years ago. Again all glazing is now done 
by bedding the glass only in putty, and 
never using putty on the top. But a new plan 
—a product of the convention of American 
florists in 1885 at Cincinnati—of further help- 
iug iu the glazing of greenhouses is as follows: 
After the glass has been bedded in putty take 
a machine oil-can, fill it with thin white-lead 
and oil, and from the small spout ruu it along 
the junction of the glass with the bar making 
a tbiu line one-eighth of auineh wide, or wide 
enough to cover that portion of the glass rest¬ 
ing on the bar. As soon as the white lead aud 
oil is poured ou, shake enough dry sand on it to 
absorb the paint., and in one week you will 
have “set” the glass with a cement as 
hard as stone. This seems a trifling opera¬ 
tion, but it is one that hail 1 known of it 25 
years ago would have saved mo many thous¬ 
ands of dollars, for it has cost us at least $500 
a year every seasou for repairs, aud this 
method of glazing will render all repair un¬ 
matter simply in relation to the brutes them¬ 
selves, every man who knows anything about 
cattle is perfectly aware that their horns are 
used among them by the strong as instruments 
of torment aud tyranny to the weak. In a 
wild state horns are useful as weapons of de¬ 
fence; in the domesticated condition they are 
simply and only instruments of offence. For 
this reason dehorning is an important means 
of preventing cruelty to animals. 
The Farm-house Privy.— There is nothing 
which more conclusively marks the degree of 
civilization attained to in any rural neighbor¬ 
hood than the privy arrangements of the farm¬ 
houses and the school-houses. 1 care not how 
handsome and well-equipped the churches may 
be, neither religious nor social development 
can be high where decency and health are dis¬ 
regarded in the particular named. A country 
physician of wide repute and extensive prac¬ 
tice has said to me that the most universal 
cause of ill-health among country women is 
constipation. This has been charged to the 
food or the cookery, aud he recognizes that as 
a partial cause, but trifling in comparison to 
the effect of exposed, uncomfortable, aud iu 
winter often inaccessible provisions for a 
prompt and cosy attent ion to the calls of na¬ 
ture. As to the vast majority of rural school- 
houses, their privy arrangements seem speci¬ 
ally designed to destroy both the physical and 
moral health of the pupils. 
Out-boor Cellars.—Iu the North, cellars 
beueath houses are necessary means of secur¬ 
ing dryness and warmth and giving a place for 
heating apparatus. They also supply the best 
conditions for the storage of a considerable 
part of the family stores and fuel. But I think 
they are neither suitable uor economical stor¬ 
age places for farm crops of any sort, either 
20 ft 
GREENHOUSE. 
Fig. 2. 
A. Part of glass cover movable to let In air. B. Hot water pipes. C. Rain-water pipe supports. D. Posts. 
E. Covering boards with tarred paper laid between. 
necessary for at least five years after it is 
applied. 
There is now much discussion on the rela¬ 
tive merits of heating greenhouses by steam 
or by- hot water. As far as the health of the 
plants is concerned, it makes no difference 
whatever; but the advantage of steam over 
hot water is that it saves from 20 to 25 per 
cent, in fuel, and that the cost of construction 
should be at least 30 per ceut. less when work 
is done ou a large scale. These are the only 
advantages I thiuk that can be claimed for 
steam. If 5,1X10 square feet of glass are to be 
constructed for commercial purposes at one 
time, I would advise the use of steam, but if 
less, or for private use only, then I think that 
hot water should be used. It will be noticed 
by the sketch of the greenhouse given that it 
is built on the surface, and that none of the 
walks are below the surface. It is one of the 
most common mistakes to build greenhouses 
with the eves nearly to the ground, having 
the paths sunk to make head room. Green¬ 
houses so built are uot only worse to heut, as 
there is not enough warm air to resist the 
outer cold air, lint this lessened supply of air 
is also detrimental to the well-being of most 
plants. 
pill 
BUCEPHALUS BROWN'S NOTIONS AND 
IDEAS. 
Dehorning Cattle.— 1 find it hard to un¬ 
derstand upon what grounds of true benevo¬ 
lence or mercy any one can object to the 
slight, simple, and only momentarily painful 
operation of dehorning young cattle. Alto¬ 
gether aside from the questions of advantage 
or economy to the cattlemen, and viewing the 
North or South. Out-door cellars, i. e., par¬ 
tially underground store-houses, for fruit aud 
vegetables, ure quite common in Lower Canada 
(Quebec-], perhaps because the houses of the in¬ 
habitants are small, and cellars beneath them 
afford but little room. Anyway I have seen a 
great many such cellars there, stoned up like 
house cellars to the level of the ground, and 
covered with double-floors, tilled iu with dry 
moss or saw dust, and then roofed over. The 
roofed space above ground furnishes much 
storage room early in the seasou, but lief ore 
hard freezing weather fruits, roots, etc., are 
all lowered into the cellar, which is made easily 
accessible by means of an “air-lock,” or pro¬ 
tected stairway. These cellars are far better 
thun house cellars for keeping apples and roots 
and are cheaply and easily constructed where 
stone is haudy. They are not expensive, even 
when the walls are built of brick; and I have 
seen excellent ones walled up with squared 
timber of White Cedar, (Arbor-vita*). 
Permanent Pastures.— I note Prof. Ar¬ 
nold’s criticism of permanent pastures quoted 
iu “ Wide-Awake Items,” p. 787. They seem 
to me to lie lacking in breadth of view. On 
light soils such pastures are practically impos¬ 
sible of maintenance, t. <*., absolutely perma¬ 
nent, though skillful management will keep 
one going for a long time. But on medium 
aud heavy soils, rightly handled, perrnanen 
pastures can be established and not only pro* 
served but improved year after year for au iu 
definite length of time. I know one such pas¬ 
ture, ou strong but not clayey land, which ha s 
been used for a dairy herd averaging 70 cows 
for more than 00 years, It has an extent, of 
less than 200 acres, valley laud, moderately 
uneven, and the sod is to-day absolutely per¬ 
fect. If by any accident, or the pawing of 
cattle, the sod is broken, it is immediately re¬ 
stored, and protected until fully re-established. 
It is absolutely free from weeds and brush, 
and is kept thus clean at a very slight ex¬ 
pense. It contains a small grove, but no scat 
tered trees. The herd'has . been kept during 
all the time named tor cheese-making, and the 
cheese lias long commanded a fancy price in 
the New York City market. There is nothing, 
as regards ’the soil or location, to distinguish 
this pasture from hundreds and thousands of 
others iu Che Northern States, but I know no 
other so good and perfect in that valley, and 
but ono other in the State. Tinly “ there is 
more in the man than there is in the land, 
and when we have the permanent men we 
shall have the permanent pastures,—but prob¬ 
ably not before. 
Agricultural Colleges. —I like to see the 
Rural and its readers discussing this subject. 
Wo must admit that few olt he colleges of this 
kiud have yet secured t he earnest support and 
friendship of any class of farmers. That the 
lets intelligent should lie indifferent is by no 
means surprising, but there are in every fetate, 
enough men of thoughtful minds who love 
their art aud would delight to have their sons 
trained in the science of it. Vet the continu¬ 
ously small clusses at these institutions show 
that they have as yet scarcely the least hold 
upon their nominal constituency. If one-quar¬ 
ter of the American fanners who are able to 
do so wished to send their sons and daughters 
there, our agricultural colleges would soon be 
overcrowded. Something is the matter. 1 he 
fault cannot be all with the farmers, though 
doubtless some of it is so. There cannot be a 
doubt among those who have had Opportuni 
ties to kuow,that in some States there has been 
a fixed determination ou the part of the liter 
ary colleges and their supporters to destroy 
the industrial colleges, as dangerous rivals for 
the bounty of the State. 
Mulching the Currants.— The Rural is 
right iu saying that the coal ashes mulch is no 
preventive against the currant worm. Ibis 
imported insect has come to stay, but it prob¬ 
ably will iu time be attacked by some para¬ 
site which will greatly reduce its powers of in¬ 
jury. I have heard that it docs not have to 
be fought by poison iu Europe as in America, 
but I should like to know if this is the fact. 
Doubtless the Rural has European readers 
who could toll us. I do not know how many 
eggs a single lly will produce. Il' but few, 
parasites might reduce their ravages greatly, 
but if many, a single fly to the plant would 
make the use of poison as necessary as now. 
The active larval life of this insect is quite 
short, and the brood numerous. I think we 
shall have to fight both it and the potato bug 
for many years—and perhaps the cabbage- 
worm. I do not see how we are ever to get 
rid of the codling moth’s progeny. 
(£!)£ pfiultl’Q Ijflvth 
JANUARY OPERATIONS AMONG 
POULTRY. 
P. H. JACOBS. 
January is the month when prices of poul¬ 
try and broilers increase, the surplus stock 
being principally disposed of by the middle of 
the month. Capons will begin to find then- 
way to market, the highest prices being 
usually obtained the first three mouths of the 
year. Young chicks hatched in January will 
bring goes! prices, as they will be of the pro¬ 
per size iu March and April, aud although 
early in the season, the poultryman who 
makes good use of this mouth will uot regret 
it later on. 
Roup is the great scourge at this seasou. 
The majority of cases come from too much top 
ventilation. It has long been a custom to 
construct openings iu the roof of poultry 
houses for the admission of pure air, and to 
carry off the foul gases and odors, but they 
rather allow of the escape of warmth, und 
permit the cold droughts to blow down over 
the fowls. Whenever the heads and eyes of 
the fowls are swollen it is safe to claim that 
they roost nuder top ventilators. There is too 
much ventilatiou iu some poultry houses. 
The great difficulty with many who live in 
cold climates is to keep the cold air out. 
Dampness, draughts, exposure to keen, cut¬ 
ting winds during the day. and getting the 
wattles wet when drinking cause frosted wat¬ 
tles and also roup. I f t he roup ouce secures a 
foothold, it hangs on tenaciously, and the 
fowl will hardly puy for the labor of “doctor¬ 
ing” it. 
The proper hens to keep during wiuter are 
those that are heavily feathered und have 
small combs. Such birds endure the cold bet¬ 
ter thiui others, and are not so easily affected 
by frost in severe weather. The wurmei and 
more comfortable the hens are in winter the 
oftener they lay. Whether the Brahma is a 
better winter layer thun the Leghorn depends 
upon circumstances. The Brahma is well 
feathered, has a Small comb aud also a good 
appetite. Cut off the comb of a Leghorn, aud 
keep the bird warm aud comfortable, and it 
GREENHOUSE STRUCTURES. 
PETER HENDERSON. 
Wooden buildings better than brick; boards 
and tarred paper; no hollow walls stuffed, 
with sawdust; light the all-important 
requisite; 1 2-inch glasses ; bedding the 
panes; setting the glass with lt stone v -lilce 
cement; steam or hot water for heating; 
don't sink the houses. 
Greenhouses are being erected by thous¬ 
ands in nearly every section of the country, 
not only for gx-owiug flowers but for the pur¬ 
pose of forcing vegetables and fruits. But 
the principles for all such purposes are now 
nearly’ all the same, the object being the great¬ 
est possible amount of light during the winter 
months, which is found to be had by building 
the greenhouses 20 toot iu w idth aud of bight 
showu by the accompanying sketch (Fig. 2). 
The usual way of constructing the walls is of 
wood, usiug locust, cedar, or chestnut posts, to 
which are first nailed ordinary hemlock 
boards,if cheapness is a consideration. To these 
is tacked a layer of asphalt or tarred paper, 
finishing off on the outside with matched 
boardo. These two thicknesses of boards, with 
the asphalt paper between, make not only a 
“warmer” wail, but a more durable oue than 
au eight-inch brick wall, experience having 
showu us that unless a brick wall is very 
heavy it “heaves” in a few y r ears, owing to the 
