THE CULTIVATOR. 
Eeb* 
Wintering Calves. 
“ Fines calves, those ! How do you manage to keep 
them in such good order.” 
“ Easily enough; I give them shelter, and feed and 
water them regularly.” 
“ You take care of them, I see ; many farmers let 
calves take their chance with the other stock through 
the winter.” 
“ That’s a very poor chance, to my notion ; for one 
who would winter calves so, would not take much pains 
for the comfort of any of his cattle.” 
Last winter, (let us tell the story,) farmer B. winter¬ 
ed his four calves in a stable partitioned off'in one cor¬ 
ner of his cow shed, or rather one of the cow sheds, for 
he has several on different sides of his barn-yard. It 
was about 15 feet square, and had a manger or box for 
hay, &c., on one side, eighteen inches wide and a foot? 
deep, with stakes about about every two feet, long 
enough to keep fhe calves’ heads separate. The floor 
was of earth, or rather of litter and manure, for in the 
course of the winter it accumulated a foot or more in 
depth over the surface. It was leveled and kept clean 
and dry, by daily supplies of refuse straw—a small 
quantity of this sufficed each day, except in thawing 
weather. 
Their food was cut straw and chaff, and good clover 
hay—the latter night and morning—the former at 
noon—or perhaps twice in the middle of the day—and 
they were not allowed to waste much of either. Calves 
and other stock will waste more than they eat, unless 
some judgment is used in supplying their food at pro¬ 
per times and in a proper manner. We should put 
before them all they will consume, and place it where 
they cannot get it under their feet, removing the re¬ 
fused portions from their mangers before giving a 
fresh supply. 
Water was furnished once a day in very cold days ; 
twice on warmer ones. Farmer B.’s water pond is near, 
but outside his barn-yard, and he says cattle will not 
drink more than once in the bleakest days of winter, 
even if they must go but a few rods from the yard. It 
would be better to have water in the yard and at all 
times ready for the stock ; but this convenience is be¬ 
yond the reach of many farmers. 
It is remarkable how little thought is often given to 
shelter for animals. These calves, in the fall, had 
smooth, glossy coats, and were full of life and anima¬ 
tion, but as winter weather came on they began to show 
its effects in a roughness of coat, and drooping of spir¬ 
its. The change was very noticeable in the few weeks 
before their shelter was fitted up for them. They had 
as much and as good food, and ate more of it, but the 
cold and wet made a very material difference in their 
thrift and appearance. Depend upon it, attention to 
the comfort of animals , is the best economy. After a 
week’s stay in the stable, their coats were as glossy as 
ever, and they were ready to run and play when driven 
to water, and were often allowed an hour or two in an 
open yard for exercise. 
Calves like grain and roots, apples, pumpkins and the 
like, yet they can be wintered without them. No doubt 
it is the best policy to so feed as to keep them growing , 
and it may be cheaper to feed some grain than to de¬ 
pend entirely on hay for this purpose In mild weather 
roots are valuable, and no farmer should fail to provide 
them--especially for partial feeding in spring, prepa¬ 
ratory to turning out to pasture. 
The Resources of the Farm. 
Having this winter an unusual demand for litter 
suitable for bedding in my stables, yards and pens, I 
was at first somewhat at a loss how to provide a sub¬ 
stitute for straw, of which the quantity in store was 
limited. I took a stroll through some of the wooded 
parts of my farm, and found that there could be quite 
a large quantity of leaves gathered in the valleys 
among the hills. I had often resorted to the same ex¬ 
pedient before in a small way. So my teams were set 
to work carting them home dry, and storing them for 
use. We have now collected from sixty to seventy 
loads, as large and solid as could be got into a farm 
wagon with double sides, and think there can be col¬ 
lected two hundred loads from the woodlands of the 
farm, which occupy about twenty-five acres of the hilly 
part. That these leaves are quite valuable in the 
compost heap, I have proved by former experiments, 
and the present exigency has shown me that the re¬ 
sources of the farm are often overlooked or not duly 
appreciated. Most farms are provided with a propor¬ 
tion of woodland that would furnish a large quantity 
of leaves, and yet very few of the farmers in this vi¬ 
cinity cart them. What the relative value of these 
leaves is, I have never been able accurately to deter¬ 
mine. Perhaps the Editors of the Country Gentleman 
or some of its numerous correspondents, can shed some 
light on the subject, and confer a favor on those who 
are not informed in this matter. Rich’d M. Conklix. 
Cold Spring Harbor , N. Y. 
-- 
Salt a Universal Remedy 
Messrs. Editors —I had just finished reading Prof. 
Johnson’s remarks on Mr. Cleveland’s theory of salt as 
a .“universal expounder ” and a “ universal remedy 
when over went my inkstand upon a beautiful light 
drab table cover, to my great consternation, as my 
wife had often cautioned me against this very thing. 
I rushed for the salt cellar, and emptied its contents 
over the black mass of ink, and in five minutes the 
stain had wholly disappeared ! I doubted Mr. Cleve¬ 
land’s theory before, but ought I to doubt it any long¬ 
er I 
There is one point, however, in which my experience 
differs from Mr. Cleveland’s theory—I emptied the 
salt over and upon the ink, and it descended into the 
cloth and effected the desired object. 
One thing is certain, whether salt be a universal re¬ 
medy or not, viz : it will surely , if applied immediate¬ 
ly , prevent ink stains. A Subscriber. 
"Recipe for Squash Cake. 
1 quart boiled mashed squash. 1 coffee-cup sweet, 
sour, or buttermilk. 1 coffee-cup flour. 3 eggs—salt 
and saleratus, if sour or buttermilk is used. Fry in 
butter or lard. If the mixture is poured over sliced 
apples in the spider, it is an addition. 
This is something my mother “invented,” and we 
think it is better than the squash alone. E. t. m. 
-*♦-- 
The Grape Growers of the West are about to re¬ 
ceive large accessions to their numbers from Europe. 
A vessel arrived at Philadelphia a few days since from 
Genoa, bringing one hundred and twenty-five passen¬ 
gers, who all come to this country with the intention 
of proceeding West and engaging in the culture of the 
grape, with a view to the production of wine. 
