1883 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
119 
cut to about five feet, and the tops were 
lopped and bent over on one another, and the 
small branches interwoven. This makes a 
fence that stock will not try to break through. 
Outside of this brush fence, Mr. W. has set 
plants for a live hedge, which he thinks will 
be large enough by the time the dead one de¬ 
cays. By thus making use of the old brush, 
his pasture lot is safely fenced from the start, 
and at only the expense of the labor. 
--KC3—O—-- 
A Thick Straw Bed for Breeding Sows. 
Thick straw for bedding breeding sows is, 
it is contented by those using it, superior to 
any other material for both mother and pigs. 
The uncut straw should be spread into a bed 
of at least one foot thick; two feet would be 
still better and safer, particularly in cold 
weather, when the pigs could nestle well in it 
and keep warm. With such a bed, pigs could 
be farrowed pretty safely early in March, in¬ 
stead of waiting until April and May. This 
would be a considerable advantage, as they 
could be made heavy porkers earlier in au¬ 
tumn, and bring a higher price at that time 
than later in the season, as young, fresh pork 
is then eagerly sought for. 
Some suppose that pigs just farrowed 
would be easily smothered in a deep bed of 
straw; but it is so porous that the air freely 
circulates, and furnishes all that is required 
for healthy breathing, while it acts as a soft 
cushion both over and under the young pigs, 
and thus prevents the sow, when she lies 
down, from pressing them to death. This 
bed also elevates her dugs on the lower side, 
which often lie so close to a naked floor that 
the pigs can not get hold of them; and thus 
both dam and offspring suffer—the former 
from not having her milk seasonably with¬ 
drawn, and the latter from lack of neces¬ 
sary nourishment. 
Another method of preventing the sow 
from overlying her pigs, is to spike joists 4 
to 6 inches thick all around the pen, about 6 
inches high from the floor, shaving off about 
one inch of the lower corner, so as to pre¬ 
vent cutting against the sow. If the pigs 
are then behind her when she" lies down, 
they can run under this projecting joist, and 
thus save themselves from being crushed. A 
half-round stick would answer the same pur¬ 
pose as the joist. Hemlock for either should 
not be used, as this wood abounds in slivers. 
Combination Coop. 
A combination coop for clucks and chicks, 
is a very useful thing to have where poultry 
is bred in large numbers. Eight feet is a 
very convenient length for these coops. 
At the rear, the height is 14 to 15 
inches, while at the front it is 18 to 20 
inches. The depth from front to back 
is two feet. Each 8-feet coop is divided 
into four compartments, the divisions 
being made of ’/Vinch stuff, while the main 
part of the coop is made of inch pine. In 
front, narrow slats are used, wide enough 
apart to admit of the ingress and egress of the 
young chicks. The middle slat should be wider 
than the rest, and made movable to afford 
room for taking out or putting in the clucks. 
The top should be so made as to be wind and 
rain proof. It can be secured with hinges at 
the back. As soon as the coop has been fin¬ 
ished, it should be whitewashed inside and 
out. The bottom can be made of inch pine, 
resting on two-inch cleats, and nailed secure¬ 
ly to place, or it can be made a little larger 
than the coop and- not attached. Three 
or four such coops should be on every farm, 
and if the divisions can be readily removed 
the coop can be used for fattening fowls. 
Unplaned inch pine, common stuff, is suitable 
for such work. D. Z. E. 
Put Things in Their Places. 
We have in mind an extensive and well- 
tilled farm, where a large space in the end of 
SECTION OF A TOOL-ROOM. 
a wagon-shed is called a tool-room. The 
tools are deposited in the barn, wood-shed, 
crib, in the field, hung in trees, anywhere but 
in the right place. The tool-room floor is 
covered with heaps of rusty iron, old leather, 
broken harness, fragments of tools, and 
other accumulations of forty years of farm 
life. The old iron should be sorted over, 
and any bolts, nuts, hooks, rings, etc., that 
are good may be put in a box by themselves, 
the rest should go to the junk dealer. There 
may be a few straps and buckles of the old 
harness worth saving. If so, oil the leather 
and lay it aside; throw the rest out of sight. 
Put a light scaffold near the roof plates and 
pile many small articles upon it; they will be 
out of the way and within easy reach. Make 
a drawer in a bench for holding small tools, 
and a row of pigeon holes for nails, screws, 
etc. Across one end of the room, in front of 
the plate, fasten a long narrow board by 
pegs, so that a six-inch space will be between 
the plates and board. Let the pegs be a foot 
apart and stand out beyond the board some 
five or six inches, upon which to hang long- 
handled tools. About four feet from the 
floor make a similar rack for shovels, picks, 
chains, whiffletrees, etc. Bring all the tools 
to this room, except those needed every day 
in the barn. There should be a paint pot in 
the tool-house to use on a rainy day for 
painting the tools. [The engraving shows a 
section of a well-arranged tool-room.— Eds.] 
Lay down this law to your man-servant 
and maid-servant, to your son and daughter, 
to your borrowing neighbor and your good 
wife, to all that in your house abide, and to 
yourself : “That whoever uses a tool shall, 
when his work is done, return the tool to 
the tool-house and place it where it was 
found.” A. A. W. 
Onion Culture—Seeds and Sets, 
A few years ago, no vegetable was subject 
to such marked fluctuations in price as the 
onion, the price doubling, often quadrupling, 
within a short time. This was due to the 
fact that onions were cultivated in but very 
few localities, and the market could readily 
be controlled by speculators. Onion culture 
is no longer confined to Connecticut and 
Rhode Island. Large areas in New York 
State and in some Western States are devoted 
to the crop, and the Southern States now 
raise large quantities. The general stock is 
so large that a short supply in one place is- 
made good by shipments from another point, 
and there is little chance for a “ corner.” It 
was supposed that onions could not be raised 
from seeds in localities south of New York 
City, but the experience of the Southern 
growers show that this is a mistake. In 
localities far enough south to allow of 
growth during the winter months, there is 
no difficulty in making good crops from the 
seed. That a warm climate is not detri¬ 
mental to onion culture, is shown by the vast 
quantities sent to our markets from Ber¬ 
muda, while magnificent onions are shipped 
from Spain and Portugal to England, and to 
a small extent to this country. In the Mid¬ 
dle States, where the winter is too cold for* 
their growth, and hot weather comes on be¬ 
fore the bulbs have made much size, onion, 
sets are preferable to seeds. 
What are Onion Sets? 
Onion sets are onions that have ripened 
while yet quite small—half an inch in diam¬ 
eter down to the size of peas—the smaller the 
better. These, when set out, if small enough, 
will grow and form a bulb of the full size. 
If too large they will soon run up to seed and 
be worthless. It is generally supposed that 
sets are onions starved into early maturity 
by sowing on a poor soil. This is a mistake. 
They require good soil, the early maturity 
being due to thick sowing, thus compelling 
some twenty or more bulbs to grow upon a 
space ordinarily allotted to a single full-sized 
onion. There are several methods of sow¬ 
ing the seeds for sets, and we give the one 
usually followed on a large scale. The seeds 
are sown in narrow beds of six rows each ; 
these rows being an inch and a half to two 
inches apart. The drill is set to sow five or 
six seeds to the inch, which will give 30 to 36 
seeds to each inch in length of bed. At 30 
to 36 inches from the first beds of six rows, 
or far enough to allow of the use of the cul¬ 
tivator, another bed of six rows is made, and 
so on; the wide space being kept clean by 
horse implements, while the rows themselves 
must be carefully weeded by hand. The sets 
are mature when the tops wither. They are 
taken up by passing a trowel under them 
