1883.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
229 
they “have not time to study wickedness,” 
and look all the better for it. Much light 
work on the farm may be done with young 
bulls, and if treated kindly and industriously 
employed, under good care, accidents would 
rarely be known. 
Poultry Notes. 
For heating incubators the French more 
generally now prefer hot water, as it can be 
better depended on to keep up a steady at¬ 
mosphere of the right temperature, that is 
slightly moist. This last is an advantage in 
hatching eggs, as it keeps the shells from be¬ 
coming so hard and dry that the chicken can¬ 
not pick and break itself out. A Mr. Bouche- 
reaux has concocted a small, curious, artificial 
mother for nursing chickens. It is in the shape 
of a hen of thick earthenware, made hollow. 
Hot water is poured into this, and it is then 
set in a box. A hole is left in the “ hen’s tail ” 
for the chicks to run in and out, and while 
under it, there is plenty of room for them 
to nestle, clean and warm. 
There are machines for cramming poultry, 
which we utterly detest. Fattened in this 
manner and kept confined in small coops, the 
birds become feverish, and the flesh made is 
flabby, tasteless, and, we think, unliealthful. 
The poultry thus fattened, which we have 
seen in the Paris markets, have the fat in 
large lumps on different parts of the body, in¬ 
stead of being evenly distributed throughout. 
To make good meat in poultry, or indeed in 
any kind of animal, moderate exercise in 
pure fresh air is absolutely essential. 
At the late Paris show, the Houdans took 
the prize of honor. They have been much 
improved latterly, it is said. The La Fleche 
are highly spoken of. As a curiosity, we 
note the Courtes Pattes (short legged), which 
stand the hen’s body only one and a half 
inch from the ground. 
The dead poultry of all kinds was beauti¬ 
fully displayed at the Palais de l’lndustrie, 
arranged on counters, and surrounded with 
flowers. Rather different than we find it in 
our own markets. 
A Trellis for Peas. 
The best substitute for pea brush we 
have found, is a trellis of galvanized iron 
wire. The peas are sown in double rows, six 
inches apart. A post, six inches in diameter, 
is set firmly at each end of the row ; it may 
be round or half round, set three feet in the 
ground, and of a hight suited to the variety 
of pea. As soon as the vines are large enough, 
the wire is made fast to the post, about six 
inches from the ground, carried to and passed 
around the post at the other end, and back to 
the starting point. Here it is made fast; it 
may be cut off, but still better, two or three 
turns are taken around the post and another 
double wire stretched about eight inches 
above the first, and so on until as many wires 
as needed are put in place. We use No. 18 wire, 
which measures 150 feet to the pound. If 
over 200 feet long, a similar post should be 
set mid-way of the row. Stakes (plasterers’ 
laths will answer) are set every ten or fifteen 
feet along the row, to keep the wires from 
sagging. These have notches cut in them, 
in which the wires are placed ; or the wires 
maybe attached to them by means of a small 
wire or cord. When no longer needed, the 
wire is wound up upon a reel, and, with the 
posts, stored away for another year. Pea- 
growers for market allow the vines to he 
upon the ground, and claim that the crop is 
not enough larger when brushed to pay the 
cost of cutting and placing the sticks. In 
the garden, neatness, and especially the 
greater ease of picking, make it necessary to 
use brush, or a substitute. Those who 
cannot get brash, will find the wires, sup¬ 
ported as above described, veiy convenient. 
The chief precaution to be observed is, to 
have the wires of this trellis so near together 
that the vines can reach them as soon as a 
support is needed. 
A Convenient Wagon Body. 
For those who have use for a small, light 
wagon body, etc., the one herewith illus¬ 
trated is very convenient and cheap. It 
saves the expense of another wagon, as it 
can be used on the springs and running gears 
of a moderately heavy buggy or of the fam¬ 
ily carriage. Inch pine, free from knots, 
and new, is a .good material, and is cheap 
and easily worked. The sides should be 
about five inches high, the end (a movable 
“tail-board”) of the same hight, a little 
rounded in the middle. The box should be 
firmly put together with screws, and strength¬ 
ened with L-sliaped pieces of iron put on 
each comer, at the top. The “tail-board” 
can be made to slide in and to fasten with 
hooks. Holes are bored in four places in the 
bottom, to correspond with the holes in the 
ends of the spear-rods or bolsters of the car¬ 
riage, and bolts, with nuts, used to fasten the 
body firmly to place. The most convenient 
length is six or seven feet. Before using the 
wagon body give it a couple of coats of good 
paint. When not in use, put it away in the 
bam, or swing it to the rafters of the car¬ 
riage or wagon house. D. Z. E. 
The Arbor-vitse from Cuttings. 
“ J. H. W.,” of Darien, Conn., wishing a 
number of Arbor-vitses, asks us if he can raise 
them from cuttings, and what the treatment 
should be- The Arbor-vitse, both our native 
species and the Japanese (Retinisporas), may 
be propagated from cuttings with the greatest 
ease, provided they are given one essential 
requisite—time. Those who treat these as if 
they were geranium or verbena cuttings, 
giving them bottom heat, will be quite sure 
to fail. The cuttings are made in spring, 
three or four inches long, choosing the tips 
of the most erect branches. Having prepared 
some boxes with clean sand, prick out the 
cuttings in rows across the box. Boxes three 
inches deep will answer, and the cuttings 
may be inserted for about one third of their 
length, placing them so close as to touch. 
After the cuttings are pricked out, water 
with a fine rose, to settle the sand, and set 
the box in a shady place, but where it can be 
watched, and watered as often as needed. 
Nurserymen often set the boxes in a frame 
and shade them by a lattice-work of laths. 
The only care needed is to prevent the sand 
from becoming dry, and the removal of any 
weeds that may spring up. The boxes must 
be protected from disturbance by cats and 
dogs. One or more of the cuttings may be 
taken out from time to time for inspection, 
and if no roots have formed, may be returned 
without injury. After some weeks, a ‘ ‘ callus *’ 
will be seen at the lower end of the cutting. 
This is a whitish irregular mass, which ap¬ 
pears between the wood and bark, and is re¬ 
garded as an accumulation of matei’ial for 
feeding the newly formed roots, which ap¬ 
pear later. With cuttings of most plants, the 
formation of the callus is quite sure to be 
soon followed by the appearance of delicate 
roots. With the Arbor-vitse cuttings this 
takes place very slowly, and some of them 
altogether fail to do so. In these the callus 
grows to a great size, forming a swelling as 
large as a boy’s marble, the surface of which 
becomes covered with a brown epidermis and 
appears like that of the stem, no trace of a 
root being visible. While such failures are 
not very numerous, enough surplus cuttings 
should be made to cover losses from this and 
other causes. In early autumn the cuttings 
that have formed roots may be set out in 
boxes of ordinary soil, and at the approach 
of winter these may be placed in a frame, or 
in a cellar, until spring, when the little trees 
are to be planted in the open ground, in 
nursery rows. The variety of Arbor-vitse, 
known as the Siberian, roots more readily 
than the typical form. If cuttings of this are 
set in the open ground, in a partially-shaded 
place, a large share of them will take root in 
ordinary seasons. This variety is preferable 
to the type, as during the winter it retains its 
fine green color, while the other becomes 
blackened and unsightly. 
Labor-saving in the Potato Crop. 
We spread the stable manure broadcast, 
and plow it in upon old ground. The ground 
is then furrowed in rows, thirty inches apart, 
to receive the seed, which is dropped by hand 
fifteen to eighteen inches apart, and covered 
with the plow. The whole patch or field is 
then bushed, leaving the surface as level as 
possible. As soon as the potatoes begin to 
break through the ground, and before they 
are fairly out of it, the bush is again used. 
This convenient tool is made of white birches, 
or any other wood with abundant spray, in¬ 
serted in an eight-foot joist, by an inch and a 
half or two-inch augur-hole. Covering so 
wide a space, it makes rapid work and an¬ 
swers for the first cultivation. Every weed 
is destroyed that breaks the ground before 
the potatoes are in sight. When the vines 
are up three or four inches, the cultivator is 
nicely adjusted to the space between the 
rows, so that all the surface is broken close 
to the plants, leaving nothing for the hand- 
hoe. This process may be repeated a fort¬ 
night later, and the hilling, if any is desired, 
may be done with the plow just as the plants 
begin to blossom. Then wait patiently for 
the harvest. 
