1849. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
155 
rests on the pins above described. If the posts should 
decay and rot off by the ground, they may be replaced 
by new ones, while the lengths of fence^ if constructed 
of oak, hemlock or chestnut, will last good from fif¬ 
teen to twenty years. A length is easily removed for 
the purpose of passing a team, and as easily replaced 
again. 
It must prove a light and convenient fence for 
swamps and marshy grounds, also for river flats, which 
are subject to be swept by floods in spring. The 
lengths being light, may*be taken off the hooks in the 
fall, and be deposited on a bank in a place of safety and 
readily replaced after the spring freshets. The pickets 
may be nailed on, and the lengths prepared, before they 
are taken to the field, and iron hooks may be substitu¬ 
ted for wood to good profit. The farmer who procures 
his material and erects his first fifty lengths of the im¬ 
proved picket fence, will not, if he studies economy, 
very soon be seen making old fashioned board fence. 
David Sill. North JLrgyle, Washington Co ., N. Y., 
March 29, 1849. 
Cement for Cellars. 
Eds. Cultivator— What is the best mode of ren¬ 
dering a wet cellar dry, that cannot conveniently be 
drained? I pounded stone all over the bottom, and 
then plastered it with water lime, made by R. H. Bangs, 
Fayettville, N. Y. It was very dry till there came a 
heavy rain, and then it was full of water, or even with 
the surface of the ground which is but 18 inches above 
the bottom of the cellar. It broke the cement, lifted it 
up, and cracked it in pieces. It seemed to soften when 
the water came to it, and did not adhere to the stone, 
on the bottom. I think the lime was not good, or it 
may be we did not mix it right. How should it be mix¬ 
ed ? What proportion of the purest lake sand is to be 
mixed ? Should any quick lime be mixed with it ? Is 
there danger of frost injuring it when fully set, when 
there is no water upon it ? Can a cement be made of 
tar and sand, that will resist the water ? We labor under 
a great disadvantage in this country, for the want of cel¬ 
lars. The land is so level that we cannot dig, because we 
cannot drain. I was induced to dig one and a-half feet, 
thinking to stop out the water with water lime, but so far 
it has failed; and several others in this county, prepared 
in the same way last summer, failed. Some find fault 
with the lime, and some think it cannot be done. Have 
any of your subscribers tried it, and how have they suc¬ 
ceeded? Where can the best warranted cement be had? 
A good cellar is everything to the farmer, and any 
method to render them water proof, will be valuable 
information to any and all of your subscribers here. A. 
J. Keeney. Erie, Mich., Feb. 22, 1849. 
Turning in Green Crops. 
The stage at which crops turned into the soil would 
be of the greatest value as manure, is a point of con¬ 
siderable importance. Heretofore it has been a com¬ 
mon opinion that plants produced the most beneficial 
results in this respect, when they had attained their 
greatest bulk and weight, and before there had been 
any diminution from drying or ripening. Several ex¬ 
periments however, seem to show that where a large 
bulk of green vegetable matter is placed in the soil, 
the sap runs into the acetous fermentation-producing 
an acid injurious to growing crops. 
Andrew Nichols, of Danvers, Mass., states to the 
officers of the Essex County Ag. Society, that he cut 
a orop of corn fodder in the month of September, and 
had it carefully buried in the soil by the plow. The re¬ 
sult, he says, “was no benefit to the land, the loss of the 
crop plowed in, and half the crop of corn planted thereon 
the succeeding year.” He accounts for these facts 
on the following theory; “ The stalks had fermented, 
and been converted chiefly into alcohol and vinegar— 
the former flying off by evaporation, and the latter uni¬ 
ting with the alkaline or ferruginous earths—forming 
salts less fertilizing perhaps, than their bases, as they 
existed in the soil previous to their uniting with the 
acid.” 
We have heard of similar results from plowing in 
green clover, buckwheat and grass. Hence, better ef¬ 
fects follow from allowing the crop to become so dry 
before plowing it in, that the acetous fermentation will 
not take place. We believe this is the conclusion now 
held by some of our best farmers who are in the habit 
of plowing in clover. 
Cost of Wire Fence. 
Eds. Cultivator—I thought that it possibly might 
be of service to the farming community, through the 
pages of The Cultivator , to say a few words on wire 
fence. Much has already been said and done in regard 
to all kinds of fencing; but I think the wire kind is by 
far the cheapest as well as most beautiful. I ran a 
fence, 340 yards, across a 40 acre lot. My object was 
to make a strong, as well as a cheap fence. The wire 
I used was No. 9 and No. 7. No. 10 is too small. 
The fence is five strands high—each strand about 10 
inches apart. The fence is five feet high. The ex¬ 
pense is as follows; 
310 lbs. wire, Nos. 7 and 9, at 8 cents,. $24 90 
28 Red Cedar posts, at 12£ cents,. 3 50 
28 do do small, at 6} cents. 1 75 
To 3 men 2 days putting up fence, at 50 cts. and found, 
(say 25 cents a-piece,) .. 4 50 
$34 55 
I placed a small post between every two jarge ones. 
The holes in the posts, (5 in each post,) I bored with 
an inch auger. After the wire was put in and tighten¬ 
ed, I drove a plug in, to prevent the rain from rusting 
the wire. After the fence was up, I took about a pint 
of tar, and with a brush dipped in tar, coated all the 
wire. 
The posts of the fence are 20 feet apart, which I 
find not too much. H. V. L. Port Penn, Del., 
March, 1849. _ 
Cost of Fattening Pork in Massachusetts. 
F. Dodge, of Danvers, Mass., states that in the 
spring of 1848, he bought from a drove, seven shoats, 
the total weight of which was 925 pounds. The price 
paid for them -was seven cents per pound. They were 
fed an average of 184 days, and their average gain 
was 179 pounds of nett pork. The cost of the food 
they consumed was as follows: 
68 bushels corn at 53 cents,. $36 04 
30 do do damaged, at 35 cents,.. 10 50 
50 do corn at 65 cents,. 32 50 
8 do meal, at 65 cents,. 5 20 
$84 24 
Add first cost of pigs,. 64 75 
Making a total cost of,. $148 99 
The whole quantity of pork afforded by the pigs kill¬ 
ed, was 2178 pounds, which was sold at 6^ cents per 
pound, amounting to $141 .57—leaving a balance against 
the pigs of $7.42. The inference from this statement, 
is that at the above prices of grain, pork could not be 
profitably produced at six and a-half cents per pound. 
But it is suggested that something might be saved by 
breeding the stock, instead of purchasing shoats at seven 
cents per pound, live w r eight. It is thought, however, 
that the manure afforded by the hogSj would be of suf¬ 
ficient value to more than overbalance any deficiency 
which might appear in the account by only crediting 
the pork. 
