108 
THE CULTIVATOR 
tween them, is a matter of some importance. A neat 
farm fence may be made of boards four inches, five inch¬ 
es, and nine inches wide, as follows—the top and cap 
board, four inches wide each; the three next, five inch? 
es wide; and the bottom one nine inches. The distances 
asunder may be, between the two upper, seven inches; 
next five and a half inches; next, four inches, and the 
lowest, two and a half inches. A lighter and more ele¬ 
gant appearance will be given by using boards one inch 
narrower, and increasing slightly the distances asunder. 
For a finished fence near a dwelling, five boards only, 
three inches wide, should be used besides the bottom 
board, which should be eleven inches wide; and the dis¬ 
tances apart should be five inches, four and a half, four, 
three and a half, and three inches. The posts should be 
square and cased handsomely. 
Salt, which renders posts more durable, may be appli¬ 
ed by boring an inch hole, downwards, into each post, 
before the hole is quite filled with earth, putting in the 
salt, and plugging it in. 
FARMER’S DUTIES TO THEIR CHILDREN. 
Hartford County (Ct.) Ag. Society. —We have re¬ 
ceived the Transactions of this Society for 1843 and 1844. 
They contain much useful matter. A <c Report on Blood 
Stock,” by Charles A. Goodrich, gives, in our opin¬ 
ion, a very judicious view of the subject of improving 
our neat cattle. 
The address delivered before the Society in October 
last, by Ralph R. Phelps, Esq., is really one of the 
most valuable productions of the kind we have ever seen. 
Whether we regard the subject matter, or the point and 
perspicuity of expression, it is, we might say, a model. 
We regret that the great press of communications, pre¬ 
vents our giving more than a brief notice. We must, 
however, find space for the following extract: Mr. 
Phelps observes—“ It has been a source of complaint 
with farmers, that they cannot keep their boys at home 
that they must leave the farm for a profession, a clerk 
ship, a trade, or even a pedler’s trunk or cart. This I 
consider a great evil, which demands a remedy.” 
After speaking of the causes of the evil, among which 
he enumerates false ideas of honor and respectability, 
“ surly, morose, and scolding habits of parents,” and 
“ the rough, uncouth, and comfortless appearance of many 
farmer's houses and out-buildings,” Mr. P. proceeds to 
point out a remedy as follows: 
(l Let no farmer’s wife think her children too good to labor ; but, 
on the contrary, let her strive early to fix habits of industry. Let 
every mother teach her sons, that while labor on the farm is honor¬ 
able, idleness, ignorance and vice alone bring reproach. And when 
this lesson is thoroughly impressed on the mind of her son, and cor¬ 
responding habits are formed, that son will be likely to make an ef¬ 
ficient man and a useful citizen, whether he be following a profes¬ 
sion, or be engaged in the more safe and more pleasant pursuit of 
agriculture. But when the mother, without this lesson, and without 
these habits, undertakes to make her son a gentleman, she is far 
more likely to make him a loafer. 
“ Let parents labor to give all their children a good education. 
Let the absurd notion, that a farmer needs no education, be banish¬ 
ed from every dwelling. There is no pursuit, where intelligence, 
and a well cultivated, and a well disciplined mind is more necessa¬ 
ry, than in the proper management of the farm. Let the mind be 
enlarged by a knowledge of history, political economy, and especi¬ 
ally the sciences connected with agriculture. Let the young farmer 
enrich his mind by general reading. Let him thoroughly understand 
our political institutions ; and be able to judge of his political rights 
and duties, without the aid of some demagogue, who had rather de¬ 
vote his time to watching over the public interests, than to the pur¬ 
suit of honest industry. In short, let the farmer be able to reason, to 
examine and to judge for himself, and he will soon take the elevated 
rank in society to which his calling entitles him, and he will no long¬ 
er have the opportunity of complaining that professional men have 
too much influence. This will have a great tendency to attach far¬ 
mer’s sons to their homes and to their farms.” 
milk, at $3,11 per cow, and the calves which were all 
raised, at $3 a-piece, at the time of weaning, and it 
amounts to $174,00, which will give to each cow on an 
average as the value of her product for one year, the sura 
of $29. The cows were raised on the farm, and are from 
3 to 6 years old; their keeping has been grass and hay. 
One cow gave, during the first week in June, on one day, 
40 lbs. of milk, and on the next day 38 lbs., from which 
was made 4 lbs. of butter, or 2 lbs. each day; her milk 
was weighed several times in the months of July and 
August, and was found to weigh from 35 to 37 lbs. a day.” 
^ I 
So\ 
PRODUCTIVE COWS. 
A correspondent at Norwich (Mass.) informs us that 
rt Mr. Joseph Kirkland of that town, has kept on his farm 
die last year, six cows: three of them calved near the 
first of March, the others the last of May. From their 
milk he has made 981 lbs. of butter: at 14 cents per lb 
the price at which the most of it was sold, it would 
amount to $137,34. To which add the value of the skim 
LABELS FOR STANDARD FRUIT TREES. 
The owners of fine and valuable collections of fruit, 
are often very much at a loss, and serious inconvenience 
and mistakes often arise, from the want of 
permanent names attached to the trees. In our 
last volume, two modes of making labels, one 
of painted wood, the other of zinc, were des¬ 
cribed by correspondents. A third, a very 
neat and permanent label, is made of stamped 
lead as follows: An iron plate, A. fig. 36, 
about six inches long and an inch wide, is 
screwed on another plate, B. of the same 
length, and twice as wide, by means of the 
screws at the ends, turned by their button- 
heads. A piece of sheet lead, with a width 
equal to the intended length of the label, is 
inserted between these two iron plates, as 
shown in the figure, and secured firmly to its 
place by means of the screws. The letter- 
Fig. 35. punches are then applied to the lead success¬ 
ively, the edge of the upper plate, which should be thin, 
preserving them in a true line. Steel punches are best, 
but common printing types 
will answer. The imprint¬ 
ed end is then cut off; a hole 
is made in one end, which is 
neatly and quickly done by a 
shoemaker’s nipping-punch; 
and by means of a copper 
wire a little larger than a 
common pin, it is attached to 
one of the branches of the 
tree. The copper wire sho'd 
form a loop one or two inch¬ 
es in diameter, so as not to 
cut the branch by the growth of the latter. Iron wire 
w T ill do, but is more difficult to bend than copper, and is 
more liable to break off. Fig. 35 represents the label as 
finished. The wire should be twisted first closely at the 
hole in the label, to prevent the lead becoming worn by 
its motion in the wind, and again twisted at the ends to 
form the loop round the branch. A side branch should 
be selected, as being less liable to out-grow the loop. 
The leisure of the winter season, is a good time for the 
performance of this work. 
SUCCESSFUL CULTURE OF TURNEPS. 
It is a fact, familiar to most farmers, that when the 
soil is heavy, newly cleared land is finely adapted to the 
raising of the common flatturnep; but that after a few 
years, this quality seems to disappear, owing chiefly, as 
is generally supposed, to the ravages of the turnep fly. 
A farmer in the western part of this State, entirely ob¬ 
viates this difficulty by a very simple expedient. His 
farm is a heavy fertile soil, and though well adapted to 
most farm crops, it appeared to be entirely unfitted to the 
turnep, like all others of a similar character. The suc¬ 
cessful mode he adopted, .is as follows:—After having 
plowed and harrowed his ground, and reduced it to a fine 
tilth, he spreads over the surface several inches of old 
straw, which is suffered to lie a few weeks. Just before 
sowing time, it is burned, the surface is harrowed, the 
seed sown and brushed in. In this way, he uniformly 
obtains the finest crops. He ascribes his success to the 
destruction of the insects by fire; but whatever may be 
the cause, the practice is well worthy of Inal by all pos¬ 
sessing land of a similar character 
