64 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Feb. 
snug little sum of six hundred thousand dollars per 
year. It would be worth while for inventors to set 
their wits at work, would it not? 
The other defect, is the want of a good fixture for 
toasting bread. The inconvenience and difficulty eve¬ 
ry one knows, but nobody has yet, that I have learned, 
devised a good remedy. Who will take the subject in 
hand? A Manual Laborer. 
Trapping Foxes, 
Take some fine hay chaff, from a horse manger, and 
scatter over about one yard of ground, or on snow, in 
the open field, where foxes are apt to wander, as near 
the house as you can bait them. Then upon this 
chaff, which we call a bed, and around it for some dis¬ 
tance, strew a handful of fine scraps for several nights, 
the refuse of tallow or lard. 
At first the foxes will not approach the bed, but will 
shy around and pick up some of the fragments. Exa¬ 
mine occasionally and replenish with a little new bait, 
if they have taken any. If on the snow, always pass 
by close to the bed in one direction, not making any 
extra tracks. In a few nights they will approach the 
bed and clear the whole ground of the bait. 
The best size for a fox-trap, when set, will measure 
about five and a-half inches across the jaws. The 
springs should be made of the best steel, and not over 
five and a-half inches long, each spring. Hub over the 
trap a little tallow, and smoke it. Make a hole in the 
snow or ground in the centre of the bed, that when 
the trap is set, it will be a little below the surface.— 
Place a wad of loose tow or cotton under the pan, and 
cover over with dry ashes or sand that has been sifted. 
Then we spat these ashes down quite compact with a 
limber stick, say about eighteen inches long, and one 
inch wide, covering the pan and jaws of the trap, when 
pressed, about one fourth of an inch. It should be so 
set that a lighj weight would spring it. Scatter over, 
as at first, a thin coat of hay chaff, which is best done 
with a sieve. If there be snow, sift over the bed a 
slight layer, unless the trap be set during a gentle fall 
of snow, which is best; be careful not to make extra 
tracks about the bed; when all is done, scatter over the 
whole some fine scraps or toasted cheese, or both, 
throwing some bits about at a distance. When once 
well baited, if the trap be skilfully set, there is a fair 
chance of taking the fox, though he may be an u old 
one.” I have seen many an one caught in this way, 
having had some fun myself. 
A boy can tend two or three traps about as cheap as 
one. Level cleared land; in the woods foxes are more 
shy. If the trap be made fast, the fox when caught 
will make his escape by eating off his foot. A small 
chain should be attached about eighteen inches long, 
secured to a stone that will weigh about four pounds; 
this can lay under the trap when set. 
A dead carcass, horse or other animal, makes a strong 
bait. Set two or three traps within ten rods. If the 
ground be free from snow, cover over with moss upon 
the ashes or dry sand, leaving the surface of the ground 
as natural as possible; make use of a little bait (as 
above advised) on the trap; the'''size of a walnut, bro¬ 
ken up, is sufficient. You will take more game in this 
manner, than if set by the carcase, and not be annoyed 
by dogs. 
Another mode of taking foxes is to bait them on a 
small piece of ground surrounded by water. So arrange 
it that the fox may leap into a natural or artificial bog, 
covered with moss, before he reaches the bait. The 
trap may be covered with moss only, on this small bog, 
leaving all as natural as possible; you are pretty sure 
to out-wit them in this manner. 
If a trap be set for a fox burrowed in a den, he will 
not pass over it for some days, unless he be much fam¬ 
ished; if there is any other possible way of escape, he 
is sure to find it. 
Foxes deserve more credit than farmers usually give 
them. They are very useful in destroying mice and in¬ 
sects. If one should now and then, just take a fowl 
or a lamb, he maybe severely punished, when you catch 
him. S. W. Jewett. Weybridge, Vt., Dec. 17,1847. 
Ashes on Corn. 
Stable or yard manure must always stand at the head 
of the list of fertilizers, for value and universality of 
application; but gypsum, ashes, lime, bones, &c., will 
be more or less valuable as auxiliaries. In some cases 
the effects of the latter ma}*- not be sufficiently great 
to be striking or apparent; in others they are quite con¬ 
spicuous. An experiment with ashes, by Wm. Van 
Deusen, accurately conducted, is detailed in a late 
number of the Gen. Farmer. The soil was a light, 
thin sandy loam on a hard-pan bottom. Ashes was 
applied to the hills of corn, after planting, at the rate 
of 3k bushels per acre. Two rows, precisely like the 
rest in every respect, were left unashed. The following 
are the results, which we have condensed into tabular 
form; two rows being taken on each side of the two 
unashed, by way of comparison: ' 
product, hog-corn, 
Unashed, 
166i lbs. 451 lbs. 
Ashed, west side, 207| “ 
Ashed, east side, 205 “ 
29| 
27i 
good corn, per acre, 
in ears. 
121 lbs. 49 bu. 
178 “ 72 “ 
177k “ 72 “ 
Thus it will be perceived that the ashes gave 23 bush¬ 
els of ears more per acre; the whole gain on the five 
acre field where the experiment was tried being 115 
bushels—besides the increase of fodder—all for 17\ 
bushels of ashes. The soil was evidently of that cha¬ 
racter which is most benefitted by the application of 
ashes. On heavy rich land the result would doubtless 
have been far less obvious. 
Depth of Manure, 
Considerable discussion is going on in the papers, 
relative to the proper depth to bury manure. Some 
assert that its best parts descend, and therefore it 
should be but slightly covered; while others maintain 
that nearly the whole strength becoming gaseous, rises, 
and it must therefore be buried deep. All this differ¬ 
ence of opinion results from the attempt to make a rule 
that shall apply to all circumstances. 
One farmer applies manure to the surface of a newly 
plowed field late in the spring, and harrows it in. Hot 
and dry weather follows, and being only partially cov¬ 
ered, much of it escapes in vapor and is wasted; the 
few light rains which occur are insufficient to wash 
much of the soluble portions into the soil, it never 
reaches the roots of the crop, and consequently pro¬ 
duces little or no effect. Again, he plows it deeply 
into the soil, and the reverse in every respect takes 
place. Hence he becomes thoroughly satisfied that 
manure should always, under all circumstances, be 
buried deep. 
Another farmer applies his manure late in autumn, 
to the surface. Cold weather prevents fermentation, 
and the enriching portions which otherwise would es¬ 
cape in vapor, is washed by the abundant rains, in the 
form of liquid manure, into the soil; and by the usual 
time of plowing in spring, the surface of the soil for a 
few inches, is saturated with the most fertilizing parts, 
the plow turning under the rest. All is thus saved; 
and the farmer is convinced that surface application is 
invariably the best. 
They “ both are right, and both are wrong.” They 
should act according to circumstances. Every farmer is 
aware, by the smell, that but little manure escapes from 
his yard in winter, but much in summer. Hence in winter 
