THE CULTIVATOR. 
137 
land will bear no proportion to the difference in price. Of all pro¬ 
ducts of the farm, wool will best bear the expense of long transpor¬ 
tation to market. When on a late visit to a friend in Massachusetts, 
we were told by an intelligent resident, that fifteen years ago most 
of the farmers of the town were deeply in debt, and their farms go¬ 
ing to ruin ; but that sheep husbandry, to which all but two or three 
had since turned their attention, had given an entire new aspect to 
their affairs; and that he would then engage to pay every debt ow¬ 
ing by the inhabitants of the town, for the surplus produce of that 
season. It seems to be well established, that the soil, as well as the 
owner, of a sheep farm, become enriched by the flock. 
As particularly applicable to the season, we recommend to all who 
stand in need of our advice, that they keep their sheep dry, give 
them pure air, and plenty of food, and carry them to spring grass, 
by all means, in good flesh. Ten well kept sheep are more profita¬ 
ble than thirteen badly kept. To protect them from storms in win¬ 
ter, you should have a covered shelter for them to resort to at night. 
To ensure them pure air, this shelter should not be habitually, if at 
any time, wholly closed at the sides. To keep them dry, they should 
have a liberal supply of straw litter, and this often repeated. This 
will also become a matter of economy in regard to manure, as the 
straw will absorb and prevent the loss of the urine, which is a moie¬ 
ty of the manure. To keep them in cood health and good plight, 
feed them well, stint them not in salt; and feed turnips, potatoes or 
coarse grain occasionally, particularly to such as have to give suck. 
If you have not the roots, by all means provide them another year; 
for rely upon it, there is no more profitable winter, or rather spring 
food, for sheep, than Swedish turnips—they are wholesome, nourish¬ 
ing, and tend greatly to enrich and increase the milk of the ewes. 
Green food is besides highly valuable for all farm stock in the spring 
of the year. 
UNHEALTHINESS OF VEGETABLE CELLARS. 
We insert to-day, a communication upon this subject, from a me¬ 
dical correspondent; and, without wishing to trespass on the pro¬ 
vince of the profession, we beg leave to make some additional sug¬ 
gestions. 
Pure air is all-essential not only to animal, but vegetable health. 
All farm stock are most healthy, and thrive best, when kept in a 
cleanly condition, and permitted to enjoy a free circulation of air. 
Vegetable putrefaction, and animal respiration, vitiate, and render 
air unhealthy, and often become the imperceptible cause of sickness 
and death. Many of the diseases which man is incident to, owe 
their origin, or are materially aggravated, by neglect of personal 
cleanliness, by living in close apartments, or by breathing impure 
air, vitiated by the putrefaction of vegetable matters, by animal re¬ 
spiration, or by combustion : For however comfortable it may seem, 
in cold winter weather, to sit or sleep in a hot, close stove room, 
both are deleterious to a hale constitution—the purity of the air be¬ 
comes impaired in proportion to the closeness and warmth of the room, 
and the numbers of its inmates. Hence there is found most sick¬ 
ness, and the greatest mortality, in small, hot and crowded tene¬ 
ments ; and hence epidemics prove most fatal in situations where 
the importance of pure air and cleanliness are disregarded. With 
regard to depositing vegetables in the cellars of dwellings, it is a ge¬ 
neral practice, and however detrimental it may prove to health, there 
is little prospect of seeing the practice materially abated. Experi¬ 
ence has pronounced it convenient, and safe in regard to the effects 
of frost. But much may be done, and with little trouble, to lessen 
the evils which may result from it. In the first place, every cellar 
should have a good drain to carry off all water. Stagnant water, 
especially when mingled with the vegetable matters which are ever 
found in cellars, is extremely deleterious to health. In the second 
place, cellars should be ventilated as long, and as much, as the tem¬ 
perature of the weather will permit. All vegetables are best pre¬ 
served in a temperature a little above the freezing point. For this 
purpose, cellars should be furnished with a hatchway and windows, 
with gratings or slats, for the free admission of air, and these should 
not be closed till imperiously demanded by the severity of the sea¬ 
son. In the third place, every decaying vegetable matter should be 
promptly removed as soon as discovered, and all vegetables should 
be removed to an out-building, and the cellar thoroughly cleansed, 
as early in the spring as the weather will permit, and the windows 
and door unclosed for the escape of the impure, and the admission of 
fresh air. If cellars are floored, the bottoms ought to be brick, stone 
or water cement. Much filth accumulates under a wooden floor, 
Vol. I. S 
and the decay of the wood adds to the deleterious properties of the 
surrounding air. And in the last place, nothing has a greater ten¬ 
dency to purify the atmosphere of cellars, than whitewashing their 
walls, ceilings and timbers with lime, as soon as they have become 
sufficiently dried by ventilation and the advance of spring, to permit 
the operation to be well performed. With good housewives, this is 
the last operation of the annual house-cleaning process in May. It 
proves not only beneficial to health, but evinces a tidiness of manage¬ 
ment grateful to the senses, and highly commendatory of those who 
practise it. 
MAKING CLOVER HAY—IN COCKS. 
Nothing is no hard to combat as the prejudice of farmers, who 
think they can learn nothing in their business. We have often re¬ 
commended curing clover hay in cocks , as a means of doubling the 
value of this kind of hay, besides lessening the expense of curing it. 
Many good farmers, and intelligent men, have ridiculed the process, 
because it run counter to their practice, and was what they could 
not reconcile to their idea of good management. But they would 
never make the trial; if they had done so, they would have seen 
that they were wrong, and we right. We beg leave here to say, 
that in many districts of Great Britain, spreading hay from the swath, 
or tedding it, is going wholly out of practice, as causing unnecessa¬ 
ry labor, and as diminishing the value of the hay. But there they 
are not blessed with our ordinary sunshine and heat in the haying 
season. The hay curing process, with them, is a business of some 
days, on account of their comparatively cool climate and humid at¬ 
mosphere. But with us, when the grass is matured, and thin, and 
the weather good, it is often the business of a day. But this cannot 
be the case with us with early-mown hay, particularly where clover 
abounds. The grass is then full of juices, and the succulent stocks 
of the clover require time, as well as sunshine, to part with their 
moisture. Spread and exposed to a hot sun, the leaves, blossoms, 
and exterior of the stems soon dry, but in drying, the exterior of the 
stems become indurated, and refuse, like wood painted when green, 
to part with the interior moisture. The consequence is, the grass 
must either be housed in this half-cured condition, and spoil in the 
mow, or, if the curing process is completed, so as to prevent damage, 
the leaves and blossoms, which constitute the best parts of the hay, 
are over dried, crumble and are lost. Cured in cock, every part of 
the grass, whether the leaves or thick stocks, dries alike, and is alike 
preserved, and the evaporation of moisture goes on, I believe, even 
in wet weather: for a partial, though in no wise a prejudicial fer¬ 
mentation takes place, and the ranfied air which it generates, be,’ 
ing specifically lighter than the atmosphere, is constantly passing off. 
We have been induced to these remarks, at t/iis untimely season, 
in consequence of finding in The Farmer and Gardener, an agricul¬ 
tural paper published at Baltimore, a communication from John 
Smith, fully confirming the utility of our recommendation and long 
practice. It would seem that Mr. Smith was led to make the expe¬ 
riment ratlmr from necessity than from choice. But we will let him 
tell his owm story. 
“ It will perhaps be recollected,” he says, “ by all attentive agri¬ 
cultural readers of that paper [the American Farmer] that it was 
recommended to farmers to put their hay, in its green state, or as 
soon as cut, into small cocks, and cure it by sweating. 
“ When I commenced cutting my clover hay the present season, 
the prospect for favorable weather was flattering, but in a short time 
it changed, and ic became evident we should have a wet spell. I 
then dropped the scythes, and put all hands to putting up the grass 
(then perfectly green, but exempt from external wet) into cocks of 
about 200 pounds cured hay, building them compact and high, to 
avoid the introduction of rain as much as possible. Rain came on 
before I secured all the cut grass, but the next day was fair, and I 
succeeded, by unremitted attention, in getting the water dried out 
of the remainder, and put it up in the same way. It continued rainy 
ten days, and afforded no opportunity to cure in the sun ; the cocks 
were examined daily, by running the hand and arm into them, and, 
contrary to all expectation, gave no indications of fermentation. At 
the end of ten days the weather became fair, the cocks were open¬ 
ed, and found to he in a perfectly sound condition, except so far as the 
rain had penetrated, and the external wetting alone, in my opinion, 
made it necessary to open it at all. Tell farmers they need not fear 
losing their hay on account of unfavorable weather at harvest. I 
have never seen worse weather in hay harvest, and I saved mine en¬ 
tirely well. It is most excellent hay.” 
