1817. 
239 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
THE FARMER’S NOTE ROOK. 
Fence Posts. —Some ten years since, I introduced 
into this place,a kind of fence posts then new here, 
which are becoming pretty generally in use in this vi¬ 
cinity, for door-yard fences, and which, economy and 
durability considered, are believed to be among the 
best. I have thought that a description of it might 
be useful to some of the readers of the u Cultivator.” 
It is formed by taking a stone 2£ feet long, 12 or 15 
inches wide, 4 to 6 inches thick. A hole is drilled, 2 
inches deep, about 5 inches from the front end, to ad¬ 
mit a dowel, and one 20 inches from the first for the 
foot of a brace. A piece of scantling, 4 or 5 inches 
square, of a length to correspond with the height of 
the fence, is placed upon the stone and connected with 
it by a short dowel, and secured by a brace formed of 
half-inch round iron. Melted lead or brimstone will 
secure the end of the brace inserted in the stone, and 
a two inch wood screw or spike that connected with 
the post. The brace should form an angle of about 45 
degrees. Where a gate is wanted, it is well to have 
one stone sufficiently large for both gate-posts. A small 
piece of iron resembling a screw-nut, should be placed 
on the dowel, between the end of the post and the stone, 
that the post may be kept dry. The posts being thus 
kept from the ground, and well painted, their dura¬ 
bility will be apparent to all. Another advantage is, 
especially on clay soils, the fence will keep its posi¬ 
tion much better than where posts are placed in the 
ground. If the stone are well levelled and bedded in 
the first place, the fence will remain perfectly straight 
year after year,—the frost not affecting them in the 
least, excepting a few days in the spring when the 
ground is thawing. Should a close board fence be 
wanted, it would be best, perhaps, to have the stone 
somewhat larger, and the braces a little longer; but 
for ordinary open fences, those above described will be 
found sufficiently large. Geo. Hapgood. Warren , 
Ohio, June 22, 1847. .. 
Thorough Preparation of the Soil for Crops. 
—I notice an article in your June number on the 
value of thorough preparation of ground for crops. I 
will make a remark, that one extra full working of 
ground, is worth at least 20 loads of common farm¬ 
yard manure, say 200 bushels per acre; (bushels are 
my choice in regulating manure on land, over loads;) 
and I think two extra plowings, if well done, worth 
400 bushels manure. I do not at this time, remember 
ever to have seen land that was properly prepared, 
much injured with the usual mishaps of the farmer. 
What I call a full preparation for wheat, is to plow 
your land as shoal as you can, say from two to four 
inches; then pack with a roller, and after remaining in 
that state for some two or three weeks, to harrow 
well, say two, three, or five times in a place, accord¬ 
ing to the quantity of grass on the sod turned down; 
then in a week, to give a cross plowing , which is to go 
full as deep as the first.; then harrow with large teeth 
as deep as you can; drive them in the ground seven 
or eight inches. My object is, never to expose over 
11 to 4 inches of the earth to the action of sun 
and air, unless you allow me a large amount of ma¬ 
nure, when I would go deeper. Just before sowing 
my crop, I like another plowing. I have some eight 
or ten acres of land, which I worked two years in wheat, 
and neither year was the preparation such as I liked; 
and last fall, I determined to use every effort to have 
it prepared, and I worked it fourteen times; and 
this crop is the best of the three, so far. save about 
one and a half or two acres, which is of a heavy na¬ 
ture, and I did not get it so well water furrowed as I 
had it the first jmar. This time three years, on one 
edge of this cut, I put six or eight loads, (with extra 
sides to the cart—36 to 40 bushels,) of the rough ma¬ 
nure from my barn-yard, and spread it on the grass. 
Farmers coming into the field, wanted to know the 
cause of the grass being better there than on the 
the adjoining land. The manure then applied covered 
12 corn lands, say 4 feet wide, and some 300 or 400 
long. After the ground was plowed for wheat, I ma¬ 
nured all alike; plainly to the row did that coarse 
stuff show, and still shows in this crop, which has 
fixed me in the use of such manure. I have some 
eight or nine acres dressed as above, for wheat this 
fall. M. Goldsborough. Trappe, Md., June 10, 
1847. ...... 
Draining. —With reference to draining in soils 
abounding with ferruginous matter, (alluded to at p. 
Ill of the present volume,) in the south of England 
it was found that when sea beach, that is, gravel from 
the sea shore, was used for filling up the drains, they 
did their duty, but either stones or chalk used for the 
same purpose, would be cemented into a mass, and 
close them. 
Poultry. —I frequently see remarks on poultry. I 
fancied in the old country, that I had discovered hens 
to save early and late broods of chickens, and I re¬ 
member having 76 of the size of pigeons, in the month 
of October, besides innumerable others for the small 
stock of a dozen hens. In the old country, however, 
the hens breed three, and not unfrequently four times 
yearly. Moulting time commences in England about 
the second week in July. I was therefore particular 
to have the early broods strong enough to bear the 
loss of their feathers; later broods I was careful should 
not be hatched until about the 14th July, that they 
might escape the penalty of moulting. I never lost 
any in the fall of the year at blackberry time, when 
numbers die off, it is said, from eating this fruit. I, 
however, attributed the loss of chickens to their moult¬ 
ing. I seldom lost any from the gapes. When I did, 
I had invariably detected them previously straying 
into the geese pen. In the manure of these birds, a 
small green worm generates, which I considered as 
poison to the young chicken, and one cause of the gapes. 
In kept in open yard, fenced against ingress, having 
a shed and plenty of water at command. In farm¬ 
yard manure, immense quantities of small red worms 
generate, which are easily accessible to chickens. 
I set the hens at liberty from the coops in a few 
days, but they had to be watched from wandering*, fed 
sparingly with wheat scraps, frequently only twice 
daily, for when insects and worms are plentiful the 
chickens will feed themselves, and I had no difficulty in 
raising a large stock. I attributed my success to watch¬ 
ing the moulting time, and keeping the chickens when 
young from the geese pen. 
Hemlock Offensive to Vermin. —I believe it 
would be found that hemlock timber, if used for grana¬ 
ries, &c., would not be infested with rats and mice; 
the wood being hateful to them. 
Liming Land. —The application of lime to land, as 
described by Mr. Haines, (p. 175,) as*being prac¬ 
tised in Morris Co., N. J., so exactly assimilates to 
that of some of the midland counties in England, that 
I would have fancied that Mr. H. had been a Severn- 
side farmer. Fifty bushels of lime per acre, and no 
