16 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
er so softly whispered, is heard above the low- 
ings of the shivering herd. A correspondent, 
of Winchester, Iowa, (signing himself “ Titus,”) 
sends ns a description of straw sheds, that are 
easily made and good for prairie farmers who 
have no market for their straw. He writes: 
“ Physiologists tell us that it is the food which 
animals eat that keeps up the animal heat, in 
the same manner that coal or wood keeps up 
the heat of a stove or furnace; and as a natural 
consequence, it would take less food to maintain 
the proper temperature of the body, were it 
kept warm by other means. This is the theory : 
the facts are that all kinds of stock, if sheltered 
STRAW SHED FOR STOCK WITII AN 
in cold weather, require a great deal less food 
to keep them in a good, thriving condition, than 
other stock do that are exposed to the weather. 
I once tried to make a calculation of how much 
I could save in feed by keeping my cattle shel¬ 
tered ; and although I did not arrive at any very 
definite conclusion, yet I was well satisfied that 
I could save more than enough to pay all the 
expenses of putting up warm, permanent sheds; 
besides avoiding all thoseevils that ill treatment 
always entails on ail kinds of stock, surely and 
speedily impair: rip- and even destroying the 
good points or any breed, however hardy. 
Straw Sheds. —Very good temporary sheds 
for cattle and sheep can be made of a frame¬ 
work of rails or poles, and covered with straw. 
This will shelter stock the best by making it in 
the shape of an L, with the east and south sides 
left open. It should be so arranged that the 
stock can pass from the shed into the feeding 
yards or stalk fields whenever they choose. 
We, in the West, after gathering our corn, turn 
our cattle into the stalk fields, where they make 
a tolerably good living at nipping what fodder 
they like, and picking up nubbins of corn that 
were overlooked when the crop was gathered. 
Prairie grass, or rather prairie hay, makes an 
excellent covering for a shed, as it turns the 
rain much better than straw does. If it is put 
on somewhat after the manner of thatching, it 
does all the better, and requires only a compar¬ 
atively small amount of hay, and will turn the 
rain for a long time. It also makes excellent 
forage for cattle, and I have known whole herds 
here in Iowa to be wintered on nothing but 
prairie hay. A little grain fed out with the 
hay would, in my opinion, more than repay the 
cost of it, let the price be what it might. The 
stock should never get to the outside of the 
straw shed—I mean on the side on which the 
straw is piled,—for they will tramp down and 
waste the straw, and destroy the whole shed in 
a few days. Such a shed as this will answer 
every purpose of a better one so long as it lasts. 
Farm and Lawn Roads and Highways. 
There is no one thing which so marks the 
difference between a long settled and a new 
region as the roads; and yet, throughout this 
democratic country, where so few public ex¬ 
penditures can be made which do not carry 
with them at first sight assurance of their econ¬ 
omy, we seldom find good ones, and it is hard 
to secure thoroughness in making new roads. 
There are three requisites of a good road : 
1st, Diyness; 2d, Firmness; 3d, Proper form. 
The first may be secured wherever good drain¬ 
age can be had, by laying a tile drain capable 
of carrying the water four 
feet below the middle of the 
road. Tiles are better than 
stones for drains, because if 
well laid and either turned 
aside or provided with silt 
basins wherever change of 
level decreasing the rapidity 
of the descent occur, tiles 
will never fill up, while 
stone drains are very likely 
to. The tiles being cover¬ 
ed after the most approved 
manner, as described in 
former numbers, (the joints 
protected by collars or 
otherwise, and the stiffest 
soil rammed down hard 
over the tiles), the road 
bed must be made. For 
this purpose the roadway 
should be nearly level, hollowing a little from 
each side alike toward the drain in the middle, 
and at least a foot below the intended surface 
of the road, if it is to be merely a farm or 
lawn road of say 20 feet in width, but deeper 
in proportion for broader roads and highways. 
This bed is laid with large stones, (flattish ones 
do best for small roads and carriage ways,) and 
the surface should be only slightly crowning in 
the middle. Broken stones, from the size of 
one’s fist to that of an egg, are laid upon these, 
and this layer is made crowning according to 
the usual practice, and forms a bed upon which 
a small amount of sharp, sandy gravel soon 
makes a smooth, hard road, if well rolled. 
The usual custom is to have a ditch or gutter 
at each side of the road. This in the case of 
hectics or HOUR 
carriage waysnnd park roadabounds the grass 
and keeps it from encroaching upon the gravel. 
The result isthat either the carlhwashes away, 
and an irregular surface (litchis formed, or the 
flow of water's stopped by gravel washed from 
the road. We present in. the accompanying en¬ 
graving a plan recently brought to our notice, 
which offers two advantages above the common 
practice, and thoughApplied, so far as we know, 
exclusively to park roads, is equally applicable 
to others of sufficient width for two wagons to 
pass conveniently. The differences between this 
and other well made roads are solely in the 
shape and in the arrangement of the surface. 
It will be observed (see figure,) that the sec¬ 
tion of the surface instead of being crowning is 
angular , the angle being in the middle like a 
very flat roof of a house. The use of this form 
is, that the road may be made much flatter than 
otherwise, and it gives a tendency to drive 
equally on both sides and not exclusively in the 
middle; besides rain falling flows off more freely 
and completely. The gutters are made as usual 
at the sides where the road bed ends, stoned if 
necessary to prevent washing, but the grass is. 
allowed to cross them-, and come up some two 
or three feet upon the gravel, where it is trim¬ 
med 10 a uniform edge. The advantage of this 
arrangement is that, while the water from the 
road quickly finds its way through this strip of 
grass to the gutters, it does not carry the sand 
with it and does not w T ask away the sides of the 
road. It is a bad plan to allow large quantities 
of water to flow close by the side of a road, un¬ 
less the channel is broad and well wallecl and 
paved. In case of freshets damage is often done. 
■-- - q O b - »-•»- 
GAS-nousE Lime. —This article has the effect 
of lime in but a slight degree. After it has been 
weathered,it consists to a great extent of gypsum, 
(plaster.) Its effects upon the soil are to supply 
lime to the plant where this ingredient is want¬ 
ing, (which on common soils rarely occurs,) to 
supply sulphur and sulphuric acid, and to pro¬ 
duce that series of obscure, yet beneficial effects 
which plaster does,—all of which plaster will do 
equally well or better, but not so cheaply. The 
weathered gas lime often contains small quan¬ 
tities of lime remaining long in the condition ot 
slaked lime. This is considerably abundant 
when the article is fresh, and then it acts with 
good effect in vegetable compost heaps, upon 
muck, etc. If applied to the soil in this fresh 
state, and, during the growing season, placed 
upon the soil where crops will be affected, the 
results are uniformly disastrous, not owing 
to the lime, but to various combinations of 
sulphur with lime, which, after some months’ 
exposure, become converted into the sulphate 
of lime, or gypsum above alluded to. 
Draining in Winter—Draining Tools. 
Tile draining may often be done in winter bet¬ 
ter than at any other season, especially where 
the ground rarely freezes very deep. A large 
body of snow filling early will often prevent 
the frost getting into the soil, and one will 
often be surprised to see how a few strokes of 
a sharp, heavy pick will crack up the frozen 
crust. Of course the ditches must be dug, the 
tiles laid, and all filled and finished as rapidly 
as possible, lest it be filled prematurely with 
snow and ice. As protection against this occur¬ 
rence and to prevent the ditch and earth freez-. 
ing on a cold night, straw may be laid across 
the ditch and upon the heap, being kept in place 
by poles or pea brush. At other seasons toler- 
ablv n-ood work may be done with common 
toolti, |ut in winter the very best are most eco¬ 
nomical. There is pressing necessity to move as 
little earth as possible, and yet to get down to 
the full depth, (4 feet usually). Our "Western 
readers frequently inquire about draining tools, 
and doubtless would very often order them 
were they advertised. For their information 
we would state that every first-class agricultur¬ 
al store that we know of either keeps them 
on hand or will procure them if ordered. 
Clear the Water Courses! 
There is hardly a county of which we have 
any knowledge in which there are not some 
sluggish streams whose flow is hindered and ren¬ 
dered slow almost to stagnation, at least in cer¬ 
tain spots along their course, by unnecessary 
