1868.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
183 
drills two feet apart. Muck labor will be saved 
bv having a machine that makes a farrow, plants, 
and covers, at one operation. If they are plant¬ 
ed in drills, the hills of the smaller varieties may 
be put eighteen inches apart in the rows, and 
the larger kinds, two feet apart. In smooth 
ground, all the cultivation may be done by horse 
power, and this should be attended to as often 
as once in ten days, until the pods are well 
grown, when the cultivation may cease. When 
the plants turn yellow, and before the pods 
open, pull the vines and put them between 
stakes to dry. Two stakes driven into the 
ground about six or eight inches apart will 
answer a good purpose. The excellence of the 
crop depends a good deal upon the perfectness of 
this curing process. If left upon the ground, 
they often mould, and become spotted. They 
should be left in the field until they will shell 
easily. They are then removed to the barn floor- 
in a cloudy or damp day, to prevent shelling, 
and thrashed out,, when it is convenient. Some 
thrash them in the field, but the barn floor is 
cleaner, and always gives shelter in case of rain. 
If thoroughly dry, the beans after winnowing 
may be put immediately into barrels or bins. 
Renovating- Old Meadows. 
John Kelsey, of Yardleyville, Pa., who has 
an original and good way of doing many things, 
reports to the Agriculturist his method of 
renewing old mowing lots without plowing. 
“If the surface of the meadow is sufficiently 
smooth, that is, needing no moving of the surface, 
the most effectual way is to harrow it until the 
sod is entirely loose, using a Kelsey harrow 
(that is, one with a pole or shafts). This 
should be done immediately after mowing, as the 
hot sun will then kill all the grass roots. Let it 
be harrowed about once every ten days until 
about the 35th of August, then spread on 50 
bushels of lime to the acre, and harrow it well. 
Sow the timothy seed about 4 quarts per acre, 
about the first of September, roll it down, and 
put up the bars or shut the gate, and if you do 
not get a crop of grass the following harvest 
then - set me down for a humbug. Perhaps 
some may say that ‘ the grass roots will clog- 
up to the harrow;’ if so, rake them into winrows 
and set fire to them, and then scatter the ashes 
over the lawn. I dressed up an old meadow of 
ten acres in Bucks Co., Pa., and succeeded in 
raising 35 large two-horse loads of clean timo¬ 
thy hay the first crop, where in former years only 
two loads of trash had been raised, and that by 
a man whom tradition says was ‘the best farm¬ 
er in Bucks County.’ ” 
Packing and Keeping Eggs. 
In the months when eggs are abundant it is 
often desirable to pack away fresh eggs for use 
in a time of scarcity; and in the spring and 
early summer, when eggs are to be kept for 
hatching or packed for transportation for the 
same purpose, it is peculiarly important that they 
be well packed. To this end some knowledge 
of the structure of the egg. is useful. Within 
the shell we find first two distinct lining mem¬ 
branes, which are separated at the large end by 
a small cell, or bubble of air. This is an arrange¬ 
ment whereby the egg is always full; for though 
the fluids of the egg contain water, and this 
evaporates through the shell, the air bubble en¬ 
larges just in proportion, and so there is never 
a cavity within the inner membrane. The white 
of the egg lies in contact with this lining tissue. 
It is not simply the thick, glary substance which 
it appears at first sight, but it exists in spherical 
layers of different densities, and separated by 
exceedingly delicate tissues. This may be seen 
when an egg is broken and the white turned 
off, and when after long boiling the white is 
divided or broken so as to show the layers. 
Enclosed in the white, or albumen, is the yolk, 
which consists of albumen mingled intimately 
with oil, and this is in concentric layers. 
Upon one side of the yolk are two heavy whitish 
masses, which consist also of semi-membranous 
albumen, called chalazse, and opposite to them 
is the minute germ which is the center of vital¬ 
ity. The chalazae, being heavy, keep the germ 
always uppermost, and in position to receive 
most directly the warmth from the body of the 
hen. The yolk is the food provided for the chicken 
for a few days after it is hatched, the white 
being the material out of which the body of the 
chicken is formed. The white will dry away 
on exposure of the egg to the air, and no decay 
will take place if the air contain but little mois¬ 
ture, that is, if the drying be rapid enough. We 
have had eggs, which, after having been kept in 
a very dry place a few weeks, had apparently 
lost nearly half their weight, yet were not “stale,” 
and transmitted the light of a lamp with al¬ 
most the ruddy glow of fresh eggs. If, however, 
the air is moist and warm, the egg soon begins 
to decay. When eggs are kept for hatching, the 
loss of water, except to a very limited extent, 
would probably be fatal to the germ; hence 
they should be put in a cool place, and covered. 
It is well, also, to change the position of each 
egg occasionally. For transportation it is well 
to pack them points down, in bran, in a paper 
box, and to pack this in -a wooden box sur¬ 
rounded on all sides with hay. The danger of 
jars rupturing the delicate membranes is thus 
greatly diminished. One may easily prevent 
an egg from hatching, by holding it in the hand 
and striking the fist smartly upon the knee. 
When eggs are to be kept for eating, if smeared 
completely with tallow, the air will be shut out, 
and they will keep a long time. A coating of 
resin dissolved in alcohol would be equally ef¬ 
fective, and beeswax and sweet oil are used by 
the French for the same purpose. Hard-boiled 
eggs, say boiled twenty minutes, will keep good 
for months, and maybe used for salads. Packed 
in jars filled with lime-water, eggs will remain 
sweet a long time, and several correspondents 
unite in advocating the use of salt with lime. 
Two ladies recommend the following: “One 
pint of’salt, one pint of slaked lime, to one 
pailful of water.” The eggs are placed in 
the vessel containing this and kept covered 
with the water. The vessel should also be 
kept closely covered. “ Mrs. M. J. B.,” says 
she found them good at the end of a year. 
There are several patent processes for preserv¬ 
ing eggs, the proprietors of which have sent us 
circulars with certificates of their practicability 
attached. As we know nothing of any of these 
processes beyond what is claimed by the pat¬ 
entees, we are not yet in a position to ad¬ 
vise our readers to invest in these patents. 
One More Acre of Potatoes. 
Last year the crop was short in all parts of 
the country: in the West from excessive drought, 
and in the East from excessive rains. Potatoes 
have not been so high in twenty years, and the 
great prices have increased the expenses of liv¬ 
ing, among the laboring classes, for everybody 
feels that he cannot get along without this vege¬ 
table in his family. Five dollars a barrel and 
upward has been the price, for a good article, 
in the New York market for the last four 
months, and they have been retailing at the 
grocers for sixty cents a peck. Farmers, who 
had potatoes to sell, have been in luck the past 
winter. This crop, at fifty cents a bushel, pays 
better than almost any farm crop. With very 
careless culture it is not difficult to get a hundred 
bushels to the acre, and with good cultivation 
twice that amount is often realized. If it be 
said, that the crop has extra risks, we admit it; 
but a man can afford to run some risk for the 
chances of the extra profit. But the risk is very 
much diminished by avoiding the causes that 
predispose the crop to rot. The new seedlings, 
as the Goodrich, Harison, Cuzco and Sebec, 
with fair treatment, have very little rot. Aban¬ 
don the old varieties, and plant these exclusive- 
I 3 '. Fresh fermenting manures induce rot. 
Therefore plant on sod, or on land well manur¬ 
ed last year, and manure in the hill with plaster, 
or with ashes. Avoid heavy wetland and plant 
on light sandy or gravelly loams, or on land 
well underdrained. Plant in drills, thirty inches 
apart, and one foot apart in the drill, and do all 
the cultivation possible with horse power. Let 
us have, this year, potatoes enough for all. 
The Willows and their Uses. 
The most common use of the Osier Willow, 
(Salix mminalis) is the making of baskets. 
Though we have evely facility, in soil and 
climate, for growing it in the greatest abundance, 
it is still imported in considerable quantities, 
both in the rough and in the manufactured 
state. Some progress has been made in this 
country in its cultivation, and machines have 
been invented for peeling the bark, which was 
a laborious process as done by hand, and was 
a serious obstacle to the cultivation of basket 
willow here, where labor is so high. But this 
plant and other varieties near akin are used for 
other purposes, and their cultivation ought to 
be greatly extended. In the making of rough 
fences, every farmer has occasion to use 
withes, and several common varieties of the 
willow would be found more supple and quite 
as durable as the birches, oaks, and hickories, 
commonly used. One of the best varieties for 
this purpose is the Varnished Willow (Salix de- 
cipiens). The Goat Willow (S. caprea) also 
makes good, stout withes. In the nursery, 
flower garden, and propagating grounds, also, 
the willows are very handy for a variety of 
purposes. They make good stakes for all 
the smaller plants and vines, that need tying 
up; they make trellis rods, also, of an extempo¬ 
raneous character, and furnish the withes for 
fastenings. For tying the arms of vines or 
espalier trees, the Yellow Willow (S. vitellina) 
furnishes very neat little twigs. They are more 
convenient than strings, and may be always at 
hand. In the vineyard, the willows make the 
cheapest stakes for the earlier stages of the 
growth of the vine. A few square rods of 
ground cannot be put to a better use than grow¬ 
ing willows for these purposes. There is scarce¬ 
ly any land that will not raise willows, but to 
raise the best rods for the basket-maker, as well 
as for other purposes requiring long and straight 
shoots, a fertile soil is required. One that is 
well drained and rich without being wet is bet¬ 
ter than a constantly moist soil. Of course, we 
now speak of where their culture is to be made 
an object of profit; where the Willow is to be 
planted only as a thing handy to have for withes, 
