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AMKPJCAN AGPJC11LTUR1 ST. 
283 
Ifclii'f for Pariuers’ Wives. —Mrs. 
C. Dudley, Washington County. The hoarding of farm 
help often comes heavy upon the housekeeper. The best 
remedy is the building of farm cottages, and the employ¬ 
ment of married men for help. A cottage can he put up 
without any large outlay of money, if there is good timber 
upon the farm. The laborer, of course, would expect to 
rpay rent, and the investment in the cottage would pay 
''better than bank slock. lie would also be a consumer of 
'the products of the farm, and thus furnish a home mar¬ 
ket. One-half, at least, of his wages would be expended 
in the supply of his tabic. Extra hands, by the day or 
month, could be boarded at the cottage, and thus re¬ 
lieve the farmer’s kitchen of much of its drudgery. 
Tlie New Ilnglitiid I'uii-, with a very 
attractive programme and list of prizes, takes place at 
New Haven, Conn., the first week in September. Daniel 
Needham of Boston is Secretary and business manager. 
Tanning; Lice.— Franklin Forney, of Som¬ 
erset Co., Pa., gets rid of lice on cattle and horses by 
making a strong decoction of white oak bark by long 
Stoiling, and washing the animals with it twice, three days 
intervening. lie says it is the surest and cheapest reme¬ 
dy he ever tried. We have sometimes recommended a 
solution of alum, and known of its being used with good 
success. This is a powerful astringent also, and doubt¬ 
less acts upon the insects in the same way as oak bark. 
Tluiin.ing flffoot Crops. —An obvious 
truth is often better enforced by a simple engraving than 
Fig. 1.— 0NTIIINNED. THINNED. 
■even by experience. Year after year men cultivate tur¬ 
nips broadcast, using too much seed, and never thinning 
out the crowded plants. Turnips almost always do much 
better sown in drills than broadcast, and if “ mercilessly 
thinned ” in the rows, so be it the ground is occupied, 
the difference in the crop is very groat. This fact we 
have endeavored to 
exhibit, so that he 
who runs may read, 
and that he who reads 
may be reminded to 
put the truth of the 
statement to the test. 
Fig. 1 shows the tur¬ 
nips growing with about the relative amounts cf tops 
and roots upon one alone, and two close together. Fig¬ 
ure 2 is a horizontal section, showing still better the 
great difference between thinned and unthinned roots. 
Top-dressing - after Mowing.—“ G. 
S. G.,” New Canaan, Ct. Liquid manure applied at this 
time is particularly valuable. Well-prepared composts, 
and coarse, strawy manure, wo have also used to good ad¬ 
vantage, as they afford a mulch for the roots of the grass¬ 
es. Fresh stable manure we prefer to apply later in the 
season. Any mulch is valuable upon the fresh mown 
grass, and the most of it will disappear before the follow¬ 
ing season, so as not to interfere with the mowing. 
l>i*illing Wisent .—The advantages of this 
practice arc conspicuous in the wheat fields the present 
season. The report of the Department of Agriculture for 
April says, that “ in every locality where wheat suffered 
from freezing, the drill fields are unscathed, while those 
which were sown broadcast are in miserable condition.” 
Advantage of Thrsisliiiijr Ma¬ 
chines. —J. Stanton Gould estimates the number of 
these machines in the country at 325.000 and that they 
Eave five per cent more of the grain, than the flail. This 
would save to the country more than 10 millions of 
bushels of grain, worth at least 30 millions of dollars. 
A strong argument for the use of improved machinery. 
The Worlc-SHop is the title of an ele¬ 
gantly illustrated monthly, which, for a few months past, 
has been welcomed to our table. It is the American edi¬ 
tion of a German monthly, devoted chiefly to the beauti¬ 
ful and useful in art and trade. We Americans are too 
much given to half-way approving of the sentiment which 
would divorce beauty and utility. In this journal we 
have a celebration of their nuptials on every page. Ar¬ 
tistic industry, or “art-industry," by which we under¬ 
stand the application of the rules of art and beauty to all 
kinds of manufactures, is the sentiment of the work. It 
is a Hi page quarto in covers, filled with beautiful de¬ 
signs, working patterns, and details. The price is 50 
cents par number. Mr, E, Steiger is thcN, Y. publisher. 
Tlic Minnesota, State Tail- occurs at 
Minneapolis, Sept. 20th to Oct. 2d. Charles II. Clarke of 
Minneapolis is Corresponding Secretary and business man. 
Milic Fanning. —“ W. E.,’> Kent,, Ct. We 
are not able to state the profit of this specialty over or¬ 
dinary husbandry. The long railroad freight would be 
an objection, lmt on some roads, they favor those who 
are farthest from market, to induce farmers to go into 
the business. It is favorable to the making of manure, 
for most milk farmers resort to extra feeding in stalls to 
prolong the season and to secure the largest flow of milk 
possible from their cows. The pay comes regularly and 
in considerable sums. An incidental advantage of this 
kind of farming is that it loads to keeping accounts. The 
milk farmer is likely to know how much a quart of milk 
costs, and what kinds of feed will produce the most. 
The fi*otato Bcclle. —The Colorado Po¬ 
tato Beetle, the 10-lined Spearman, was figured and de¬ 
scribed in September, 18(16, and has been mentioned sev¬ 
eral times since. No well-tested remedy has yet been 
proposed. Mr. C. Y. Riley, Missouri State Entomolo¬ 
gist, thinks—and his opinion is worth considering—that 
a heavy mulching of the soil -would in a great measure 
prevent the egress of the insect from the earth in the 
spring, and the few that do come out could be readily 
managed; but for this to be of effect, a combined effort is 
necessary.— Note .—Please do not send us any more spec¬ 
imens of this insect. We know it by sight thoroughly. 
A few days ago wo received a package which contained a 
crushed box with some hundreds of these fellows all 
alive," Had the paper broken, the insects would have 
found their way out of the mail bag, and their eastern 
march would have been more rapid than it now is. If 
any of these are to be sent East, or elsewhere, let them 
first be made specimens of by exposing them to the heat 
of boiling water, which will kill them “very dead.” 
The New York State Fair is to be held 
at Rochester, Sept. 20 th. An important regulation has been 
adopted by the Society, which will be put in force this 
year. It is that all entries for Live Stock and fixed ma¬ 
chinery must be made two weeks before the fair, namely, 
on or before Monday, Sept. 14th. The Corresponding Sec¬ 
retary, Col. B. P. Johnson, must be addressed at Albany. 
The Ohio State IFair takes place at To¬ 
ledo on the 21st to 25th days of September. It is under 
the direction of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture, of 
which John H. Klippart, Columbus, is Secretary. 
The Indiana State JFair is to be held 
at Indianapolis, beginning Monday, Sept. 28th, and con¬ 
tinuing through the week; $12,000 are offered in prizes. 
The Secretary is A. J. Holmes of Indianapolis. 
What is a Pullet ?—“ W. H. L.” Questions 
of the age of fowls often arise at the exhibitions and 
where fowls are sold. An English authority decides that 
“ age does not constitute a puliet,” saying that fall birds 
of one year cannot be shown in June of the next year 
as pullets, yet that January birds may be 6hown as pullets 
in December of the same year. This is nonsense; a hen 
less than a year old may properly be sold or exhibited as 
a pullet, and in common parlance a hen is a pullet until 
she has laid out her first clutch of eggs, or had time to do 
so ; and this would stand in law or equity. 
IManTioea in Chickens or other poultry 
may be checked by putting them on a floor of dry sand, 
and feeding lettuce leaves, which are better if taken from 
old plants, chopped fine, and mixed with Cayenne pepper. 
Reclaimed Swamps Relapsing.— 
“ I. A.,” Livingston, N! J., asks: “ What is to be done ?” 
Rushes, and the wild grasses coming in, show the pres¬ 
ence of water too near the surface. The drains should be 
made deeper, and perhaps be doubled in number. Much 
of the draining in such places is only half done. A sec¬ 
ond row of tiles, bringing the drains only 24 feet apart, 
will often pay better than the first. Plowing is not al¬ 
ways necessary. Grass seed catches very readily upon 
mucky soils, especially if the sowing is accompanied by 
top-dressing. White and red clover do well upon rather 
moist soils, and should always be mixed with the grass 
seed, if the object is hay. Reclaimed swamps will not 
take care of themselves any more than upland meadows. 
Sngar Maples E>ie.—“ J. H.,” Prairie 
City, 111., says that Sugar Maples, when set out, “ grow 
very well the first season, but die the next,” and asks 
how to prevent this. Many such questions go unanswer¬ 
ed, because we have no grounds upon which to base a re¬ 
ply. Take this for an example. There is no clue to 
several important points. Are they nursery trees, or trees 
from the woods ? How were they taken up ? Were the tops 
headed back? From what soil were they removed, and 
in what kind were they planted ? Do the leaves hold 
on until frost, or do they die before maturity? Do they 
come out the second spring, or are they apparently win¬ 
ter-killed ? One must know all these points, and others, 
before he can, without seeing the trees, give any intel¬ 
ligent answer to this query and others like it. 
Asparagus assd SSoots.—“Cl. E. P.,” 
New York.—By all means plow up your sod this fall, and 
then again in spring. Such a soil as you describe, well ma¬ 
nured and thoroughly prepared, should give good results. 
Libraries lor Fanuers’ (,'Iubs,— “G. 
A.,” Waukau, Wis, Nothing better could be devised 
to perpetuate these institutions and increase their useful¬ 
ness than a well-selected library on agricultural topics, 
A yearly tax of a dollar on each member would furnish 
a fund for its gradual increase, and all the best works 
would be made accessible to the whole community. It 
could not fail to be a good investment for every member. 
In any of the flourishing farming towns of the West we 
should expect the experiment to be successful. 
Very Eai-ly Potatoes.—Samples of the 
Early Rose Potato, weighing 4*4 oz. each, were exhibit¬ 
ed at the American Agriculturist Office, July 8th. They 
were grown in Westchester Co., N. Y., in the open field, 
from potatoes planted May 20th. We have seen other 
samples, equally good, grown in from seven to nine 
weeks, which show this to be the earliest variety known. 
Groats ilia C.’alilorssia. —Mr. Landrum, of 
Watsonville, Cal., informs us that on the spurs and in the 
mountain valleys of the Coast Range and other mountain 
chains of the Pacific coast, there exist numerous plants, 
which, if eaten by our common domestic stock, are very 
deleterious if not fatal in their effects. These constitute 
even favorite articles of diet for goats of all kinds, neither 
proving harmful to them nor imparting flavor to their milk. 
Alnlominnl Tumors iiit Fowls and. 
Turkeys are not of rare occurence. They usually 
arise from some disordered condition of the laying ap¬ 
paratus, and will be eventually fatal. If you perceive a 
hen or turkey in good condition not moulting, and refus¬ 
ing to lay, and having a low abdomen, off with her head 
in time—before she becomes diseased and unfit for food. 
Wastes of a IMiotograplsic Estab- 
lisliment as Manure.— II. Noss, Staten Island, 
asks: 1. “Can hyposulphite of soda which has been 
used for fixing photographs be used as a fertilizer ? ” We 
should consider it a fertilizer of moderate value if unmix¬ 
ed with deleterious substances. Mix it with loamy soil 
or muck, and make an experiment upon cabbages and 
turnips.—2. “ How can liquid ammonia be used ? I have 
some that is too weak to he used in the business.” Be 
very careful, dilute it freely, and apply it with a sprinkler 
on grass, or almost any garden vegetables. It should be 
so dilute that you can hardly tell it from pure water. 
Canning I*eas and Corn.—Once more 
we must repeat, to reply to several, that we know of no 
way in which peas and corn can be canned, with any de¬ 
gree of certainty, in families. Those who make a business 
of it seal them in cans, boil for a while, (in water or 
steam,) punch a hole in the cans, to let out the steam, 
solder the holes up, and boil again for several hours. In 
the most experienced hands the process often fails, and 
it is regarded by experts as an uncertain business. 
CliecSs for Crihlvcs-s.— Mr. J. B. Knox, 
of Worcester, Mass., has used the hitching rein and rod 
described on page 132 (April) for several months with the 
best results, and claims to share the honor of inventing 
so useful an article with the gentleman whom we named 
when it was described. If this were a patent worth half 
a million, there would he a nice chance for a lawsuit. 
Iff cud Ha i Her! Ivy Eating- Glass.— “Mr. 
E. W. W.,” of Tnckahoe, brought to the office of the 
Agriculturist several pieces of glass taken from the crop 
of a hen which died suddenly. The glass cut the crop, 
and no doubt caused her death. It is probable she had 
been accustomed to picking up ice and snow for drink 
and made a fatal error in confounding glass and ice. 
