AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
412 
B'osai Watcrits Clstcrni*.—“AReader” 
says that the cisterns for watering cattle in his vicinity 
have become foul, and wants to know a remedy. This is 
occasioned sometimes by the falling in of earthworms 
or rats from the top, which die and putrefy. The remedy 
for this would ho the cementing of the top of the cistern 
so as to keep out the worms and vermin. Sometimes the 
cistern has no ventilation, and the water is drawn by a 
pump. If the cistern were opened and an endless chain 
pump or a bucket with windlass were introduced to draw 
the water, the difficulty would be remedied. Even in 
wells the water is thought to be benefited by frequent 
agitation. Cisterns should be thoroughly cleaned once a 
year, and it is a safeguard against untimely cracking to 
make a wash of hydraulic lime and brush over the inside. 
Soft Wsatfei* 'B'EiniSBag- —“Sub¬ 
scriber,” Still Pond, Ind. Locust trees growing near the 
well can have nothing to do with the change of the water 
from soft to hard. Some subterranean stream of hard 
water has probably found its way into your well, and it is 
not easy to suggest a remedy. 
HsjKjsecSing' ttiae BSottosna of Wells.— 
“ L. L. I’.,” Bricksburg, N. J. All wells should be ex¬ 
amined at least once a year, and thoroughly cleaned if 
there is any indication of filth upon the bottom. This is 
best done in the morning or afternoon of a clear day, by 
holding a mirror over the top, and reflecting the sunlight 
into the water. If the water is clear, everything upon 
the bottom can be seen with great distinctness. 
Ceasaesst, IPlfbe lb a- — “J. AT. 
■T.,” Danbury, has four or five acres to drain, and wishes 
to know which are the best tiles, the red earthen, or the 
cement, and how> loug the former will last in the soil. 
Cement tiles are used for carrying water, but not for drain¬ 
age. Common red drain-tiles allow the water to pass into 
them at every joint, and are the best article for draining 
land yet discovered. If well made and sunk below frost, 
they are as indestructible as any other brick. Examined 
after fifty years’ use, they are apparently as good as ever. 
Bsaertisasssaii' IF How of — 
“O. C.,” Amenta, N. Y. “I have a spring not high 
enough to carry water into the second story of my house, 
and not copious enough to force the water by a ram. Is 
there any way to increase the flow of the water in the 
spring?” — If the ground in the neighborhood of the 
spring is wet enough to need drainage, put down tile, and 
make the outlet at the spring or near it. If the slope of 
tlie ground is sufficient to admit of laying the tile 4 or 5 
feet deep, you will very likely get permanent water, and 
make it as copious as you desire by extending the drains. 
Water from tiles deeply laid is often as cold and as pure 
as that from a natural spring. Deep drainage some¬ 
times increases the flow of springs, even where the 
outlet of the drains is turned in another direction. Lay¬ 
ers of sand or coarse gravel are struck, which communi¬ 
cate directly with the spring, and the water flows through 
from the drains to the natural outlet. 
U2»saes> iisasl Wood. AsTness.— “S. J.,” 
Ontario. You can hardly do better than to crack up the 
bones somewhat, mix them under a shed with the ashes, 
using, we will say, three bushels of ashes to one of bones, 
moisten them slightly but thoroughly, cover them witli 
three inches of soil lightly packed down, and leave them 
so until spring, when the heap should all be shoveled to¬ 
gether, and all the bones that cannot be mashed, thrown 
out. We have never done this exactly, but have re¬ 
peatedly heard that it would work well. 
E>s*y <s>i* CjJs'v sassy BS»3Bc-BJ>cast, — Deck 
Bros., Litchfield Co., Ct.., having put up a mill for grind¬ 
ing bones and plaster, wish to know which is best for 
the land, dry or greasy bone-dust. Dry bone-dust is usu¬ 
ally that which has been boiled to extract the oil; with 
the oil a large portion of glue or gelatine is also abstract¬ 
ed. In the soil the grease prevents decomposition of 
fresh bone for a while, and then hinders it for a still 
longer time. So the dust from boiled bones, or the dry 
bone-dust, acts more rapidly, while the other is worth 
more to the soil, being more lasting in its effects and 
containing more ammonia-forming material. 
Mtsrasctss Msilkea-s’ CSijspissg'.s.—“ R. 
M. C.,” Del. — “Do harness makers’ clippings make valu¬ 
able manure, and if so, what is the best way of reducing 
them ? ” — They are a good manure, as all animal matters 
are, but it is somewhat difficult to reduce them. They 
can be roasted and ground fine. Or, if the mill be want¬ 
ing, they can be mixed with caustic lime, and the slak¬ 
ing and heat will help to reduce them. Wood ashes or 
potash will also act upon them, so that they will decay in 
a compost heap. They should be kept in a moist state 
for several weeks in contact with either lime or ashes. 
Ch a-Ssaalisag- ILsmaestonc.—“ D. D. & Son,” 
Alleghany, Pa.—The grinding of limestone would not 
pay for manure under any conceivable circumstances. 
It is much more easily reduced by burning, and then 
slaking it in water. In this state it has an immediate ef¬ 
fect upon all soils well supplied with vegetable matter. 
A limestone soil is good for almost all farm and garden 
crops. For burning lime and applying it to the soil, see 
articles in Volume 26, 1867, pages 243, 2S5, 321, 322, 395. 
r l’3sc Best Steels ios- {Pisslsta-cs.—“II. 
A. T.,” Milton, Pa. If the object be to enrich the land, 
sheep are the most desirable stock. They leave all their 
droppings upon the field, and distribute it very uniformly 
as they graze. 
ISoises jassti Aslaes. —“S. J.,” Bowman- 
ville.—These articles are very good used separately or to¬ 
gether. Coarsely broken bones are good placed in the 
holes or borders, where fruit trees and vines are planted. 
Ground, they make a good dressing for all farm crops, 
and are especially valuable for turnips and cabbages. 
Treated with sulphuric acid and water, they make super¬ 
phosphate of lime, which is an excellent concentrated 
fertilizer. (See back Volumes.) Ashes are a good top¬ 
dressing for almost all farm and garden crops, and are 
especially valuable for fruit trees. They may be used for 
reducing bones by adding lime, mixing the bones with 
lime and ashes in a barrel or larger vessel, and pouring 
on water. They should be kept constantly moist. In a 
few weeks the bones will be soft, and may be mixed 
finely with the lime and ashes. If used in the hill, do 
not bring it in contact with the seed. 
Mow to S&J1I Wootlelatnolss.— “ II. R. 
I’.,” Old Westbury.—Woodchucks are more easily trap¬ 
ped than most animals that infest our farms. They have 
not cunning enough to keep out of a steel trap properly 
set at the mouth of a hole. They are easily shot, and the 
boys are in favor of this mode of despatching them. In 
a clayey soil they arc easily drowned out, if water is 
near. Some explode gunpowder in the hole after stop¬ 
ping it up, which is said to make short work with them. 
Strychnine, administered on a sweet apple, or any thing 
that they will eat, is effectual. If this is used, care must 
be taken to put it where nothing else will eat it. 
A VoSESitSeee MotfHsei*. —G. Simon, of 
Bloom, O., has a Black Spanish pullet which had never 
laid, that took charge o! an abandoned brood of tur¬ 
keys, clucking and caring for them as if she had hatched 
them. Similar facts are occasionally reported, and it is 
said that the maternal instinct may be developed by 
plucking the feathers from the breast of a pullet, or a 
capon, and confining it a few days with young chickens. 
r9B«lcs Ag'iBiii. — “ It never rains but it 
pours,” and we have still another device for keeping 
moles out of cultivated grounds. R. W. Flower, Jr., 
Erie, Pa., writes : “ When on a farm in Virginia before 
the war, a neighbor put up a small wooden wind wheel, 
(similar to the enclosed sketch,) on a pole about 12 feet 
high, to scare oft' crows from a watermelon patch, just 
planted. It was soon noticed that the moles, (which had 
been unusually plenty) had all left the field. Generally 
in that section of the State, from two to four mole ridges 
could be seen running to each hill, before the above plan 
was adopted. Each wheel seemed to protect a piece of 
ground at least 200 yards in radius. The cause for the 
moles leaving so suddenly could not be surmised for 
some time. One day when on the field I suggested it 
might be the sound from the wheel, and upon putting my 
ear to the earth about 100 yards from the wheel, the sound 
could bo distincly heard, the earth being such an excel¬ 
lent conductor of sound. The wheels are very simple 
and easily made, and almost every farm boy has one stuck 
on the smoke house or hennery, as a weather vane.” 
«>!' Apple oUniiee. —A 
subscriber asks if cider, fresh from the press, will fer¬ 
ment if immediately bottled and made perfectly air-tight, 
yla.s’. .•—Apple juice, coming from the press, always has 
sufficient contact with the oxygen of the air to induce 
fermentation. Air, in fact, penetrates the fruit itself; 
if tlie pressing were to take place in a space from which 
oxygen were excluded, fermentation would take place. 
'Wla.sBt Missojtri 'W.i'suts.—Our corres¬ 
pondent “ W. B. J.” expressed himself a little blindly, 
we think, in what he wrote. “ We have paid high prices 
for our sheep, and now we arc worse off than if we'did 
not have any, as we cannot get the wool carded, and can¬ 
not get anymore for our fine wool than for our coarse 
wool.” He means they are worse off than if they had no 
high-priced, fine-wool sheep, and that is probably true. 
Kis statement'is taken up by “ J. M.,” of St. Louis, who 
probably did not notice the preceding sentence—“Wo 
have some fine sheep, and want more.” He writes: 
“What we want in Missouri, to make wool-growing 
and sheep-raising profitable, is men who understand the 
business. Nowhere on the continent, in the same lati¬ 
tude, has nature furnished better adaptations for sheep 
husbandry. We have immense quantities of rich lands, 
as yet untouched by the hand of the husbandman, in 
almost every county in the State, admirably adapted to 
this business. Good, unimproved land sells in almost any 
county at from $3 to $15 per acre. Of course, the rate 
per acre above this, for improved farms, is regulated 
mainly by the cost of the improvements, and somewhat 
by neighborhood, or other surroundings. Anywhere 
south of the Missouri river, (which embraces more than 
half the State,) by judicious management, sheep can be 
raised, with winter feeding for one to three months in 
each year — say an average of two months. I have, in¬ 
deed, seen (an exceptional case) a flock wintered, sev¬ 
enty miles north of the Missouri, without any feeding 
at all, and come out fat and hearty at shearing time. 
Wool is now quoted at from 28 to 53 cents per pound, and 
‘5 to 10 cents lower for dirty and burry.’ In the live¬ 
stock market, sheep are quoted at $1 to $1.50, for inferior, 
ranging all the way up to $5 to $5.50, for No. 1 mutton. 
Your readers can tell whether or not they can thrive at 
growing and raising mutton sheep at the prices I have 
quoted.” [No doubt they can, if they avoid fancy-priced 
fine-wools, and raise long-wools, as “ W. B. J.” would 
advise, and get more for both wool and mutton.—Ed.] 
IFloriuSai ffRu-Kaleag - .—J. II. Donnelly, Fer- 
nandina, writes that on land where he raised 5 bushels 
of corn to the acre he put in about 2 acres of tomatoes 
and shipped them to New York, for which lie got about 
$250 clear. He used no manure. He planted 2 acres of cu¬ 
cumbers, manured the hills, and raised a good article, 
with the exception of their tendency to turn yellow at 
the vine end, which injured their sale in the New York 
market. The yield was prolific with a very dry season. 
The seed was a long, green variety. He says there is a 
great prejudice against the use of manure; and adds: 
“My land is extremely dry in its nature. Would you 
recommend manure? If you do, what kind? There is 
plenty salt muck about here, and it adjoins my land. 
How should I prepare it to make a good fertilizer, and 
how long will it take to decompose?”—This prejudice 
against manure is very common in the Soulh, and ac¬ 
counts for the large territory known as “old fields,” and 
“abandoned plantations” in all the cotton-growing 
States. Wherever manure has been introduced, it is 
found to pay quite as well as elsewhere. Guano and su¬ 
perphosphate, if good, pay well on the cotton crop, and 
much better in market gardening, where two or three 
crops can be grown each season from the same fields. 
The soil, from the description given, needs vegetable 
matter, and will be greatly benefited by turning in green 
crops, (corn, for instance, or good stable manure, if it 
can be had). Compost made of salt marsh muck will 
make an excellent fertilizer, and, by absorbing moisture 
from the atmosphere, will, in some measure, guard the 
soil against drought. It can be decomposed by lime or 
ashes, or by any animal manure. If exposed to the at¬ 
mosphere a few months, and forked over, and made fine, 
it would benefit the land without any addition. 
EGxpecss Oaticg'es too IBig'la.— We 
have numerous complaints from different parts of the 
country about Express Companies charging exorbitant 
prices, and some of our friends compare these charges 
with the postage by mail on seeds, etc., in packages of 
four pounds and under. Now it would be idle to expect 
the Express Companies to compete with the government 
in the carrying of such packages, as it would not pay. 
Something may, however, be done, towards keeping cx- 
pressage within reasonable limits. In all cases, where 
practicable, parties sending should arrange with the Ex¬ 
press Agent the exact charge for the delivery of the pack¬ 
age to the party who is to receive it, or at the Express 
Office nearest its destination, and give notice of this 
agreement by mail. Then keep good natured with the 
officers and employees of the Companies. A long expe¬ 
rience proves to us that much more can be accomplished 
in this way than by scolding and fretting. If drivers arc 
impertinent, appeal to headquarters, but don't get vexed, 
for in most places the Express Companies have the mo¬ 
nopoly, and of course an advantage. Remember that 
many people can be coaxed who cannot easily be driven. 
MiHIsEnag' Stools 4b r tlao Soaatla.—C. 
Altmanu, La., wants a good bull to breed with the native 
