We see no reason for cultivating more than ten or twelve varieties; and, as the above are productive and excellent, including all desirable colors and qualities, and ripening through the whole cherry season, we know not what more would be profitable to the cultivator. If you wish more for the sake of variety, your nurseryman will name them, and show the quality of each, that renders it "the best that ever was," until you will become tired of hearing, and more weary of paying for them.

Decayed wood, spent tanbark, and forest-leaves, are good for the cherry. In removing and transplanting, be careful not to injure the roots, or expose them to sun and air, as they are so tender, that a degree of exposure that would be little felt by the apple or peach tree will destroy the cherry. If you are going to keep a cherry-tree out of the ground half an hour, throw a damp mat, or damp straw, over the roots, and you will save disappointment. The rich alluvial soils of the West are regarded unfavorable to the cherry. We know from observation and experience that the common red cherry does exceedingly well there, while the best cultivated are apt to suffer much from the winters. One reason is, the common cherry is a slow-going, hardy tree, while the cultivated is more thrifty, and therefore more tender. We give the following as a sure method of raising the cultivated cherries in great perfection on all the rich prairies of the West. It is all included in dry locations, root-pruning, and slight heading-in:—

1. Dry locations. It is known that the rich alluvial soils of the West are remarkable for retaining water in winter. On level, and even high prairie land, water will stand in winter, and thoroughly saturate the soil and freeze up. This is very destructive to the tender, porous root of the cherry-tree. How shall such locations be made dry, and these evils prevented? By carting on gravel and sand. Put two or three loads of sand or gravel, or both, in the shape of a slight mound, for each cherry-tree. There should first be a slight excavation, that the sand and gravel may be about half below the level of the surrounding soil, and half above it: this will so elevate the tree that no water can stand around it, and none can stand in the gravel and sand below it. The freezing of such soil will not be injurious to the roots of the tree.

2. Root-pruning is to prevent too rapid growth. Such growth is always more tender and susceptible of injury from sudden and severe freezing. (See Root-pruning.)

3. Heading-in puts back the growth and throws the sap into the lateral twigs, thus maturing the wood already grown, instead of producing new wood, so young and tender that it will die in winter and spread decay through the whole tree. Heading-in, with the cherry, must only be done with small twigs. Cultivators will see at a glance that this method will certainly succeed in all the West and Southwest.

It is considered difficult to raise cherries at the South; the hot sun destroys the trees. Plant in the coolest situations, where there is a little shade from other trees, though not too near, or from buildings; cut them back, so as to cause shoots near the ground, and then head-in as the peach, so as to keep the whole covered with leaves, to shade the trunk and large limbs, and perfect success will crown your efforts. But in all cutting-back and heading-in of cherry-trees, remove the limbs when very small.

CHARCOAL.

There are but few who realize the value of charcoal applied to the soil. Whoever will observe fields where coal has been burned, will see that grass or grain about the bed of the former pits, will be earlier and much more luxuriant than in any other portion of the field. This difference is discernible for twenty years. It is the best known agent for absorbing any noxious matter in the soil or in the moisture about the roots of the trees. No peach-tree should be planted without a few quarts of pulverized charcoal in the soil. This would also prove highly beneficial to cherry-trees on land where they might be exposed to too much moisture. Its color also renders it an excellent application to the surface of hills of vines. It is quite effectual against the ravages of insects, and so absorbs the rays of the sun as to promote a rapid growth of the plants.

CHESTNUTS

Are among our best nuts, if not allowed to get too dry. When dried hard they are rather indigestible. The tree grows well in most parts of the United States, provided the soil be light sand or dry gravel. If the soil be not suitable, every man may have a half-dozen chestnut-trees, at a trifling expense. Haul ten or fifteen loads of sand upon a square rod, and plant a tree in it, and it will flourish well. Five or six trees would afford the children in a family a great luxury, annually. The blossoms appear so very late, that they are seldom cut off by the frost. The second growth chestnut-tree is also decidedly ornamental.

CIDER.

The usual careless way of making cider, in which is used all kinds of apples, even frozen and decayed ones, and without any reference to their ripeness; without straining, and neglecting all means of regulating the fermentation, is too well known. This is the more general practice throughout the country; but it makes cider only fit for vinegar, although it is used for general purposes. We give the most approved method of making and keeping cider, that is better for invalids than any of our adulterated wines (and this is the character of nearly all our imported wines). Our domestic wines, and bottled cider, should take the place of all others.

Select apples best suited for cider, and gather them at the commencement of hard frosts. Let them lie a few days, until they become ripe and soft. Then throw out all decayed and immature fruit. Grind fine and uniform. Let the pulp remain in the vat two days. It will increase the saccharine principle and improve the color. Put into the press in dry straw, and strain the juice into clean casks. Place the casks in an open shed or cellar, if it be cold weather, give plenty of air and leave the bung out. As the froth works out of the bung, fill up every day or two, with some of the same pressing kept for the purpose. In three weeks or less this rising will cease, and the bung should be put in loose, and after three days driven in tight. Leave a small vent-hole near the bung. In a cool cellar the fermentation will cease in two days. This is known by the clearness of the liquor, the thick scum that rises, and the cessation of the escape of air.

Draw off the clear cider into a clean cask. If it remains quiet it may stand till spring. A gill of fine charcoal added to a barrel will secure this end, and prevent fermentation from going too far. But if a scum collects on the surface, and the fermentation continues, rack it off again at once. Then drive the vent-spile tight. Rack it off again in early spring. If not perfectly clear, dissolve three quarters of an ounce of isinglass in cider, and put it in the barrel, and it will soon be perfectly fine. Bottle between this and the last of May. Fill the bottles within an inch of the bottom of the cork, and allow them to stand an hour, then drive the cork. Lay them in dry sand, in boxes in a cool cellar, and the cider will improve by age, and is better for the sick than imported wines.

CITRONS

Are only used for preserving. Their appearance and growth resemble in all respects the watermelon. Planted near the latter, they utterly ruin them, making them more citron than melon. They are injurious to most other contiguous vines. They are to be planted and cultivated like the watermelon. Are very fine preserved; but we think the outside (removing the rind) of a watermelon better, and should not regret to know, that not another citron was ever to be raised.

CLOVER.

The only varieties successfully cultivated in this country, are the red and the white. Red clovers are divided into large, medium, and small. The white is all alike. The long-rooted clover of Hungary is an excellent productive variety, enduring successfully almost any degree of drought. But in all the colder parts of this country it winter-kills so badly as to render it unprofitable. Clover makes good pastures, being nutritious, and early and rapid growing. Red-clover makes fair hay, though inferior to timothy or red-top. White clover is unsuitable for hay; it shrinks so much in drying, that it is very unproductive. It is the best of all grasses for sheep pasture, and its blossoms afford in abundance the best of honey. Red clover plowed in, even when full-grown, is an excellent fertilizer. It begins to be regarded, in western New York, as productive of the weevil, so destructive to wheat. Further observation is necessary to settle this question.

Red-clover hay is too dusty for horses, and too wasteful for cattle. The stalks are so large a proportion, and so slightly nutritious, that it is unprofitable even as cut-feed. It is best to cultivate clover mainly for pastures and as a fertilizer. Sowing clover and timothy together for hay is much practised. The first year it will be nearly all clover, and the second year mostly timothy. But sown together, they are not good for hay, because they do not mature within ten or fifteen days of the same time. But, for those who are determined to make hay out of red clover, the following directions for curing may be valuable: mow when dry, spread at once, and let it wilt thoroughly; then put up into small cocks, not rolled, but one fork full laid upon another until high enough;—it will then shed water; but when rolled up, water will run down through. Let it stand till thoroughly dried, and then draw into the barn; it will be bright and sweet. Another method is to cut when free from dew or rain, spread even, and allow it to wilt, and the leaves and smaller parts to dry; then draw into the barn, putting alternate loads of clover and dry straw into the mow, salting the clover very lightly. The clover is sometimes put in when quite green, and salted sufficiently to preserve it. It is injurious to cattle, by compelling them to eat more salt than they need. Cattle will eat but little salt in winter, when it stands within their reach; too much salt in hay compels them to eat more, which engenders disease. Clover cured as above makes the best possible clover-hay, if great care be used to prevent excessive salting.

Saving clover-seed is a matter of considerable importance. The large red clover is too late a variety to produce seed on a second crop the same season, as do the medium and small. The first growth must be allowed to ripen. Cut when the heads are generally dead, but before it has begun to shell. The medium and small red clovers will produce a good crop of seed from second growth, if it be not too dry, immediately after mowing. Cut when the heads generally are dry, rake into small winrows at once, and soon put it in small bunches and let it stand until very dry, and then draw in. Raking and stirring after it becomes dry will waste one half of it.

COFFEE BEAN.

This grows in a pod somewhat resembling the pea; easily raised, as other beans; and is very productive. Browned and ground, it is used as a substitute for coffee. By many persons it is much esteemed. If this and the orange carrot were adopted extensively, instead of coffee, it would afford a great relief to the health, as well as the pockets, of the American people.

CORN.

This is the most valuable of all American products of the soil, not excepting wheat or cotton. It is used for human food all over the world. And there is no domestic animal or fowl, whose habits require grain, whether whole or ground, that is not fond of it. It is easily raised, and is a sure and abundant crop, in all latitudes south of forty-six degrees north. The varieties are few, and principally local. The soil can not be made too rich for corn. It should be planted in rows each way, to allow cultivating both ways with a horse. The distance of rows apart has been a subject of some differences of opinion; there is a disposition to crowd it too near together. In western New York, where much attention has been given to it, the usual distance is three and one half feet each way; others plant four feet apart. On all land we have ever seen, we believe four feet apart each way, with four or five stalks in a hill, will produce the largest yield. It lets in the sun sufficiently around every hill, and the proportion of ears to the stalks will be larger than in any other distance. Planting with a span of horses, and a planter on which a man can ride and plant two rows at once, is the easiest and most expeditious. We can not too strongly recommend harrowing corn as soon as it comes out of the ground. It increases the crop, and saves much expense in cultivating. All planters should know that Indian corn is one of those plants which will come to maturity at a certain age, whether it be large or small; hence, anything that will increase the growth while young will add to the product. Corn neglected when small receives, thereby, an injury from which it will never recover; after-hoeing may help it, but never can fully restore it. If there are small weeds, the harrowing will destroy them, and give all the strength of the soil to the young corn; if there are no weeds, the effect of the harrowing will be to give the young plants twice as large a growth in the first two weeks as they would make without it. Harrow with a V drag, with the front tooth out, that the remaining teeth may go each side of the row. Use two horses, allowing the row to stand between them; let the harrow-teeth run as near the corn as possible. Never plant corn until the soil has become warm enough to make it come up quickly and grow rapidly. If you feed corn to cattle whole, feed it with the husks on, as it will compel them to chew it better, and will thus be a great saving. Crib corn only when very dry, and avoid the Western and Southern method of leaving cribs uncovered; the corn thus becomes less valuable for any use. A little plaster or wood-ashes applied to corn on first coming up, and again when six inches high, will abundantly repay cost and labor;—it will pay even on the prairie-lands of the West, and is quite essential on the poorer soils of the East and North. It had better never be neglected. The crop will weigh more to the acre, by allowing it to stand as it grew, until thoroughly dry. The next larger crop is when the stalks are cut off above the ear (called topping) after it has become glazed. Still a little less will be the product when it is cut up at the ground, while the leaves are yet quite green. The two latter methods are adapted for the purpose of saving fodder in good condition for cattle. Intelligent farmers regard the fodder of much more value than the decrease in the weight of the grain. Corn thus cut up, and fed without husking, is the best possible way for winter-fattening cattle on a large scale, and where corn is abundant. To save the whole, swine should follow the cattle, changing yards once a week.

Seed-corn should be gathered from the first ripe large ears before frost, and while the general crop is yet green. Select ears above the average size, that are well filled out to the end, and your corn will improve from year to year. Take your seed indiscriminately from the crib at planting-time, and your corn will deteriorate. The largest and best ears ripen neither first nor last; hence, select the largest ears before all is ripe, and reject the small earliest ears. Soaking seed twenty-four hours, and then rolling in plaster before planting, is recommended; it is conveniently practised only where you plant by hand. Soaking without rolling in plaster is good, if you plant in a wet time; but if in a dry time, it is absolutely injurious. Once in a while there occurs quite a general failure of seed-corn to come up. Farmers say that their corn looks as fair as ever, but does not vegetate well. When this is general, there is a remedy that every farmer can successfully apply. The difficulty is not (as we have often heard asserted) from the intense cold of the winter: it is sometimes the result of cold, wet weather after planting. But we do not believe that such would be the effect, with good seed, on properly-prepared land. The difficulty is, the fall was very wet, and the seed was allowed to stand out and get thoroughly soaked; when it was gathered it was damp, and the intense cold of winter destroyed its vitality, without injuring its appearance. There is no degree of cold, in a latitude where corn will grow, that will injure the seed, if it be gathered dry and kept so. Our rules for saving seed, given above, will always remedy this evil. This is, perhaps, the most profitable of all green crops for soiling cattle. Sown on clean, mellow land, it will produce an enormous weight of good green fodder, suitable for summer and early fall feeding of cows, just at a time when dry weather has nearly destroyed their pastures. Corn-fodder, well cured, is better for milch-cows than the best of hay. Cut fine and mixed with ground feed, it is excellent for cattle and horses. It is best preserved in small stacks or large shocks, that will perfectly dry through. The tops and leaves, removed while green, are very fine.

COTTON.

No product of the soil is more useful than this. To this country alone we give the highest value to Indian corn. But, in usefulness to the whole world, corn must yield the palm to cotton. It employs more hands and capital in manufacturing, and enters more largely into the clothing of mankind, than any other article. The history of cotton and the cotton-gin, and of the manufacture of cotton goods, is exceedingly interesting. The eminence of Great Britain as the first commercial nation of the world is due, in no small degree, to her cotton manufactures. And the influence of this great staple American product upon all the interests of this country, social and political, civil and religious, is universally felt and acknowledged. The cotton-fields of the South, at certain stages of growth, and especially when in bloom, present scenes of beauty unsurpassed by any other growing crop. It does not come within our design in this work to give a very extended view of cotton culture. This business in the United States is confined principally to a particular class of men, known as planters. They cultivate it on a large scale, having the control of large means. Such men seek knowledge of those of their own class, and would hardly condescend to listen to an essay on their peculiar business, written by a Northern man, not experienced in planting. And yet an article, not covering more than ten pages of this volume, might be written, condensing in a clear manner all that is established in this branch of American industry, as found in the publications of the South. Such an article, well written, by a man who would be regarded good authority, would be of vast pecuniary value to the South. Whoever carefully reads Southern agricultural papers, and "TURNER'S COTTON-PLANTER'S MANUAL," will see a great conflict of opinions on the subject, and yet a presentation of many facts, that one thoroughly conversant with soil culture in general would see to be true and important. The embodiment of these facts and principles in a brief, plain article that would be received and practised, would add value to the annual cotton crop, that would be counted by millions. What better service can some Southern gentleman do for his own chosen and favorite region than to write such an article? We give the following brief view of the whole subject, not presuming to teach cotton-planters what they are supposed to understand much better than we do, but to throw out some thoughts that may be suggestive of improvements that others may mature and carry out, and to lead young men, just commencing the business of planting, to look about and see if they may not make some improvements upon what they behold around them. This will not fail of being interesting to Northern men, most of whom know nothing of the cotton-plant, or the modes of its cultivation. It is interesting, too, that some of the most essential points are in perfect accordance with the great principles of soil culture throughout the world.

There are three species of cotton: tree-cotton, shrub-cotton, and herbaceous cotton. The tree-cotton is cultivated to considerable extent in northern Africa, and produces a fair staple of cotton for commerce; being produced on trees from ten to twenty-five feet high, it is not so easily gathered. The shrub-cotton is cultivated in various parts of the world, particularly in Asia and South America. Growing in the form of small bushes, it is convenient, and the staple is fair. But these are both inferior to the herbaceous cotton. This is an herb growing annually, like corn, a number of feet in height, more or less according to soil and season, and producing the best known cotton. Under these species there are many varieties: we need speak only of the varieties of herbaceous cotton. Writers vary in their estimates of varieties; some say there are eight, and others put them as high as one hundred. This is a question of no practical moment. The sea-island cotton, called also "long staple" on account of its very long silky fibres, is the finest cotton known. Its name arose from the fact of its production in greatest perfection on the low, sandy islands near the coasts of some of the Southern states. It does well on low land near the seashore. The saltness and humidity of such locations seem peculiarly favorable to its greatest perfection. It yields about half as much as the "short staple" called Mexican and Petit gulf cotton, and known in commerce as upland cotton. But the sea-island, or long staple, sells for three or four times as much per pound, and, hence, is most profitable to the planter, in all regions where it will flourish well. The Mexican is very productive on most soils, and is easily gathered and prepared for market. There are quite a number of other varieties; as, banana, Vick's hundred-seed, Pitt's prolific, multibolus, mammoth, sugar-loaf, &c., &c. The sugar-loaf is highly commended, as are some of the others named. They have had quite a run among seed-sellers. Most of these varieties are the improved Mexican. It is well to get seed frequently from a distance; but any extravagant prices are unwise. Improvement of cotton-seed is an important part of its most profitable culture. While much said about it by interested parties is doubtless mere humbug, yet there is great importance to be attached to improvement of seed. This is true of all agricultural products, and no less so of cotton than of others. Two things only are essential to constant improvement in cotton-seed—selection and care. Select from the best quality, producing the largest yield, and maturing early; pick it before much rain has fallen on it after ripening; dry it thoroughly before ginning, and dry it very thoroughly after it is clear of the fibre, before putting it in bulk. Cotton-seed, without extra care in drying, has moisture enough to make it heat in bulk, by which its germinating power is greatly impaired. It is this, and the effects of fall rains, that causes seed to trouble planters so seriously by not coming up: this makes it difficult to obtain good even stands, and causes much loss by diminished crops. Care in these respects would add many pounds to the acre in most cotton-fields of the land.

Preparing the Soil for Planting.—On all land not having a porous subsoil, plow very deep; it gives opportunity for the long tap-root of the plant to penetrate deep, and guard against excessive drought. The usual custom is to lay the ground into beds, elevated a little in the middle, and a depression between them, in which excessive moisture may run off; also to increase the action of the sun and air. The surface of the soil to be planted should be made very fine and smooth. This is true of everything planted—it should be in finely-pulverized soil; it comes up more readily and evenly. Soil left in coarse lumps or particles gives the air too much action on the germinating seeds and young plants, and retards and stints their growth. Deep plowing guards alike against too much or too little moisture. Too much water has room to sink away from the surface and allow it to dry speedily. It also forms a sort of reservoir to hold water for use in a drought. The seed should be planted in as straight a line as possible, from three and a half to five and a half feet apart one way, and from fourteen to twenty-five inches the other, according to the quality of the land, and the growth of the variety planted. Rich lands will not bear the plants so close as the poor. Many are great losers by not securing plants enough on the ground. Straight lines greatly facilitate culture, as it can mostly be done with the plow or cultivator. Turning land over deep, just before planting, is the best known remedy for the cut-worm; it is said to put them back until the plants grow beyond their reach. The best planters generally cover with a piece of plank drawn over the furrow in which the seed is dropped. It would be far better to roll it, as some few planters do; the effect on the early vegetation of the seed and rapid growth of the young plant would be very great, on the general principles given on "Rolling." The object of cultivation is to keep down the grass, which is the great enemy of the cotton. Plowing the last thing before planting aids this, by giving the cotton quite as early a start as the weeds or grass. Cultivate early, and the grass will be easily covered and killed. Always plant when it will come up speedily and grow rapidly; this is better than very early planting, and certainly much better than very late. Thin out to one in a place, as early as the plants are out of danger of dying. Gathering should commence as soon as bolls enough are in right condition to allow a hand to gather forty pounds per day. It is better and cheaper than to risk the injury from rains after the crop is ripe.

MANURES.—Perhaps this is, at the present time, the greatest question for cotton-planters. The application of all the most approved principles and agents of fertilization would do more for the interests of the cotton crop than anything else. Cotton-plantations are sometimes said to run down so as to render it necessary to abandon portions of the land, and select new. Instead of this, land may not only be kept up with proper manuring, but made to yield larger crops from year to year. The following analysis of the ash of the cotton-plant will indicate the wants of the soil in which it grows:—

1. Potash 29.58 2. Lime 24.34 3. Magnesia 3.73 4. Chloride 0.65 5. Phosphoric acid 34.92 6. Sulphuric acid 3.54 7. Silica 3.24 —— 100.00

This analysis shows that the soil for cotton needs much lime, bones or bone-dust, and wood-ashes, besides the ordinary barn-yard and compost manures. All the preparations and applications of manures specified in this work, under the head of "Manures," are applicable to cotton. The usual recommendations of rotation in crops is, perhaps, more important in cotton culture than anywhere else. Judicious fallowing, on principles adapted to a Southern climate, is another great means of keeping up and improving the land. This is also the only effectual means of guarding against the numerous enemies and diseases of the cotton-plant. The health of the plants is secured, and they are made to outstrip their enemies only by the fertility and fine tilth of the soil in which they grow. This is confirmed on every hand by the correspondence of the most intelligent planters of the South. Let cotton-growers go into a thorough system of fertilization of their soils, and attend personally to the improvement of their cotton-seed, by selection, as recommended above, and the result will be an addition of one eighth, or one fourth, to the products of cotton in the United States, without adding another acre to the area under cultivation. When this comes to be understood, men of small means will cultivate a little cotton by their own individual labor, as the poorer men do corn and other agricultural products, and thus improve their condition. The above suggestions are the conclusions to which we come, from a thorough examination of what has been published to the world on this subject. We recommend the careful perusal of "The Cotton-Planter's Manual," by Turner (published by Saxton and Co., New York), and increased attention to the subject, by the intelligent, educated, and practical men with whom the cotton-growing regions abound.

COWS.

The cow occupies the first place among domestic animals, in value to the American people, not excepting even the horse. From the original stock, still kept as a curiosity on the grounds of some English noblemen, cattle have been greatly improved by care in breeding and feeding. Those wild animals are still beautiful, but only about one third of the weight of the ordinary improved cattle, and not more than one fourth that of the most improved. Improving the breed of cattle is a subject by itself, demanding a separate treatise. It is not to be expected that we should go into it at length in a work like this. But so much depends upon the cow, that we can hardly write an article on her without giving those general principles that lie at the foundation of all improvement in cattle. The few suggestions that follow, if heeded, would be worth many times the value of this book to any farmer not already familiar with the facts. The cow affects all other stock in two ways; first, the form of calves, and consequently of grown cattle, is affected as much by the cow as by the bull. The quality and quantity of her milk, also, has a great influence upon the early growth of all neat stock. Cattle are usually named from their horns, as "short horns," &c. It is a means of distinction, like a name, but not expressive of quality. The leading marks of a good cow are, medium height for her weight, small neck, straight and wide back, wide breast—giving room for healthy action of the lungs—heavy hind-quarters, and soft skin with fine hair, skin yellowish, with much dandruff above the bag behind. A smart countenance is also expressive of good qualities; there is as much difference in the eyes and expression of cattle as of men. Select only such cows to raise stock from, and allow them to go to no bull that has not good marks, and is not of a superior form. Another important matter is to avoid breeding in and in. This is injurious in all domestic animals and fowls. Always have the cow and the bull from different regions: attention to this would constantly improve any breed we have, and by improving the size of cattle, and milking qualities of cows, would add vast amounts to the wealth of farmers, without the necessity of purchasing, at a great price, any of the high-bred cattle. We have observed, in our article on calves, that abundant feeding during the first year has much to do with the excellence of stock. Unite with these regularity in feeding, watering, and salting, keeping dry and warm in stormy, cold weather, and well curried and clean, and a farmer's stock will be much more profitable to him. But this brief mention of the general principles must suffice, while we give all the further space we can occupy with this article to—

THE INFALLIBLE MARKS OF THE MILKING QUALITIES OF COWS.—M. Francis Guenon, of France, has published a treatise, in which he shows, by external marks alone, the quality and quantity of milk of any cow, and the length of time she will continue to give milk. These marks are so plain, that they are applicable to calves but a few weeks old, as well as to cows. Whoever will take a little pains to understand this, can know, when he proposes to buy a cow, how much milk she will give, with proper feed and treatment, the quality of her milk, and the length of time she will give milk after having been gotten with calf. If the farmer has heifer-calves, some of which he proposes to send to the butcher and others to raise, he may know which will make poor milkers, and which good ones, and raise the good and kill the poor. Thus, he may see a calf that his neighbor is going to slaughter, and, from these external marks, he may discover that it would make one of the best milking cows of the neighborhood; it would then pay to buy and raise it, though he might have to kill and throw away his own, which he could see would make a poor cow if raised. Thus, all extraordinary milkers would be raised, and all poor ones be slaughtered: this alone would improve the whole stock of the country twenty-five per cent. in as many years. Attention has been called to this, in the most emphatic manner, by The New York Tribune—a paper that always takes a deep interest in whatever will advance the great industrial interests of the whole people—and yet, this announcement will be new to a vast number of farmers into whose hands this volume will fall. To many it will be utterly incredible, especially when we inform them that the indications are, mainly, the growth of the hair, on the cow behind, from the roots of the teats upward. "Impossible!" many a practical, common-sense man will say. But that same man will acknowledge that a bull has a different color, different neck, and different horns, left in his natural state, from those he would exhibit if altered to an ox. Why is it not equally credible that the growth of the hair, &c., should be affected by the secretion and flow of the milk on that part of the system where those operations are principally carried on? But, aside from all reasonings on the subject, the fact is certain, and whoever may read this article may test its correctness, as applied to his own cows or those of his neighbor. The great agriculturists of France (and it is no mean agricultural country) have tested it, under the direction of the agricultural societies, and pronounced it entirely certain. This was followed by an award, by the French government, of a pension of three thousand francs per annum to Guenon, as a benefactor of the people by the discovery he had made. The same has been amply tested in this country, with the same certain results. It now only remains for every farmer to test it for himself, and avail himself of the profits that will arise from it. Guenon divides cows into eight classes, and has eight orders under each class, making sixty-four cows, of which he has cuts in his work. He also adds what he calls a bastard-cow in each class, making seventy-two in all. Now, to master all these nice distinctions in his classes and orders would be tedious, and nearly useless. Efforts at this would tend to confusion. We desire to give the indications in a brief manner, with a very few cuts; and yet, we would hope to be much better understood by the masses than we believe Guenon to be. We claim no credit; Guenon is the discoverer, and we only promulgate his discovery in the plainest language we can command; and if we can reach the ear of the American farmers, and call their attention to this, we shall not have labored in vain.

The appearance of the hind-part of the cow, from a point near the gambrel-joint up to the tail, Guenon calls the escutcheon. The following cuts show the marks of all of Guenon's eight classes, the first and the last in each class. The intermediate ones are in regular gradation from the first to the eighth order. Each class is divided into high, medium, and low, yielding milk somewhat in proportion to their size. We give the quantity of milk which the large cows will yield. This also supposes cows to be well fed on suitable food. Smaller cows of the same class and order, or those that are poorly cared for and fed, will, of course, give less.

The names of all these eight classes are entirely arbitrary—they mean nothing. M. Guenon adopted them on account of the shape of the escutcheon, or from the name of the place from which the cows came. But cows with these peculiar marks are found among all breeds, in all countries, and of all colors, sizes, and ages. These marks are certain, except the variations that are caused by extra care or neglect.



This class of cows has a delicate bag, covered with fine downy hair, growing upward from between the teats, and, above the bag behind, it blends itself with a growth of hair pointing upward, and covering the region marked in figure 1. This upward growth of hair begins on the legs just above the gambrel-joint, covers the inside of the thighs, and extends up to the tail, as in figure first. Above the hind teats they generally have two oval spots, two inches wide by three long, formed by hair growing downward, and of paler color than the hair that surrounds them (E, E, in fig. 1). The skin covered by the whole of this escutcheon is yellowish, with a few black spots, and a kind of bran, or dandruff, detaches from it. Cows of this class and order, when well kept, give about twenty-two quarts of milk per day, when in full flow, and before getting with calf again; after this a little less, but still a large quantity. They will continue to give milk till eight months gone with calf, or till they calve again, if you continue to milk them. This, however, should never be done; it exposes the health of cows at the time of calving, and injures the young. From this there is a gradual diminution in the quantity of milk through the orders, down to the eighth.

Cows of this order (fig. 2), or with the marks you see in the drawing, will never yield more than about five quarts per day in their best state, and they will only continue to give milk until two months with calf: hence, these are only fit for the butcher. The intervening six in Gruenon's classification are gradually poorer than the first, and better than the last, in our cuts. The marks are but very slightly different from the above, except in size; the difference is so trifling, that any one can at once see that they belong to this class;—and the comparative size of this mark will show, infallibly, their value compared with the above. In the intermediate grades, the spots (E, E, fig. 1) are smaller, and as the orders descend, these spots are wanting, and some slight changes in the form of the whole mark are observed, yet the general outline remains the same. Now, as the decrease in the eight orders in each class is about from two and a half to three or three and a half quarts, no man with eyes need be deceived in buying a cow, or raising a calf, in the quantity of milk she may be made to give. Any man can tell, within one or two quarts, the yield of any cow or heifer. The only chance for mistake is in the case of bastard-cows, which rapidly dry up on getting with calf.



In this class, the shape of the escutcheon is entirely distinct, so that no one will confound it with the first. The gradations are the same as in the preceding, only this class, all through, is inferior to the other. The first (fig. 3) will give only twenty or twenty-one quarts, and the poorest only four quarts. This escutcheon is formed by ascending hair, but with a very different outline from the first class; it has the same spots above the hind teats as the first, formed by descending hair. In the lower orders these disappear—first one, then one small one, and then none at all—and as they descend, similar spots appear, formed in the same way, on one or both sides of the vulva (F, fig. 3). The skin of the inside surface of the thigh is yellowish. The time of giving milk—viz., eight months gone with calf, or as long as you continue to milk them—is the same as in the first class. The last order (fig. 4) of this class give very little milk after getting with calf.



This escutcheon is easily distinguished from the others, by its outline figure. The spots on the bag above the hind teats are formed as in the preceding, and as gradually disappear in the lower orders. In those orders there is a slight difference in the outline, but its general form is the same. The first of this class (fig. 5) yields twenty or twenty-one quarts a day, and gives milk till within a month of calving. The last order of the class (fig. 6) gives only three and a half quarts, and goes dry on getting with calf. The intermediate gradations between the first and eighth orders are the same as in the preceding classes.



These escutcheons are unmistakably diverse from either of the others; gradations, from first to eighth orders, the same. The first order in this class (fig. 7) will give eighteen quarts a day, and give milk until eight months with calf. The dandruff which detaches from the skin within the escutcheon of the first order is yellowish or copperish color. The two marks on the sides of the vulva are narrow streaks of ascending hair, not in the general mark. The last order of the class (fig. 8) gives three and a half quarts only a day, and goes dry when with calf.



Here is another general mark, easily distinguishable from all the others by its outline. The first order (fig. 9) will give eighteen quarts a day, and give milk eight months, or within a month of calving. Yellowish skin; delicate bag, covered with fine downy hair, as in the higher orders of all the preceding classes. The eighth order of this class (fig. 10) will give only two and a half quarts per day, and none after conceiving anew. The gradation from first to eighth order is regular, as in the others.

SIXTH CLASS.

Yield of first order (fig. 11) eighteen quarts per day; time, eight months. Skin within the escutcheon same color, bag equally delicate, and hair fine, as in all the first orders. Eighth order (fig. 12) yields about two quarts per day, and dries up on getting with calf.



First order in this class (fig. 13) gives fifteen quarts; time, eight months. The skin, bag, and hair, same as in the higher orders in all the classes. The eighth order (fig. 14) will yield two and a half quarts per day, and dry up when with calf.

EIGHTH CLASS.

First order (fig. 15) will give fifteen quarts per day; time, eight months. Skin in escutcheon reddish-yellow and silky, hair fine, teats far apart. The eighth order (fig. 16) yields two and a half quarts a day, and dries up on getting with calf.



Each class of cows has a kind called bastards, among those whose escutcheons would otherwise indicate the first order of their class: these often deceive the most practised eye. The only remedy is to become familiar with the infallible marks given by Guenon by which bastards may be known. This defect will account for the irregularity of many cows, and their suddenly going dry on becoming with calf, and often for the bad quality of their milk. They are distinguished by the lines of ascending and descending hair in their escutcheon.



In the FLANDERS COW (fig. 17) there are two bastards; one distinguished by the fact that the hair forming the line of the escutcheon bristles up, like beards on a head of grain, instead of lying smooth, as in the genuine cow; they project over the intersection of the ascending and descending hair in a very bristling manner. The other bastard of the FLANDERS COW is known by having an oval patch of downward growing hair, about eight inches below the vulva, and in a line with it; in the large cows it is four inches long, and two and a half wide, and the hair within it always of a lighter color than that surrounding it. Cows of this mark are always imperfect. In the bastards, the skin on the escutcheon is usually reddish; it is smooth to the touch, and yields no dandruff.

Bastards of the SELVAGE COW are known by two oval patches of ascending hair, one on each side of the vulva, four or five inches long, by an inch and a half wide (fig. 18). The larger the spot, and the coarser the hair, the more defective they prove, and vice versa.

Bastards of the CURVELINE COW are known by the size of spots of hair on each side of the vulva (fig. 18). When they are of four or five inches by one and a half, and pointed or rounded at the ends, they indicate bastards. If they be small, the cow will not lose her milk very rapidly on getting with calf.

Bastards of the BICORN COW are indicated precisely as in the preceding—by the size of the spots of ascending hair, above the escutcheon and by the sides of the vulva (F, F, fig. 18).

Bastards of the DEMIJOHN COW are distinguished precisely as the two preceding—size of the streaks (fig. 18).

The SQUARE ESCUTCHEON COW indicates bastards, by a streak of hair at the right of the vulva (fig. 19). When that ascending hair is coarse and bristly, it is a sure evidence that the animal is a bastard.

LIMOUSINE COWS show their bastards precisely as do the CURVELINE and BICORN, by the size of the ascending streaks of hair, on the right and left of the vulva. (Fig. 19.)

Bastards of the HORIZONTAL CUT COWS have no escutcheon whatever. By this they are always known.

Some bastards are good milkers until they get with calf, and then very soon dry up. Others are poor milkers. Those with coarse hair and but little of it, in the escutcheon, give poor, watery milk. Those of fine, thick hair will give good milk.

BULLS have escutcheons of the same shape as the cows, but on a smaller scale. Whenever there are streaks of descending hair bristling up among the ascending hair of the escutcheon, rendering it quite irregular and rough in its appearance, the animal is regarded as a bastard. Never put a cow to any bull that has not a regular, well-defined, and smooth escutcheon. This is as fully as we have room to go into M. Guenon's details. We fear this will fall into the hands of many who will not take the pains to master even these distinctions. To those who will, we trust they will be found plain, and certain in their results. From all this, one thing is certain, and that is of immense value to the farmer: it is, that on general principles, without remembering the exact figure of one of the indications above given, or one of the arbitrary terms it has been necessary to use, any man can tell the quality and quantity of milk a cow will give, and the time she will give milk, with sufficient accuracy to buy no cow and raise no heifer that will not be a profitable dairy cow, if that is what he desires. The rules by which these things may be known are the following:

No cow, of any class, is ever a good milker, that has not a large surface of hair growing upward from the teats and covering the inner surface of the thighs, and extending up toward or to the tail.

No cow that is destitute of this mark, or only has a very small one, is ever a good milker. Every cow having a scanty growth of coarse hair in the above mark will only give poor, watery milk; and every cow having a thick growth of fine hair on the escutcheon, or surface where it ascends, and considerable dandruff, will always give good rich milk, and be good for butter and cheese.

Every cow on which this mark is small will give but little milk, and dry up soon after getting with calf, and is not fit to be kept.

Observe these brief rules, and milk your cows at certain hours every day—milk very quickly, without stopping, and very clean, not leaving a drop—and you never will have a poor cow on your farm, and at least twenty-five per cent. will be added to the value of the ordinary dairy, that is made up of cows purchased or raised in the usual, hap-hazard way.

If your cows' udders swell after calving, wash them in aconite made weak with water; it is very good for taking out inflammation. Other common remedies are known. If your cow or other creature gets choked, pour into the throat half a pint, at least, of oil; and by rubbing the neck, the obstruction will probably move up or down. Curry your cows as thoroughly as you do your horses; and if they ever chance to get lousy, wash them in a decoction of tobacco.

CRANBERRY.



This is native in the northern parts of both hemispheres. In England and on the continents of Europe and Asia, native cranberries are inferior, in size and quality, to the American. Our own have also been greatly improved by cultivation. They have become an important article of commerce, and find a ready sale, at high prices, in all the leading markets of the country. Their successful cultivation, therefore, deserves attention, as really as that of other fruits. Mr. B. Eastwood has written a volume on the subject, which probably contains all the facts already established, together with many opinions of scientific and practical cultivators. The work is valuable, but much less so than it would have been, had the author put into a few pages the important facts, and left out all speculations and diversities of opinion. The objection to most of this kind of literature is the intermixture of facts and valuable suggestions with so much that is not only useless, but absolutely pernicious, by the confusion it creates. We think the following directions for the cultivation of the cranberry are complete, according to our present knowledge:—

Soil.—It is universally agreed that beach sand is the best. Not from the beach of the ocean barely, but of lakes, ponds, or rivers. There is no evidence that any saline quality that may be in sand from the beach of the sea, is particularly useful. It is the cleanness of the sand, on which account it is less calculated to promote a growth of weeds, and allows a free passage of moisture toward the surface. Hence white sand is preferable, and the cleaner the better. Whoever has a moist meadow in the soil of which there is considerable sand has a good place for a cranberry bed. If you have not a sand meadow, select a plat of ground as moist as any you have, upon which water will not stand unless you confine it there, and draw on sand to the depth of four or six inches, having first removed any grass or break-turf, that may be in danger of coming up as weeds to choke the vines. If you make the ground mellow below and then put on the sand, you will have a bed that will give you but little further trouble. Peat soils will do, if you take off the top and expose to the weather, frosts and rains, one year before planting. The first year, peat will dry and crack, so as to destroy young cranberry vines. But after one winter's frost, it becomes pulverized and will not again bake. Hence it is next to sand for a cranberry bed.

Situation.—The shore of a body of water, or of a small pond is best, if it be not too much exposed to violent action of wind and waves. Land that retains much moisture within a foot of the surface, but which does not become stagnant, is very valuable. The bottoms of small ponds that can be drained off are very good. Any land that can be flowed with water at pleasure is good. By flooding, the blossoms are kept back till late spring frosts are gone. Any upland can be prepared as above. But if it be a very dry soil it must have a liberal supply of water during dry weather, or success may not be expected.

Planting.—There are several methods. Sod planting consists in preparing the land and then cutting out square sods containing vines, and setting them at the distances apart, you desire. This was the general method; but it is objectionable, on account of the weeds that will grow out of the sod and choke the vines. This method is improved by tearing away the sod, leaving the roots naked, and then planting. Another method is to cut off a vigorous shoot, and plant the middle of it, with each end protruding from the soil two or three inches apart. Roots will come out by all the leaves that are buried, and promote the springing of many new vines, and thus the early matting of the bed which is very desirable.

Others take short slips and thrust four or five of them together down into the soil as they do slips of currant bushes, thus making a hill of as many plants. And yet another method is, to cut up the vines into pieces of two or three inches in length, and broad cast them on mellow soil, and harrow them in as wheat—Others bury the short pieces in drills. In either case they will soon mat the whole ground, if the land be not weedy. The best plan for small beds is probably the middle planting.

Distances apart depend upon your design in cultivating. If your soil is such that so many weeds will grow as to require cultivating with a horse, or much hoeing, four feet one way and two the other is the best. Better have land so well covered with clean sand, that very few weeds will grow and no cultivation be needed. Then set vines one foot apart and very soon the whole ground will be perfectly matted and will need very little care for years. For two or three years pull out the weeds by hand, and the ground will be covered and need nothing more.

Varieties.—There are three principal ones of the lowland species. The bell, the bugle, and the cherry cranberries. These are named from their shape. Probably the cherry is the best, being the size, shape, and color of the cultivated red cherries. There has recently been discovered an upland variety, on the shores of Lake Superior, that bids fair to be as hardy and productive as the common currant. On all poor, hard, and even very dry uplands, it does remarkably well. It grows extensively in the northern part of the British provinces. The fruit is smaller than the other varieties but is delicious, beautiful in color, and very abundant. It will probably be one of our great and universal luxuries.

Healthy and Unhealthy Plants.—By this cultivators denote those that bear well and those that do not. And yet the unhealthy, or those that bear the least, are the larger, greener-leaved, and rapid-growing varieties. It is difficult to describe them so that an unpractised eye would know them from each other. The best way to be sure of getting the right kind is to purchase of a man you can trust, or visit the beds when the fruit is in perfection and witness where the crop is abundant, mark it, and let it remain until you are ready to plant. This is always best done in the spring, or from May 15th to June 15th.

Gathering—is performed by hand, or with a cranberry-rake. Hand-picking is best for the vines, but is more expensive. If a rake be used, it will draw out some small runners and retard the growth of young vines. But it is such a saving of expense, it had better be used, and always drawn the same way. The fruit should be cleared of leaves and decayed berries; and if intended for a near market, be packed dry in barrels. If to be transported far, put them in small casks, say half-barrels, with good water. They may thus be carried around the globe in good condition. To keep well they should not be exposed to fall frosts, and should not be picked before ripe. A little practice, and at first on a small scale, may enable American cultivators of the soil, generally, to have good cranberry beds. Much of the practical part of this can only be learned by experience. The above suggestions will save much loss and discouragement.

Enemies—are worms that attack the leaves, and another species that attack the berries. There are only two remedies proposed, viz., fire and water. If you can flood your beds you will destroy them. If not, take a time not very dry so as to endanger burning the roots, and burn over your cranberry-beds, so as to consume all the vines. Next season new vines will grow up free from worms.

CUCUMBERS.

There are quite a number of varieties. But a few only deserve attention. The best, for all uses, is the Early Cluster, a great bearer of firm, tender, brittle fruit. Early Frame, Long White, Turkey, and Long Green Turkey, are rather beautiful, but not prolific varieties. Long Prickly, is very good for pickles, and fills a cask rapidly, but is by no means so pleasant as the Early Cluster. The Short Prickly and White Spined are considerably used. The West India or small Gherkin is used only for pickling, and is considered fine. But we regard all these inferior to the Early Cluster.

Soil should be made very rich with compost and vegetable mould, with a liberal application of sand. All vines do better in a sandy soil. Plant in the open air only after the weather has become quite warm. An effort to get early cucumbers by early out-door planting is usually a failure; seeds decay, or having come up, after a long while, they grow slowly, and vines and fruit are apt to be imperfect. Six feet apart, each way, is the best distance; and after the plants get out of the way of insects, and become well established, two vines in each hill is better than more: the fruit will be better and more abundant, and they will bear much longer than when vines are left to grow very thick. They need water in dry weather (see Watering). The first week in July is the best time to plant for pickling. In a warm, dry climate, cucumbers do better a little shaded, but not too much. Planted among young fruit-trees, or in alternate rows with corn, they do well. If allowed to run up bushes like peas, they produce more and better fruit. Forcing for an early crop is often done, by digging a hole in the ground, two feet deep and two feet square, and filling with hot manure, stamped down well, and covered with six inches of fine mould. Put around a frame and cover with glass, at an angle of thirty-five degrees to the sun. Plant one hundred seeds on the two feet square; when they come up, put two plants in a pot, set in a regular hotbed, and keep well watered and aired until the weather be warm enough to transplant in the open air; then remove from the pots without breaking the ball of earth, and plant six feet apart. Four plants left in the original hill will bear earlier than those that have been removed. To get a large quantity of very early ones, plant a corresponding number of hills, with the two feet of manure, as above; whenever the weather becomes hot, they will need to be well watered, or they will dry up. All cucumber-plants forced should have the main runner cut off, after the second rough leaf appears; this brings fruit earlier and twice as abundant. On transplanting cucumbers, or any other vines, cover them wholly from the sun for three days, or, if the weather be dry, for a whole week. We once thought melons and cucumbers very difficult to transplant successfully; but we ascertained the only difficulty to be, the want of sufficient water and shade. When roots and soil were so dry that the dirt all fell off, we have transplanted with perfect success; but for a week the plants appeared to be ruined. We kept them covered and well watered, and they revived and made a great crop, much earlier than seeds planted at the same time. Protection of plants from insects has been a subject of much study and many experiments. Ashes and lime, and various decoctions and offensive mixtures, have been recommended. We discard them all, as both troublesome and ineffectual. Our experience is, most decidedly, in favor of fencing each hill, of all vines, to keep off insects. A box a foot square and fifteen inches high, the lower edge set in the soil, will usually prove effectual. Put over a pane of glass, and it will be more sure, and increase the warmth and consequently the growth of the plants. Put millinet over the boxes, instead of glass, and not a hill will be lost. If a cutworm chances to be fenced in, he will show himself by cutting off a plant. Search him out and kill him, and all will be safe. Such boxes, well taken care of, will last for ten years. This, then, is a cheap as well as effectual method.

Cucumbers are a cooling, healthy article of diet, used in reasonable quantities. They should be sliced into cold water, taken out, and put in sharp vinegar with pepper and salt. Ripe cucumbers make one of the best of pickles: for directions in making, we refer to the cook-books. If you have room near your back door for one large hill of cucumbers, you may obtain a remarkable growth. Dig down deep enough to set in an old barrel, with head and bottom out, leaving the top even with the surface. Fill with manure from the stable, well trod down. In fine rich mould, around on the outside of the barrel, plant twenty or thirty cucumber-seeds. Put a pail of water in the barrel every day. The water comes up through the soil to the roots of the plants, bringing with it the stimulus of the manure, and the effect is wonderful. A large barrel has been filled with pickles from one such hill. If bushes be put up to support the vines, it is still better. Neglect to pour in water, and they will dry up; but continue to water them, and they will bear till frost in autumn.

CURRANTS.

These are among the very best of all the small fruits; immensely productive in all locations, and adapted to a great variety of uses, and hang long on the bushes after ripening.

There is quite a number of varieties, some of which are probably the mere result of cultivation of others well known. The common red is too well known to need description—very acid, and always remarkably productive, in all soils and situations. The size and quality of the fruit are affected by location and culture. The native currants, as found in the north of Europe, are small and inferior; but all excellent modern varieties have sprung from them by cultivation. In working these important changes, the Dutch and French gardeners have been the chief agents: hence our names, Red and White Dutch currants.

The common red and the common white are still cultivated in the great majority of American gardens; and yet, they are not worthy to be named with the White Dutch and the Red Dutch, which may easily be obtained by every cultivator. These two varieties are all that ever need be cultivated. Long lists of currants are described in many of the fruit-books; the result, as in all such cases, is confusion and loss to the mass of growers. We will not even give the list. The common red and the white currants are greatly improved by cultivation. But the Dutch have longer bunches, of larger fruit, the lower ones in the stem holding their size much better than common currants; the stems are usually full and perfect, and the fruit less acid and more pleasant.

A new, strong-growing variety, called the "cherry currant" on account of its large size, is now considerably grown. A few bushes for variety, and for their beautiful appearance, may be well enough; but it is not a very good bearer, and therefore is not so profitable as the Dutch.

The Attractor is a new French variety, said to be valuable. Knight's Early Red has the single virtue of ripening a few days earlier than the others. The Victoria is perhaps the latest of all currants, hanging on the bushes fully two weeks longer than others. The White Grape, the Red Grape, and the Transparent, are all good and beautiful. The utilitarian will cultivate the Red Dutch and the White Dutch as his main crop, with two or three of the others for a variety. The amateur will get all the varieties, and amuse himself by comparing their qualities, and trying his skill at modifying them. As these efforts have resulted, in past time, in the production of our best varieties, so they may, in future, in something far better than we yet have. There is no probability that any of our fruits have reached the acme of perfection.

The common black, or English black currant has long been cultivated. A jam made of it is valuable for sore throat. The highest medical authority pronounces black currant wine the best, in many cases of sickness, of any wine known. The Black Naples possesses the same virtues, and being a much larger fruit, and more productive, should take the place of the English black, and exclude it from all gardens.

Cultivation.—Currant-bushes should be set four feet apart each way, and the whole ground thoroughly mulched; it keeps down all weeds and grass, saving all further labor in cultivation, and greatly increases the size and quantity of the fruit. On nothing does mulching pay better. (See article Mulching.)

Any good garden-soil is suitable for currants. On the north side of a wall or building, or in the shade of trees, they will be considerably later. The same effect may be produced by covering bushes a part of the time with blankets or mats. Some are retarded by this means, so as to be in perfection after others are gone: thus, the currant that naturally comes to perfection about midsummer is preserved on the bushes until October.

Many cultivate currants in the tree form; allowing no sprouts from the roots, and no branches within a foot or two of the ground. This object is secured by cutting from the slip you are to plant, from which to raise a bush, all the lower buds to within two or three of the top, and then pinching off at once all shoots that may start out of the stem below; this makes beautiful little shrubs, but the top is apt to be broken off by the wind, and they must be replaced by new ones every four or five years. Downing strongly recommends it, but we can not do so. Let bushes grow in the natural way, removing all old, decaying branches, and all suckers that rise too far from the parent-bush, and keep the clusters of bushes and leaves thin enough to allow the sun free access, and prevent continued moisture in wet weather, which will rot the fruit, and you will find it the cheapest and best. We have seen quite as large and as fine fruit grow on such bushes, that we knew to be more than twenty years old, as we ever saw of the same variety when cultivated in the tree form.

DAIRY.

For cheese, the dairy should contain three rooms: one for setting the milk, with suitable boilers, &c.; next, a press-room, in which the cheese should be salted, as given under article Cheese; the third, a store-room. In all climates a cheese-house should be made as tight as possible;—thick stone walls are best; windows should be on two sides, north and west, but not on opposite sides, so as to create a draught: this is no better for cheese or butter, and is always dangerous to the operator. Let all persons who would enjoy good health avoid a draught of air as they would an arrow. If your cheese-house can be shaded on the east, south, and west, by trees, and have only a northern exposure, it will aid you much in guarding against extremes of heat and cold. Windows should be fitted closely, and covered with wire-cloth on the outside, so as to exclude all flies.

A dairy for butter needs but two rooms, and a cool, dry cellar, with windows in north and west. The first room should be for setting and skimming the milk, and the other for churning and working the butter, and scalding and cleaning the utensils. If your milk-room can be a spring-house with stone-floor, and a little water passing over it, you will find it a great benefit. The shade, situation of windows, avoiding a current, &c., should be the same as in the cheese-dairy.

To prevent the taste of turnips or other food of cows in milk and butter, put one quart of hot water into eight quarts of the milk just drawn from the cow, and strain it at once. It has been recently declared, by intelligent farmers, that if you feed the turnips to cows immediately after milking, the next milking, twelve hours after feeding the roots, will be free from their taste or odor. The easiest remedy is the boiling water.

DECLENSION OF FRUITS.

That there are instances of decided decline in the quality of fruits is certain. But on the causes of those changes pomologists do not agree. One theory is, that fruits, like animals and vegetables of former ages, may decline and finally become extinct. Should this theory be established, the declension would be so gradual that a century would make no perceptible change. But we do not credit the theory, even as applied to former geological periods in the history of our globe. The changes of past ages, as revealed in geology, have been brought about, not gradually, but by great convulsions of nature, such as volcanoes, or the deluge, that resulted in the destruction of the old order of things, and in a new creation.

The true theory of this declension of varieties of fruits, is, that it is the result of repeated budding upon unhealthy stocks, and of neglect and improper cultivation. Apply the specific manures—that is, those particularly demanded by a given fruit—prune properly, mulch well, and bud or graft only on healthy seedling stocks of the same kind, and, instead of declension, we may expect our best fruits to improve constantly, in quality and quantity.

DILL.

An herb, native in the south of Europe, and on the Cape of Good Hope. It is grown, particularly at the South, as a medicinal herb. The leaves are sometimes used for culinary purposes; but it is principally cultivated for its sharp aromatic seed, used for flatulence and colic in infants, and put into pickled cucumbers to heighten the flavor. The seeds may be sown early in the spring, or at the time of ripening. A light soil is best. Clear of weeds, and thin in the rows, are the conditions of success.

DRAINS.

Drains are of two kinds—under-drains and surface-drains. The latter are simply open ditches to carry off surface-water, that might otherwise stand long enough to destroy the prospective crop. These are frequently useful along at the foot of hills, when they should be proportioned to the extent of the surface above them. They are also very useful on low, level meadow-lands. Properly constructed, they will reclaim low swamps, and make them excellent land. Millions of acres of land in the United States, as good as any we have, are lying useless, and spreading pestilence around, that by this simple method of ditching might be turned to most profitable account. The direction of these drains should be determined by the shape of the land to be drained by them—straight whenever they will answer the purpose, but crooked when they will do better. On low and very level land, they should be not more than five rods apart; they should be three times as wide at the top as they are at the bottom, and as deep as the width at the top; made so slanting, the sides will not fall in;—they should be so shaped as to allow only a very gentle flow of the water: if it flows too rapidly, it will wash down the sides, and obstruct the ditch, and waste the land. Excavations for under-draining are made in the same way, only the top need not be so much wider than the bottom; it would be a waste of labor in excavating a useless quantity of earth. There are four methods of filling up the ditch, viz., with brush; with small stones thrown in promiscuously; with a throat laid in the bottom and filled with small stones; and with a throat made of tile from the pottery. In all cases, that with which the ditch is filled must not come so near the surface as to be reached by the plow. Brush, put in green and covered with straw or leaves, will answer a good purpose for several years, and may be used where small stones can not easily be obtained. The tile is more expensive than either of the others, and not so good as the stones; it is so tight that the water does not enter it so readily; and if by any chance dirt gets into the throat, it obstructs it, and there is no other channel through which the water can pass off. Small stones thrown in promiscuously serve a good purpose for a long time, if they be covered with straw or cornstalks before the earth is put in. But the best method is to make a throat, six inches square, in the bottom of the drain, laying the large stones over the top of it, and filling in the small stones above, and covering with straw;—the water will find its way into the throat through the numerous openings; and if the throat should ever be filled, the water could still pass off between the small stones above. Such drains will last many years, and add one half to the products of all wet springy land. The earth over the new drain should be six inches higher than the surface of the field, that, when well settled, it may be level. Leave no places open for surface-water to run in; that would soon fill up and ruin a drain. Drains made to carry off spring-water are often useless by being in a wrong location. Springs come out near the foot of rising ground. Just where they come out should be the location of the drain, which would then carry off the water and prevent it from saturating and chilling the soil in the field below. Many persons locate their ditch down in the centre of the wet level below the rise of ground; this is of no use to the surface above, to the point where the water springs. Locate the drain just at the point where the land begins to be unduly wet. On very wet, level land, a small drain may also be needed below the first and main one. The cost of a covered drain as described above will be from fifty to seventy-five cents per rod, and an uncovered one will cost from twenty to thirty cents. When you have low swamps to drain, you can realize more than the cost of draining, by carting the excavations upon other land, or into the barnyard as material for compost. Perhaps no expenditure, on land needing it, pays so well as thorough draining. It is important, for all fruit-orchards on low land, to put a drain through under each row of trees: it is indispensable to cherries, and highly favorable to all other fruits.

DUCKS.

There are a number of varieties, the wild Black Spanish, the Canvass-Back, and the ordinary little duck of the farmyard, are all good. The common duck is the only one we recommend for the American poultry-yard. A close pasture, including a rivulet, or a small stream of water, affords facilities for raising ducks at a cheap rate. From one hundred to one thousand ducks may be raised in such an enclosure of an acre or two, quite profitably. If there is plenty of grass, they will still need a little grain. In the winter the cheapest feed is beets or potatoes cut fine, with a very little grain. Each duck, well kept, will lay from fifty to one hundred eggs, larger than hen's eggs, and about as good for cooking purposes. They may be picked as geese, for live feathers, though not quite so frequently. The feathers will nearly pay for keeping, leaving the eggs and increase as profit.

DWARFING.

This has some advantages in its application to fruit-trees. It will enable the cultivator to raise more fruit on a small plat of ground, to get fruit much earlier than from standard trees, and sometimes, with high cultivation, the fruit will be larger. Dwarfing is done by grafting into small slow-growing stocks. Almost all fruits have such kinds. Grafting into other stocks, as the pear into the foreign quince, is a very effectual method. The Paradise stock for the apple, the Canada and other slow-growing stocks for the plum, the dwarf wild cherry of Europe and the Mahaleb for cherries. Dwarfs produced by grafting upon other stocks are short-lived, compared with standards of the same varieties. They should only be used to economize room, to test varieties, and produce fruit while standards are coming into bearing.

Better and much longer-lived dwarfs may be produced by frequent transplanting, thorough trimming of the roots, and repeated heading-in. The fruit on such dwarfs must be well thinned out when young, or it will be smaller than is natural. The effect of heading in is to cause the sap to mature an abundance of fruit-buds. This will tax the tree too much, unless they be well thinned out. Root-pruning is an effectual method of dwarfing (see Pruning). Dwarfing by root-pruning, repeated transplanting, and thorough heading-in, will not render the trees very short-lived, and in many situations it is profitable. The same is true of the dwarf pear on the quince. All other dwarfing is more for the amateur than the utilitarian.

EARLY FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

Are often considered a great luxury, and always command a high price. Early vegetables are secured by hotbeds and the various methods of forcing, as given under the different species. Early fruits are obtained by dwarfing, as given on that subject. Location, soil, and mode of cultivation, also, have much to do with it. Warm location, finely-pulverized soil, often stirred and kept moist, will materially shorten the time of the maturity of fruits and vegetables. Seeds imported from the North, where seasons are shorter, will mature earlier. Another means of hastening maturity is to plant successively, from year to year, the very first that ripens; this tends to dwarf in proportion as the time of maturity is hastened. In this way such dwarfs as the little Canada corn, that will mature at the South in six weeks, have been produced. Various early plants, as tomatoes, cabbages, peppers, and egg-plants, may be started in boxes or flower-pots in the house. Planted in February here, or in January in the South, they will grow as well as house-plants, and acquire considerable size before it is time to place them in the open ground. This is convenient for those who have no hotbeds. They must be kept from frost, and occasionally set out in a warm day to harden, and they will do well.

EGG PLANT.

The white is merely ornamental. The large purple is one of the greatest luxuries of the vegetable garden. Plant seeds in hotbed at the time of planting tomatoes or peppers. Set out in land made very rich with stable-manure and decayed forest-leaves, two feet and a half apart each way. Kept clean, and earthed up a little, and the bugs kept off while the plants are small, they will produce an abundance of fruit. There are two varieties of the purple—large prickly-stem purple, growing sometimes eight inches in diameter; and the long purple, bearing smaller, long fruit, but a large quantity, and considerably earlier than the large. Many do not like them at first; but after tasting a few times, almost all persons become very fond of them. If not properly cooked, they are not at all palatable. Although it belongs to the cook-book, yet, to save this excellent plant from condemnation, we give a recipe for cooking it. It is fit for use from one third grown, until the seeds begin to turn. Without paring, cut the fruit into slices one third of an inch thick; put it in a little water with plenty of salt, and let it stand over night, or six hours at least; take it out, and fry very soft and brown in butter or fresh lard—if not fried soft and brown, it is disagreeable. Salt, ashes, and bonedust, or superphosphate of lime, are the best manures, as more than two thirds of the fruit is made up of potash, soda, and phosphates, as shown by chemical analysis.

EGGS.

Of the quality of eggs you can always judge correctly by looking at them toward the light: if they are translucent they are good; if they look dark they are old—or you may get a chicken, when you only paid for an egg.

Many methods for preserving eggs are recommended. Packed away in fine salt they will keep, but, like salt meat, have not the same flavor as fresh. Set them on their small ends in a tight cask, and fill it with pure lime-water, and they will keep, but it changes their flavor. This, however, is a very common method. The best way known to us, is to pack fresh eggs down in Indian meal, allowing no two to touch each other. Keep very dry in a cool cellar, and they will remain for months unchanged.

ELDERBERRY.

This is a healthy berry, dried and used for making pies, especially mixed with some other fruit. The blossoms are much used as medicine for small children. The common sweet elder is the only kind cultivated. The earlier red are offensive and poisonous. They are easily grown on rough waste land, or in any situation you prefer. Of this berry is made a wine, superior in flavor and effect to any port wine now to be obtained in market; it has had the preference among the best judges in the country;—it is fast coming into notice and cultivation. The wine is so entirely superior to the poisonous substances of that name in commerce, that it would be well for every neighborhood to make enough for their sick. The process is sure and easily intelligible to all. (See article Wine.)

ENDIVE.

This is a well-known winter-lettuce. Sow from July to September, according to latitude. It should come into maturity at the time of the first smart frosts. To get beautiful, white, tender bunches, they should be tied up when the leaves are about six inches long. When frost comes, protect by covering. In very cold climates, place it in the cellar, with the roots in moist earth, and it will keep for a long time. It will not be extensively used in this country for soups and stews, as it is in Europe; and but few of the American people care much about winter-lettuce. This is the best variety of lettuce, except for those who have hot-houses and attend to winter-gardening. They will prefer the other finer varieties. There are two varieties of endive cultivated in this country: green curled, which is the most common, and used principally as a salad; the broad-leaved, or Batavian, has thicker leaves and large heads, and is principally used in stews and soups. Still another variety, called succory, which is used to some extent in Europe as a winter-salad, but is cultivated mainly for the root. It is dried and ground to mix with coffee: some consider it quite as good. This is more cultivated at the South than at the North—their winters are much better adapted to it. The medicinal virtues of this plant are nearly equal to those of the dandelion. When it is bleached, by tying or earthing up, the bitterness is removed, and the taste is pleasant; this must be done when the plants are dry, or they will rot. Plant them in a sunny place and in a light soil.

FEEDING ANIMALS.

Feed as nearly as possible at the same hours. All creatures do much better for being so fed. Do not feed domestic animals too much: animals will be more healthy, grow faster, and fatten better, by being fed almost, but not quite as much as they will eat. Giving food to lie by them is poor economy; always let them eat it all up, and desire a little more;—at the same time, let it be remembered that creatures kept very poorly for a considerable time, especially while young, will never fully recover from it. This is often done under the idea of keeping them cheap, but it is dear keeping. They never can make as fine animals afterward.

All grains and vegetables, except beets and turnips, are better for being boiled or steamed. The increased value is much more than the cost of cooking, provided persons are not so careless as to allow food to be injured by standing after cooking. Cooking is supposed to add one fourth to the value of food. Grinding dry grains adds nearly as much to their value, as feed for animals, as cooking. If you neither grind nor boil hard grain for feed, it will pay well to soak it somewhat soft before feeding. Variety of food is as pleasant and healthy for animals as for men.