The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1876-08-19
Rural Topics.
wRrrrEs FOR THE "UxroH" BIZ eNE OF THE MOST
EXPERIENCED FARMERS, GARDENERS AND
FRUIT GROWERS IN THE UNITED
STATES.
ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION.


Some fowl breeders are restless under the ordi-
nary way Of Matching chickens, and are locking
around for an artificial incubator to hatch out 500
or 1000 at q time. To such men would say, den't
leok any further as it is entirely useless to think
that you can succeed with such machine"
There are several artificial ineubators now adj
vertised fer sale in the United States; but none
Of them viii give satisfaction wheR we have in
the weather Suddenly Of from 30 to 30 degrees, as
we often do The fact that such incubaters have
been in the market, from time to time for 40
years, without anyone having been able to sue
eeed permanently with them, ought to show that
they are mere interesting in theory than in prac-
tice. Keep your meney and use hens.
CHEAP WOODLAND FENCE.
Take unsharpened rails, make the fence three
rails high, as follows Let one end Of each rail
rest on the ground, raising the other ends as high
as you want the fence. The first rail is secured
in its place by tive stakes driven into the ground
in the form OF an X. The next rail is placed
some feet behind the one staked, SO that when
two stakes are driven int the ground, and rest
ing on the rail already in positen they will sup
port the second rail at the proper height, and
thus the fence is continued the stakes supporting
the upper rail, and also holding the next under
one firmly down under the cross.
CARPENTER TOOLS FOR FARMERS.
Farmers should always have certain useful
tools to enable them to do any little Job on rainy
days or in the winter season when one has no
outdoor work to do. A plane or two, bits and
brace, one or two augers, chisels, files, drawing
knife, screw driver, two good saws, one small for
fine work, and few other things will make q
good ''outft'' for farmer. Then go to the
hardware store, and buy years supply or more
of various kinds of nails, screws and brads suita.
bic for all kinds of ''tinkering" and yen will be
sure to use them sooner or later. Buy screws by
the gross, and the finer kinds Of nails and brads
by the paper, as they cost but little, and are al
ways worth their cost. Farmers owe duty to
their sons to learn them to use such tools before
they go ont into the world to earn their living,
as no man ever regretted the time spent in his
boyhood to learn h0w to use carpenter tools, be.
cause there are often things to be repaired OF
made that any man ought to be able to do and
not sent for mechanic.
GRAPE ROT.
In many places grapes are affected with the
black rot and drop off, Frequently only part
of the surface of the grapes is affected, yet the
fruit is of no value. The cause generally is al.
lowing the vines to overbear When your vines
set an immense quantity of fruit it is always
best to take pair of scissors, when the grapes
are very SMALL and cut out about one-third Of
the clusters-the smallest.
SETTING POSTS.
From many experiments made, ii appears thai
the upper ends of posts, as they grow, when SCI
in the ground, last much longer than the butt:
do. The reason is that the pores Of the wood oil
upper ends, when turned down, carry out the
water, while the pores of the butts carry it into
the wood