THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 163 



dimensions. The sheers should be not less than sixteen feet in 

 length, of light timber, and should be larger in the middle of the 

 sticks than at the ends, to keep them from bending. The single 

 sheer, or the one to which a windlass is attached, for winding up 

 the slack rope, should be, in the middle, of a size equivalent to a 

 scantling three by four inches square. The other two sheers may 

 be two and a half by three inches in the middle, and tapering to 

 each end to two inches square, in order to render them as light 

 as possible. At the upper end of the single sheer an iron rod, 

 about seven-eighths of an inch in diameter, and twenty inches 

 long, should be fastened, by passing through it, for holding the 

 other two sheers, which should have an inch and a quarter hole 

 in their upper ends for receiving the ends of this rod in the sin 

 gle sheer. The tackles may be made by almost any mechanic, 

 with cast-iron sheaves. A rope an inch in diameter is large 

 enough to hold one ton and a half, when the rope is three- 

 double, or three sheaves in the upper block of pulleys. 



213. Such an apparatus is very convenient in hoisting large 

 stone on to any part of a stone wall, arid especially in placing 

 large stone on the top of a wall. It may be used also very ad 

 vantageously in loading logs and timber, and such like, on a 

 wagon. In extensive quarries a crane will be found to be more 

 efficient and convenient than almost any other apparatus, for 

 hoisting the stone from their bed on a wagon or other vehicle. 

 As cranes may be seen in every locality where stone quarries 

 abound, we do not think it advisable to give, in this place, a cut 

 and description of one. "When the farmer has a quarry of any kind 

 of stone, if he has not in his employ a man who has a good share 

 of practical experience in quarrying stone, he will find it very 

 much to his interest and convenience to visit some extensive 

 quarry, and spend a day or so in witnessing the manipulations of 

 the workmen, and in making inquiries of the foreman and pro 

 prietor in relation to the business, and in examining the tools 

 used in quarrying. A day or two spent in this manner may be 

 worth hundreds of dollars to an individual, in enabling him to 

 start in his operations in the most efficient manner. Scores of 



