NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



209 



A JUST REBUKE. 



Every friend of an improved mode of cultivation 

 will feel obliged to Dr. Gardner, who presided at 

 the last agricultural meeting at the State House, 

 for his timely rebuke to those persons who are 

 ever crying out that there is nothing good in them. 

 One of our wise Senators undertook to denounce 

 them in the Senate as useless, because one speak- 

 er expressed one opinion, and another a different 

 one. What in the name of common sense do Ave 

 meet there for, but to express our experiences and 

 observation, and to gather from them all for our 

 own use, those modes which commend themselves 

 to our judgment? If we knew that all held the 

 same opinions, there would be no need of compar- 

 ison, and there would be no improvement. 



Was there no difference in the mode of con- 

 structing the steam engine, the paddle wheel, the 

 cotton mill, the plow, harrow, and many other im- 

 plements 1 Some people are never satisfied. The 

 world either goes too fast or to6 slow for them ; 

 at any rate, it don't go in their path, and they go 

 grumbling along and nudging other people off the 

 track, even though they don't wish to travel on it 

 themselves. 



We say, unhesitatingly, that the farmer's meet- 

 ings are useful. They have awakened a new 

 spirit all over the State, and will not only result in 

 an increase of material crops, but in the social 

 feeling and regard for each other, which is promo- 

 ted by our citizens coming into contact with each 

 other from the various parts of the commonwealth. 



For the New England Farmer. 



IMPROVEMENT IN TYING UP CATTLE. 



Mr. Editor : — A good deal of time is consumed 

 in winter in "taking care of the cattle." Itis not 

 a small job to "turn out" and "tie up" a score or 

 two of animals, where bows or chains are used. 

 Good farmers, who have tried other ways, main- 

 tain that the stanchion fastenings are the best. 

 This method admits of great economy of barn 

 room, as the space all clear before the cattle adds 

 to the width and convenience of the barn floor in 

 summer, when not needed for the herd. Where 

 cows are fed with cut feed or meal, that part of 

 the floor from which they eat can be cleansed of 

 oris with great expedition. It must be apparent 

 to every one, that a man with a pitchfork can feed 

 forty cattle in a short time, when there is such a 

 chance to shake the hay right along by the side of 

 the floorway under their noses. 



But my object in this communication is, to di- 

 rect attention to the saving of time and labor 

 which the use of stanchions allows. In no other 

 way can you stand behind your cattle and secure 

 all in the stable at once. 



This may be done in the following manner : 

 Get a strip of iron, one inch and a half wide, A, 

 and attach it to the movable stanchions, BBBB. 

 This should be by half inch bolts of round iron 

 with spring keys. A rope may be fastened to the 

 end, C, and passing over a fixed pulley near, may 

 be brought down and attached to a lever, or to a 

 shaft with a crank and follower. 



Every one knows, who has had the charge of cat- 

 tle, that they very soon know their places. They 

 will put their heads into the stanchions more 

 promptly if coaxed by a little hay on the floor. 

 Now suppose your barn to be thus arranged : You 

 push back your sliding doors and thirty cattle 

 come in. They go to their places, put their heads 

 through, and you give your little crank a turn — 

 they are all fastened ! Is not this better than 

 crowding between them when they are all wet 

 sometimes, and the more you dig into their stub- 

 born sides with your elbows, and cry "stand 

 round" with clenched teeth, the more they wont 

 doit? 



I can almost hear some skeptical reader say 

 that "they wont all go in." 



Well, in that case you can slip out a key and a 

 bolt, and get in the stragglers at your leisure. If 

 you want to leave any animals in-doors, you can 

 disconnect their stanchions and have separate 

 pins. 



Many stocks of cattle that are only watered 

 once a day, might be turned out from such stan- 

 chions twice, if desired. 



Hoping that these suggestions may be useful 

 to your readers, I remain, 



Yours, Wm. D. Brown. 



Concord, Mass., Jan. 23. 



(Ef- In the town of West Newbury, in this State, 

 here were raised and put up of marketable apples, 

 last year, fourteen thousand and nine barrels. 



