356 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



Mr. Farmer said there was much difference of 

 opinion and practice on curing haj'. Whether the 

 hay is damaged or not in the barn, depends a good 

 deal on its condition when brought in. He got in 

 some last j^ear rather damp in bad M'eather, and it 

 became quite musty. The main trouble arises from 

 getting it in too green. 



Mr. Hammond said the exposed timbers of a 

 barn often presented a deceptive appearance. He 

 had frequently examined barns, and found the low- 

 er timbers unsound, though looking well on the 

 outside. 



J. B. Moore said he had recently had occasion to 

 drive some spikes into the timber in his barn-cellar, 

 and found it hard work to get them in. The tim- 

 bers were of oak. He thought it poor policy to 

 put any but the best and most durable timber in 

 such places. He keeps his cellar doors open in 

 summer. 



Dea. Wheeler said he had one of the first barn 

 cellars built in Concord — built in 1S32. Under his 

 barn the timbers are as sound as when first put in. 



Mr. Hammond recommended beveled girths, so 

 that the water should be made to run off outside; 

 has had hay injured three feet from the wall, when 

 the hay happened to lie so as to turn the water in- 

 ward. Rain drives into a barn worse if the boards 

 are put on horizontally, than if perpendicularly 



and the dairymaid. The gardener first caught sight 

 of the runaway, and, hastening after it, sprained 

 his ankle ; in consequence of which the ])oor man 

 was not able to get out of the house again for a 

 fortnight. The cook found, when she came back 

 from pursuing the pig, that the linen she had left 

 by the fire had fallen down and was burning; and 

 the dairymaid having, in her haste, neglected to tie 

 up one of her cows, the cow had kicked a colt, 

 which was in the same stable, and broken its leg. 

 The gardener's lost time was worth twenty crowns, 

 to say nothing of the pain he suffered. The linen 

 which was burned, and the colt which was spoiled, 

 were worth as much more. Here, then, was caused 

 a loss of forty crowns, as well as much trouble, 

 plague and vexation, for the want of a latch which 

 would not have cost threepence." 



M. Say's story is one of the many examples of 

 the truth of the old proverb : "For want of a nail 

 the shoe was lost, for want of a shoe the horse was 

 lost, for want of a horse the man was lost." 



For tlie New En aland Farmer. 



SCRAPS-GREEN WOOD. 



Last spring, I gave the result of my observation 

 on the use of small potatoes for seed. As the read- 

 He would have rows of lights on both sides of the ers of the Farmer know, it brought in quite a crop 

 barn. He described a Shaker barn which he had! of articles, whether all small potatoes or not. I 

 assisted to arrange. It is 100 ft. long, 44 ft. wide, 'have endeavored to balance the accounts, and ad- 

 with 26 ft. posts ; drive-way floor 18 ft. above the ding my own experience again this year, with small 

 sill, built on a side-hill. The cattle are tied in two seed, I think the evidence is very nearly well bal- 

 rows across the barn, facing each other, 12 ft. anced. Judging from all that has been written, I 

 apart. There are pens for turning cows in loose, I see not why we are not at liberty '.o use small, if 



we cannot get large seed, and yet, not lose caste 

 with good fiirmers. 



There is another point, which concerns, not only 

 the farmer, but everv other man who uses wood for 



calf-pens, &c. The platform on which the cattle 

 stand varies in length from 4 ft. 5, 4 ft. 7, to 4 ft. 

 10. The trench behind them is 22 in. wide, and 5 

 in. deep. They put dry absorlients in the trenches. 

 Mr. H. said he would have all absorbents used for ' fuel. This is the use of green wood. Chapter 

 this purpose as dry as possible. A cubic foot of i after chapter is written to show that the use of such 

 dry pulverized peat or loam, will absorb three gal- wood is in all cases productive of loss of heat; and 

 Ions of liquid, and when so saturated, is much more even our popular works on chemistry circulate the 

 valuable than the same quantity of the solid excre-jsame thing. If, on the other hand, you go among 

 ments of cattle. The stanchions pitch forward 5 in. jour farmers and ask which makes the hottest fire, 

 — the crib is placed inside. The platform on which | a given amount of all dry, or of mixed wood, and 

 the cattle stand, is sloped 2.i in., and he would give they will almost uniformly say the latter. Now, 



the same pitch to the platform of the horse-stalls, 

 The platform should have a good strong floor un- 

 der it; valuable animals are often lost or injured 

 by insecure floors. 



C. B. Clark thought there should be no slope to 

 the platform for horses. M. p. 



HOW MUCH DEPENDS ON A LATCHET. 



Our farmer friends should remember a quota- 

 tion, which we find here from M. Say, showing how 

 much depends on a latchet. 



"Being in the country, I had an example of one 

 of those small losses which a family is exposed to 

 through negligence. For the want "of a latchet of 

 small value, the wicket of a barn-yard leading to 

 the fields was often left open. Every one who 

 •went through drew the door to ; but as there was 

 nothing to fasten the door with, it was always left 

 flapping ; sometimes open and sometimes shut. So 

 the cocks and hens, and the chickens, got out and 



how comes it that the two authorities diSer so 

 much ? 



There is doubtless truth in both, and it is from a 

 lack of discrimination of cases, that the former 

 pronounce against book knowledge, and the book 

 men aflarm the ignorance of the former. It is from 

 this want of discrimination, that the difficulty be- 

 tween practical and theoretical men usually arises. 



The chemist well knows that water does not 

 burn very well as such, but if he decomposes the 

 water, forming oxygen and hydrogen, and then 

 burns them together, he will produce a most intense 

 heat. He also knows that a high heat will decom- 

 pose water, and that if it is decomposed in that way, 

 they will again unite and increase the heat. If car- 

 bon be present, a strong light will also be formed. 

 The result of this union of the elements of water 

 with carbon, many a one has seen to their own dis- 

 comfort, when they have attempted to put out 

 burning fat with water. The flame went to the top 

 of the room, while the heat kept them at a respect- 

 ful distance. The water was decomposed by the 



were lost. One day a fine pig got out and ran off 



mto the woods; and after the pig ran all the peo-]heat of the burning fat, and its elements uniting, 



pie about the place — the gardener, and the cook, | made an intense heat. 



