1869. 



NEW ENGLAOT) FARMER. 



417 



lean his body against the fence, and if not too 

 strong would crowd it over. Others would 

 leap the fence like deers, or throw the weight 

 of their forward parts upon it and crush it 

 down. Hogs, too, would worm themselves 

 through or under carefully built fences. 

 With horses we had no trouble, as there were 

 but few in the neighborhood. 



All this is exceeding annoying to one who 

 has watched the growth of his 6rst crop with 

 an interest which can be appreciated only by the 

 new settler, and who looks upon it as the only 

 means of subsistence for his family during the 

 approaching winter. It engenders ill feelings 

 towards one's neighbors and dissatisfaction 

 with the new home. It disheartens, and stirs 

 up the "homesick" more perhaps than any- 

 thing else that is experienced in making a 

 farm in a new country. 



A correspondent of the Missouri Rural 

 World, in an article advocating some change 

 in the laws of the State respecting cattle run- 

 ning at large, makes the following statement, 

 which recalls most vividly our own experience, 

 and which may be suggestive of the experience 

 of many New England farmers who are about 

 emigrating to the West : — 



Our prairies are covered with brea':'hy cattle and 

 horses. Horses that will jump over five feet, 

 without touching, are constantly preying uoon 

 wheat fi'lds and forn fields; they nip gnss in ihe 

 day and do mischief at night. Cattle do liti le dam- 

 age until corn ripens ; then the crass begins to dry 

 up and they seek something better. One of my 

 neighbors is engaged in raising horses and mules; 

 another has one hundred and six head of Texas 

 cattle ; others from three to fifty head — all un- 

 herded. 



Last summer one of my neighbors put eight acres 

 of corn in a field, indnsed by a worm ft-nce, six 

 rails high. He attended to his crop until Vav. mid- 

 dle of July, when the horses en'irely destroyed it. 

 by night. Early one morning I drove eleven head 

 out of the field. Another neishbor, by workin? 

 early and late, inclosed a field wi'h pobts and 

 poles. He put in twelve acres of sod corn. Neigh- 

 hor Mule Riiser's stock ate it up t)y nights, jusc as 

 it was ripi ning, although the owner worked des- 

 perately to save it. Thus, working all summer to 

 make a crop, and all winter to make up for its loss 

 — a year of toil and care has left these neighborts 

 poortr by far than they were a year ago. One 

 neighbor had a good eight-rnil stake and ridered 

 fence knocked down by stock several times last 

 year. 



I have talked with several men upon the subject, 

 and have yet to find one who did not suffer 

 more or less by the depredations of stock last year. 

 The Mule Raiser's muli s add horsos may be found 

 every night or so in a twenty-acre wheat field near 

 my houi<e. If a man has tiis fields inclosed by a 

 lawful fence, and can find out to whom the stoik 

 belongs, he may ootain redress i<y employing a 

 lawyer and having a Uw-suit; or I should say a 

 dozen suits for the same number of horses belong 

 to as many difierent parties. If his fence is un- 



lawful, there is no remedy. In the western and 

 southern parts of the State, not one-third of the 

 fences are lawful. Timber is very expensive and 

 so scarce that a large majority have contented 

 themselves with Shanghae fences until they can 

 raise hedges. 



A POOR MAN'S ROLLER. 



A writer in the Prairie Farmer says, "we 

 are making and using a machine which in 

 many re^pects is preferable to a roller, and 

 very much cheaper, and within the reach of 

 every man who has a saw, hammer, nails, and 

 a few boards or plank. Take plank about 

 twelve inches wide, two inches thick and eight 

 feet long; lay them flat with the edge ( f one 

 just upon the edge of another ; then take a 

 piece of scantling, two by four inches, hard 

 wood if convenient, and cut it to fit upon the 

 top of each plank to hold them together ; three 

 of these pieces firmly naded or bolted to the 

 plank, one near each end, and one in the cen- 

 tre. Near each end of the first plank laid 

 down, bore holes for a clevis, to which attach 

 a chain as used on road scrapers, and the work 

 is done — the thing is made and ready for use ; 

 but who will name it?" 



We would suegest that it be called the level- 

 ler. We are reminded by the above description 

 of a machine which we saw a few days since, 

 which did very excellent work in smoothing 

 and working the soil to very fine tilth. It 

 was a small harrow wi'h fine teeth, of a some- 

 what peculiar form, which may be used by 

 itst-lf as a horse hoe. To the hind part of this 

 harrow has attached by a chain and clevis a 

 jjlatform — the under face of which resembled 

 the leveller described above. It was about 

 four feet wide by five long, made of hard 

 wood scantling, about four inches thick by 

 eight wide, held together by iron bars un the 

 upper face, firmly bolted on. Holes were 

 made, a? in the one described above, through 

 the end bars and scantling for the clevis. 

 This harrow and leveller worked by two 

 horses, is a very efficient implement. The 

 platform may be loaded with as much weight 

 as may be desired. The implement desciibed 

 in the Prairie Farmer follows the harrow 

 drawn by another team. In the one we saw 

 the harrow and leveller are drawn by the 

 same team at the same tioie. It may be de- 

 tached fVom the harrow and used separately, 

 in which case a lighter team would be sufla- 

 cient. 



