172 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



©rtginnl CtommM nirattons. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE 5EW ENGLAND FARMER. 



QUERIES. 



Mr Fessexden, — One of the advantages of 

 Agricultural and Scientitic Journals, is the me- 

 dium tlicy afford to maUe iiU|uiries of experienc- 

 ed and observing men, which can be answered 

 through the same channels, and thus save much 

 unprofitable experiment, and injudicinus expen- 

 diture, to the inexperienced. In foreign journ- 

 als of a poimlar form, I perceive thai queries 

 are very frequently inserted, which gfnerally 

 elicit answers from correspondents who take 

 pleasure in enligiilening their fellow-cnizens. 

 1 herewith forward you two questions, for in- 

 sertion in your valuable paper, in the hope that 

 they may meet attention from some of your 

 friends, who have had greater advantages and 

 more experience in farming than myself. 

 Yours, with much respect, 



— Agricola. 



HEDGE. 



The plantations, in Cuba, are said to be sur- 

 rounded by Li/uc-l ledges, which are squared 

 on the top, and present a beautiful appiiarance 

 besides being a compact and secure fence. — 

 Can any of yonr correspondents inform me what 

 description of Lin>e-tree is referred to ? — and 

 if it is to be found in this country ? — or can grow 

 in our fields? — 



GROVE. 



1 have a grove of several acres, covered with 

 large Oaks, with no underbrush, but a short teed 

 of grass. The grove is nearly in a stale of na- 

 ture, the surface uneven, and containing many 

 stumps. — It is my wish to clear out 'the stumps, 

 fill up the holes, and have a grass sward, in or- 

 der to form a permanent grove ; and 1 shall be 

 obliged lo any of your intelligent correspond- 

 ents, to inform me through the medium of your 

 paper, of the most economical mode oi' proced- 

 ure. 



MACHINE FOR RAISING STUMPS. 



'ilie following^ communication was procured for the 

 American Farmer, by Mr Prince, of Roxbury, in 

 reply to a query on that subject. 



Meredith (X H.) A'or. 18, 1824. 

 John Pwnge, Esq. 



Dear Sir, — I cheerfully comply with your 

 request for a description of the machine for 

 raising st\imps, as used in this vicinity. The 

 only one in my immediate neiglibourhood was 

 constructed for Daniel .\Tery, Esq. of Guilford. 

 It consists of three wheels; two on an axle B.j 

 between the naves, 12 feet in diameter. The 

 third is framed into the axle cue foot from the 

 nave, and is 8 feet in diameter. The axle fs 

 about 12 inches in diameter, and has at the cen- 

 tre, a strong staple with a hook appending to it. 

 — To this hook one end of the chain is hung, 

 while the other is put aliout the trunk or root 

 (jf the stump to be raised, as its size shall deter- 

 n)ine. The chain that wraps the slump should 

 he large and of good iron. The one here in 

 use weighs about one pound to an inch, and the 

 TOJce is nearly, or quilc one inch in diameter. — 

 Notwithstanding this size, it has often been 

 liroken. The power oi the machine is put in 

 operation by miifung a chain of a email size last 



on the centre wheel, and to this apply your 

 strength. One yoke of oxen is enough to work 

 the machine, and on plain land it is usually mov- 

 ed by men. Four hands are necessary to its 

 operation, and this is sufficient to fake up an 

 acre in three or four days, depending on the 

 abundance or scarcity of stumjiS. 



The land on which this machine has been us- 

 ed, is plain and rather sandy, therefore, the 

 trees rooted downward rather than spread off 

 broadly. On clayey ground, the roots extend 

 much further abroad, and an axle of this length 

 would not be long enough to work with con- 

 venience. Another improvement I think might 

 be made, by making the outside wheels fourteen 

 instead of twelve feet, and the inner one ten 

 instead of eight feet. The axle should be at 

 least fifteen inches in diameter, and of the best 

 wood. The boxes inside should be twelve 

 inches; as I have noticed while this machine 

 was in operation, and much power became ne- 

 cessary, that the axle sprung considerably, tho' 

 of the best white oak. 



The inner wheel is constructed by two shafts 

 passing through the centre of the axle at right 

 angles, with two inch plank framed into these 

 shafts, or arms, and on each side plank, an inch 

 and a half board, to keep the chain about the 

 wheel in its [iroper place. Inch and a half m 

 diameter, or perhaps inch and a quarter cordage 

 would answer the pnrpo-e, probably more con- 

 veniently than small chain ; but of this the con- 

 structor can judge. 



The naves and spokes are white oak, the ft>l- 

 lops yelloiv pine. It will be understood that tiie 

 lirafl-chain, or the one that passes roimd the 

 centre wheel, is to pass under it, as to this the 

 oxen are to be applied. Stumps of 12 inches' 

 diameter are raised with great ease, and the 

 machine is considered, b> those who have used 

 it, a simple, but valuable invention. This is 

 not Ihe only machine which has been invented 

 .•ind used for the purpose of extracting st\imps. 

 There is one in use by a ?.Ir Larbour, in this 

 county, which operates by a lever ; but I saw 

 it for a few minutes only, and am not able to 

 give any descrijjfion of it. I think the one I 

 have described the best, however, that I have 

 seen. 



You, Sir, are at liberty to make any use of 

 this that you think proper ; and, if you are in 

 doubt on any part of the description, point it 

 cut, and 1 will endeavour to remove it. 



I am, Sir, as alwav, Yours, fee. 



STEPHEN C. LYFORD. 



STERCORARY. 



Tlie tliird volume of the Memoirs of the Philadelphia 

 Agricultural Society, page 222, contains an account 

 of a Stercorary, erected by Mr Qcincy, of Massachu- 

 setts, from which the following is extracted : 



The area of my Stercorary is 90 feet by 40, 

 the cellar is in the shallowest part 8 feet deep, 

 in its deepest 12, and in the well, if I mistake 

 not, 15. It is open nearly the whole length of 

 one of its short sides, and one half of the long, 

 viz. at the north and west, besides large open- 

 logs at the east. There is always 4 or 5 feel 

 atmosphere above the top of the manure, and 

 between it and the barn floor, — and a constant 

 current selling one way or another. This gives 

 the advantage of a free circulating air, which 

 in general, in such cases is not oblainted. 



The great difficulty I have had to encounter 

 arises from the necessity of an equal irrigation 

 of the Tc-hole heap ; a difficulty which must attend 

 all permanently covered Stercoraries. For the 

 water turned upon the heap through spouts runs 

 in currents, and is not equally sprinkled over a 

 heaj) like rain, which is nature's process in 

 this business. To obviate this difficulty I have 

 constructed a very simple machine which an- 

 swers perfectly. The stone piers which sup- 

 port the beams of the barn, divide the cellar 

 lenglhwise into three equal copartmenls. I 

 have a box of six inches deep, four feet wide, 

 and about thirteen feet long, which runs by 

 means of wheels, upon a sort of wooden rail 

 way, made by strips of planks and fixed about 

 a foot tVom the floor of the barn ; this is perfo- 

 rated with suitable holes. A permanent spout 

 extends through the middle of the cellar, and 

 a moveable spout extends from this to the per- 

 forated box — regular openings are made in the 

 permanent s[iout, which may be closed at will, 

 it is also closed at the end. By these means, 

 the bos is filled from the reservoir and pump, 

 and each part successively irrigated perfectly 

 and with great ease. A man by two days' la- 

 bour can irrigate my whole cellar, and if effect- 

 uallv done, thrice in a season is sufficient. 



Tho following humorous exhibition of the 

 faults of some farmers, as it respects the econo- 

 my of their barn yards and stercoraries, is ex- 

 tracted from " An Address to the Massachusetts 

 .\grlcullural Society, by Hon. .losiah Quincy. 



As we proceeil lo the farm, we will slop one 

 moment at the barn yard. We shall say noth- 

 ing concerning the arrangements of the barn. — 

 They nuist include comfort, convenience, pro- 

 le clion for his stock, his hay, his fodder, or they 

 are little or nothing. We go thither for the 

 pur[)Ose only of looking at what the learned 

 call the stercorary, but which farmers know by 

 the name of the manure heap. What is its 

 stale? How is it located ? Sometimes we see 

 ihe barn yard on the top of a hill, with two or 

 three fine rocks in the centre; so that whatev- 

 er is carried or left there, is sure of being 

 chiefly exhaled by the sun, or washed away by 

 the rain. Sometimes it is to be seen in the 

 hollow of some valley, into which all the neigh- 

 bouring buildings precipitate their >vaters. — 

 Of consequence all its contents are drowned, or 

 water soaked, or what is worse, there having 

 been no care about the bottom of the recepta- 

 cle, its wealth goes off in the under strata, to 

 enrich possibly the antipodes. 



Now all this is to the last degree wasteful, 

 absurd, and impoverishing. Too much cannot 

 be said to expose the loss and injury which the 

 farmer thus sustains. Let the farmer want 

 whatever else he pleases. But let no man call 

 himself a farmer, who suffers himself to want 

 a receptacle for his manure, water-tight at the 

 bottom, and covered over at the top, so that 

 below nothing shall be lost by drainage, and 

 above, nothing shall he carried away by evapo- 

 ration. Let every farmer, wanting such pro- 

 tection for his manure, besssured that he loses 

 bv the sun and rain, ten fold as much as will pay 

 ail his taxes, slate, town, and national, every 

 year. Let not Ihe size of his manure heap be 

 any objection. If it be great, he loses the 

 more, andean afford the expense belter. If it 

 be small, this is the best way to make it become 

 greater. Besides, what is the expense? What 



