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weighing from 2400 pounds to 2800 pounds will do very- 

 good work, if not too high-lived to take to it kindly, and, 

 perhaps the average farm horse is not given to that fault, 

 but with a pair of light horses there is altogether too much 

 jerking and jumping, twitching and backing, to be either 

 pleasant or profitable for the men who work with them, un- 

 less it be a very light and easy job. 



Strong chains are needed in this work, and can be ob- 

 tained at lowest cost, at some ship supply store, or rigging 

 loft in Boston, where heavy, short-linked, second-hand ship 

 chains can be bought at very low prices, and cut up and 

 fitted with hooks and rings as may be desired. 



A very serviceable stone and bush hook can be made in a 

 short time, at an expense of seven or eight dollars, by any 

 handy blacksmith. Take a piece of bar-iron, four feet long, 

 three inches wide, and one-half inch thick, bend one and 

 one-half feet at one end into a long, sharp-pointed hook, not 

 turned under too much, and work the other end down a 

 little, and put on a four-inch, heavy, iron ring to hitch to. 

 Then make two similar hooks, with about half the length 

 of beam, put one of these on each side of the one first de- 

 scribed, and bolt them all together with two one-half inch 

 bolts, spreading the points five or six inches from the mid- 

 dle one, thus making a heavy, three-pronged hook. To 

 complete it, put on a good stout pair of swivel plough 

 handles, and support them with iron braces from the back 

 of the centre beam. 



The best team to use on this hook is a pair of heavy 

 cattle. Horses will do good work with it, but are generally 

 too quick for comfort, snapping and twitching about too 

 much, few of them having the weight required for the slow, 

 steady pulling needed in this kind of work. Rocks as 

 large as the team can drag off can usually be taken out of 

 the ground without digging around them ; just shove the 

 hook down behind the rock, or under a ragged corner of it, 

 start the team gently, and up she comes. If the first hitch 

 does not fetch, try again. I have tipped a rock weighing 



