Proceedings of the Farmer^ Club. 245 



heavy steel band, somewhat like the form of the letter U. The 

 upper ends are bolted to plow beams, and one or two horses are 

 hitched to each beam, and the implement is drawn through the 

 ground beneath a row of trees, thus cutting off all the roots at a 

 given distance from the stem of the trees. It is said to be a very 

 useful implement for that purpose, and will save a vast amount of 

 hard labor. 



Mr. N. C. Meeker. — ^A similar contrivance is in use in the larsre 

 commercial nursery at Bloomington, Illinois, digging trees by the 

 thousand. 



A NEW CROSS-CUT SAW HANDLE. 



Mr. Nelson Holmes, Laona, Chautauqua county, N. Y., exhibited 

 a new cross-cut saw handle. Farmers who use cross-cut saws, often 

 experience a serious inconvenience from having the handles riveted 

 to the ends of the blades. To obviate this difficulty, an ingenious 

 device was exhibited for securing the handles to the ends of the 

 saw, by means of a set screw, by which a handle can be removed 

 or attached to the blade in a few seconds, and they never work 

 loose. Besides this, each handle makes a complete saw-set, for 

 spreading the points of the saw-teeth. When a wedge is employed 

 to keep the kerf open, so that the saw will run freely, one handle 

 can be removed and the saw taken out of the kerf. 



EVERGREENS IN OSAGE ORANGE HEDGES. 



A letter was read from Col. S. D. Harris, editor of The Ohio 

 Farmer^ Cleveland, Ohio, stating that it is bad teaching to recom- 

 mend the above. No trees should be allowed to grow in or near 

 an osage hedge, for the shade of trees is fatal to the growth of the 

 plants. Even new plants will not grow to fill gaps in an old hedge. 



CLEAN WATER FOR COWS. 



Mr. John Humphrey, Depeyster, St. Lawrence county, N. Y. — 

 I keep a small dairy of cows, from twenty to thirty-seven, and 

 every year there are more or less of them taken with a swelling 

 in the bag. When they are most liable to this disorder, is when 

 the puddles are full of stagnant water. When these are dried up, 

 and they are compelled to go into the springs for water, they are 

 not much troubled with it. 



MORALTTT OF HOP-GROWING. 



Mr. S. M. Ingalls, Springfield, Otsego county, N. Y. — A corre- 

 spondent, in a late report of the Club, passes some strictures on 



