560 Transactions of the American Institute. 



cross bars so constructed that the di-ag may be spread wide or 

 narrow, at pleasure. The teeth are forty-penuy nails, one hundred 

 and twenty-eight in number. Each side of the harrow should be 

 made of two pieces of scantling, which can be fastened together 

 with a hinge, so as to rise and fall to suit the inequalities of the 

 surface. I halved mine together, fastening them with a bolt, some- 

 what smaller than the bit the hole was made with. Those acquainted 

 with prairie farming, will remember that when each man is expected 

 to cultivate twenty-five or thirty acres of corn, most of the laud 

 must be plowed a long time before the corn is planted, and that 

 the weeds are often an inch high when the corn is coming through 

 the surface. That is the time to go over the ground with this 

 harrow. It will take these small weeds out by the roots and 

 leave them on the surface. If hot weather follows, the weeds will 

 soon be past all hope of recovery. If wet weather follows, they 

 will be put back ten days, as a plant transplanted will not commence 

 to grow in much less time. If corn is planted when the ground 

 is wet, or if wet weather follows, a crust is formed over the surface 

 which hinders the plant in coming through. This harrow breaks 

 up the crust and pulverizes ever}' lump of earth. Potatoes need 

 about the same treatment Last spring being wet, the weeds on 

 my potato ground were about an inch high, and thick as they could 

 stand, when the potato plants were an inch below the surface. 

 I went over the ground with this harrow until it looked the 

 same as it did the day it was plowed, and though wet weather fol- 

 lowed, when the weeds were again an inch high the potatoes were 

 three inches high. I am confident that each hand on prairie soil 

 can cultivate five acres more of corn with this harrow, used at the 

 right time, than with any other machinery now in use. 



GALVANIZED IRON TRELLISES. 



Mr. \Vm* "W. Wilcox, Middletown, Conn., exhibited specimens 

 of his iron trellises for fruit, floAvers, and vegetables. These trel- 

 lises ai'e made of galvanized iron; the arms can be bent into any 

 shape; two of them form a handsome circular trellis. 



Mr. A. S. Fuller. — This trellis is an excellent article, very orna- 

 mental, and is just what is wanted by amateurs. 



The Secretary. — I have tried these trellises and find them very 

 convenient for inclosing flowering plants, which keep them in a 

 very compact form, and when the season is over they can be taken 

 up and kept for another year. Adjourned. 



