1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



195 



does my mare gain on 10 pounds of good hay and 

 15 pounds of potatoes, and lose on 25 pounds of 

 hay per day, performing the same labor ? These 

 are facts. 



I see an inquiry in the N. E. Farmer in regard 

 to a one-horse power. About seven years ago I 

 bought a one-horse thrashing machine, and I find 

 that it is a good deal cheaper than a two-horse 

 power, for thrashing. I place the machine in the 

 centre of the barn, before I get in any grain, then 

 I can drive a load at each end of the barn, at 

 night, for instance, and the next morning if it 

 rains I put the horse into the machine, and thrash 

 it off the cart, and thus save the labor of pitching 

 ofiF and on the scaffold once. Perhaps by noon it 

 is fair again, our two loads are thrashed when we 

 could attend to it as well as not, and we are ready 

 to go to the field again. We are not under the 

 necessity of leaving other work to attend to 

 thrashers whenever they happen to come along. 

 My horse does not weigh over nine hundred, and 

 she will thrash 20 bushels of oats in an hour, and 

 other grain in proportion. This machine, with a 

 pair of good horses, one working at a time, has 

 thrashed in my barn 536 bushels of oats in a day 

 and a half. 



We use the horse power to saw our fire-wood, 

 and save a great deal of hard work. We manage 

 in this way : We find it very hard to s\>\\l tough 

 logs that are cut four feet long ; we cut it about 

 ten feet long — what we call sled length — and 

 draw it to the house in that condition, and saw the 

 logs before they are split. Perhaps some one may 

 wish to know how I attached the saw to the horse 

 power. Well, I bolted on a piece of plank across 

 two of the arms of the drive wheel, just as far 

 from the centre of the wheel as I wanted the crank 

 in length ; then I put a pin through the end of 

 the sweep and the centre of the plank. This con- 

 stituted a crank. This sweep moves back nearly 

 to the hind end of the horse power, and here we 

 must have a joint in the sweep in order to run 

 the saw and not rock it up and down. The oth- 

 er half of the sweep is attached to the first by 

 bolting on a short piece of board on each side of 

 one of these half sweeps, and the other half sweep 

 slid in between these two boards, with a pin 

 through in order to make a joint. This joint is 

 supported by a stud with a pin through the lower 

 end and in the sill of the horse power, and the 

 upper end comes up between the strips of board 

 with a pin through that, the ends of the sweeps 

 being far enough apart to admit it and have it 

 play back and forth. The saw is called a cutting 

 off saw, such as is used in shingle mills for cut- 

 ting off logs. It cost four dollars, and I put it 

 in a frame, just like a hand wood-saw. One end 

 of this frame is attached to the end of the sweep 

 by bolting on two short pieces of board one foot 

 wide. Now there wants two little studs set up, 

 one each side of the sweep near the saw, the 

 cheapest way you can, in order to guide the sweep, 

 about thi-ee of these, and the sweep should be 

 about eight inches wide. Now fix the cheapest 

 way you can to hold the log, and your saw is all 

 right. A man that can handle tools will make 

 the necessary fixings in three days, and the whole 

 apparatus costs about seven dollars — much less 

 than a circular saw. We set the horse power in 

 the wood-house, and let the end of the sweep run 

 just out of the door if we choose, so that the 



horse is under cover and the saw out, then draw 

 the logs up to the saw as they are wanted, saw 

 them short enough for the stove, and the work of 

 splitting is a mere nothing compared to splitting 

 four foot wood. 



We finished sawing our next year's stock of 15 

 cords in January, when the wood was frozen as 

 hard as could be, and we averaged a cord of these 

 hard wood logs sawed from fourteen to sixteen 

 inches long, in less than three hours and a half. 

 We saw a hard wood log one foot through in a 

 minute, and the horse does not draw a single 

 pound. This machine has more than paid for 

 itself already, and it is nearly as good as when 

 first bought. I think it one of the best invest- 

 ments I ever made, and that any good farmer, af- 

 ter he has used one a year, would not think he 

 could be without it. 



Will it injure manure to get so hot that the in- 

 side of the heap will become mouldy, and if so, 

 what is to be done with it, now the snow is so 

 deep I cannot get it out ? B. W. Gay. 



New London, N. H., Feb., 1861. 



Remakks. — Manure is greatly injured by be- 

 coming as hot as you state. Throw it over at 

 once, and mingle with it meadow hay or straw 

 cut fine, good muck, loam, plaster, charcoal dust, 

 or, if you cannot get these, sprinkle it well with 

 copperas water, of any strength you please. 



OUR NEVP- CATTLE MABKET REPORT. 



The reader who is at all interested in stock, 

 cannot have failed to notice the report we have 

 now given for several successive weeks in relation 

 to the Cattle Market at Cambridge and BrigMon. 

 It has been published long enough to command 

 the attention of producers and stock-dealers, and 

 to bring to us from them the warmest commen- 

 dations of our plan. We have been seeking to 

 gain this point for several years, but until recent- 

 ly have been unable to find the person having the 

 proper practical knowledge required to make a 

 truthful, and at the same time, a clear report. 

 The ability to do this requires both a particular 

 taste or genius for the work, coupled with an in- 

 timate acquaintance with the business in all its 

 departments. Several persons have, at different 

 times, engaged in this matter for us, but have 

 failed to produce such reports as would commend 

 themselves to those immediately engaged in rear- 

 ing stock, or in purchasing and preparing it for 

 the market. 



These persons now see, and state to us, that a 

 head is engaged in it which comprehends this im- 

 portant industrial interest in all its particulars, 

 and that nothing short of an intimate knowledge 

 of its details could give him the power of present- 

 ing a report which so admirably meets the wants 

 of all parties. 



The report will be continued, and its value en- 

 hanced by such additions or improvements as 



