310 



THE ILLIIS^OIS FAEMEK. 



Oct. 



Sliding Doors for Barns. 



A correspondent of the Germantown Telegraph 

 says : " These doors are far superior to the old- 

 fashioned doors, which rcToIve on hinges. They 

 are opened and closed by moans of a rail and sev- 

 eral small iron trucks securely attached to the top, 

 are so constructed as not only to clo^e the door cf- 

 tually against the ingress of rain, snow and cold 

 air, but to be very durable, and, in every respect, 

 efficient. Large doors are formed by one inch 

 matched boards, placed perpendicularly, and 

 crossed by matched strips of the same in a diago- 

 nel direction, or from corner to corner, on both 

 sides. These strips are so put on as to represent 

 the sheathing often seen on fine houses, being about 

 six inches in width, and covering the entire sur- 

 face. It will be seen at once that three thickness- 

 es of matched boards, securely nailed and thor- 

 oughly painted, besides being so hung as to obviate 

 effectually all possibility of sagging, as is the case 

 with doors of ordinary construction and workman- 

 ship when hung in the usual way, must secure an 

 article of great efficiency and of an almost inde- 

 structible character. The labor of opening and 

 closing these doors may be performed by the mer- 

 est boy, and in wind weather they are not slam- 

 ming and endangering not only their own fasten- 

 ings and fixtures, but the lives also of all by whom 

 they are approached. The old fashion of placing 

 !>he trucks at the bottom is anything but desirable, 

 as the former is liable to be clogged by snow and 

 ice ; but when it is placed at the top, no obstruc- 

 tion can possibly intervene from this source ; the 

 door glides easily along the rail, and never requires 

 to be forced open by main strength. Small doors 

 for the tie-ups, sheds, out houses and other similar 

 buildings, are constructed in in a similar way. 

 way. They are much cheaper that a panel-door, to 

 which they are preferable for all purposes where 

 •strength and durability are desired. 



Turning Large Cheeses. 



; The editor of the Ohio Farmer has been out 

 among some of the Ohio cheese men ; among oth- 

 |er sights was how they turn the big cheeses. He 

 ;Says : 



In his curing room, Mr. Cox uses, as supports 

 for his cheese, two strings of scantling, ten inches 

 ipart ; on these scantling stand the cheese, each 

 upon the inverted cover of a cheese box of a size 

 a, trifle larger than the size of a cheese. When 

 the attendant goes to turn the cheese, she takes 

 another cover of the same size, puts it on the 

 top of the cheese to be turned, then with one hand 

 3n the top of this cover, and the other hand at the 

 ■bottom cover, she flops the cheese over, with only 

 ;he strength of a child, since, when the cheese is 

 jilted up a little to one side, the opposite side bal- 



ances down between the two scantling, and the 

 cheese goes over as easy as turning a pair of waffle 

 irons. Another and greater advantage of this 

 method of turning cheese, is that there is no dan- 

 ger of bruising or breaking the corners in turning, 

 as they are perfectly protected by the rim of the 

 cover. This mode of handling is equally applica- 

 ble to cheese on shelves, but in that case vou do 

 not have "he advantaga of self-balancing, the same 

 as on stringers. 



Be Your Own Right Hand Man. 



People who have been bolstered up and levered 

 all their lives are seldom good for anything in a 

 crisis. When misfortune conies, they look around 

 for some body to cling to, or lean upon. If the 

 prop is not there down they go. Once down, they 

 are as helpless as capsized turtles, or unhorsed 

 men in armor, and they cannot find their feet again 

 without assistance. Such silken fellows no more 

 resemble selfmade men, who have fought their way 

 to position, making difficulties their stepping- 

 stones, and deriving determination from their de- 

 feat, than vines resemble oaks, or spluttering rush- 

 lights the stars of heaven. Eftbrts persisted to 

 achievements train a man to self-reliance ; and 

 when he has proven to the world that he can trust 

 himself, the world will trust him. We say, there- 

 fore, that it is unwise to deprive young men of the 

 advantages that result from energetic action, by 

 "boosting' them over obstacles which they <)ught 

 to surmount alone. No one ever swam well who 

 placed his confidence in a cork jacket ; and if, 

 when breasting the sea of life, we cannot buoy our- 

 selves up and try to force ourselves ahead by dint 

 of our own energies, we are not salvage, and it is 

 of little consequence whether we "sink or swim, 

 survive or perish." 



One of the best lessons a father can give his 

 son is this: "Work; strengthen your moral and 

 intellectual faculties, as you would strengthen your 

 muscles by vigorous exercise. Learn to conquer 

 circumstances ; you are then independent of for- 

 tune. The men of athletic minds, who left their 

 marks on the years in which they lived, were all 

 trained in a rough school. They did not mount 

 their high position by the help of leverage ; they 

 leaped into chasms, grappled with the opposing 

 rocks, avoided avalanches, and, when the goal 

 was reached, felt that but for the toil that had 

 strengthened them as they strove, it could never 

 have been attained." — Scientijic Amei'ican. 



4*» 



Extensive Sugar Cane "Works. 



E. W. Nason &Co., of DuQuoin, Perry county, 

 111., have planted two hundred acres of cane, and 

 are^ putting up a mill and apparatus capable of 

 taking off three or four hundred acres. The works 

 are located in the vicinity of extensive coal mines, 

 where fuel will be abundant and cheap. The com- 

 pany will introduce and test several new processes 

 in the treatment of the juice, the result of which 

 we shall watch with interest, and report to our 

 readers. The cane in that vicinity has suffered 

 from the drought, and is backward, but there is 

 time enough yet for the development of a good 

 crop if the remainder of the season should prove 

 favorable. — Clark's Sorgho Jour. 



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