■466 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
POLE DKAIN. 
the milking. Tlie fetter may also be useful when 
it is necessary to perform an operation upon a cow. 
Log and Brush Drains. 
"G. L.," Machias, Me., gives the following de- 
scription of some cheap ani effective drains, which 
he has been in the habit of using. These are 
made by laying poles of spruce or fir, 5 or 6 inches 
thick, in the. bottom of the ditches at one side. 
Short pieces of lighter 
poles are laid, five feet 
apart, with one end 
upon this first pole and 
the other end upon the 
bottom of the ditch in a 
sloping position. Long- 
er and lighter poles are 
laid upon these, and 
then overlaid with brush ; the whole being covered 
with sods and earth. A drain of this kind answers 
very well upon wet lands, where the water will 
be always flowing and where the material is at 
hand. Where the drains are alternately wet and 
dry, the timbers will rot in a few years. The 
method of making them is shown by the engraving. 
A Simple Safety-Latch for a Gate. 
A latch for a gate that cannot be unfastened by 
a. cow or other animal, and that may be very easily 
made, is shown in the accompanying engraving. 
It consists of a bar of wood, pivoted to the gate 
near the end, and having its greater part distant 
from the opening end 
of the gate, so that its 
weight keeps it in place. 
It is protected by a 
guard as shown. This 
guard, if desired, may 
be extended below the 
latch, so that a cow 
cannot possibly lift it 
with her horn or nose. 
As it is represented, it 
may be lifted a short 
distance, but the gate 
I III 
SAPBTY LATCH. 
will not open until the latch is brought into a perpen- 
dicular position. The catch on the gate-post is 
protected by a covering plate ; between this and 
the post is the space into which the latch rises 
■when the other part falls. The operation of this 
latch is seen to be exactly the reverse of an or- 
dinary one, and therefore, if securely fitted, it wiU 
puzzle the most accomplished gate-opening cow. 
The Improvement of Farm Boads. 
— « — 
The interior roads of the farm are no t often either 
Fig. 1. — SECTION OP A BAD KOAD-BED. 
made or kept in an economical manner. There 
may be cases in which poor roads, with yearly re- 
pairs, are cheaper in the end, than those which, be- 
ing good and permanent, need no repairs for many 
years, though such instances are very rare. For 
ease and economy — both terms generally meaning 
the same — a level, solid road is to be preferred. The 
farm, whether it be large or small, should always 
be laid out with reference to ease of communica- 
tion from one part to another, and the needed 
roads should be built to be permanent. At this 
Fig. 2. — ROAD-BED IMPEOVED. 
time we wish only to point out how farm roads 
may be made to secure the greatest economy in 
use. Where the surface Is level, there is frequent- 
ly more difficulty in keeping a road in good condi- 
tion, than where it is rolling or uneven, and we 
often find a road-bed presenting the appearance 
shown in figure 1. It is evident that, on such a 
road, the teams must work at great disadvantage. 
The remedy is, to throw up the 
center of the road-bed in the way 
shown at figure 2, by moving the 
higher portions at the sides to 
the middle, and leaving the sides 
at least 18 inches lower than the 
center. It wil! be found of ad- 
vantage, to keep farm roads in 
good condition, and covered with 
grass, which can be mown for 
hay. The land is then useful, and 
is not made a nursery for weeds. 
The wheel-ruts made by a season's 
use, should be filled with coarse 
gravel, or broken stone, for a foot 
in width, and the ruts worn by the 
horses' feet may be filled in the 
same manner. Earth is the worst 
possible filling. These ways then 
become permanent, and if kept 
in order by a day's work now and 
then with rake and rammer, they will offer no ob- 
struction to a mowing machine, with which the 
grass upon the road may be mowed. The rammer, 
fig. 3, ia a block of wood, 8 or 10 inches in diameter 
Fig. 4. — ^LEVELING THE KOAD-BED. 
at the bottom, tapering to the top, and is four feet 
long. A handle is fixed at the top, and another 
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Fig. 5. — BENT OF BRIDGE. 
about the middle. The foot is shod with a strong 
iron shoe. A road may be made in this manner 
Fig. 6. — ^BBIDGE COVERED 'WITH SPLIT STICKS. 
upon level ground, with any kind of soil, that 
will be passable in wet weather. Where the ground 
is rolling, it will be found advisable to level the 
knolls, and fill up the hollows, as shown at figure 4. 
Where the knolls are not sufficient for this, or 
where the hollows sometimes become passages for 
water, these should be bridged. For this purpose, 
some low frames, or bents, of timber may be made, 
as shown in figure 5. These may be placed in the 
center of, or along the hollows, to support timbers 
for the roadway, which may be planked over, or 
covered with half-round small timber, as shown at 
Fig. 7. — BRIDGE WITH STONE PIERS. 
figure 6. In place of these, stone may be used, where 
it is abundant, and low piers may be buUt, either 
of dry work, or laid in mortar. For a short hollow, 
one pier or wall may sufSce, otherwise two or three 
may be made, and covered, as shown at figure 7, 
with timbers and planks or slabs. In placing the 
stone piers or timber frames, especially in situations 
where water may flow at any time, they should be 
bedded below the surface, and upon solid ground. 
Tim Bunker on Tramps— How to get rid 
of them. 
Mr. Editor : I haven't had much to say about 
Hookertown matters, last summer, not because 
the soil is barren, or Jake Frink and his company 
have done talking. Tou see summer is a lively 
time on the farm, and weeds won't stop growing, or 
the hay and grain harvests wait for you, while you 
are telling what your neighbors are doing. Tou see 
the course of things on a farm keeps moving from 
April to September right along, like a railroad 
train, and if you mean to make the season serve 
you, you have got to be at the depot on time every 
day. Things have been kept up square on the farm 
all summer. Mrs. Bunker has been up at 5 o'clock 
every morning, and the men folks have been In the 
field on time. The hay and grain are under cover, 
the rye is sowed, the barn-yard is covered with sea- 
weed and muck, and the com is cut up and shocked, 
and the beans are pulled, and the cranberries are 
picked, and the frost may come as soon as it likes. 
Nothing but Mrs. Bunker's peppers are likely to 
suffer. The tact is, Hookertown was never so full 
of news as it is now, and some of the bottles will 
burst if they are not uncorked. 
All summer long we have been bothered to death 
with tramps. They are a growing nuisance, and 
nobody seems to know just what to do with them. 
They are, with few exceptions, of foreign birth or 
parentage, in the prime of life, in good physical 
condition, decently clad, and as able to work as the 
average help upon our farms. The drift of travel 
seems to be here, as I read it is out West, be- 
tween the large cities. They generally have friends, 
either uncles or cousins, in the next large town 
ahead, and want food and money enough to reach 
them. They travel under various pretences, but 
the real motive is almost always to sponge their 
living out of the community. They sometimes 
pretend to seek labor, but almost invariably refuse 
to work when the opportunity is given. They 
swarm on all our highways like the frogs of Egypt, 
coming into our kitchens and ovens, and kneading 
troughs. They beg from door to door, and get 
what they can from private charity, and generally 
get their lodging and breakfast at the expense of 
the town. Hookertown paid out S2,500 last year 
for the support of tramps — and the expense in- 
creases every year. They lodge in our bams and 
out-buildings, they steal corn from our fields, and 
fruit from our orchards, and when they can get a 
chance, steal from our dwellings. 
The evil has made so much stir in the commurd- 
ty, that Mr. Spooner preached about it last Sunday, 
taking for his text, " Fullness of bread and abun- 
dance of idleness was in her." Mr. Spooner gen- 
erally hits the nail on the head every time, when he 
hammers away in the pulpit, but this time he drove 
the nail home in a sure place. He showed that the 
people and the town authorities who entertained 
tramps were to blame for this organized system of 
vagabondage. The people were humane and char- 
itable, and were educated to sympathize with suf- 
fering, and to feed the hungry. He said, " the 
feeding of tramps was an abuse of their charity, 
and grew out of their ignorance of the character of 
these vagabonds, who lived in idleness, and ate the 
bread they did not earn. They were supposed to 
be strangers, homeless and destitute. As a matter 
of fact, every one of them had a responsible party 
behind him, who was under obligation to feed and 
clothe and shelter him. The ship-owner who lands 
an emigrant in New York, comes under obligation 
to the municipal government to support him in case 
he becomes chargeable, or to return him to the 
port whence he came. If the emigrant becomes a 
citizen, and gains a residence in any of our towns, 
the town where he resides assumes this obligation, 
and if he becomes disabled, he can receive aid from 
the town where he belongs. Our laws protect us 
against homeless vagabondage If we will execute 
them. The man who stands at your door asking 
bread, is not poor and needy, in the sense that he 
has no one to care for him. There is a responsible 
party behind liim, and he begs simply because he 
expects to fare better at your hands, than in the 
