58 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[February, 
To us it seems that the most important aspect 
of the plant is the possibility that it may supply 
the place of clover as a crop to turn under as a 
fertilizer. Clover has been the great want of 
Southern agriculture, and if its equivalent shall 
be found iu the Lespedeza, it will be a blessing. 
"We hope to hear more of the " new plant." 
Cross-Cut Drag-Saws.— 30 Years' Experi- 
ence. 
"Thirty years' experience in the use of drag 
saws ! " We conclude our correspondent, — Mr. 
Linville Ferguson of Fay Co., Ind., — is one of 
the real western pioneers, in whose track the 
mighty forests of the then West reeled and fell, 
whose ringing axes and rasping saws made the 
wild music of the wilderness. The drag saw 
is the pioneer's companion indeed, but it is of 
even greater value when the forests are gone, 
and wood worth too much to have the logs cut 
and "butted" with the axe in preparing them 
for the saw-mill. Mr. F. writes as follows: 
" If you please, I will give my conclusions, 
after 30 years' experience, with cross-cut saws, 
as to the best kind and the best mode of keep- 
ing them in repair. — The best drag-saw I ever 
met with, and I have seen several matched 
sawings at County and State fairs, will cut off a 
Fig. 1. — TEETH OP DRAG-SAW. 
log, 2 feet in diameter, of greeu hard wood, in 
45 seconds, and saw 75 cords without dressing, 
it first being put in order. It is six and a half 
feet long, one eighth of an inch thick, stretched 
in a frame. Fig. 1, represents the shape of the 
teeth. There are two side cutters to one clearer. 
The clearers are dressed square, are very slim, 
and one-twentieth of an inch shorter than the 
side cutters. The side cutting teeth are dress- 
ed chisel-pointed, the point being uniformly 
about one-twentieth part of an inch iu width. 
"Fig. 2, represents the best " toothing" cross- 
cut saw, as it will be seen that it saves one-half 
the filing, giving the advantage of long teeth. 
The best shaped saw is straight on the back 
and very rounding on the cutting side. The 
advantage derived by using a very rounding 
saw, and giving it a rocking motion in sawing 
off a log, is the same there is in cutting a board 
with a hand saw, by sawing on theedge instead 
of on the broad side. The teeth should not be 
cut so deep at the ends, as in the middle, as it 
weakens the blade unnecessarily. Six and a 
half feet is the best length for general purposes. 
"In dressing a saw, put it end ways on 
a bench, prepared so as to clamp it the proper 
bight to suit the operator while standing. 
Fig. 3. — TEETH OF "TOOTHING" SAW. 
First take a straight-edge, made of hard wood, 
two and a half feet long, and a riveting ham- 
mer; place the straight-edge on the teeth very 
lightly ; be careful to keep each end the same 
hight above the teeth ; then, keeping the general 
curvature of the saw, batter down the points 
Fig 
that are too long. The clearing teeth should be 
hammered down as far as they will go. If the 
teeth are too long, file on the upper side, and 
pare the tooth over toward the hook side, and 
so repeat until the desired 'length is secured. 
Never dress the hook side only. The " facing 
up" should be done with a half-round 
file. The clearing teeth should be 
about one twenty-fifth of an inch 
shorter than the side cutters. The 
teeth should be kept in the same shape 
that they were at first. It is all false 
philosophy that a wide sloping tooth will cut 
fast; the slimmer the tooth is, if the metal will 
stand, the better. Care should be taken in filing, 
to keep the wiry edge of metal dressed off, in 
order that the tooth be not dressed too much. 
" In setting, place the saw in a vise, if it is to 
be had; if not, set a piece of timber in the 
ground firmly; saw a kerf in the upper end, 
so as to receive the back of the blade in the 
middle, giving the kerf only sufficient depth to 
hold the saw. A wedge or two will hold it firmly. 
" The guage is made of an inch board, 5 in- 
ches long and 4 wide, of the form shown in Fig. 
3. It has three screws set in evenly, from the 
side that goes against the saw blade, and one 
passes through from the other side at the top. 
The point of this screw is cut off, and its length 
regulated. By turning it back or forth the desired 
amount of set is obtained. Never use a wrench 
to move a tooth, as it does not do the work 
well, and by having to move the tooth further 
than necessary, it is liable to break it. Take an 
iron wedge, if nothing more suitable can be ob- 
tained, dress one corner to suit the shape of the 
tooth ; hold it firmly with one hand against the 
tooth ; be careful to hold it so that the tooth 
cannot move further than necessary ; then strike 
the tooth with the hammer before spoken of. 
The metal will stretch on one side and move 
over easily, and not break if the metal is sound. 
" To make the best possible point, the ex- 
treme point should be moved over a little too 
far; then taking the file, hold it flat against the 
blade and tooth,and at the same time dress lightly 
and apply the guage. This guage, when proper- 
ly applied,will give an approximation to correct- 
ness ; finally, for perfection, range along the 
teeth with the eye, and correct the imperfections. 
This, however, will require some practice and 
experience. Never set more than to give the 
saw liberty to move without binding. The di- 
rections here given apply more particularly to 
the Tattle saw than to any other, but will, in 
the main, apply to any cross-cut saw." 
Hatching Fish Eggs. 
The experiments in fish breeding are bring- 
ing tn light some very interesting facts in their 
natural history. It takes much longer to hatch 
the eggs of the varieties that breed in cold wa- 
ter, than those that are spawned in rivers during 
the summer. The eggs of shad put in water of 
suitable temperature, produce young fish in a 
few days. The salmon trout eggs require a 
longer incubation than those of most birds. 
Salmon require two months or more, under the 
most favorable circumstances. The New Eng- 
land Fish Commissioners, we see by the papers, 
are having great luck in the hatching line, at 
the Charlestown Springs, in New Hampshire, 
where they deposited 40,000 salmon eggs in 
October. They hatched on the 11th of Decem- 
ber, just 03 days from the time they were taken 
from the parent fish, The eggs of the sahnon 
trout, at these springs, were 35 days in hatching, 
which is said to be the shortest time on record 
in this country. Thesalmon eggs were taken from 
fish in the Miramichi, one of the best salmon riv- 
ers in New Brunswick. Our Eastern readers 
will be very glad to see this evidence of sub- 
stantial progress in the work of re-stocking New 
England rivers with fish. It will be recollected 
that a very large stock of shad eggs was hatch- 
ed, and turned into the Connecticut, at. Hadley 
Falls, last spring. These, according to the pro- 
gramme, ought to make their appearance in that 
river the coming season. The annual catch of 
shad in the Connecticut has dwindled to about 
000,000. If 50,000,000 were turned into the 
river, as reported, shad ought to be very plenty 
and cheap next spring. For the salmon we shall 
have to wait longer. They are two years or 
more in coming to maturity, and it is proposed, 
we believe, by the Fish Commissioners, not to 
allow any to be taken from the Connecticut, 
except for the purpose of propagation, until 1871. 
In England, the work of re-stocking the rivers 
with salmon is going on successfully, and we 
see frequent discussion in our exchanges on 
topics connected with this subject. The best 
method of constructing fish stairs is still under 
discussion. Nothing better has been elicited 
than the plan illustrated in our last volume. It 
is well settled that the inclination in these 
stairs should not be greater than one foot in 
seven. These re-stocked rivers are affecting the 
price offish and salmon can be had in the Lon- 
don market for less than half what it costs in 
our cities. Riparian owners are in good spirits, 
and the papers abound in advertisements of 
spring salmon fishing to let. We hope to see 
salmon plenty very soon in this country. 
Cheese Factories vs. Butter Supply. 
The introduction of cheese factories into the 
dairy regions is having a very preceptible effect 
upon the butter market. A much better article 
of cheese is, no doubt, made than under the old 
system. It greatly relieves the farmer's wife, 
and for a time it was more profitable for the 
farmer. But we apprehend that the new system 
has been pressed with so much vigor that it is 
endangering our butter supply. Cheese is now 
quite too cheap for the farmer's interests, and 
butter quite too dear for the consumer's. It 
takes from 9 to 10 lbs. of milk, according to the 
statistics of the Dairymen's Association, to 
make one pound of cheese, and about twice as 
much to make a pound of butter. Allowing 
that the labor of making each is about the same, 
the price of butter ought to be about twice the 
price of cheese, and this used to be about the 
relative value of the two articles. But now 
these proportions are changed, and cheese is 
worth only one-third as much as butter. Our 
quotations for these articles December 16, 1867, 
are : State butter 30 to 48 cents, cheese, 8 to 16'| i 
cents. A year ago State butter was 33 to 45, 
and cheese, 14 to 19 cents. Cheese has fallen in 
price until it is about the cheapest article of 
animal food in the market. Butter was quite 
too dear a year ago,and grew dearer until March, 
when it was quoted at 40 to 60 cents. It is 
higher now than it was a year ago, and likely 
to go still higher. These quotations show the 
tendency of the markets, and, of course, the 
tendency of the dairy districts. It may be true 
that we do not make too much cheese. It is 
quite evident we do not make butter enough. 
We know of nothing else to affect the relative 
supply of these articles except the cheese facto- 
ries, which are now numbered by hundreds, and 
