1875.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
97 
thus held, the ends are without difficulty trimmed 
and hewed, as may be desired. Fig. 3 shows the 
method of building the fence. The ends of the 
poles arc nailed to the posts, and to keep them 
Fig. 3. — PLAN OF FENCE. 
level with one another, each end of the pole to a 
different side of the post, or each panel of fence 
may he nailed to opposite sides alternately. 
A Road-Grader. 
Graders for repairing roads are coming into more 
general use. Even the rudest of these implements 
is of great service in smoothing and compacting 
the surface, and in giving a proper slope to the 
sides of the roads. But some of these are better 
than others. One of the best of them is shown at 
fig. 1. It is made of a piece of heavy hard-wood 
plank, 10 feet long, (or longer, if necessary,) 13 
Inches wide, and 3 or 4 inches thick, to which a 
long tongue is mortised and vrcl! I'lTifCil. Tii': bo(- 
form the shape of the sides, and nailed firmly to 
the bottom with 6-inch spikes. The sides are of 
sound 14-inch pine plank. A pine board is sus- 
pended over the center of the trough 6 inches above 
the bottom by iron rods bent and ilattened out at 
the ends. The flattened ends are 
punched with holes, through which 
small carriage bolts are put, to 
fasten the center-board in its place. 
Figure 3 shows a section of the 
trough, the shape of the iron rods, 
and the manner in which they are 
attached to the center-board, and 
the sides of the trough. Pigs can not wallow in this 
trough, nor get into it when feeding, and if several 
of the iron rods are used, so as to divide the 
trough into sections, a good deal of quarreling and 
fighting over the feed will be prevented, as each 
animal may then have its own section, and can not 
crowd its neighbor out of that which belongs to it. 
Fig.-. SECTION. 
1 — 4 KOAD GRADEK 
OR SCRAPER 
torn edge of the plank is hollowed out, to suit the 
curvature of the road-bed. A curve of 3 or 4 inches 
from the ends to the center, would be sufficient to 
give a good shape to the road. A wing of similar 
material, fastened to each end of the long plank, 
and well braced in such a position that it projects 
forward about 45 degrees. The ends of the wings 
are depressed 8 or 10 inches, as shown in the sec- 
tion, fig. 2, which represents the shape of the road- 
bed, when finished. The lower edges of the wings 
are beveled, and strengthened with a band of steel, 
3 inches wide by } of an inch thick. When the 
Bides of the road-bed have been plowed, this 
implement will draw the loose earth toward the cen- 
ter, and there level it. Its occasional iise during 
the summer and fall, after wet weather, when the 
An Improved Pig-Trough, 
A Western subscriber sends us a description of 
an improved pig-trough, which has many ac van- 
tages. It is shown in fig. 1. The bottom of the 
To Draw Water from a Spring. 
wants a method of drawing water 
from a spring 160 feet 
from his house,and 17 feet 
below its level. He asks 
if a suction pump at the 
house, with cement pipe 
laid to the spring, would 
operate successfully. If 
any readers of the Agri- 
culturist have had expe- 
rience in drawing water 
iinder similar circum- 
stances, we should be 
glad to hear from them. 
In the meantime our cor- 
respondent can feel as- 
sured that the plan he 
proposes will fail. No 
suction pump will operate unless the pipe is air 
tight, which a cement pipe is not. Even with a 
lead or iron pipe, a suc- 
tion pump in such a case 
as this, will not operate 
successfully. The valves 
of the i>ump will almost 
always leak air, and the 
water falls back again to 
the spring, leaving the 
pipe empty. When the 
pump is worked, a long 
column of air must be 
removed before water 
can be di'awn up ; this requires a great amount 
of labor, and if the valves are not perfectly air 
tight, it is impossible to 
' II do this, and the pump 
^"^■'J — is useless. In a case in 
which the plan proposed 
'^^^^-s^^5Sssis>.^--^S^^^5#^.s^^^^yp^- abandoned, one here de- 
scribed and illustrated 
was successfully adopted, 
and is offered as a suggestion. At the foot of a 
village lot, was a shallow well or deei3 spring, 
about 150 feet from the house. A force pump was 
set in the spring, and a tin-lined lead pipe was 
carried to the house, two feet beneath the surface 
of the ground. A series of common fence posts 
were set up 25 feet apart. Strong hard wood pins 
were inserted in these posts, at the top, projecting 
horizontally and at tight angles to the line from 
the house to the spring. 
Arms about three feet long 
were pivoted upon these 
pins, and secured by pegs 
driven through the ends of 
the pins. These arms were 
connected by fence wires at 
each end. The arm at the end 
next to the house, and that 
next the well, had handles attached at right angles 
to them, as shown in the engraving. When the 
handle at the house was moved up and down as a 
pump-handle might be, that at the well was moved 
in the same manner. This last was attached to the 
pump rod, .and as it was moved the pump was 
worked, and the water was forced through the 
pipe to the house. As the valves were always wet, 
and sustained the pressure of several feet of water, 
they never leaked, and the pipe was always full of 
water. By keeping the pivots of the arms always 
lubricated with soft soap, or black lead and tallow, 
they worked with ease, and it was no more difficult 
to raise water by this contrivance, than to work an 
ordinary pump in a 20-foot well. 
A Home-Made Lathe, 
"A Subscriber" asks for an illustration of a 
latlie for turning neck yokes and similar articles 
A UOME-MADE LATUE. 
for farm use, and which can be operated by a com- 
mon horse-power. Such a lathe is shown in the 
accompanying engraving. It consists of two 
posts firmly set in the ground, one of which may 
be a post of the workshop, or of any outbuilding 
or a frame attached thereto. A small shaft having 
a chuck keyed upon one end,and carrying a pulley, is 
fitted into a frame having a sliding post, as sho'ivn 
Fig. 3. — SECTION OF EOAD-BED. 
,road has become cut up into ruts, will fill the ruts 
and make the surface smooth and level again. 
Fig. 1. — IMPROVED PIG-TROtJQH. 
tough is an oak plank 13 or 14 feet long, 13 inches 
wide, and 2 inches thick. The edges are beveled 
EG as to fit the slope of the side boards. The ends 
are of the same material, cut with a proper elope to 
A WATER-LUtAWIiR. 
in the illustration. A thumb-screw is attached to 
the other end of the shaft, in such a way that the 
shaft and the chuck may be accurately adjusted to 
the work in hand. The sliding post is held in place 
by pins, and may be moved back or forth as may be 
desu'ed. A rest is bolted to the posts, upon which 
the guide or slide rests, may be fixed. An ordi- 
nary one horse tread-power, would be sufficient to 
run this lathe, giving from one to two thousand 
revolutions of the lathe per minute, according to 
the diameter of the pulley used. In turning neck 
yokes or whillle-trees, it would be a saving of time 
to turn two from one piece of timber, as shown in 
the illustration. 
Makino- Wooden Drains. 
When no other material than wood can be pro- 
cured, and draining must be done, wooden under- 
drains are preferable to open surface drains. 
In 
Fig. 1. — SQUARE WOODEN DRAIN. 
reply to a correspondent, we describe a few kinds 
of wooden drains that m.ay answer the purpose of 
better ones when those are not to be had. Hem- 
lock boards will be found the most durable in situ- 
ations where the drains will be always flowing. II 
