1869.] 
AMERICAN AG-RICULTtmiST. 
333 
one could judge, with perfect contentment. It 
would certainly look much better if a roll of 
hay were tacked against the sides all around. 
Plowing with Three Horses Abreast. 
One reason why there is so much difficulty 
about the more extensive employment of three 
horses abreast in plowing is, that very few 
farmers know how simple a matter it is to get 
up a set of whiffle-trees for the purpose. The 
only addition to the ordinary outfit of a farm is 
the evener. This is provided with three com- 
Fig. 1. — CLEVIS ATTACHMENT. 
mon iron clevises, and a short piece of chain. 
It has a common " double-tree " at one end, 
and a "single-tree" at the other, attached to 
the piece of chain. The big clevis is placed 
exactly one-third of the way between the 
"double-tree" and "single-tree." This is all 
there is to a three-horse wliiffletree. It is an 
important thing to arrange the plow clevis so 
as to throw the draft far enough to the land 
side of the team to enable one horse to walk 
easily in the furrow and two on the unplowed 
ground. If the pull is direct, the horse that 
walks in the furrow will crowd the middle one, 
and make the team unsteady. 
Very good plow clevises for this purpose are 
manufactured for sale, but with a light ox 
chain, and a single piece of stout iron work, an 
equally good one may be got up at home. The 
iron should be about six inches long from the 
center of the hooks to the shoulder on the 
straight end. Its form is shown in fig. 1. The 
hooks should be placed iu the upper and lower 
eyes of the clevis, so as to hold the iron firmly 
in a horizontal position, with the other end 
projecting toward the land side. The chain 
FILLING A DRAIN. 
gently on each collar, as it is laid (and while the 
tile is held in its position by the hand), a shovel- 
ful of fine clay, 
the work will be 
better done. The 
plan (of which 
the following il- 
lustration is for- 
warded us) for fill- 
ing the ditches, 
while it would 
need some modi- 
fication in a hard, 
gravelly subsoil 
that can only be worked with a pick, is well 
worth a trial in the more yielding soils. It is to 
cut down the sides of the ditch, step by step, as 
in covering the tiles, until it is nearly full. 
" Then getting out of the ditch I thrust in the 
spade as in digging, about fourteen inches from 
the edge of the bank, and pry in the dirt. This 
leaves very little to be shoveled in by the old 
spine-twisting, back-aching method, and is a 
decided improvement, both as to labor and time." 
In the sketch sent by our correspondent, the 
surface level is shown by the dotted line; above 
this is the earth thrown out ; and A A A the 
thrusts of the spade, by which the earth is 
pryed in to fill the ditch, beginning at the bottom. 
Hurdling Sheep on Green Crops. 
We were at Mr. Wing's farm of " Maple 
Shade," Dutchess Co., about the middle of July, 
when he was just turning his Cotswolds upon 
the rape, then making a fine show. Rape, which 
is a cabbage-like plant, making an abundance 
of foliage, but no head, is sown as early as the 
ground can be worked in the spring, and a suc- 
Fiif. 2. — PLOW RIGGED FOR THREE HORSES. 
should be fastened around the beam back of the 
standard of the mould-board, so as to lie along 
the land side of the beam, and the fiat end of 
the iron should be passed through one of its 
links and secured by an iron key or a hard 
wood wedge, driven through the hole. The 
whiffle-tree evener should then be fastened to 
the chain as close to the plow as possible. The 
complete gear is shown iu fig. 2. 
Filling Tile Drains. 
A Western correspondent sends suggestions 
about covering tiles and filling drains. He ob- 
jects to throwing down earth from the bank, as 
it would displace the tiles, and suggests the 
scraping off of enough of the subsoil from the 
side of the ditch near their level, which will 
fall gently upon them, and will be compacted 
by the operator as he walks forward in his work. 
Where one man is working alone, this is a 
good plan, but if the tile layer can have an as- 
sistant, walking toward him in the ditch to lay 
cession of crops, put in a week apart, is provided. 
It is sown in rows about two feet apart and 
cultivated like turnips, but not thinned so se- 
verely. If it makes a good growth, it is fit to be 
fed off about the middle of July, and Mr. W. 
finds it the best green fodder he can give his 
sheep. Soon after the ewes are separated from 
the lambs, when dry enough, the flock is hurdled 
upon the rape. One of the hurdles used is 
represented in the accompanying illustration. 
It is 8 feet long; the posts, 4'| a feet long, of 
2 x 3-inch pine; the slats, 1 x 2-inch pine, are 
let into the posts ; and the panel is braced by 
one upright and two converging braces of 1 x 2- 
inch stuff. The slats are nailed to the posts 
and to the braces at each lap by one stout 
wrought nail clinched. When set up in plowed 
ground, a crowbar is used, which is represented 
in a Basket item. It is about 3'| 3 feet long, and 
has an enlargement about a foot from the point, 
which gives additional weight to the bar, mak- 
ing it a convenient maul, and being cup-shaped 
upon one face, has no tendency to split the posts 
when they are driven into the ground. In set- 
ting a panel, two holes are made, which re- 
ceive the pointed posts part way ; they are then 
driven down, and a ring of wire slipped over 
adjoining posts. Tims a very firm fence is 
easily made, handled, and shifted. Both ewes 
and lambs are fed upon the rape, the flocks be- 
ing turned into the hurdles towards evening, 
and taken out and put into pastures where they 
can lie in the shade during the day. The hur- 
dles are shifted daily, the sheep having access 
to only so much as they can eat clean. When 
the rape is rank, they refuse the coarse stalks, 
which, in a younger state, they eat clean. After 
one or two days' feeding there is no difficulty 
in driving them, for as soon as they are let into 
the field they will break for the hurdles, neg- 
HURDLE FOR SHEEP; 
lectiug the most tempting bits by the way. 
These sheep are fed in this manner until fall 
turnips are ready, when they are hurdled upon 
them in the same manner. The flat strap-leaf tur- 
nip is usually employed, and the sheep eat them 
very clean, it being necessary to throw out with 
a potato hook the larger ones which are gnawed 
down to the surface of the ground. On these 
the sheep are kept until winter. Practice like 
this will enable small farmers to support quite a 
flock of these large, quiet, mutton-making sheep. 
The ground is admirably and evenly manured, 
and the whole system is exactly adapted to the 
most rigid requirements of " high farming." 
Exhibition Coops for Poultry. 
Who has not been distressed by the forlorn 
coops or cages which generally contain fowls 
and other poultry at exhibitions ? The difficul- 
ty of hitting upon just the right style, for con- 
venience, cleanliness, ease of packing- for ship- 
ment, ease of cleaning out, safety of the fowls 
and of their eggs, has led us to discuss the sub- 
ject somewhat, and try to induce our friends to 
contribute their good ideas. We have come to 
the conclusion that those people who are think- 
ing about it have made up their minds to get 
their ideas patented. We propose therefore the 
plan here described, as far better than anything 
we have yet seen, and shall be glad to present 
any superior one (not patented) to our readers. 
Fig. 1. — EXHIBITION COOP FOR FOWLS. 
The coop or cage, fig. 1, is made of six exter- 
nal pieces, and a drawer. The front, top, and 
back, are frames made of three-quarter-inch 
pine, halved, and screwed together with two 
small screws in each corner. Unannealed iron. 
