136 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[April, 
the expenses and profit of the enterprise: 
To 10 acres of marsh, $20 per acre, Dr.. $200 
To cost of reclaiming 300 
By 10 acres of reclaimed meadow, at 
$200 per acre 2,000 
Profit $1,500 
We have no douht the land 'will pay the in- 
terest on this sum, if nothing further be done 
for it. By sowing grass seed, top-dressing, and 
furlher draining, it can be easily made to pay 
the interest on three hundred dollars an acre. 
One of the largest crops of hay we ever cut 
upon this kind of meadow was from a top- 
dressing of mud, taken from a salt-water ditch. 
This mud lies in inexhaustible quantities within 
a stone's - throw of this reclaimed meadow. 
Three tons to the acre are not a large yield of 
bay for such top-dressed land. Hay is now 
selling in this locality for thirty dollars a ton. 
But at twenty dollars the crop would be worth 
sixty dollars an acre, and the cost of haymak- 
ing in good weather, with our improved imple- 
ments, is not over three dollars a ton. We are 
glad to notice the progress that is making in 
this class of improvements. 
Home-made Horse-powers Again. 
— « — 
Mr. J. K. Leonard writes : " I was much in- 
terested in the article on ' Home-made Horse- 
powers ' in the December Number of the 
American Agriculturist. I wish 
to have one under my barn, 
and as there would not be 
room between the posts that 
support the barn, I want to 
know if it would be practicable 
to run a hollow shaft around 
one of these posts, and what 
kind of bearing would be the 
best for the lower end of the 
shaft to run upon." — We think 
there would be no difficulty 
about constructing such a 
power. First, mark a circle, 
a a, fig. 1, not more than 12 
inches from the bottom of the 
post, and another as near the 
top as will leave room to oil 
the wheels. Then with a chisel 
cut a nick all round the post 
where you have marked, an inch deep, and in 
the form represented at a a, fig. 2. The bottom 
slope of the lower nick 
and the top slope of the 
upper one should then 
be covered by an iron 
ring, 'J 4 -inch thick and 
1 inch wide, to act as a 
railway for the small 
friction- wheels. This re- 
quires fitting with nice- 
ty. Perhaps the better 
plau is to have the ring 
screwed on in halves, 
when, by packing up 
one place and screwing 
down another, a level 
track can be made with 
small trouble. Then 
surround the post with 
a square box, b, b, b, b, 
as shown in the section, 
fig. 3, made of 3-inch 
pine. Let it be strong- 
ly spiked together, and 
banded wilh iron in three or four places. 
Get from a foundry eight small wheels, c, about 
6 or 8 inches in diameter and 'jciuch wide, with 
a bore of 1 inch. Each wheel must be fitted 
with an axle, d, fig. 2, 18 inches long, cramped 
at e to an angle of 45°, and with bolt-holes to 
bolt it securely to the box, b, as shown in fig. 2. 
Adjust them so that each wheel stands at the 
same angle, and presses equally upon the tram- 
way. The engraving is shown with beveled 
wheel-gearing; but 
the same principle 
is applicable to any 
other method of 
transmitting power. 
Make your sweep 
out of white ash or 
hickory, as long as 
your room will al- 
low. A great de- 
fect in many horse- 
powers is making 
the sweeps too 
short. A horse cannot exert his strength to 
so much advantage when walking in a circle 
15 feet in diameter as he can in one 25 feet in 
diameter; and it is preferable to get the speed 
by increasing the size of the driving-wheel, 
rather than by decreasing that of the horse- 
walk. If possible, therefore, make your sweep 
13 feet long, and 5 inches square at one end, de- 
creasing to 3 inches at the other. Select a 
straight grain, which may save you the trouble 
of replacing it at some future day, when you 
3. — SECTION. 
Fig. 1. — HOME-MADE HORSE-POWER. 
can ill afford to lose time. Saw it down the 
middle, as far as /, and secure it from splitting 
by a substantial iron hoop driven on over the 
end. Force the cleft open, wide enough to ad- 
mit the square shaft, b, about 2 feet to 2 feet 6 
inches from the ground. Let the cleft ends into 
the upright shaft, just enough to make them fit 
down close, and secure by two good bolts 
through the sides of the hollow shaft. Such a 
pole or sweep will be difficult to break, and has 
so much spring as to prevent jerking and irreg- 
ularity in the motion. 
Fig. 2. — SECTION OF 
WHEEL. 
Abortion in Cows. 
Mr. Charles L. Sharpless, well known as a 
breeder of Jersey cattle, has written an article 
for the Practical Farmer, in which he advances 
the idea that the tendency to abortion may be 
overcome by giving a rest to the generative 
organs. He says: "A neighbor, in the early 
spring of 1869. had thirteen cows which aborted. 
It happened when they were on winter keep, 
in January, February, and March. Instead of 
putting them to the bull in the summer, be 
adopted the suggestion of keeping them over 
until November, December, and January, which 
brought them to calve from August to October, 
1870. They all carried to maturity. This suc- 
cess, if understood, was reached from the fact 
that they had time to heal before being again 
stinted; and that after a good wintering, they 
came out on the grass of 1870 with the 
calves very young in them, before the aborting 
time, which is from five to eight months from 
conception." 
How far this explanation may be scientific, 
we are not prepared to say; but whether 
scientific or not, the fact of such decided success 
in practice must have great influence in deter- 
mining the owners of aborting cows to try the 
experiment. The experiment will be attended 
with no risk, save loss of time ; and it cer- 
tainly seems natural, that after such a shock to 
her system as the loss of a calf must occasion, 
the animal must be decidedly benefited by tho 
functional rest of the injured parts. If Mr. 
Sharpless means by the use of the word "heal," 
the cicatrizing of any open wound, we think 
that his reasoning needs the support of experi- 
mental proof; but if he means a general resto- 
ration to health, he.is probably quite right. 
Milk-fever. — Iu the same article, Mr. 
Sharpless makes some very sensible remarks on 
the subject of milk-fever, saying that there is 
danger of its occurrence in winter as well as in 
summer, in the case of very large milkers, or of 
animals in high condition. He recommends 
that such animals be restricted to an exclusive 
hay diet from the time they first begin to spring 
bag; advising the same treatment even in 
summer-time, unless the animal is kept in 
very close pasture, and shows no tendency to 
fatten. He advises, also, that a moderate 
feeding of hay, only, be continued until the 
fourth or fifth day after calving, at which 
time the full flow of milk is established, and 
the danger of puerperal fever has become slight. 
Mr. Sharpless suggests the propriety of giv- 
ing all cows a daily dose of aconite for two 
or three days after calving, increasing the fre- 
quency of the doses on the least indication of 
fever (hot horns, dry muscle, or glassy eyes). 
Mr. Sharpless, no doubt, wrote after much con- 
sideration of the subject, for it is less than half 
a year since he lost his best imported Jersey 
cow by milk-fever. In like manner, the writer 
of this article has had his attention drawn to 
the subject by the recent loss of a very fine 
native cow from the same disease, evidently 
brought on by the mistaken kindfress of her at- 
tendant, who kept her too fat before calving, 
and fed her too much immediately after. 
•-• ■ !■ 1 ■ 
Hitching a Horse. 
When a horse is hitched by a rope halter, 
tied in the common 
way, it often happens 
that by backing, the 
knot is drawn so tight 
that it is difficult to un- 
tie it. H. H. H, River- j 
side, Maine, sends us | 
his manner of over- 
coming the difficulty, 
illustrated by a dia- 
gram. Instead of tying 
the rope in the ring in 
the usual manner, with 
a slip-knot around the 
"standing" part, he 
puts the end of the rope 
up through the ring, 
as at A, in the engraving; it then passes crrer 
the ring at B, under the staple at C; over 
HITCHING-RINO. 
