1871.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
137 
the ring again at D, under the rope at E; and 
over the ring at F. This, lie claims, will not 
get drawn tight, and will not untie itself, 
Curing small Skins. 
The market value of a skin is greatly affected 
by the care taken in removing it from the ani- 
EOW STRETCHER. 
mal, and in drying it. The common way for 
boys in the country is to tack the skin to the 
barn-door and let it remain stretched until quite 
dry. The trapper in the woods, having no such 
convenience as the barn-door at hand, is obliged 
to resort to other methods. One plan is to dry 
the skin on a hoop. A skin to be dried in this 
manner must not be ripped down the bally, 
but it is cut from the lower jaw of the animal 
to just below its fore-legs; the lips, eyes, and 
ears being cut around, the skin is stripped off, 
leaving the fur side inward. The hoop consists 
of a branch of hickory or other elastic wood, 
an inch through at the butt. This is bent and 
pushed into the skin, which is drawn tight, and 
fastened in place by notches in the bow, draw- 
ing the skin of the lip into these notches, as in 
figure 1. A much neater way, and one gener- 
ally preferred, is to use stretchers of thin wood. 
As these have to be carried by the trapper, they 
are made of light wood and very thin. They 
are 3 |is of an inch thick, 20 inches long, 6 inches 
■wide at the larger end, and slightly tapering. 
They are rounded to a blunt point at the lower 
end, and the edges chamfered. The skin is drawn 
over the board, as in figure 2, and secured with 
tacks. Skins stretched by either of these methods 
should not be dried in the sun nor by a fire, but 
in a cool place where they will be sheltered 
Fig. 2.— BOARD STRETCHER. 
from the rain. No salt or other preservative 
is used upon skins intended for the market. 
« I «n >-» 
Saving Timber. — It may be we are all right 
on fuel, and that the coal basins and peat swamps 
are inexhaustible. Should these fail, it may 
be that we have oxygen and hydrogen enough 
in the water to give us lights and fuel for all 
coming time. But these substances can never 
supply the innumerable other uses to which we 
apply wood. Ten millions of acres ef wood- 
land are said to be swept off every year by our 
present population, and the destruction is con- 
stantly increasing. This must eventually make 
some impression even upon a continent. Alaska 
and St. Domingo will not supply us with tim- 
Iwr. For the good of the whole country, for 
ils highest productiveness, we want at least one- 
fifth of its whole surface covered with forest. A 
wise regard to his own pecuniary interests 
should lead every farmer to retain at least a 
fifth part of his laud in wood. Timber is con- 
stantly appreciating in value. He can not bet- 
ter provide for his old age, or leave a safer in- 
heritance for his children. 
Another Portable Fence. 
The Rev. W. B. Wells, Butler Co., O., sends 
a model of a post for a movable fence, which 
he has tried with much satisfaction. The en- 
graving will show the construction. The up- 
right portion of the post consists of two boards, 
fixed wide enough apart to allow two boards of 
the feuce to enter the space between them, and 
rest upon pins placed for the purpose. A post 
like this is used for the reception of the ends 
of the fence-boards, and an intermediate one 
is used for each pannel to support them in the 
POST FOR PORTABLE FENCE. 
center. This middle post has the 
only wide enough to admit one board. 
space 
Bringing in Clover. 
White clover will not come into any soil by 
any process whatever where the seed is not al- 
ready sown. On most old meadows and pas- 
tures, the seeding has been going on for many 
generations ; and it is so abundant, that when 
the land is laid down to grass, no white clover 
seed is sown with the timothy aud red-top. It 
takes care of itself, and is seen in the hay and 
aftermath for several seasons, and then disap- 
pears. It is highly esteemed for hay, and 
makes the best of dairy feed. This very desir- 
able feed may be secured in many old pastures 
by sowing plaster at the rate of a bushel or two 
to the acre. The action perhaps has never 
been satisfactorily explained, but it does act, 
and the dormant seeds sprout, and the field is 
thickly strewn with clover blossoms the next 
season. In many districts, the pastures have 
been completely renovated, and are kept in 
high condition by this cheap fertilizer. Feeding 
with sheep on some farms greatly increases the 
growth of white clover. Spreading stable 
manure, compost, or ashes, secures the same 
result. Burning over old pastures, especially if 
infested with briers and brush-heaps, helps the 
growth of clover and the grasses. Sometimes 
scarifying an old moss-bound sod with a har- 
row has an excellent effect, and gives a new 
start to the grass. Almost auy pasture will 
improve by close feeding, if the animals are 
suffered to remain upon it at night. 
Traps for the Muskrat and Bear. 
In the article upon " Trapping the Bear and 
Muskrat," given last month on page 94, we had 
not space to give engravings of the traps in use. 
MUSKRAT TRAP. 
Good trappers, after trying various devices, 
have fallen back upon some modification of the 
old steel-trap. Many of the traps found upon 
sale are nearly worthless. They either lack 
power to hold the animal ; the jaws are so thin 
as to cut off the animal's leg by the spring of 
the trap ; or there is some defect in the moving 
parts that prevents the trap from springing 
with the requisite quickness. An old trapper 
is as particular about his traps, and is as well 
acquainted with their peculiar merits and de- 
merits, as is a huntsman with his rifle or shot- 
gun. For the muskrat, mink, etc., the trapper 
chooses as light a trap as possible, as large 
numbers have to be carried on an expedition. 
Those in use are but little larger than the com- 
mon rat-trap, but are made with a spring strong 
enough to hold a larger animal than the musk- 
rat, if necessary. Figure 1 shows one of the ap- 
proved forms. For the bear, a very powerful 
trap is required, like that in figure 2. It differs 
from the traps for smaller animals in having 
two powerful springs. The jaws have a spread 
of some 16 inches. In the one figured the jaws 
are furnished with strong teeth ; but the utility 
of these is a point upon which experienced 
woodsmen are not agreed. The pan is small 
in proportion to the size of the jaws, in ordet 
to bring the animal's leg as near as possible to 
the center. To retard the movements of the 
Fia 
-BEAR TRAP. 
animal a strong chain is attached to the trap, 
and is terminated by a three-pronged grapnel, 
or attached to a heavy clog. 
Coal-Ashes for Earth-Closets. 
If there is any truth in the idea that reforms 
are to be spread by dint of giving " line upon 
line and precept upon precept," we shall be 
justified in recurring again and -again to the 
simple means by which all persons in town and 
