398 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[August, 
gone over carefully, and putty and white lead 
be applied to every crack ; then two coats of 
paint ought to he laid on, the name painted on 
the stern, and she is ready for the launch. 
A pair of oars may be made of ash, or, what is 
preferable, a pair of paddles, like the 
one shown in figure C. When proper- 
ly made and used, paddles are much 
more convenient and efficient than 
oars. In using a paddle, one has his 
face to the front, and can see all ahead 
of him; in rowing, it is necessarily 
the opposite to this. If oars are used, 
rowlocks must be fitted on to the 
sides. To make a paddle, take a 
piece of inch board (cedar is the 
lightest and best, but an oak paddle 
is very durable), six inches wide; 
dress out the blade quarter of an inch 
thick at the edges, half inch at the 
center, gradually increasing the thick- 
ness towards the handle. The handle 
may be whittled down until it fits 
the hand comfortably, then dress it 
with sand-paper perfectly smooth, 
and rub with oil; a smooth handle 
will not blister the hands. A boat 
thus made will look very nicely, but 
if means and lime arc wanting to 
finish it as here described, a rough 
F'g- 6 - one may be put together very quickly 
and cheaply by using the same or lighter mate- 
rials in a rougher fashion. In place of three side 
hoards, one wide board (12 inches) may be used, 
and the seats laid across flush with the top. 
Brooms for the Stable and Barn-yard. 
*■ — 
A cleanly horse or cow stable is very de- 
sirable, and will be appreciated, especially by 
the women folks, who _. 
often * are troubled to 
find a clean spot win ic- 
on to place their milking. 
stool, to say nothing of 
their spreading robes. 
If cleanliness is next to 
godliness, in the bouse 
or person, very surely it 
is equally so in the 
stable or barn-yard ; 
many highly improper 
feelings and expressions 
arise through contact 
with dirt or filth, in 
places where it ought 
not to be. The want of 
brooms, or scrapers, is 
made an excuse for dirt lying about where it is 
not wanted, and this excuse is valid to a great ex- 
tent, as a stable-broom, fit to use, is rarely seen. 
The broom represented in figure 1, is made of 
twigs; birch being the best, as it is long and 
straight. Any stiff brush, however, will answer. 
Cut the twigs of a proper length — 30 inches will 
make a good broom — lav them in a box, made 
lit 
Fig. 1. — STABLE BROOM. 
Fig. :!. — BOX FOK MAKING BROOMS. 
like that shown in figure 2, draw them lightly 
together with the binders (fig. 3), which are 
stout sticks placed through eyes at the end of a 
short l'ope, wound once around the bundle; 
when pressed apart, they draw the twigs to- 
gether with great force. Tie two pieces of cord 
(which should have been already laid across 
the box in the slots) around the broom; when 
it, may be taken out and well bound with sev- 
eral rounds of strong tarred twine. For a han- 
dle take a slick long and stout enough, sharpen 
the point, and drive it into the center of the 
broom, until it has a good hold. The broom 
is then ready for use. It is hardly necessary to 
Fig. 3. — BINDER FOR BROOMS. 
say thai this is not a lady's broom ; and yet we 
have seen a lady handle one with vigor, rather 
than not have a clean place to milk in. 
Will it Pay to Cook Com for Hogs? 
Mr. J. M. Martin, of Louisiana, writes to t lie 
Amcrii'iin Agriculturist as follows: ''In the 
Agricultural Report of Missouri for 1870, 
Mr. A. E. Trabue asserts, after making 
very careful experiments, that Indian corn in 
the crude state is better for fattening hogs than 
when boiled or steamed. His report is so posi- 
tive, that, having had no experience myself, I 
am in doubt whether I shall make certain prepa- 
rations for cooking the grain. I am desirous to 
make my own pork, and had concluded to 
place several sugar-kettles in a convenient posi- 
tion for boiling and steaming food, but desisted 
after reading this report. I would be pleased to 
hear from you on Ibis subject." 
Remarks. — There are breeds or sorts of hogs 
that grow so slowly, that they can eat and di- 
gest more food than they can assimilate or turn 
into flesh and fat. For such hogs cooking the 
food would do no good, and probably by de- 
ranging the digestive organs aud bowels would 
do positive injury. 
On the other hand, we have breeds of pigs 
that are capable of assimilating more food than 
they can digest. They have little offal, are ex- 
ceedingly quiet, have been bred for generation 
after generation to simply eat, sleep, and grow 
fat. With such pigs, the main object of the 
feeder is to get them to eat and digest as much 
food as they are capable of assimilating or turn- 
ing into flesh and fat. Grinding aud cooking the 
corn, unquestionably renders it much more 
easily masticated and digested, aud there can 
not be a doubt that such well-bred pigs as we 
have alluded to, will gain much faster on 
cooked grain than on uncooked. The)' will eat 
more food, or at any rate digest more, and will 
grow faster in proportion to the food consumed, 
than those pigs which eat and digest less. We 
have frequently shown why this result must fol- 
low, and can at this time only say that our cor- 
respondent will find the whole subject thor- 
oughly discussed in "Harris on the Pig." 
Whether to cook or not to cook, then, de- 
pends a good deal on the kind of hogs, their 
age, breed, and condition. If we were going to 
fatten a lot of common hogs that had been pick- 
ing up their own living for eighteen months or 
two years, aud their ancestors for generations 
had been accustomed to this kind of treatment ; 
in other words, if they were slow-growing 
hogs, with a voracious appetite, and a stomach 
that could digest shoe-leather, we can see no 
use in cooking the corn for them. But if we in- 
tended to produce choice pork from pigs that 
mature early and fatten rapidly, we should, if 
going into the business on an extensive scale, 
certainly cook their food. — Eds. 
Harrowing for Different Effects. 
The operation of harrowing is next in import- 
ance to that of plowing. The ends to be at- 
tained are threefold, viz. : to reduce the soil to 
a fine, mellow condition, to kill weeds, aud to 
cover seeds. Now these three operations are 
widely different, and yet the same implement is 
in many cases used to effect them all. To re- 
duce the soil, a heavy harrow, driven with a 
rapid motion, is required; if sod grouud is to 
be reduced, a different style of tooth from the 
ordinary straight one is necessary ; to kill 
weeds, a light, wide-spreading barrow, witli 
sharp, straight teeth is wanted, that will tear 
up, and leave on the surface, every root aud 
sprout. The teeth of such a harrow should be 
long, sharp, and run closely. To cover seeds, 
a harrow that will draw the soil along the sur- 
face without penetrating deeply is needed, and 
for economy of time and labor it should cover 
a wide space. 
In making or procuring a harrow, the pur- 
poses to be served should be considered, and 
that one chosen which is best fitted to perform 
the work desired. The variety of harrows of- 
fered to fanners is so great, that one is almost 
bewildered in making a choice. 1?or pulverizing 
the soil, the Nishwitz harrow is, probably, not 
excelled; for dressing sod-ground, the Shares 
coulter-barrow is very effective ; for destroying 
weeds on ordinary fallows, the common, straight- 
tooth harrow (with sharp teeth) lias not yet 
been superseded ; while for finishing a surface, 
and covering grass or clover seeds, or harrowing 
grain in spring, the Thomas Smoothing-harrow 
is the best that we have used. 
Don't Sell the Beet Calves. 
A really choice cow will readily bring eighty 
to one hundred dollars. A cow that will make 
one pound of butter per day during six months, 
and half a pound per day during two or three 
months more, is cheaper at one hundred dol- 
ars, than a cow that will do half as 
much, would be at fifty dollars. Poor 
cows are more plentiful than good ones ; and 
where little or no attentiou is given to improv- 
ing the stock, good cows are fast becoming 
scarcer. If one wants to find good cows, he 
has to follow the track of a drover, who is 
constantly raking over the country places to 
supply the demand of the large towns and great 
cities. Thus the farming localities are being con- 
stantly depleted. But this would be of no damage, 
if the supply was kept up, and this constant 
draft replaced with young stock. Here lies the 
trouble. Not only are cows in demand, but 
calves are equally sought after. The farmer is 
constantly tempted by drovers and butchers, 
from far and near, to dispose of his calves. The 
majority of them can not withstand the flutter 
of a greenback ornamented with a large X. The 
choicest calves are, of course, selected, and these 
are generally from the best cows. Ten dollars 
is thought to be a good price for a calf four 
weeks old, and pays better than fifteen for a 
year-old animal. So would five dollars a bushel 
be a high price for potato sets ; but few farmers 
would be tempted to tear them out of newly 
planted hills for that money. But does he not 
