216 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Junk, 
next day has arrived, open those cocks which 
■were made on lhe previous day — or two days 
may elapse without any injury — and as soon as 
they are all opened, by merely throwing over 
and loosening a little, 
commence to load 
and draw in until 
four o'clock. The ex- 
posure during load- 
ing and unloading 
removes all super- 
abundant moisture, 
and it goes into the 
barn or stack with- 
out losing a leaf, and 
With many of the 
blossoms still open- 
ing. By providing ventilators, as in figure 3, 
the moisture remaining and the heat of the 
fermentation pass off without any injury or 
doing any more than thoroughly curing the 
hay. With such bay, we have made 
butter of a high golden color in 
January and February in no wise 
inferior to that made in June. The 
cocks should be made high and nar- 
row'. The moist hay soon com- 
mences to ferment, and if put up at 
four o'clock will be found quite 
warm at ten o'clock at night; but 
the heat easily passes off at the sides, 
and carries the vapor from the hay with it. 
Fig. 1 shows the form in which we have built 
MAI -COCK ANI> CAP. 
Fig. 2. 
PEGS. 
Fig. 3. — FOUNDATION FOB A STACK. 
the cocks, and the mode in which we have been 
used to cover them. They may be made large 
enough to contain 300 pounds of bay, or eight 
to a load. The cap is merely a square piece of 
sheeting, which may be procured of any width 
from a yard, up to two yards, but a cap a yard 
square may be made to do good service, and 
will cost about twelve cents. The ends are 
hemmed, and at each corner an eyelet hole is 
worked, in which a loop of small cord is fixed. 
Pegs are to be made, either of a piece of shin- 
gle or of a twig, cut as figure 2. Hay thus pro- 
tected may stay in the field for a week without 
injury, and in windy weather the tops of the 
cocks will not be blown off. 
Stacking hay requires more care tbau is gen- 
erally given to it. If stacks can be made rain- 
proof the expense of buildings is saved. They 
may be built in this way and so finished off that 
there will be no waste in using the hay. A 
stack-yard to which cattle or hogs can not gain 
access, and near the barn or stables, is the best. 
Large Cows vs. Small Ones. 
Fig. 4. — PROPER FORM OF STACK. 
Here foundations (fig. 3) should be provided to 
raise the hay from the ground, on spots some- 
what elevated so that water will not collect 
beneath them. The pole in the center should be 
set in the ground firmly ; it will be a guide in 
building the stack, and will keep it from settling 
sideways and toppling over. The form shown 
in fig. 4. will be found perfectly rain-proof if the 
hay is well raked off from the sides as it is nar- 
rowed in, and the cap at the top neatly put on 
and kept tied closely to the post as the hay set- 
tles down. By making the stack quite steep 
the rain gets no chance to enter, and runs off 
freely at the eaves. In building, it is best to 
keep the hay well trodden down, and time is 
saved by having an extra hand on the stack for 
this express purpose. A ladder will be needed 
for the finishing off. A large sheet is very use- 
ful to have in readiness to cover the stack until 
it can be properly finished off. A straw rope 
should be passed across the top in two direc- 
tions, to prevent the wiud blowing the top 
loose, which would allow rain to enter, and 
should be lightly pegged down at the caves. A 
straw rope may be twisted with a crank hooked 
at one end, as in fig. 5. This simple machine 
may be fastened to a fence-post or the post of 
a shed or barn. Any kind of straw or coarse 
hay may be used, but it should be well wetted 
previously to using it. One man feeds the 
straw, walking backwards, and a boy or girl 
It is a very important and by no means a 
settled question, whether (other things being 
equal) large or small cows are the most profit- 
able. It is not a question between different 
breeds, but between large and small animals of 
the same breed. 
The following experiment, made in Germany, 
has a direct bearing on the question, so far as 
the production of milk is concerned. It does 
not necessarily apply with reference to the pro- 
duction of butter. Four Dutch cows were se- 
lected, two heavy (weighing together 2,112 lbs.) 
and two light (weighing together 1,537). The 
two pairs were kept separately, but they were 
fed exactly alike, each receiving as much green 
luceru as they would eat. The actual con- 
sumption of food, by weight, was recorded 
every day. At the end of sixteen daj'S the fol- 
lowing results appeared : 
1. The weight of the animals was unchanged. 
2. The heavy pair had consumed 4,921 lbs. 
of lucern, being 14'/ [0 lbs. 'per day for each 
100 lbs. of 1'ncir live weight; while the light 
pair consumed 3,859 lbs., or 1G lbs. per day for 
each 100 lbs. of their live weight. 
3. The heavy pair produced 272 quarts of 
milk, or 8'/ a quarts per day for each cow, while 
the light pair produced only 192 quarts, or 6 
quarts per day for each. 
4. The heavy pair produced 6 quarts of milk 
for each 100 lbs. of lucent consumed, and the 
light pair only 5 quarts. 
It is to be remarked that these animals seem 
to have been enormous feeders and very poor 
milkers. "We would like to sec a report of a. 
similar experiment with Ayrshires in the same 
condition, as to pregnancy, etc. 
Fig. 5. — TWISTING STRAW-ROPE. 
may turn the crank. Other contrivances for 
twisting a rope will readily suggest themselves. 
A Subsoil Plow. 
The benefits to be derived from subsoiling are 
so great and varied, that no farmer should hesi- 
A CHEAP SUESOILER. 
tale to provide himself with a subsoil plow, and 
use it on every possible occasion. We give a 
cut of a very simple and cheap plow which 
can be made by any blacksmith for a few dol- 
lars. It is made of '/ 3 x S'/a-inch bar iron, with 
a simple shovel-share, six inches broad. Tho 
handles are fastened with screw-bolts to tho 
beam, and braced. The uses for such an im- 
plement arc many. One horse can draw it when 
a depth office or six inches only is taken, which 
is sufficient for a commencement. A field may 
be subsoilcd wholly b}- taking furrows one foot 
apart, and two acres a day may be gone over. 
If run in the rows in which corn, potatoes, tur- 
nips, or beans arc to be planted, and across in 
the check rows, great benefit will be derived. 
Used constantly in these ways, the farm will 
soon bo completely gone over, and the soil 
loosened lo a depth of twelve or fifteen inches. 
In a few years this loosened subsoil will become 
mellowed, and may gradually be brought to the 
top and mixed with the surface soil, and all the 
