1872. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
455 
aud paste them on to the face of the mokl, the 
wrong way, and make a border to suit the fancy, 
in the same manner. Then take a small, sharp 
gouge, like the one shown in fig. 2, not larger 
than a quarter of 
an inch in dia- 
rneteiyind smooth- 
ly cut away the 
wood beneath the 
letters, making 
them deep enough 
to show well when 
printed on the 
butter. About a 
quarter of an inch 
■would be right. 
The depression 
should be neatly 
smoothed out, so as to make a neat, smooth 
print. A pretty border for a mold is a quan- 
tity of clover leaves ; they may be pasted 
on, and the wood then cut out as before 
described, or any other leaves would answer. 
Corn-Planter. 
Fig. 2.— BUTTER-MOLD. 
W. C. Detweiler, Northampton Co., Pa., 
writes as follows: "In 1872, May number of 
the Agriculturist, you give a representation of a 
corn-planter, and state that by widening the 
machine it might be made to plant 2 or 3 rows. 
I have used your drawing as a guide from which 
to construct one that will plant 3 rows. You 
will notice by examining the drawing that I dis- 
pense with the wheelbarrow frame, substituting 
anything, I would ask of 3-011 to suggest such 
improvements as you see fit.'' 
We give an engraving of the sketch sent by 
our correspondent, which has some very good 
points. The implement can be made by almost 
any one who can use tools, and will be found 
useful where corn is planted in large fields. 
Eight acres per day could be planted by such a 
machine. The audition of a roller, to follow the 
scraper, which covers the corn, would be an 
improvement, as would also be the enlargement 
of the wheels to 3 feet in diameter, and the 
making of three holes or cups in the seed- 
dropper. If the corn is to be dropped three feet 
apart, one cup in the seed-dropper will be 
needed for each foot in diameter of the wheels. 
The construction is easily seen in the engraving. 
The hopper for the seed is shown at a, the 
scraper which covers the seed at b, the plow 
which opens the furrow at <-. A separate figure 
of the plow is also given, which shows its con- 
struction, with the pin-holes by which the depth 
of furrow is regulated. The revolving cups and 
the shaft which carries them are shown at d, the 
wheels, made from plank, at e, and the frame 
plank (which is cut away in one place, to show 
the part of the hopper in which the seed-cups 
revolve) is shown at/ The hoppers should be 
separated at such a distance from each other, as 
will bring the rows in the desired position, either 
3 feet or 4 feet apart, as the case may be. 
Milk-Tester. 
AN IMPROVED CORN-PLANTER. 
therefor a frame of oak (or other hard wood) 
planks, say 2 inches thick and 1 foot wide, also 
causing the driving wheels to serve the pur- 
pose of the pulleys, thus saving labor in con- 
structing the machine, and the annoyance of 
slipping of the strap. The wheels I think should 
be 1 foot in diameter, thus causing a spread be- 
tween the hills of 3 feet l>y each revolution. (By 
putting 2 holes in the receiving cups, the wheels 
might be made 2 feet high, and so on, but I 
should prefer to nave them low, so as to prevent 
strain on the plows and scrapers.) The plows 
and scrapers are to be attached to wooden bars, 
which may be elevated or lowered, and fixed 
with a pin, so as to plaut deep or shallow. I think 
that we could, with such a machine, by putting 
several more holes in the revolving cups, plant 
heaus, peas, fodder-corn, etc., and by removing 
the plows, and attaching them to a cultivator, 
save extra ones for that purpose. 
"I am no farmer at present, but do intend to 
be ene shortly, and as I never intend to patent 
An instrument for testing the quality of milk 
by its density has been used in Germany, and 
is of sufficient value 
to be introduced here 
amongst those whose 
business makes it de- 
sirable to use such a 
test. It consists of a 
small table of wood, 
with raised sides, one 
of which is marked 
with a scale of degrees 
for ascertaining the 
comparative densities 
of different samples. 
"Within the raised 
sides a wooden frame, 
carrying two plates 
of glass, separated a 
quarter of an inch 
apart, is moved back 
and forth. The glass 
plates are cemented into the frame with 
shellac, so as to be water-tight. A spring, 
which holds a piece of candle of a certain size, 
is affixed to one end of the table. When pure 
milk is poured into the space between the 
glass plates, the frame holding them is pushed 
into such a position that the light of the candle 
can just be distinguished through the liquid. 
It is evident that if the milk should be diluted 
with water, it will be less opaque, aud the in- 
MILK-TESTEB. 
creased distance to which the frame must be 
moved to render the flame barely visible will 
become the comparative measure of the adul- 
teration. If foreign matter is suspended in the 
milk, its opacity becomes increased, and the 
lessened distance between the light and the 
frame made necessary to permit the light to be 
seen, shows the comparative impurity. Now 
that the milk question has become one of the 
leading problems waiting solution, it will be of 
interest to those whom it may concern to make 
for themselves one of these simple milk-testers. 
It is obvious that the candle used in these tests 
should be always of the same size and power. 
A piece of wax candle is preferable. 
Barn-Stairs. 
Barns and granaries are generally so much 
curtailed of available space, that it is an object 
to save as much 
as possible. 
Stairs are waste- 
ful of this need- 
ed space,and in- 
convenient and 
unsafe ladders 
and other sub- 
stitutes are very 
often used in 
place of them. 
We give an 
illustration of 
stairs for a barn 
or similar build- 
ing, which occupy only half the space of com- 
mon ones. It is seen that the steps are alter- 
nate ; aud while each has only the ordinary 
rise of say nine inches, yet each step, in per- 
pendicular bight, rises double this distance. 
A great saving of space is thus gained. 
BARN-STAIRS. 
Composting Sods. 
Being lately in Orange Count}', New York, 
1. — SOD-HOE. 
we saw a farmer busy doing valuable work, 
which might at this season be very profitably 
Fig. 3. — COMPOST HEAP. 
done by thousands of farmers throughout tho 
country. He was making manure. With the 
tool shown in fig. 1, he was cutting sods in a 
very roui;h, boggy meadow, covered with tus- 
socks and coarse grass and weeds. These he 
was piling up in heaps, with weeds gathered 
seemingly from his fields and fence-rows, and 
all arranged in layers, with lime between them 
as shown in fig. 2. This is quite a common 
plan in several European countries, and we 
should judge this farmer was an "adopted 
citizen," paying for the privilege of his citizen- 
ship by giving some new ideas to his neighbors. 
