-116 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
from $100 to $150. Willi good corn I have no 
doubt "the machines could husk from one-third 
to one-half faster. Still, even at that rate the 
saving in cost would not be very great; and in 
fact this is true of thrashing machines and many 
r:ther labor-saving implements. Their real ad- 
vantage consists in enabling us to do the work 
in a shorter time. It often happens that we do 
not get through husking until late in the fall, 
and the value of the stalks is reduced one-half 
from exposure to storms and from being stacked 
in poor condition. 
There is one effect of the husking machines 
that requires investigation. They crush the 
stalks; and it remains to be ascertained whether 
this is an advantage or a detriment. My own 
impression is that the juices in the stalk would 
ferment and the sugar be converted into alcohol, 
and perhaps into vinegar. The machines, as 
yet, do not leave the stalks in such a state that 
they can be easily tied into bundles. They 
would have to be stacked loose as they come 
from the machine. I hope and believe that all 
these difficulties will be overcome, and that we 
shall soon have a machine that will do the 
work to perfection. 
Nothing particularly new was brought out in 
1 lie way of Potato Diggers. A great deal of 
time and money have been spent by scores of 
inventors, but as yet they have failed to give us 
anything more than machines that are, as the 
pomologists say of new fruits, " worthy of trial." 
Several of them dig the potatoes tolerably well, 
but all fail in not separating them from the soil. 
The cheapest way to dig potatoes is to raise 
a big crop. It requires no more labor to dig an 
acre that yields 300 bushels than an acre that 
yields only 75 bushels. In fact, if, as is usually 
the case, the poor crop is smothered in weeds, 
it would cost more to dig it than the good crop. 
If it costs $15 per acre iii both cases, the poor 
crop would cost 20 cents per bushel and the 
good crop only 5 cents per bushel to dig them; 
and now that the potato disease has almost en- 
tirely disappeared, there is no good reason why 
we should not manure our land for potatoes, 
and raise large crops. At any rate, we certainly 
can cultivate the land sufficiently to keep it clean, 
and this alone would partly lessen the expense 
of digging the crop. I have more faith in 
lessening the expense of raising potatoes by 
means of manure and good cultivation than I 
have from the use of potato planters and potato 
diggers — though we shall have both in due time. 
Irrigating Meadows. — Some people appear 
to think that the chief object in irrigating grass 
land is to furnish water during the dry, hot- 
weather of summer. In some arid climates this 
is the case; but as a general rule the benefits of 
irrigation are derived from water flowing on 
the laud during the late fall, winter, and early 
spring months. And there are many places 
where side-hill meadows might be easily irri- 
gated from streams which run only at these sea- 
sons of the year. We have seen a rude dam 
that, thrown across such a stream, directed 
i lie water over several acres of poor grass 
laud and caused it ic oroduce heavy crops of 
hay. Now is the time to r„;tend to this matter. 
Build a dam high enough to ca::.se the water to 
overflow the banks, and then plow out or dig a 
channel for the water at right angles from the 
stream. Dam up this channel and let the water 
overflow, running in a thin sheet over the laud. 
This is a rude method of irrigation, and a very 
inadequate description of it; but still may induce 
spine of our readers to avail themselves of the 
water which now 1 runs uselessly down their hill- 
sides at this season of the year and in the spring. 
Fencing Flooded Fields. 
a 
Many solutions have been attempted of the 
problem how to enclose fields liable to be flood- 
Fig. 1.— FENCE FOR FLOODED LANDS. 
ed ai 1 washed by freshets, bearing ice, flood- 
wood, uprooted trees, etc., in a way to be effec- 
tive, and yi not have the fences washed away 
as often as the water rises. Several plans have 
been suggested and carried out which have been 
more or less successful. The Connecticut River 
meadows are not fenced as a rule, except at cer- 
tain points where the conformation of the head- 
lands turns the ice and drift-wood away ; for no 
ordinary fence could stand before the flood which 
brings down cakes of ice a foot or two in thick- 
ness, and perhaps covering an area of one or 
two square rods, or it may be square acres in ex- 
Fig. 2. — RAIL PROPERLY SHARPENED. 
tent. The up-stream sides of the trees are de- 
nuded of bark, scarred, and bruised. There 
are, however, many streams, the meadows along 
the banks of which are not swept by such im- 
petuous floods, where ordinary fences are very 
unstable property. 
In these situations Soft Maple-trees will al- 
most always grow vigorously. They afford 
shade, and finally fire-wood. They will bear a 
great deal of bruising and barking without 
either decaying at the heart, or being seriously 
damaged. This flooded laud is ordinarily rich, 
and in four or five years from the time they are 
set out, they will be strong enough to mortise 
rails into,so as in time to make a fence like the one 
showu in fig. 1. The rails should be good ones, 
preferably of chestnut, and the ends not sharpen- 
ed thin, but holding a good thickness, though 
sharpened somewhat like those of the common 
post-and-rail fence; fig. 2 represents the end of 
a rail properly sharpened. It is not necessary 
to use maples, for in all probability white wil- 
lows, cotton-woods, certain kinds of poplar, all 
of which are very easy to 
transplant, would do equally 
well. The trees should be set 
12 feet apart on the exact line, 
and stayed on the up-stream 
side by a stake driven as 
shown in fig. 3, to which the 
young tree is bound with 
straw at a bight of about 4 
feet. This serves as a de- 
fence both against damage by wind and water, 
and to some extent, by cattle. The band must 
be removed iu the course of the first summer, 
if the tree makes vigorous growth, and as soon 
as it is substantially rooted, it should be removed 
altogether. This fence, when well established, 
is a picturesque and beautiful object ; and one 
forgets the disagreeable scars on the trunks in 
admiration of the beautiful rows of trees, that 
replace the uusightl} 7 " posts, of the common post- 
and-rail fences, which are 
always rotting off, or heav- 
ing by frost-; and unless 
newly set, are frequently 
becoming insecure. In cases 
where there is a liability to 
have the .rails broken by 
flood-wood or ice, and yet 
where the stream is not very 
violent, a fence like the one 
shown in figure 4, has been 
found very good. Half the 
number of trees is set, and 
posts are placed between 
them. The fence pauels are 
made of strips of pine or 
spruce wood of any con- 
venient pattern, the principal top and bottom 
rails being of not less than l'| 2 -inch stuff. The 
ends of the panel rails next the trees rest in 
sockets of iron, (of the form shown enlarged in 
fig. 4, above the fence,) which are driven into the 
trees. The other ends are supported upon a 
cross-bar nailed upon the posts and held in 
position by cleats nailed on, or by buttons. One 
of each pair of pan- 
els is chained to the 
tree which supports 
it, and the other is 
chained to its fellow. 
These chains may be 
made very cheaply oi 
stout iron wire. When 
the freshet comes the 
fence is raised up and 
floats free from the 
post; and of course 
this allows the ends 
attached to the trees 
to draw out Of the 
sockets, and each pair 
of pauels floats, 
fastened to the tree to 
which it is chained, 
as shown in figure 5. 
The fence, if well put 
together, will with- 
stand very hard usage 
from swift currents, 
floating logs, etc. The 
use of carriage bolts instead of nails at the four 
corners of each panel, is advisable. Breachy 
cattle if they learn how, may prove troublesome 
if placed in a lot inclosed by this fence ; but it 
has such a substantial look and is so firm unless 
lifted up bodily, that no trouble will ordinarily 
be experienced. Should the necessity arise of 
having it absolutely secure, movable wooden 
pins may easily be placed in the crossbar of 
Fig. '3. — YOUNG 
STAKED. 
the post, and the sockets in the trees closed 
above so that the rails could not be lifted out. 
In case of arise of water, it would be necessary 
