1867 
AMERICAN AGRICDLTUEIST. 
57 
stable. Slow torture at the stack ought to be 
abolished by statute. The inau who practices 
it needs an overseer to keephirn out of the poor 
house. Connecticut. 
Fig. 1. — SECTION OF MANGER AND FOLLOWER. 
How to Hang " Followers " in Horse 
Mangers. 
"Where there is a feeding alley, " followers," as 
they are usually hung, are a nuisance, in fact 
cannot be used. The Follower, as it is called, is 
a rack laid in the mauger, which rests upon the 
fodder and prevents the horse throwing it out. 
Fig. 1 exhibits a section of a manger with a fol- 
lower adapted to use hr connection with a feed- 
ing alley. It is hung on double-jointed hinges, 
made of pieces of heavy plate iron, with holes 
punched in each end, measuring, from the edge 
of one hole to the center of the other, half the 
width of the manger-front. 
Fig. 2 represents the follower banging over 
n h. the front of 
- the manger 
into the al- 
ley. The en- 
graver has 
represent e d 
V'lJ I lis an extra bar 
across the 
Fig. 3. — FOLLOWER TURNED BACK. top, Whicllis 
unnecessary. The follower is made of '| 6 -inch 
round iron, of a rectangular shape, to fit the 
manger, not reaching quite to the bottom as 
it hangs when the manger is empty, and hav- 
ing a free space of some 3 or 4 inches be- 
tween the follower and the edge, and an equal 
space on the sides. Rather an elaborate hinge 
to be screwed on the front rail, is 
shown in fig. 2 ; but this is not 
necessary, as a much simpler 
contrivance, which any black- 
smith will make, will answer 
equally well. "With a follower 
of this kind, the hay, cut feed, or anything of 
that kind, may be thrown in from the feeding 
alley, the follower being turned over outside the 
manger and banging in the alley, entirely out of 
the way. The use of a follower may not be ap- 
parent to farmers who have a great abundance 
of hay and no market for it ; but in districts 
where hay is worth from 1 to l'| 2 cenls per 
pound, even small daily wastes will be seriously 
felt at the end of the season. 
Composting Manure. — Much can be done at 
this season to prepare manures for the field, or 
for spreading wherever they are wanted. "With 
all that has been written and said upon the com- 
post heap, few are aware of the importance of 
absolute fineness in fertilizing matter. 
One element in the immediate effects of guano 
is the extreme fineness to which the particles 
arc reduced. The success of liquid manures is 
owing, in part, to the same cause. The finer 
we can make our fertilizers the better for imme- 
diate results. In the compost heap, at this sea- 
son, there are three agencies at work to reduce 
the coarser particles of the manure, viz. : man- 
ipulation, fermentation, and frost. After the 
heap is formed in the usual manner with alter- 
nate layers of fresh manure and other material, 
and gone through with the first fermentation, it 
should be carefully forked or shoveled over, 
changing the whole mass, from top to bottom, 
and breaking all the lumps. The more thor- 
oughly this is done the better. A new fermen- 
tation takes place inside, while the surface 
freezes and thaws with the changes of the 
weather. Labor upon the compost heap now 
will tell upon the growing crops next summer. 
Barn Doors, Fastenings, Etc. 
The discussion of any subject in the columns 
of the Agriculturist has the effect to set people 
thinking, and as a result we gather a crop of 
suggestions and new ideas which are often very 
valuable. We discussed barn-door fastenings 
not long since, and 
after the first publica- 
tion had numerous 
suggestions, of which 
our readers had the 
benefit. Next to loose 
floors and springy cel- 
lars — swinging great 
doors are the greatest 
nuisance that a man 
can encumber his 
barn with. They are 
not only unwieldy, 
ever slamming and 
Fig. 1.— LATCH. 
getting out of order, hard to fasten open, or 
shut, but really dangerous to life and limb to 
both men and animals. Sliding doors are the 
only suitable ones for outside barn-doors, 
large or small, and they are so easily hung 
and kept in repair, if well made, that, in point 
of economy simply, they are superior. Be- 
sides, they may be opened wide enough for 
a cat to enter, or to give a little change of air, 
or as easily, opened wide enough for a horse or, 
for a load of hay. No wind moves them ; there 
is no sagging, and no trouble from snow-drifts 
outside, or from snow and rain blowing in over 
the top. These doors are hung by cast iron 
" hangers," — groved wheels bolted fast to the top 
of the door. These run upon an iron rod, well 
supported upon a bar or rail, crossing over the 
doorway, and extending to a distance beyond 
equal to the width of the door. This is pro- 
tected by a little roof-like door-cap which, how- 
ever, need not extend much beyond the width 
of the door. These doors may indeed be con- 
structed and 
braced in the 
usual way, but 
are best made 
of two thick- 
nesses of well- 
seasoned s |i-in., 
clear, matched 
stuff. On the 
inside, boards of 
any convenient 
width may be used, and should be horizontal. 
The outside should be of boards only 4 or 5 iueh- 
es wide, and put on at an angle of 45°. To 
give additional strength, a board 10 or 12 inches 
wide may be put across the top, outside, and 
8-iuch battens across the bottom and sides. 
It is a matter of considerable interest to know 
how to fasten these doors securely and easily. 
They are usually fastened on the inside with a 
hasp and pin, or with a hook; if these are not 
securely pinned they can be opened with a knife 
from the outside, and simple inspection does not 
tell whether they are secure or not. Dr. Hex- 
amer, of Westchester Co., many of whose con- 
trivances for saving steps and labor about the 
barn are very good, uses latches on the follow- 
ing plan. Figure 1 shows the latch of a double 
barn-door, which is simply a fiat hook and sta- 
ple with a pendant piece of iron, of the shape 
shown, above the staple, and so hung that 
when the hook is in it must be fastened. It is 
easily seen from the inside whether it is so or 
not, and an attempt to open the door from the 
outside will also reveal the fact. 
Figure 2 is a self-fastening latch for a single 
sliding door. The catch is in a gain in the inside 
of the post against which the door shuts, and 
the latch may be in a similar gain, or in a mor- 
tice in the door. This arrangement may some- 
times be conveniently reversed by putting the 
latch in a mortice in the door post, iu which case 
there should be a strong outside batten project- 
ing as far as the latch does, to guard animals 
and men from harm from it, as well as to pro- 
tect it from injury. 
One door of every barn should lock from the 
outside. This will seem folly to many people, 
but we know that many barns are burnt by the 
pipe-fire of wandering "tramps," who always 
sleep in unlocked barns if the}' can, and that 
harness and other things are stolen in all parts 
of the country, more or less. It is usually best 
to lock one of the small doors, which should 
be hung on the inside, and locked with a strong 
hasp and good padlock, chained to the door. 
_ .♦. V. 
Tim. Bunker on the Food Question. 
" I knew we should catch it to-day," said 
Selh Twiggs, as he came into our house on the 
evening of Thanksgiving day, and seating him- 
self comfortably upon the settle, blew a ring of 
smoke out of his mouth, as if it had been shot 
out of a rifle. " The Parson ginerally hits the 
nail on the head, and hit it square to-day, no 
mistake. "We have sent off too many of our 
boys to the city. There isn't so much breadstuff 
raised in Hookertown as there was lift}' years 
ago, and if it keeps on at this rate, somebody 
has got to starve bye and bye." 
" That is to say, if every place is just like 
Hookertown," I responded. 
Neighbor Twiggs' remark had reference to 
Mr. Spooner's Thanksgiving sermon, which was 
pretty much like all his sermons, whether on 
Sundays or not, " a word in season." You see, 
Mr. Spooner, like myself, belongs to the old 
school of folks, who have got so accustomed to 
making up our own minds on public questions, 
that we can't afford to take our opinions second 
hand. You see, most people around here in 
Connecticut have got a dreadful hankering after 
city life and fashions. They want something 
better than farming for their sous and daugh- 
ters, though, according to my notion, farming, 
taking the long run, pays better than any other 
calling upon the face of the earth. The boys 
that grow up around here are smart, and would 
probably do well at almost any thing, if they 
had a fair chance. But Hookertown can't hold 
'em any more than a pot can hold boiling water. 
Some of them have gone down South to try 
their fortunes, some to the West, but more to the 
City, which threatens to swallow up the coun- 
