136 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Apeil, 
ness or slighting on the part of any one engaged 
in the work; it must all be done well and 
promptly. See that the seed furrows are opened 
in a straight line, to facilitate the after culture. 
The seed dropper should walk with a regular 
gait along the side of the furrow, letting the 
seed fall from his hand evenly, and as much as 
possible right in the middle. Let him stop when 
empty, and as soon as he has another handful, 
step on. In covering the seed row, the plow 
hand must be " wide awake," keep his plow 
under control, and see that the soil is sufficient- 
ly thrown over to cover all the seed. The most 
experienced hand should hold the scraper, other- 
wise too much soil will be "knocked off" here 
or not enough there, leaving the seed exposed 
in one place, and in another covered with earth 
so deeply as to endanger its never coming up. 
Depth to Cover Seed. — It need be but 
thinly covered. In light, dry soil an inch to two 
inches will be enough ; in heavier soil less. 
Fig. 1. — HAY BAKKACK AND COW STABLE. 
Jersey Hay Barracks— Roofed Stacks- 
The Poor Man's Barn. 
Last year we presented our readers some 
rather elaborate barn plans, and many com- 
plained that they were extensive and expensive, 
and had little interest for them. They were 
wrong in this, for the plans were full of good 
hints for ail. It occurred to us the other day 
that the structures, of which we give some 
engravings, were really very philosophically 
devised, and that many whose means do not 
permit them to build such barns as they would 
like to, might be profited by a lesson from the 
" Jersey Dutch." The affair called in New 
Jersey a " Hay Barrack" is really a stack 
cover — a light square roof, made to be raised 
and lowered, and set at any desired height be- 
tween four corner posts. These posts are about 
tight inches in diameter, and twenty-three to 
twenty-four feet long, and are set 3 to 3'| 2 feet 
in the ground. The roof is made upon the 
ground and then raised to its place, where it is 
held by pins. Thatched roofs are made by 
fastening four substantial rails (square or round) 
together by ganes aud pins near the ends ; 
to these rails light poles, many of which reach 
the peak of the roof, are fastened, and upon 
them thatch is laid, usually in a coarse manner. 
It is important that the roof should be very light. 
Hence thatched roofs are preferred, and bar- 
racks 12+'r2 arc- bettei than those of larger size. 
Another kind of roof is that seen in fig. 2, 
where hoards, the upper ends of which are not 
only sawed to fit, but chamfered off to match, 
are simply nailed together upon the ridges, and 
to the plates forming a " hip-roof." Sometimes 
Fig. 2. — BOAED ROOF TO BABKACK. 
they are battened on the ridges, and over the 
cracks between the boards, and sometimes not. 
Either of these roofs will last many years, and, 
as stack covers, save many times their cost. 
The lower part of the hay or straw stack is 
often protected from the cattle by perpendicular 
boarding, nailed to rails or studs set between 
the posts. This siding extends six to eight feet 
from the ground, as seen on the sides of fig. 1, and 
the transition is easy from this to the cow stable, 
which is there represented. In this case there 
are four strong rails or joists spiked to the 
posts at the desired height (say seven feet), and a 
flooring of boards or rails — the tighter the better — 
is laid upon them, and the hay, straw or grain 
is put above. Thus a 12 + 12 feet stable is 
made, and a door is swung as shown. There 
is room for three cows and a horse to stand 
comfortabh'. Holes may be cut or bored for 
ventilation if needed. If the side boarding 
is double, and leaves or straw are stuffed into the 
space between the sides, the stable will be a 
very warm one. If two or three barracks are 
placed close together, forming an angle or three 
sides of a hollow square, cows or horses may 
be very well protected in our severest winters. 
Another plan for a shed under the stack is 
seen in fig. 3. Common fence rails are set up 
against the rails which support the hay, and a 
few slabs driven into the ground on each side 
and nailed together to contract the entrance. 
The sloping sides may be thatched with spruce 
or hemlock boughs and sods, and thus made 
very warm and comfortable. This makes an 
excellent fowl-house also ; aud if the south side 
Fig. 3. — BABE ACS WITH SUED BENEATH. 
were to be glazed, two or three sashes being in- 
serted, and the whole made tight, it would be as 
good a winter laying house as could be desired. 
We remarked that the affair is philosophically 
devised. "Well made stacks keep hay as well as 
it can be kept in a barn. The difficulty is that 
it is expensive to thatch and rope a stack so as 
to make it shed water perfectly, besides vermin 
have a little freer swing at the grain and grass 
seed ; and when a stack is cut into or partly 
taken down, it is at once more or less seriously 
exposed to detriment by the weather. All trou- 
ble about covering and protecting against rain 
after the stack is used from is removed by this 
contrivance, and the warm, snug little stable be- 
neath, for a poor man, or for any one as a tem- 
porary expedient, may often be very convenient. 
m t ii Q ii 1 a 
Design in Feeding Stock, 
Some farmers fail to adapt their feed to the 
particular wants of their stock, as if all that 
was needed was to give them enough to eat. But 
different kinds of food produce different results. 
For example: if I have a steer, which is 
already well developed in bone and muscle, 
but which I wish to fatten for market, I should 
give him linseed or cotton-seed oil-cake, or 
Indian meal, or shorts. If I wish to encourage 
the growth of colts or calves, or other young 
animals, I should give them a variety of feed, 
but especially good hay, ground oats, or oats in 
the sheaf, cut tolerably fine. Corn meal, barley, 
and buckwheat are also useful for this purpose. 
A working team, whether horses or oxen, de- 
mand food which will supply the waste of mus- 
cle and a fair amount of fat. When spring 
work is about to commence, after seeing that 
my teams are reasonably fat, I shouldgive them 
oil-cake, oats, and good, bright hay, or cut 
straw. Oats (ground) wiil suppty muscle, and 
give greater power of endurance, in hard work 
or fast driving, than will corn meal. Then, to 
make the bill of fare complete, I should give 
an occasional meal of carrots, or potatoes, or 
turnips. These will aid the digestion, sharpen 
the appetite and promote the general heallh. If 
feeding for milk, I would continue this bill of 
fare in a measure, and give oil-cake, corn meal, 
shorts, or bran, with good hay or stalks cut 
fine, and roots, such as beets or carrots. G. 
■ i ^ o ■ — »-*■ 
The Sheep's Foot— Biflex Canal— Fouls, 
If we examine a sheep's foot externally we 
find the hoof or horn}' portion presenting three 
distinct forms. First, the outer walls, hard, 
horny, sometimes smooth, as is usually the case 
with the mutton breeds, as the Southdowns and 
Cottswolds — in others, much corrugated and 
rough, as with the Merinos. Second, the inner 
walls, or walls of the cleft, less firm, somewhat 
scaly aud fissured on the surface. Third, the 
sole, of much the consistence of the walls of the 
cleft, but thicker, and elastic from resting upon 
a soft, spongy cushion, which covers the bone, 
and forms in a measure the base of the heel. If 
we spread open the cleft between the toes, and ex- 
amine it closelj', we find a small hole, apparently 
in the skin, shown in fig. 1, into which the head 
of a pin may be easily passed. It is the mouth 
of what is called the "Biflex Canal," and is a 
peculiarity of the foot of the sheep, other cloven 
footed animals not having it. The canal, a3 
shown in section in fig. 2, is about an inch and 
a half in length, curved like a horseshoe, and 
has but one opening. The sheep books are par- 
ticularly vague in their allusions to the Biflex or 
Interdigital Canal, and it will, we doubt not, sur- 
prise many of our sheep raisers to know that this 
canal exists, and others that it is not an " issue" 
or mouth of some tube connected with a secre- 
