364: 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October, 
A Milking Stool. 
The following description of a milking stool 
is sent by Mr. Benj. F. Wilbur, whose address 
we have mislaid. He considers it preferable to 
any other he has tried. 
Take a piece of l'! a inch pine plank, 10 or 12 
inches wide, and 2 feet long. Pat in four legs, 
in such a manner as to bring the surface of one 
end of the plank 4 inches, and the other 6 inches 
high. Then take two strips, 10 inches long, 2 
MILKING STOOL. 
inches wide at one end, and 3 inches wide at 
the other. Nail these strips ou the edges of 
the high end of the plank, putting the narrow 
end of the strips at the upper end of the plank. 
On these strips nail a board for a seat. This 
brings the seat level, and leaves a clean platform 
for the pail, and by its being slanting, inclines 
the pail towards the cow. It brings the pail at 
a convenient distance from the ground, relieves 
the milker from holding it between his knees, 
and gives freedom to the feet and legs. 
» i « ♦— <-*■ 
Income prom the Dog Tax in England. — 
The licenses numbered nearly 700,000 in 1867, 
against nearly 409,000 in 1866, and in Scotland 
80,000 against 36,000 in 1866. This increase 
in the number of licenses is not to be at- 
tributed to any increase in the number of the 
dogs, but to the more faithful execution of the 
law. Estimating the taxed dogs in Ireland at 
220,000, it would make the whole number for 
the United Kingdom about 1,000,000. As the 
tax is twelve shillings, it would make the in- 
come about $3,000,000 in gold. The number of 
dogs in this country is estimated at 7,000,000, 
and alike tax, ($3 each,) upon them by our na- 
tional government, would give lis $21,000,000 
of revenue. This would help pay our national 
debt, and be a great relief to sheep owners. 
Remedy for the Worn-Out Lands of the 
"West. 
The cultivator of the river bottoms and of 
the prairies, where corn has been grown for fifty 
years in succession, may smile at the idea of 
exhausted lands, and yet they are to be found 
in his region, if not in his immediate vicinity. 
There is much land in Ohio and Indiana, back 
from the bottoms, that will not yield, this 
year, more than thirty or forty bushels of corn 
to the acre — lands that when they were first 
cleared were good for seventy or eighty bush- 
els. They are not so much exhausted as the 
New England hill-sides, where nothing but 
Mullein and Johnswort, Penny Royal and Five- 
fingers, will grow, yet much of their fertility 
has gone, and they yield small profit to the own- 
ers. The land that produces only half a crop, 
is what we call worn-out or exhausted. A large 
part of the cultivated farms in the older West- 
ern States, is already in this condition. It has 
been brought about by constant cropping with 
grain, and returning no manure. Corn, wheat, 
oats, and grass, have followed each other in 
constant succession, and nothing has been done 
to improve the soil. The whole management 
has been with reference to immediate profit, 
and the expectation of soon selling the farm. 
The remedy for this is permanent occupation 
and a course of husbandry that looks to the in- 
creasing productiveness of the soil. We com- 
mend to the careful study of this class of farmers, 
the rotation of crops followed in Pennsylvania, 
and noticed in our August issue. For the kind 
of farming pursued in the grain districts of the 
West, we know of nothing better, and we would 
only change it in introducing barn cellars or 
sheds, for the saving and composting of manures. 
Lime comes in as a part of this rotation, and 
in many parts of the West lime rock is quite as 
abundant as in Pennsylvania, and it can be 
manufactured quite as cheaply. The same kind 
of lime rock exists along the line of the rail- 
roads in Ohio, where cuttings had been made, 
and more than half of the State of Indiana is 
underlaid by lime. Coal, too, abounds, often in 
the same districts, and where it does not, wood 
is plenty 7 , and often burned in immense piles to 
get it out of the way. As we have shown in 
our September issue, the burning of lime is a 
veiy simple process, and any one who can man- 
ufacture charcoal, can manage a lime stack. 
This article is needed upon these partially worn 
soils, and would work very beneficial changes. 
In connection with this, or without it, if lime 
cannot be had, clover should be used as a part 
of the course. We were surprised to see so 
few clover fields in the West. The value of the 
plant as a renovator of the soil is not at all un- 
derstood in that region. For the class of lands 
indicated, it is the most remunerative crop that 
can be sown. It makes good fodder. The seed 
briugs a good price in market. Above all, it is 
a most valuable renovator of the soil, whether 
it be fed off or turned under with the plow. 
More clover means more wheat, more corn, 
more cattle ; and more cattle means more ma- 
nure and richer land, if the farmer will see to it. 
Any one who can estimate the difference between 
thirty and seventy bushels of corn to the acre 
can tell whether this kind of farming will pay. 
The Osage Orange as a Hedge Plant. 
This plant has been more extensively tried 
for hedges at the West, than any other, and with 
fair success. The verdict of the people is by no 
means unanimous in its favor, nor was this to 
be expected in a region where labor is very 
scarce, and where the training of hedges was 
an art to be learned. North of forty-two de- 
grees of north latitude, the plant is tender and 
is liable to be injured during the winter, making 
sad breaks in the hedge row. We recently 
passed through the State of Indiana, and were 
agreeably surprised to see the popularity of this 
hedge. The plant everywhere seemed in per- 
fect health, and the only fault noticeable was the 
rampant growth of the hedges. In many cases 
they bad been left to their own course, and had 
formed a dense screen twenty or thirty feet high. 
The only fault found with it that we heard of 
was that it did not make a tight hedge — to keep 
out pigs and fowls. This we think is entirely 
owing to the neglect of training in the early 
stages of growth. It is thought eutirel} 7 prac- 
ticable by the friends of this hedge to make it 
hog proof. Messrs. Fowler & Earl, of Lafayette, 
Iud., have recently planted many miles of this 
hedge upon their large farm in Benton County, 
pursuing the following method : 
As the farm was located in a new country, 
they put the line of the outside hedge 30 feet 
from the line of ownership, to make room for a 
highway. The turf was broken as for corn in 
the month of June, for ten feet on each side of 
the proposed hedge. The following Mayit was 
harrowed and back furrowed, and one-year-old 
plants set out on the line, 9 inches apart. The 
ground for the whole twenty feet is kept culti- 
vated for three years. Then the plants are 
about one-half cut off, 3 or 4 inches above the 
surface of the ground, as shown in the illus- 
tration. They are bent over at an angle of 
45 degrees, and new shoots start from the 
stumps, crossing the inclined stems and making 
a very compact fence. This method was pub- 
HEDGE AFTER LOPPING. 
lished in the Agriculturist several years ago, 
and it is pretty good evidence of its value that 
it has been adopted by these gentlemen on so 
large a scale. The Osage Orange hedge can be 
planted for twenty-five cents a rod, including 
the preparation of the soil. At three years old 
it is estimated that the hedge will cost 65 cents 
a rod. This makes a cheap and durable fence, 
and answers the purpose of a screen as well. 
Storing Root Crops. 
Heavyfrosts often come the last of this month, 
and it is quite important that sugar beets and 
mangels should be housed before the crowns 
are frozen. Carrots and turnips are not dam- 
aged by light freezing, and often grow through 
the month of November in this latitude, and 
the only risk in leaving them out is in the sud- 
den setting in of winter. The earlier potatoes 
are put in a dark cellar after they get their 
growth the better. They should be stored in 
small bins where they can be examined easily 
for the first indications of rot. The tops of 
turnips, beets, and carrots, make excellent feed 
for cows, and if the pastures fail they will be 
found a welcome addition to their bill of fare. 
The}' will pay for carting, as one cannot turn 
the cows into the field where they are grown. 
The practice of feeding roots in the winter is 
steadily gaining in all the Eastern States. 
Saner Kraut. 
Our native Americans turn up their noses nt 
this preparation of cabbage, and many do at the 
article itself, no matter how it may be dressed 
for the table. Tet cabbage is a great institu- 
tion, and is growing in favor among all classes 
of laboring people. As an adjunct of the farm- 
er's boiled dinner it is indispensable. The Saner 
Kraut is a convenient preparation of the article, 
easily^ made, and easily preserved for use where 
the fresh article cannot be had. By our Ger- 
man fellow citizens it is generally preferred to 
the cole-slaw, or boiled cabbage. 
To save the labor of cutting it by hand, 
various machines are employed, one of which, 
simple, and easily made at home, is thus de- 
scribed by a German correspondent : " Com- 
mon corn knives are used for the cutting part 
of the machine, and are fitted into a bed plate, 
or frame, fig. 1. This consists of a heavy oak 
plank with ledges, shown also in end view in 
