DIMENSIONS OF A CART TO HAUL SHOCKS OF CORN, ETC. 
49 
a desire to sit ; and in my opinion it is far better 
than the cold-water cure. I have known Eng- 
lish fowls lay in three weeks afterwards."* But 
why not let the poor creatures obey their natural 
propensity] Or, surely, some neighbor would 
gladly exchange a laying hen for one that wanted 
to sit. Others, borrowing an ancient piece of 
barbarism, recommend a large feather to be 
thrust through the nostrils ; that she may rush 
here and there in terror, and give up all thoughts 
of sitting. The wisest way is to guide, instead 
of thwarting the impulse of nature. Let your 
good hen indulge the instinct implanted in her 
by a Wiser Being than you ; give her a sitting 
of duck's eggs, and unless the winter or spring 
be extraordinary severe, you must be a bungler 
if you do not rear them by the aid of bread 
crumbs, Indian meal, and a kitchen fire. 
* Dixon. 
DIMENSIONS OF A OART TO HAUL SHOCKS OF 
CORN. 
One of the best labor-saving implements that 
we know of, is only in use upon a few New- 
Jersey farms. It is very simple in its construc- 
tion and effective in its operation. A large shock 
of corn can be picked up with it by a boy a 
dozen years old, and carted a mile and set down 
again, just as it stood in the field. It is, perhaps, 
most useful in hauling off corn from ground 
which is to be sown in wheat; though two men 
and two carts of this kind, will bring corn a mile 
to the barn, faster than with a wagon; and 
then the shocks may be set down compactly 
in the yard until wanted to husk the corn. It 
certainly saves a great deal of hard work in 
handling this heavy crop. 
When intended thus to be hauled, it should be 
put up in very large shocks — say half a wagon 
load each. The driver backs up to the shock, tips 
up his frame against it, throws the rope around, 
and attaches the loose end to the windlass and 
winds up. In this way, the shock is lifted and 
laid upon its side on the cart. When he arrives 
at the place, to unload, he loosens the ratchet 
that holds the windlass, and the shock falls by 
its own weight back upon the butts, into its 
original position, with very little assistance. 
Now, to enable any carpenter to make such a 
machine, we will give the most approved dimen- 
sions. 
Take any pair of stout, low wheels — the 
lower the better — and put in an axle 6 ft. be- 
tween the hubs. Length of the shafts, 12 ft. 8 in. 
Under the shafts, two feet forward of the axle, 
hang a windlass, 6 in. in diameter, upon iron 
bearings, about 5 ft. 2 in. long, it being 4 ft. 2 in. 
between the shafts. The head of the windlass, 
on the near side, has mortices for a lever, and 
should have an iron ring on the end to prevent 
splitting. It must have a ratchet wheel and 
catch, to hold as it is wound up. Now make a 
frame of oak timber 3 or 4 in. square, 4 ft. 10 in. 
long, and 5 ft. 3 in. wide, behind, and 4 ft. 8 in., 
forward, having a cross piece forward and 
behind, and over the axle, and a roller over the 
windlass. Hinge this frame to the axle, 1 ft. 8 
in. from the hind end. Frame two pieces, 4 ft. 
long, in the cross piece over the axle, to slant 
out over each wheel, supported by uprights in 
the side of the frame. Attach a stout rope, 36 
ft. long, by one end to the windlass ; the other 
passes round the shock, and then loops over a 
pin in the windlass, and draws over the roller in 
the frame as it winds up. 
MR. ROBINSON'S TOUR.— No. 14. 
Swamp Draining. — This has been done by 
Governor Hammond, of Silver Bluff, South 
Carolina, to a greater extent than by any other 
person of my acquaintance. When I visited his 
place, in April last, he had about 600 acres in 
cotton, upon land that three years ago was 
almost impenetrable swamp ; full of timber, liv- 
ing and dead, and matted together by running 
vines, with a soil five or six feet deep, but so 
soft, that, even after it was cleared of timber, a 
horse could not walk over it, nor until some 
time after it had been thoroughly drained. In 
fact, one of the swamps, (there are three different 
tracts drained,) was covered with 2 to 4 feet of 
water, constituting what is known as a " cypress 
pond." These swamps are basins, or natural 
depressions in the upland, which is here all com- 
posed of a light, sandy soil, interspersed with 
swamps, which heretofore have never been suc- 
cessfully cultivated, although everywhere 
abounding in the south, and possessing the 
same general characteristics as these upon Gov- 
ernor Hammond's land. 
He first commenced with a tract containing 
170 acres. Being one of the most practical of 
men himself, he avoided a very common course 
among southern gentlemen, who act altogether 
too much upon the principle that sometimes in- 
duces sporting men to " go it blind ;" and there- 
fore his first operation was to make a careful 
survey and estimate of cost, with the quantity 
of land to be reclaimed, and its estimated value, 
and then make a diagram, showing all the lines 
of leading ditches, to serve as a complete guide 
for the overseer in prosecuting the work; for 
here, everything is done under the direction of 
the proprietor. 
It was found, on examination, that to have the 
outlet upon his own premises, required a ditch 
a mile and three fourths long, and from 5 to 13 
feet deep. This being done, it took off a portion 
of the water so that hands could commence 
clearing off the timber and bushes, which proved 
to be a heavy job, as the ground was still so wet 
that the bushes would not dry sufficiently to 
burn, and had all to be piled upon fires previ- 
ously kindled with light wood. In the meantime, 
ditches were cut five feet deep through the cen- 
tre, and all around the edges, and in every other 
direction where springs showed their waters ; as 
that depth was found necessary in all cases to 
cut them off, while the intermediate space was 
checkered with smaller ditches, usually three 
and a half feet deep, to take off all the surface 
water, and insure at least three feet of dry soil. 
As the swamp would not sustain a horse, or 
mule, it had, and still has, to be cultivated entirely 
