SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
31i 
DITCHING HILL SIDES— MR. HARDWICK’S LEVEL. 
Tke legs of the Level, 2, 3, and 3, 4, are eight feet long, 
and one inch thick, and three broad. The cross bars are 
the same width and thickness, All of these pieces are let 
into each other, and secured by wooden screws The stride 
of the level from the leg 2 to the leg 4 is just twelve feet. 
I The crossbars, 8, 10 and 9, 11, as you will see by measure- 
I ment, go on the side pieces, or legs of the instrument, one- 
third from the crown. The light bar 7 represents the box 
into which the spirit level is placed, and should be only 
large enough to receive it, so that it may not rock in the 
box when carried, and is screwed on to the bars 8, 10, 9 
i and 1 ! . 
I How to put the box on, so as to have the true level, is 
i: the question. Then observe the following rule : — Screw 
I one end ot box to crossbar 9 and 11, with a hand vice 
clamp ; the other end to cross bar 8 and 10, and take the 
! instrument to a slight hill side, and put the legs on the 
ground, as nearly the same level as your eyes dictate, 
and observe where the bubble in the tube stands ; then 
reverse the legs, and place each exactly where the other 
stood, and the bubble in thetubewill indicate whether the 
end held by the vice should be moved up or down. After 
AVIRE FENCES AT THE WEST. 
A correspondent of the Trcdune, writing from Sterling, 
Illinois, says : 
There have been, the past year, a great many miles of 
wire fence built in this county, and I have no doubt there 
will be double the amount built the coming season. 
There has been sold in the Chicago market alone, this 
season, over 500 tons of fence-wire, and in this town over 
50 tons already, and twice this amount could have been 
sold if there were any in market. We use No. 9 wire, 
and set the posts 30 feet apart, and every 40 rods set an 
anchor post firmly braced ; attach the wire to the anchor- 
post and run out the 40 rods, placing them on the ground 
close to the foot ot the posts, so that they may not get 
tangled. Hitch the lower wire to the hind axletree of the 
wagon and start ahead. If the wire breaks, back up, 
twist together and start again, and keep doing so until 
you have broken it wherever there is a flaw or it is crack- 
ed, as it is better to break it now than have the cattle do 
1 it after it is in the fence; and then it is doubtful whether 
! one team can pull a good quality of No 9 annealed wire 
; apart, but it will stretch in 40 rods 4 or 5 feet, and con- 
tract when the team has done drawing. Now your wire 
is ready to put into the fence, and you raise it up to the 
[ desired height on the post and drive a staple to hold it 
there, biu do not drive the staple quite up to the wire, as 
you want It to slide through pretty freeiy. When your 
staples are nil driven and you come to the anchor-post, 
' the best and most economical way of tightening is by 
men n,s of si wooden pin. Bore all inch hole through 
repeated shiftings of the feet and moving the end of tha 
box, you may get the bubble to stand at the same place 
with the legs shifted ; then you may be certain that you 
have the true lever. Then the box should be made fast 
by a screw, as the first end was. 
Now, to get a grade for cutting inclined ditches, I would 
recommend a more simple and easy method of getting the 
grade than that laid down in my first number to Mr. How- 
ard, It is simply this: The true level having been ob- 
tained in the way above described, take your level and 
place it on the ground, moving one leg up or down until 
the bubble stands in the centre ; then take a block as thick 
as you want your fall, say 3^ inches in 12 feet, and put k 
under one foot of the level; then raise one end of the 
spirit level in the box, until the bubble stands at the level 
point; then, with the point of a knife, make a mark OQ 
the end of the level at the top edge of the box, and then 
saw in with a tenant saw, say one inch,and slip in a piece 
of tin, long enough to reach the bottom of the saw cut and 
reach over the edge of the box — and you are prepared fof 
.ditching. R. S. H. 
[Cotton Planter SoU. 
your post, and square said hole in a few inches. Make a 
pin with a square on one end, the other end to fitnearlyi 
when driven into the hole Tn the post; put the round^ 
part of the pin in the post, attach your wire to it by means 
of a small gimblet-hole, and then with a wooden crank 
that you can use for all your fence, turn up said wire un- 
til it is not only tight but you may stretch it a foot of 18 
inches ; and when the square of the pin is right with tht 
mortise in the post, drive the pin into the post and taka 
off your crank and your wire is fast. 
There are miles of such feace in our county where th« 
wire is drawn just like a violin string, that has stood 
through the violent cold the past winter with not a wire 
broken. 
The staples are usually made here with a simple ma- 
chine by which any farmer can make 1 ,000 per hour out 
of the same v/ire, and they will drive into the hardest oak 
posts without a hole. 
Cement for Iron. — The following recipe for cementing 
cracked iron, stoves, ware, etc., we can commend from 
our own experience: “Take iron turnings or borings 
one pound ; sal-ammoniac, two ounces; flour of sul- 
phur, one ounce. Rub well together in a mortar, and 
keep for use. When wanted, take one part of the above 
and twenty parts of iron borings, pounded and sifted, as 
before, mix in a mortar, and pour hi water enough to give 
it the proper consistency. Apply it between the parts 
wirh a blunt caulking iron, or other convenient tool.”— 
Exchange. 
