18 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
chiefly made from our home-grown medium wools, 
and were it not for the foolish fashion, which in¬ 
duces many persons to choose cloths of profess¬ 
edly foreign make—but for the most part really 
home made—we should rarely see any but an 
American brand upon all our woolen piece goods. 
These facts convey an important lesson to the 
farmer. If he wishes to keep sheep he need not 
long consider what kind he should select. Any 
kind of wool will find a market. The coarse, short 
carpet wools of the poor Texan and low grade 6heep ; 
the medium wool of the South-Downs, and the half 
and quarter Merinos ; the fine short and long eomb- 
ign, merino wools ; the very fine Silesia wools ; the 
long wools of the Lincoln and Cotswold ; all these 
are used and wanted, and none of them come 
amiss to the manufacturer. But it must be kept 
in mind that the best sheep is one that produces 
both wool and good mutton. Mutton is now be¬ 
coming a staple food in America ; 25,000 to 30,000 
6heep and lambs are sold every week in the New 
York city markets. Therefore a sheep that will 
produce a good carcass of mutton is the kind to be 
chosen, irrespective of its fleece, by the general 
farmer. The sheep ranges of the West will pro¬ 
duce wool without regard to mutton, because this 
is most easily transported. No product of the 
farm is so cheaply carried in proportion to its 
value, as wool. $100 worth of wool is carried 
from Chicago or St. Louis to New York for $4; 
while to transport the same value of beef the same 
distance costs $20 ; of pork, $30, and of corn, $50. 
These figures will help to give one an adequate 
idea of the staple and permanent character of the 
wool growing industry, and of its certain profit¬ 
ableness. We might strengthen the force of these 
by a reference to the advantages gained by farm¬ 
ers in the way of improved cultivation, and the in¬ 
creasing fertility of the farm through sheep cul¬ 
ture. Of these we cannot now speak, but they are 
by no means unworthy of regard, nor do they ad¬ 
mit of any question as to their certain effective¬ 
ness. It is enough now to show that the farmer 
has a certain market for whatever kind of wool he 
may grow, if it is good of its kind, and that the 
mutton is as readily salable as the wool. 
Hints and Helps for Farmers. 
A “Crab” for Shocking Corn.—“ H. S. S.,” 
Riverside, Iowa, sends a sketch of a “ crab ” for 
supporting corn until the shocks are set up and 
tied. It is made of a block of wood, 8 inches long, 
and 2 inches thick, into which one of the legs, four 
feet long, and an inch and a half thick, shown at 
figure 1, is fastened securely. The other two legs 
are loosely inserted, so that when the shock is com¬ 
pleted they may be pulled out; when the head of 
the “ crab,” with the remaining leg is removed, and 
the contrivance again set up for another shock. 
This is found very useful when corn is shocked in 
wide rows for plowing for wheat. The plan fol¬ 
lowed is to cut 6 rows, throwing three rows on 
each side, and then plow that strip and set up the 
crab for shocking on the plowed ground, then cut 
6 more rows on each side, making 18 rows in all, 
Fig. 2.— BUTTER WORKER. 
finish the shocks and go on with the plowing. 
Then repeat the process. 
A New Butter Worker. —To work butter with 
the hands destroys the texture and quality, and to 
use the common 
butter ladle is hard 
work for the hands 
and arms. A ma¬ 
chine that will 
effectively do this 
work will be found 
a great help and 
convenience in the 
dairy. We recent¬ 
ly procured a but¬ 
ter worker, which 
is shown at figure 
2, made by Hen¬ 
derson & Co., 316 
Race Street, Phila¬ 
delphia, which per¬ 
forms very satis¬ 
factorily. It is easy to work, and a child can 
operate it. The table or tray is hollow, so that the 
butter-milk runs to the center and there escapes 
through the perforated spindle into a pail beneath. 
The ladle rotates, and its action is that of the com¬ 
mon hand-ladle in 
working the but¬ 
ter and freeing it 
from butter-milk. 
The gearing is 
covered, so that 
no butter can 
work into it. 
The whole can be taken apart in an instant and 
cleaned. From 25 to 100 pounds of butter can be 
worked at one time with the different sizes ; the 
largest size being well adapted for use in country 
stores where butter, of different qualities and colors, 
has to be mixed and w rked together. 
To Prevent Cows Going through Hedges.— 
“H. S. S.” fastens a pole 4 feet long to the horns 
_ by a strap, as shown at 
figure 3; to prevent 
them from pushing 
down fences, he fastens 
the T shaped board (fig¬ 
ure 4) on to the horns 
by the holes seen in the 
engraving, at the lower 
end there are a few 
sharp - pointed nails, 
which will not prick 
° the nose unless the cow 
attempts to push against the fence ; when the nails 
give her a sharp reminder that she is trespassing. 
A Feed-Box for Sheep.— “J. II. S.,” Logan, 
Fig. 3.— HEDGE GUARD. 
r 
i— — 
____ 
IJL. ... 
S- 
!~ — JJ 
Fig. 5.— BOX FOR FEEDING SHEEP. 
Ind., sends a description of a feed-box to accom¬ 
modate 25 to 35 sheep, an engraving of which is 
shown at figure 5. The box is made as follows :— 
The posts, six in number, are 28 inches long, and 
2 x 21 thick. The boards for the bottom and sides 
are 16 feet long, the former is 14 inches wide, the 
lower side boards are 10 inches wide, and the upper 
ones 6 inches ; this leaves an open space of 10 inches 
for the heads of the sheep, which is ample. This 
sort of box answers well for feeding cut clover, 
hay, or chopped roots, and prevents the sheep from 
standing upon and fouling their feed, or getting 
litter into their wool. 
How to Use a Gate for Separating Stock.— 
When the gates, A and B, are arranged as in figure 
6, and both opened together, they will meet at 
D. If they are then hooked together, small stock 
only can passthrough, as the space is but 18 inches. 
To move large stock from lot No. 1 to No. 2, the 
gates are both opened to C, and latched to the post 
there. This opens lots 1 and 2, but keeps No. 3 
closed. To throw all open at once, the gates arc 
swung back to Aland F, and latched on to the posts ; 
the tops of the posts being cut for this purpose, as 
shown at figure 7. 
A Bull Ringer. —A subscriber sends us a 6mall 
piece of wood, cut and smoothed to the 
shape shown at figure 8. This is made to 
fit the thin part of the ring, tightly, so as 
to hold its place. The end of the ring, 
protected by this piece of smooth wood, 
is passed through the hole made in the 
bull’s nose, much more easily and less 
painfully than the sharp-edged portion of 
the ring. When the ring has been in¬ 
serted, the piece of wood is removed, 
and the ring fastened in the usual manner. 
Fig. 8. 
Sloping-Toothed Harrows for Cultivat 
ing Growing Crops. 
For some years past it lias been the practice of 
mauy of the better class of farmers to harrow their 
young wheat, oats, corn, and potatoes, to destroy 
newly-sprouted weeds, and to loosen the soil. Fall 
wheat has been harrowed, soon after it had taken a 
I secure hold on the Soil, before the winter had set 
in, and in the spring as soon as the soil had become 
firm and dry. This has proved to be greatly bene¬ 
ficial to the crops. Young corn, also, has been 
worked with the harrow until it was a foot high, 
and with benefit. Still the excellent practice of 
harrowing youug crops is not nearly so general as 
it should be, and in order that our readers may be¬ 
come better acquainted with it, and the kinds of 
harrows used for the purpose, we give the accom¬ 
panying illustrations of two implements designed 
for this use. These harrows should have, theu, 
teeth slope backwards, at an angle of about 45 de¬ 
grees ; should be light, and their teeth should be 
fine and sharp. A harrow of this kind is hardly 
suitable for other uses, and few farmers can afford 
to have a different harrow for every different work. 
The implements we here describe are made to meet 
