1878.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
97 
valuable information in regard to the drainage and 
reclamation of such marshes, with the construction 
of banks, ditches, and sluices, and the after culti¬ 
vation of the land, is given in Stewart’s “ Irrigation 
for the Farm, Garden, and Orchard,” published by 
the Orange Judd Co.; price, §1.50 ; sent post-paid. 
A Portable Slop Barrel. 
A barrel, mounted upon wheels, as shown in the 
accompanying engraving, will be found useful for 
Fig. 1.— PORTABLE BARREL POR SLOPS. 
many purposes about the farm, garden, or house¬ 
hold. The barrel is supported upon a pair of 
wheels, the axles of which are fastened to a frame 
which is connected with the barrel by means of 
straps bolted to the sides. The frame may be made 
of iron bent in the form shown at figure 2, or of 
crooked timber having a sufficient bend to permit 
Fig. 2.— PLAN OF FRAME OF BARREL. 
the barrel to be tipped for emptying. A pair of 
handles are provided as shown in the engraving. 
When not in use, the barrel rests upon the ground, 
and may be raised by bearing down upon the han¬ 
dles. The barrel may be made to rest in notched 
bearings upon the frame, so that by raising the 
handles, the wheels may be drawn from beneath the 
barrel, and the latter left in a convenient place un¬ 
til it needs removal. Figure 1 shows a side view of 
the barrel and frame complete. This contrivance 
will be useful for feeding slops to pigs, or for re¬ 
moving the waste of the house to the barn-yard. 
in all dairy appliances. A compromise between 
square and round moulds maybe reached by having 
them hexagonal or octagonal, 
and both of these forms are 
very popular. As the cakes have 
to be moulded and pressed, a 
properly furnished table will be 
found convenient for this pur¬ 
pose. Such a table is shown in 
figure 1, and can be made for a 
•few dollars by any carpenter who 
sees the engraving. It is an 
ordinary table, about five feet 
long, having room for a but- M0LLD ' 
ter-bowl, scales, and presser. The butter is 
taken from the bowl, with the paddles, shown 
at figure 2, one of which is grooved on the face 
to prevent the butter from slipping off, and the 
other is smooth and sharp at the edges, so 
that it may be used for cutting as well as 
roughly forming the cake after it is weighed. 
These paddles may be made of white-ash or 
cherry wood. As the butter is weighed, it is 
worked with the paddles into a block that will 
nearly fit the mould, shown at figure 3. The mould 
is open at both ends, and should be placed, to be 
filled, upon the small platform, shown on the 
table. The follower (fig. 4) is placed upon the 
butter, and the foot being 
pressed upon the lever be¬ 
neath, the mould is forced up 
against the top of the frame 
above it, and the cake is 
thus formed into proper 
shape; after which it is forced 
out of the mould by pressing 
the follower with the hand. 
A pail of fresh cold water 
should be kept at hand, and 
the mould, paddles, and plat¬ 
form should be kept wetted 
during the operation, by 
which the butter is kept from adhering to them. 
4.— FOLLOWER. 
A Table for Working Butter. 
The increasing and profitable demand for a good 
Fig. 1.— TABLE FOR WORKING BUTTER 
quality of butter put up for use, in acceptable 
forms, renders it desirable to have every facility for 
preparing the butter for sale in the best manner. 
Cakes, or pats of one pound, and half a pound, are 
Fig. 2.— PADDLES. 
the most popular, and 
the fancy seems to be 
inclined to a somewhat 
different 6liape from 
the ordinary round 
ones. Square cakes 
are not desirable, nor 
are they free from the 
serious objection that 
the moulds in which they must be made are not 
easily kept clean ; it is best to avoid sharp corners 
Sales of Hereford Cattle in England. 
The ELerefords are one of the old established 
standard breeds in England, where fashions do not 
change so suddenly as with us. There are many 
herds in that country which have been bred with 
care for scores of years, and a few that have been 
kept intact for even a full century. Occasionally 
the surplus of these old herds is sold off, and farm¬ 
ers and breeders seize, with great alacrity, the op¬ 
portunity of procuring breeding animals. Prices 
rule high at these sales, and maintain great steadi¬ 
ness ; they are therefore a fair criterion by which 
the value of the stock may be 
estimated. At some recent sales, 
the following prices were realized, 
viz.: cows §685 to §760 each, and 
bulls averaging §283 ; one year¬ 
ling bringing nearly $700; this was 
at a sale of a herd belonging to 
Mr. Tudge, a careful breeder of 
wide reputation. At another sale 
a number of yearlings brought 
§205 each. At a sale of a high 
class herd, which included a bull 
that has taken 14 first prizes in 4 
years, the champion prize against 
all breeds at the Royal Agr’l So¬ 
ciety Show last year, and 6 special prizes, the prices 
realized were much higher. This bull brought $1,330; 
yearling bulls brought $135 to $360, and one 3-year- 
old bull $1,265. Several other sales have occurred, 
at which there was very active competition for the 
bulls, showing that this breed is much desired for 
crossing; the most profitable use that high-bred 
animals can serve for the farmer or the grazier. 
Plan of a Grist Mill. 
Although the general appearance of a grist mill 
is quite familiar to most persons, and especially to 
farmers, the internal arrangement is by no means 
well understood. There are many millers and mill¬ 
wrights too, who, though long used to old-fashioned 
country mills, are not aware of the many modern 
improvements and conveniences that have been in¬ 
troduced into the business of milling, nor of the 
great facility with which mills can be furnished, 
complete, from the main gear for conveying power 
from the water-wheel or steam engine, to the 
smallest detail, including screws, and nails, with 
which the parts are put together. Recently we ex¬ 
amined a specification and plan for completely fur¬ 
nishing a grist mill, which were made by the Brad¬ 
ford Mill Company, of Cincinnati; the specification 
includes all the gearing, shafting, stones, and their 
furniture, feeders, hoppers, bolts, bolting chest, 
Fig. 1.— MILL STONES AND GEARING. 
elevators, smut machine, belting, and all other ac¬ 
cessories of a mill. The plan (fig. 2) shows the ar¬ 
rangement of a mill thus furnished, and is a suf¬ 
ficient guide for the erection of the building itself. 
The building is of two and a half stories, the ground 
floor is 12 feet in the clear, the second story 10 feet, 
and the half story 3 feet at the eaves. The burr 
stones, with their husk and gearing, are on the 
lower floor. The stones and gearing are shown 
separately at figure 1. The second floor contains 
the bolt, 2>, and gearing ; the wheat bin, J, and the 
corn bin, K. The smutter and separator, E, is on 
the top floor; the elevator which conveys the wheat 
from the lower floor to the smutter adjoins the lat¬ 
ter, and the cleaned wheat escapes by the spout 
upon the other side into the bin, J, from which it 
is fed to the stones below by the spout above them. 
The elevator for the corn is at H, and the elevator 
for the meal, I, adjoins it. The stones are driven 
by the pulley, (marked 2,) which makes 174 revolu¬ 
tions per minute ; the upright shaft (3) makes 130 
revolutions per minute; the horizontal shaft (4) 
which works the smutter, corn elevator, and bolt, 
revolves 41 times per minute ; the upright shaft (5) 
which drives the bolt makes 30 revolutions, and the 
horizontal shaft (6) driving the wheat and flour 
elevators turns 41 times per minute, being worked 
by a belt from the shaft, (4.) This arrangement is 
