210 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[June, 
upon it. Fill the space at each side of this with empty 
frames, and place an empty frame in the old hive at the 
outside. After the queen cells in the old hive are all 
sealed over, cut off all. except one of the largest and best 
looking, from which the colony may be supplied with a 
queen. Or, what is greatly preferable, a laying queen 
may be given it the day after dividing. 
Weight of Bees. 
No. 1 has been united with another, and, therefore, 
cannot be reported. No. 2 consumed, during April, 4^ 
lbs. of honey, No. 3 and 4, 3^ lbs. of honey each. 
Cow Milkers. 
Many inquiries have been made in regaSfl to 
“Milking Machines”; replies to these by mail 
have been impracticable on account of their num¬ 
ber. We therefore take this opportunity of stating 
what we know of this machine. The idea of milking 
a cow by means of a mechanical device is attractive 
on the face of it, because this operation is one of 
the most irksome of all farm labors. There has 
been a prejudice against the use of any other 
methods of milking than the old fashioned one, 
and we confess to have felt to some extent the 
influence of this prejudice, and have been very cau¬ 
tious in referring to the Milking Machine. For ex¬ 
ceptional use in the cases of sore or chapped teats, 
hard milking cows, gargeted or caked udder, and 
other similar difficulties, there has never been a 
question as to the necessity for using a milker; 
some such means is indispensable. But for general 
use to save time and labor, we nave not previous¬ 
ly been able to say that the machine was advisable. 
After a personal trial' we must admit that we have 
beeu forced to modify our previous opinions. We 
give an illustration of the machine and its manner 
of use. The tubes, of pure silver, are inserted care¬ 
fully in the teat, the milk having been first started, 
to allow the opening to be found. The pure India 
rubber tubes then conduct the milk, which flows 
freely into the pail. That is all there is of it Care 
must be takeu to use only such machines as are ot 
pure material, and after the milking to put the 
tubes into some clean, cold water, and well free 
them from milk. In using the machine, we find it 
operates as follows : It draws the milk so entirely 
away that none can be 
procured by stripping; 
it acts apparently with 
much ease and comfort 
to the cow, our animals 
evidently showing much 
surprise and pleasure at 
the freedom from the 
usual manipulation of 
the teats, and turning 
the head and viewing 
the novel process seem¬ 
ingly with great in¬ 
terest ; the milk pours 
with great rapidity, a 
large pail, holding 14 
quarts, being filled in 7 
minutes; the process is 
perfectly clean, and the 
milk gathers no impuri¬ 
ties, as in the usual 
handlingof theteats and 
udder, in which numerous scales of skin, hairs, and 
“ cowy ” flavored matters unavoidably fall into the 
milk. The relief from the muscular exertion of 
the wrists and arms, is very grateful to the milker. 
So far we are certain. Of the future effect upon 
the cow we are not prepared to say, because this is 
a matter which can only be learned by the con¬ 
tinued use of the milker ; but there is evidence 
that the machine has been used in a noted Scotch 
dairy for 8 years, and this may go for something. 
As it is, we shall continue to use it, and take 
whatever risk there may be. As the tube is very 
small, and is retained in the teat onlv 3 or 4 min¬ 
utes, and the teat is to be stripped down always 
after finishing milking, we apprehend no evil re¬ 
sults. For the introduction of the milker into this 
country, we are indebted to Mr. Wm. Crozier, 
of Northport, Long Island, who has introduced 
several useful implements to American farmers 
The Hay Crop and How to Gather It. 
The present season has thus far (the middle of 
Fig. 1. open, notes’ grapple fork. 2. CLOSED. 
May) heen very favorable for a large hay crop, and 
the labor of gathering it will be greater than usual. 
There is likely to be an extra large demand for 
haying machines and “tools.” We have already 
spoken of mowers, conspicuous among which 
stand the Champion Haymaker, and the New 
Model Buckeye. After the mower comes the ted¬ 
der, a machine which, in thick clover, will he found 
of great use to spread and turn the cut herbage, 
and prepare it for the rake Of the tedders, we have 
used one made by the Ames Plow Co., while another 
Fig. 3.— FIELD PITCHING APPARATUS. 
style, made by the Higganum Manufacturing Co., 
nas impressed us favorably. The steel-tooth horse- 
rake is doubtless one of the most effective imple¬ 
ments in the hay field. Of the large number in the 
market, that made by Wheeler & MelicK Co., and 
another, made by J. R. Whjttemore, are excellent 
implements. When the hay is gathered, Foust’s 
Hay-Loader will load a wagon in ten minutes or less, 
Fig. 4.— AMERICAN HAT ELEVATOR. 
and where the crop is large, will be indispensable, if 
economy of time and cost is the first consideration. 
This loader was illustrated in the Am.jigricalturiM 
of Nov., 1876. After the hay is loaded, the Horse 
Hay-Forks and Pitching Apparatus, by which it is 
put away in the barn or 
stack, are perhaps the most 
important of any of the 
labor-saving haying ma¬ 
chinery ; because after a 
crop is well made, it may be 
seriously damaged by heavy 
rains before it can be secured 
in the barn or the stack by 
the usual slow methods. 
Some of these hay-forks 
have already been described 
in the American Agriculturist, 
others are briefly referred to 
as follows. The “Noyes 
Grapple Fork,” shown 
open at figure 1, and closed 
at figure 2, is an excellent implement, and can be 
used for hoisting straw, corn-stalks, or sheaves of 
grain. This is made by the “ U. S. Wind-engine and 
Pump Co.,” Illinois. The same Company also 
make the “ Field Pitching Apparatus ” (fig. 3), used 
for stacking hay. The “ American Hay-Elevator,” 
shown in figure 4, is made by J. R. Fitzhugli, of 
Pennsylvania. This can be fitted to any building, 
and has the merits of being simple and easily work¬ 
ed. The “ Double Harpoon Fork,” made by the 
“Pennock Manufacturing Co.,” Penn., (fig. 5), is 
a fork of great capacity and strength, and may be 
used in short straw, hay, or bound grain. Another 
pitching apparatus, of which we have no illustration 
at hand, is Chapman’s. Of the comparative mer¬ 
its of all these, it is difficult for one who has not 
tested them all to speak. Before deciding it will be 
well to procure circulars of the various makers, and 
examine into the merits and testimonials of each. 
The P. O. address of the makers can be found in 
the advertising columns. 
Science Applied to Farming.—XLII. 
The Use of Brains In Farming—A Lesson 
in Chemistry. 
On the blanks for recording results of experi¬ 
ments with the fertilizers supplied for experiments 
this season, is the motto : “ One of the chief wants of 
our agriculture is closer study and observation by fa'rm- 
er«.” In an account of last season’s experiments, 
presented at a meeting of the Conn. State Board of 
Agriculture, occurs the following : 
“ These reports are presented for just what they are, 
not developments of any new scientific truth at all, but 
efforts by practical men to apply established principles 
of science to the aid of their farming. And if I were to 
tell the truth, it would be that in my opinion, though 
such experiments, properly conducted, will be of the 
greatest value for the information they bring, yet, over 
and above this they have a still higher usefulness in the 
stimulus*they give to closer study, more accurate obser¬ 
vation and more rational application of the principles of 
science. The apparent object in introducing them was 
to work upon farmer’s soils. Under this lay in my own 
thought, a deeDer purpose, to work upon their owner's 
minds. And in this regard, at least, the outcome ha» 
been most gratifying.” 
We shall be aided in our efforts in this direction by 
A Short Lesson in Chemistry. 
Vegetable and animal substances, and manures 
and soils as well, contain three kinds of material— 
Water, Organic Matter, and Mineral Matter, 
or Ash. If you keep a wisp of hay or a bone for a 
time in a hot oven, the water will be driven out. If 
you put the dried material in the fire, the organic 
substance will be burned away, and escape as gas 
or smoke, while the mineral matter will be left as 
ashes. The ash was all gathered by the plant from 
the soil. Part of the organic matter was supplied 
by the soil also, but the most of it came from the 
air, to which it returns when it is consumed. The 
Organic Matter consists chiefly of the four 
chemical elements, Carbon, Oxtgen, Htdrogen, 
and Nitrogen. We are familiar with carbon in 
charcoal and lamp-black, which are nearly pure, 
and in diamond which is quite pure carbon. Car¬ 
bon united to oxygen forms carbonic acid. Hydro¬ 
gen and oxygen, which in their pure state are gases, 
unite to form water. When we inhale air in breath¬ 
ing, its oxygen is absorbed into the blood through 
the lungs, and unites with carbon and hydrogen 
of our bodies and our food, and we exhale carbanic 
acid and water. When wood burns in the stove, or 
vegetables decay in the air, carbonic acid and water 
are likewise produced. We need hot to trouble 
ourselves about carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, in 
fertilizers, because they are supplied to the plant 
in abundance by the atmosphere and the soil, 
through the leaves and through the roots. But the 
Nitrogen 
is an important ingredient of fertilizers. It is, in 
its pure state, a gas, and makes up about four-fifths 
of the air, the other fifth being oxygen. Nitrogen 
combined with hydrogen forms Ammonia. The 
odor of “spirits of hartshorn,” and of “smelling 
salts,” is due to the ammonia. Nitrogen, combined 
with oxygen, is know* as Nitric Acid. In these 
and other combinations it occurs in minute quanti¬ 
ties in the atmosphere, and in considerable quanti¬ 
ties in soils and manures. Plants are unable to 
make use of the pure nitrogen of the air, though 
they absorb a very little combined nitrogen, in the 
Fig. 5.— DOUBLE 
HARPOON FORK. 
