296 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[August, 
•dined to protect himself by law, and so he suffers 
without complaint. But there is an unwritten law 
which exists amongst men, which should impel 
'every one to use his own property so that it may 
not be made a source of injury to that of others. 
Every farmer should be made aware of the damage 
’that arises from weeds, the waste of labor that is 
caused in eradicating them, and the robbery of the 
soil by their support. If every farmer fully ap¬ 
preciated this, there would soon be a crusade 
against the whole army of weeds. 
A Harrow for All Work. 
S. H., Griggsville, Illinois, sends a description of 
good harrow. It is made in two parts or wings, 
■each of which consists of four bars connected with 
at figure 2, and is made of iron bars li-inch wide 
and three-eighths of an inch thick. The cross-bars 
are placed with the edges up and down, about one 
inch or one inch and a half apart, and are riveted 
to the end bars. The gratings are 12 to 18 inches 
wide, and may be made 
irlrcA 
Fig. 2.— THE GRATING. 
A HANDY HARROW. 
'three cross-ties, the two outer ones having strips of 
light bar-iron beneath them and under the bars; 
and as the bolts pass through these, it gives great 
strength to the implement, notwithstanding its 
lightness. Upon each wing there is an adjusting 
bar, furnished with a number of holes, which oper¬ 
ates as a brace to spread the harrow as desired. 
The teeth may be made to stand upright or to 
slope backwards, as the builder wishes. By using 
She sloping teeth, the harrow may be used to clean 
wheat fields in the spring, or to harrow young corn 
<or potatoes, as is frequently done. A light harrow 
of this kind, furnished with both upright and 
sloping teeth, may be made to do varied work, and 
will be found a very desirable implement. 
Slatted Floors for Cow-Stables. 
The greatest difficulty experienced in the manage- 
<ment of a dairy is to provide an effective method of 
of such lengths as 
will answer for one 
or more cows. They 
will answer either 
for stalls or an open 
floor with stanchions. 
Rings or eyes are riveted on to the front bars by 
which the gratings may be hinged by staples to the 
timber in the solid floor. The front part of the 
floor is made of plank or concrete, or may be of 
earth; but there must be a timber bedded in the 
floor in either of the last cases, to which the 
gratings are hinged, so that they can be 
lifted up for the purpose of cleaning out the gut¬ 
ters when necessary. The form of the gratings is 
shown at figure 2. The rear portion rests upon 
wooden posts, stone blocks, or angle-iron pillars, 
as shown at figure 3. The latter is, perhaps, the 
best arrangement, although square stone blocks 
bedded in the cement of the gutter are durable 
and cheap. If the iron posts are used, they should 
be set in a beam of wood, bedded in the cement. 
The floor beneath the gratings may be sloped (fig. 
1) down to the open gutter; which will tend to 
bring the manure down to the opening, and facili¬ 
tate the cleaning out. The plan of the floor is 
shown at figure 4; the reference letters being the 
same as in figure 1. This floor will be found very 
cleanly; the droppings which fall upon the grat¬ 
ings pass through them into the gutter ; any which 
keeping the cows clean. Stalls provided with 
stanchions, and gutters in the rear to catch the 
droppings, is probably the best method at present 
’used in dairies; but an improvement upon this may 
easily be made by using slatted or grated floors. 
These have long been used in English stables, and 
‘iHave been introduced in this country by at least one 
;enterprising farmer. Mr. E. W. Stewart, of Buffalo, 
Y., has provided his stables with a floor of this 
kind, and has found it very effective in keeping 
his cows cleanly, and in saving labor. His method 
ils very similar to that in use by the well known 
English farmer, Mr. Mechi, who speaks very 
’highly of the system, and considers the cost to 
be abundantly repaid in the lessened labor and im¬ 
proved condition of the cows. The cost for this 
improvement, complete in every respect, need not 
'be over 86 per cow, or but $120 for 20 cows. The 
■arrangement of the floor of the stable may be as 
shown at figure 1. The feed passage is at a; the 
stanchions at b; the grated floor at c; the manure 
jgutter at d ; and the drive-way for a wagon or cart 
-to remove the manure at e. The grating is shown 
Fig. 3.— CROSS-SECTION OF GRATED FLOOR. 
may remain upon the bars is forced through by 
being trampled upon, and the cows’ feet are 
cleaned by the action of the bars. No bedding is 
necessary upon this floor, and this expense is saved. 
This is an important item in towns and cities, where 
litter is very costly; and is, at least, worth con¬ 
sidering where straw is plentiful, because the straw 
may be wholly used for fodder. Some dry earth, 
or swamp-muck, should be thrown into the gutter 
to absorb the liquid, and a daily dusting of finely- 
ground gypsum will prevent any odor from the 
stable. If the liquid 
manure is to be pre¬ 
served separately, the 
gutter may be made to 
discharge into a cistern, 
and if the gutters and 
floors are washed down 
with water every day 
or two, a large supply 
of liquid manure could 
be secured. One of the 
Blunt Universal pumps, 
which is both a suc¬ 
tion and force pump, attached to a cistern and fur¬ 
nished with a hose and nozzle, will be found very 
convenient for this purpose. The passage behind 
the gutter—when the room can be spared—should 
A Method of Pulling Stumps. 
A correspondent sends us a sketch of his method 
of pulling stumps or rocks, which may also be made 
useful in loading heavy logs, roots, or stones. The 
apparatus consists of a long stout pole, which serves 
as a lever; to one end of it is attached a chain con- 
A CHEAP STOMP PULLER. 
necting with the stump to be moved ; to the other 
end the draft chain is made fast, a tree or stump 
being made use of as a fulcrum. 
Gathering Clover Seed. 
It is seldom that clover straw can be made useful 
after the seed has been hulled, so that it is a sav¬ 
ing of labor, to cut it as high as possible, taking 
only the heads. By using the scythe, or cradle, this 
cannot be done; and it will be found much better 
to use a mowing machine, having a table attached 
to the cutter bar, or a clover-seed gatherer made ex¬ 
pressly for this work. The former method is a 
convenient one, but it is only a makeshift after all. 
It consists in attaching to the cutter bar, a light 
frame of hickory slats, made somewhat like a set of 
cradle teeth, so that it will slide easily over the 
ground. A stout cloth is spread tightly over the 
frame, upon which the clover heads may be gathered 
as they are cut. A machine, of which the cutter 
bar can be raised several inches, if neccessary, is 
preferable for this work. Then the clover heads 
only need be cut. As they are cut, they are raked 
back on to the cloth, until it is full, when the load 
is drawn off, and left in a heap to dry. The rake 
should be a sort of scraper, as teeth are unneces¬ 
sary. A broad lath as long as the cutter bar attached 
be wide enough to permit a wagon or cart to be driv¬ 
en through for the removal of the manure ; in which 
event, there should be doors made for the purpose. 
CLOVER-SEED GATHERER. 
to the rod, is the best tool. A machine for gather¬ 
ing clover-seed is shown in the accompanying illus¬ 
tration. It is automatic, and does its own clearing 
of the teeth, by means of a revolving scraper, which 
is operated by the carrying wheels. The machine 
is guided by the curved bar behind, and drawn by 
one horse. The management of the clover seed 
crop is very simple. It is improved by frequent 
wetting and drying, as then the seed is more easily 
hulled, than when it is cured in dry weather. If 
the weather should be dry, it is best to rake the 
straw, or the heads, into small heaps, letting them 
heat moderately; afterwards spreading the heaps 
in the sun to dry. The raking may be done while 
still wet with dew, which will assist the fermenta¬ 
tion, and heating, which partly rots the hulls, and 
helps the cleaning. The crop, when perfectly dry, 
after two or three weeks’ exposure to the weather, 
should be stored in a corner of the bam. 
The Pea-Fowl 
Although the pea-fowl is well known as a bird of 
fine feathers, few persons are acquainted with its 
natural history and real merits. It is a good table 
fowl, and as easily reared as the turkey, still it is 
rarely seen upon the farm or country place, and 
then only as an ornament. This bird is a native of 
