298 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[August, 
the agricultural press has been such as to awaken 
ei) active spirit of inquiry in this direction. It is 
to he feared that some disappointment may occur 
by reason of unexpected failures to reach satisfac¬ 
tory results. Now, in experimenting, there is noth¬ 
ing so needful a6 patience. One year is far too short 
a time for a result that will be of any value. The 
results of experiments are useless, except as they 
are compared with each other, and it is of little 
avail to make trials and tests, of this or that, unless 
they are made methodically, and with great care, 
perseverance, and patience; and above all things 
besides, with the most accurate noting of all the 
conditions as to time, place, season, and other cir¬ 
cumstances, as well as of the results. There can be 
no more valuable labor if properly carried through 
to the end than farm experiments, but if they 
should be abandoned after the first year, because 
the result may not be what was expected, they had 
better not have been begun. 
Cultivator for Small Grains, 
It is a well-known fact, that the cultivation and 
weeding of the wheat crop, largely adds to the yield. 
It is a usual custom upon the fertile English farms, 
A GRAIN CULTIVATOR. 
not only to hoe the wheat, but to pull every weed 
by hand that is not destroyed by the hoe. In this 
country hand labor is too costly to admit us to do 
this, but the necessity for it is so apparent, that 
farmers would at once adopt it if practicable means 
were provided. A very promising and quite effec¬ 
tive machine for this purpose has been invented by 
Mr. A. B. Travis, of Mich., with which the writer 
has had an opportunity of experimenting. It 
is intended for the cultivation of any crop sown, or 
planted in drills, and we have tried it upon wheat, 
corn, and mangels. It is drawn by two horses, and it 
carries a row of teeth fastened to a frame which is 
loosely suspended to the axle so that it can be made 
to oscillate sidewise several inches. This renders 
it easy to follow the irregularities of the drills, and 
to avoid interfering with the plants in the rows. 
The teeth, 6hown in the engraving, are intended for 
working in small grains, wheat, rye, oats, or barley, 
and they can be moved to a less or greater distance 
apart, as desired. On the left of the illustration 
the form of the teeth is more clearly shown, 
a small one being used for wheat, and a broader 
one for corn, or roots. In using the cultivator for 
the latter crops, the center tooth is removed, leaving 
room to pass a row of plants without touching them, 
the remaining teeth being adjusted to very thor¬ 
oughly clean the whole space upon each side of the 
row. Thus two rows are cleaned at each passage. 
In using this machine upon #orn, this season, we 
cultivated the rows in two directions, the crop 
being planted 3i feet apart each way; and very little 
hand work was afterwards needed, although the 
ground was very weedy and the weather after plant¬ 
ing was unusually rainy. The cultivation of wheat 
Is,without doubt, an improvement greatly needed in 
our present practice. We need very much to make 
this crop more profitable. The present average is 
far too small. Instead of 10 or 15 bushels, it should 
average 25, and the best crops ought to reach 00 
bushels in place of 40. With proper manuring, and 
freedom from weeds, we can reach the latter yield 
upon drained soils. If wc could hoe the wheat, we 
might hope for an increase of 50 per cent in the 
yield, where the soil is sufficiently fertilized. If 
others do it, why should not we as well ? We think 
we may reasonably look for success, and expect 
soon to have a wheat horse-hoe that will be cheap, 
effective, and that may also be used on the corn and 
root crops, at least in their earlier stages, leaving 
the later operations to be performed by the plow. 
Tethering Cows. 
In pasturing a flock of sheep, or a herd of cows, 
upon a heavy growth of fodder, of whatever kind, 
the whole field will, be traversed the first day, and 
a considerable portion be greatly damaged ; but by 
confining the sheep within hurdles, or by tethering 
cows, the rest of the field is neither trampled nor 
soiled, -and nothing is wasted. The herbage is con¬ 
sumed only within the limits of the tether, the re¬ 
mainder is left to grow until required, and the por¬ 
tion pastured soon regains a fresh growth, and is 
evenly manured at the same time. By tethering, 
we acquire all the advantages of a system of soiling, 
without the labor of cutting and carting of fodder, 
and of hauling the manure made in the yards—that 
is, if the droppings are evenly spread over the field, 
as they should be, and not permitted to remain 
in patches. By the use of the tether-pin illustrat¬ 
ed below, cows can be confined within proper 
limits without risk of winding up the chain on the 
pin. The swivel-ring upon the top turns as the 
chain is drawn around, and as the head is pressed 
down close to the ground, there is nothing upon 
which the chain can wind. In using the tether, it 
is a good plan to advance the pin each time to a 
sufficient distance in a direct line, thus feeding off 
a strip through the field or plot of ground. When 
such a strip has been eaten down, begin again next 
to the first starting point. In this way the grass is 
eaten off regularly, and when the field has been all 
fed off, it may be gone over again. Where a num¬ 
ber of cows are tethered out, they may be ranged 
in a line, and made to advance regularly through 
the field. If the herbage is dense and tall, a half 
circle of twenty feet radius would be nearly suffi¬ 
cient for a cow for one day, so that the pin may be 
advanced the length of a twenty-foot chain, only, 
each day. A very near esti¬ 
mate may be made as fol¬ 
lows : A crop that will pro¬ 
duce II tons of hay will cut 
six tons of green grass, 
which is equal to about a 
quarter of a pound to a 
square foot. A cow will 
consume 80 lbs. of fresh 
grass per day; hence, 240 
square ft. should supply a 
cow with one day’s fodder, 
which is equal to a space 
of 20 ft. long by 12 wide. 
In this way the space fed off 
may be accurately appor¬ 
tioned. If the grass is about 
half grown, twice 240 square 
feet would have to be al¬ 
lowed, in which case the pin should be moved 
ahead at noon each day, aud so of other yields. 
A Wooden Stable-Fork. 
The writer has recently seen and used a stable- 
fork made of wood. For use in arranging litter 
about horses and cows, and in lifting fodder, 
whether whole or cut into chaff, it is very con¬ 
venient. As the points are not sharp, the danger 
to man and beast, incident to the steel fork, is 
avoided, and it is much lighter to handle than a 
steel fork. The engraving given in the next 
column sufficiently describes the implement. 
Our Foreign MarKets.—The extraordinary 
increase in our foreign exports, chiefly of Agricul¬ 
tural produce, by which the balance of trade has 
been made to fall in our favor to the extent of more 
than §250,000,000 during the past year, has had a 
very beneficial effect upon business. It has pre¬ 
vented the export of gold, and has greatly helped 
to keep up prices. It has been this foreigu de¬ 
mand which has eased the provision market, greatly 
depressed by a production of meat, much in ad¬ 
vance of that of any previous year. Fortunately 
we have been able to open new outlets for our pro¬ 
ducts, and these once gained, will be likely to be¬ 
come permanent. Heretofore, Great Britian has 
been the chief customer for our grain, meats, and 
cattle, but recently a live cattle trade has been 
opened with Germany, and shipments of beef, pork, 
and mutton, have been made to France. The con¬ 
sumption of meat is rapidly increasing and out¬ 
stripping the production in France. 
There is no other source of supply 
for that country more convenient 
than the United States, and the pro¬ 
bability is, that we shall be able to 
secure the greater part of it. For the 
last three years, France has increased 
its imports of provisions to the extent 
of over §30,000,000 annually, taking 
§307,600,000 worth in 1877. Her im¬ 
ports of cattle for the first three 
months of the present year, exceeded 
in value $7,200,000; the number of 
animals being over 400,000 ; of which 
315,000 were sheep, and 49,000 swine ; 
thus in one year that country needs 
to purchase a very large number of 
live animals, in addition to the sup¬ 
ply of meat, both fresh and cured, 
and fish. To secure this market it is 
necessary to furnish desirable grades 
of animals. At the present, we are 
most deficient in our supply of mutton 
sheep, in which respect we are slowly 
improving, but it is essential that 
we lose no time in raising the charac¬ 
ter of our live stock, so that we may 
be able to meet the demands of 
manure those who will willingly become our 
fork. customers. The bulk of this foreign 
trade in live animals would naturally fall to the 
share of the Eastern parts of the country, which are 
near the shipping ports. No other section needs 
more the good effect which feeding stock must pro¬ 
duce upon its system of agriculture than does this ; 
and none can make the business more profitable. 
Country Parsona. 
In former times the English country parson was 
the best farmer in his parish, and set the example 
in the use of improved implements and methods of 
practice. He was looked up to as a guide in tem¬ 
poral things as well as spiritual; and his care of the 
material interests of hio flock gave him better 
knowledge of their moral wants. To-day, the farm¬ 
ing parson has largely given place to the pale-faced 
dispeptic who shuts himself among his books, and 
knows and cares little for the every-day affairs of 
his people; but specimens of the old stock are 
still found in rural England, and the name of a 
rector or vicar is often seen in their agricultural 
papers, signed to able writings on theory and 
practice. In America the farming parson is a 
scarce personage, though examples are not wanting. 
The author of the genial “ Tim Bunker Papers ” is 
an excellent farmer, as well as pastor, and is held as 
a safe authority by his neighbors in things agricul¬ 
tural. Even Mr. Beecher wrote a book on garden¬ 
ing, and if his lot had been cast in a country town, 
he would have been a great agriculturist. A score 
of such might be cited ; but many readers will have 
some public-spirited, wide-awake village minister 
whom they would set up as an example to their 
own spiritual directors. 
We need more farming parsons. The country 
clergyman, if he would exercise the greatest influ¬ 
ence among the people, must take more interest in 
their crops and herds ; he must have crops and herds 
of his own. His mental training should fit him to 
be a good observer of nature, and of methods of 
practice. His opportunities for study of books and 
papers should enable him to keep posted on all the 
progressive ideas and methods of the day. The 
farmer needs all the precept and example—particu¬ 
larly example —in good agriculture that he can get. 
The country clergyman has such influence that he 
may do agriculture an incalculable amount of good ; 
and if he will mingle more of nature and everyday 
