1881.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
15 
stoves usually have poor ventilation, and 
often are oppressive, with a stale, nauseous 
odor, like the dormitory of an orphan asylum. 
Nine feet is, I think, an extreme hight for 
the ceilings of an ordinary country house, 
say one in which the largest single room is 
not more than twenty feet square, or of equiv¬ 
alent area. For houses with rooms of medium 
size, eight feet is high enough. 
Besides, there are numerous other consid¬ 
erations which tend to a saving of fuel, and 
at the same time increase the healthfulness 
and comfort of a home. Some of these are 
the material of the walls, their imperme¬ 
ability to air and moisture, “ deafening” of 
the floors which adds greatly to them warmth, 
good joiner-work about windows and doors, 
etc. However much this matter may be dis¬ 
cussed, I shall settle down to the fact that 
thoroughness in every department pays. I 
was in the Office and Bookstore of the 
Orange Judd Company a few days ago, and 
took up a book, just published, entitled, 
“ Farm Homes.” 
I had written just this much of my monthly 
epistle, and thought at once : Here is some¬ 
thing on the topic my mind has been running 
upon. I read with absorbing interest the 
author’s first chapter. It is wonderful how 
well one agrees with strongly put common 
sense. If I could write half as well I might 
almost imagine I had written it myself. 
There are six or eight plans of 
houses actually fit to live in— 
the humblest of them. The author 
thinks as much of folding doors, 
or their equivalent, as my wife 
and I do, and the rooms, and 
halls, and fireplaces are as so¬ 
ciable in their arrangement as 
groups of school girls. The book 
is full of good things, and will 
make house-building easier to 
many a young couple and old one 
too, I hope ; but the first chapter 
is such an amplification of the 
train of thought with which I 
commenced to write, that I cannot refrain 
here from expressing myself about the book. 
sued. Blocks are pinned on each runner to 
receive the cross-beams. The front beam 
should be about 4 inches thick, and the hind 
one about double that thickness. The beams 
and blocks are securely fastened to the 
runners by 1 J-inch hickory pins, thoroughly 
wedged at both ends ; the dotted lines in the 
engraving show the number and position of 
the pins. The tongues are fastened into the 
rollers by large wooden wedges, one on each 
side, and secured to each other by strong 
pins. The shoes may be of cast iron, steel, or 
thin band iron. For constant use the steel 
shoes last much the longest, and in the end 
are the cheapest and best. If well made and 
properly cared for by housing during the 
summer, a pair of such bob-sleds should last 
half a dozen seasons with little or no repairs. 
The Fat-Tailed Sheep. 
H. D. B. wishes to know if it be really 
true that there is a breed of sheep with tails 
so large that they are provided with a small 
cart in which to carry the appendage, or if it 
is merely a ‘ ‘ traveller’s yam. ” The existence 
of these sheep is a well-established fact, and 
they are found in several countries in Asia, 
and are also abundant at the Cape of Good 
Hope. Whether our varieties of domestic 
sheep descended from one or several species, 
both views being held, we know that the 
Home-Made Bob-Sleds. 
Bob-sleds, as sold in the markets, are fre¬ 
quently too high for handy use upon the 
farm. While they may serve with a light 
load upon a smooth road, yet, when taken to 
the woods to use in logging, they will soon 
be either much racked, or break down alto¬ 
gether. The low, stout, home-made pah- of 
“ bobs,” shown in the accompanying engrav¬ 
ing, will be found vastly more serviceable than 
those kept for sale. They are made without 
mortises or tenons, and with no iron except 
the shoes, king-bolt, and coupling clevises. 
A HOME-MADE BOB-SLED. 
To make such a sled requires only an auger 
and an axe, and a handy workman can easily 
complete them in a little time. In the first 
place select for runners small oak or sugar 
maple trees with a proper natural crook; 
these, after being hewed, should not be less 
than 3 inches in thickness, and as Jeep as de- 
I'AT-TAILED SHEEP WITH “GO-CART.’ 
animals can be wonderfully varied by breed¬ 
ing and selection, and by the influences of 
locality and pasturage. In various countries 
we have great difference in the character of 
the wool, in the absence or presence of horns, 
and in their size and number, (see an article 
on the Iceland Sheep in September last); the 
length of legs varies greatly, and in some 
cases there is a remarkable deposit of fat in 
different parts of the body, such as behind 
the horns and upon the rump. The Fat-tailed 
Sheep are rather small, with very coarse wool; 
their most remarkable portion is the tail, 
which has been known to weigh as much as 
75 or 80 pounds. This great mass is largely 
fat, which is less solid than other fats, and 
in the countries where this sheep is raised, is 
used instead of butter. 
The flesh of the tail is 
considered as a great 
delicacy, and to pro¬ 
tect this valuable part 
of the animal from the 
injuries it might re¬ 
ceive, were it allowed 
to drag, a rude carriage or truck is placed un¬ 
der it. Having a picture of this sheep from a 
perfectly authentic source, we reproduce it 
here, that our friend and others may see how 
the anim al is provided with a “ go-cart.” It 
is stated on excellent authority that the fat¬ 
tailed sheep of the Kirghis when bred for a 
few generations in Russia lose the peculi. 
arity which had before dislinguished them. 
A Handy Milking Stool. 
We have received from Mr. “E. S. C.,” 
Rockford, IlL, an account with a sketch of a 
A MILKING STOOL AND PAIL REST. 
Milking Stool, intended to both hold the pail 
and provide a comfortable seat for the milk¬ 
er. Every part of this stool is so easily seen 
from the engraving that a description is 
hardly necessary. Mr. C. writes : “I think 
once using of this stool will convince a per¬ 
son that the old stools with one leg are a 
nuisance. They have been in use on my farm 
for six years and give excellent satisfaction.” 
A Rail Fence Gauge. 
It is a matter of both good looks and econo¬ 
my to have the corners of a Virginia-rail 
fence, on each side, in a 
right line. This may be ob¬ 
tained by the use of a very 
simple implement shown 
in figure 1. It consists of 
a small bar or pole, two 
inches through and eight 
feet long, sharpened at the 
lower end. A horizontal 
bar of a length equal to 
one-half the breadth of the 
strip of land to be occupied 
by the fence, is fastened in¬ 
to the upright pole near its 
lower end. A limb of a 
tree with a branch grow- 
Fig. 1.— THE GAUGE. 
ing out at right angles may sometimes be 
found in the forest that will make the Gauge 
in one piece. In laying the fence a num¬ 
ber, two or more, of line stakes are first set 
across the field on the middle line for the 
fence. The fence is then started by putting 
the first comer at a distance from the fine of 
stakes equal to the length of the horizontal 
bar of the gauge, which spot is determined 
by setting the gauge in line with the stakes, 
and swinging the horizontal bar out at right 
angles to the line of the fence. In the same 
way the next corner and all others are found, 
the gauge being kept in the same line, the 
horizontal bar being swung alternately to the 
right and the left. The method of operation 
is shown in fig. 2.—We used this method 
on the farm 40 years ago ; in recent travels 
Fig. 2.—METHOD OF OPERATION. 
we have found farmers laying up a Virginia- 
rail fence who had never heard of this handy- 
device until we explained its use to them. 
Foxes’ Skins. —The skin of the Red 
Fox is the lowest in price, bringing from 
