1881 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTIJRIST. 
19 
A Hay Rack for a Cart. 
•or 15 years, aid has become a -standard 
article. Whatever dip may be used, the ap¬ 
plication should be thorough, making sure 
that it penetrates quite to the skin, and that 
the wool is well saturated with the liquid. 
If hard crusts of scab have formed, they are 
to be carefully broken up and removed. In 
ten days the dipping is to be repeated to de¬ 
stroy the mites that may have hatched since 
the first operation. Caution.— Some of the 
dips that are sold owe their efficacy to arsenic. 
There is no doubt that this poison will kill the 
scab insect, but it is altogether too dangerous 
to the operators, to be commended, especially 
when preparations which do not contain this 
virulent poison are perfectly satisfactory. 
A Capstan Stump-Puller. 
“J. E. H.,” Rock County, Wis., sends a 
description, with sketches, of a Capstan “ for 
■pulling stumps, or grabs, moving buildings, 
stretching wire 
fences, or for any 
other purpose, 
when a long 
pull and a strong 
Fig’ 1.— frame. one j s needed. 
It is simple and need not cost to exceed 
five or six dollars, aside from the rope.” 
—The capstan is constructed as follows: 
A strong frame, figure 1, is made of hard¬ 
wood four by six-inch stuff, six feet long, 
and two feet four inches wide. Posts, three 
feet high, are framed in securely, eighteen 
inches from one end, with a cross-piece from 
the top of one to the other. A brace of the 
same size as the posts, four by six inches, 
Fig. 2.— brace. 3.— ratchet wheel. 
reaches from near the top of each post to the 
frame, four feet from the bottom of the posts, 
as shown in figure 2. A ratchet wheel, 
.figure 8, two feet in diameter, is next pro¬ 
vided by the blacksmith. This should be of 
V/i by 2 I /Vinch iron, formed into awheel 
edgewise, with the teeth two inches apart. 
Bolt the wheel on to the end of a roller 
one foot in diameter. Drive strong gudgeons 
in each end of the roller, or work wooden 
ones on the ends, three or four inches in dia¬ 
meter, and bolt on wooden boxes. A strong 
lever six feet long is fastened to the post, by 
one end, just over the wheel, with a pawl 
that engages in the teeth of the wheel. A 
dog should be placed on the opposite side 
of the wheel to hold it from turning back¬ 
ward. The puller complete is shown in fig. 
4. In working the puller, fasten it to a con¬ 
venient tree with a log chain, and make the 
attachment, by means of a strong rope, to 
the object to be raised or pulled, the other 
end of which winds about the roller. “ Two 
men, one at the lever, and another at the tree, 
with an axe or spade to give blows at large 
roots, etc., when needed, will astonish them¬ 
selves with the amount of work they can 
do. Other work, requiring such aid, as 
moving small buildings, stretching wire 
fence, pulling up fence posts, etc., can be done 
easily, with this, and needs no explanation.” 
The Potato Bug and Tobacco Smoke. 
When the Colorado Potato Beetle reached 
the Atlantic States, the European coun¬ 
tries were naturally alarmed lest it 
should cross the ocean in its devastating 
march. In some countries laws were passed 
excluding all American potatoes, not know¬ 
ing the habits of the insect. The Germans, 
with their usual good sense, saw that the 
most important thing to do was to acquaint 
the farmers with the appearance of the ene¬ 
my, so that, should it chance to appear among 
them, it could be detected at orce and meas¬ 
ures taken for its destruction. When in Ger¬ 
many, a few months ago, we learned that a 
prize had been offered, either by the govern¬ 
ment or by some agricultural society (we are 
not sure which), for the best method of 
familiarizing the fanners with the appear¬ 
ance of the insect. One person, recognizing 
the fact that smoking was almost universal 
among the farmers and farm laborers, 
suggested the idea of decorating the pipes of 
the smokers with a 
pictorial history of 
the insect. This per¬ 
son received the 
prize, and we are in¬ 
formed that so great 
was the sale of the 
pipes that he sud¬ 
denly grew rich. 
However this may 
be, no pipes were to 
be found on sale at 
the time of our visit. 
At Strasburg we 
met our old friend, 
Dr. J. T. Rothrock, 
of Philadelphia, who 
was passing his va¬ 
cation there in bo¬ 
tanical investiga¬ 
tions, and he hap¬ 
pened to have one of 
these entomological 
pipes, which he gen¬ 
erously gave up to 
us for illustration. 
The pipe is of the 
style common in the 
country, and car¬ 
ries on its surface a ^ entomological pipe. 
complete histoiy of the Potato Beetle. Of 
course an engraving cannot show the whole 
surface ; a potato leaf is given, with the eggs, 
the larvae or grabs in two or three stages of 
growth, the chrysalis, and the perfect insect 
in two views. All these are in their proper 
colors, and each stage distinctly labelled. So 
well is this done, that we have no doubt that 
the German farmers, who happily never saw 
the Potato Beetle, have a clearer knowl¬ 
edge of the appearance of the insect in its 
different states of egg, larvae, chrysalis, and 
imago, than have some of our own farmers 
who have slain them by wholesale. 
The accompanying engraving shows the 
manner of constructing a rack for a cart, 
upon which a load of hay of considerable size 
may be drawn with ease and safety. It con¬ 
sists of two two-inch planks, eight inches 
wide and long enough to reach across the 
cart box and project a foot on each side. 
Bows, to pass from the planks over the wheels, 
are made of four-inch hickory poles split 
through the center and bent to fit in their 
places. Four stakes, one in each comer, 
serve to hold the hay or straw in place. A 
rack of this kind will be found a great con¬ 
venience upon the farm where carts are used. 
The Monroe Rotary Harrow. 
The Monroe Harrow is a flat ten-spoked 
wheel, without a felloe. The heavy spokes, 
or arms, set with harrow teeth, are bound or 
bolted together by a circular iron band which 
is bolted to the arms, near to their ends. A 
frame rests upon this harrow, the center be¬ 
ing attached to the hub by a strong pin like 
a king-bolt. Three wheels in this frame ran 
upon the iron band just mentioned, and hold 
the frame steady. The team is attached to 
a draft-beam which crosses the harrow, as 
part of the frame, and through which the 
king-bolt passes. When a seed-sower is to 
be attached, as is shown in the engraving, 
this draft beam Is long enough to support it. 
Crossing the frame is a seat, and under it, 
hung upon a rod, is a pan, which must be 
loaded with earth or stones. For ordinary 
harrowing the pan is drawn to one side or 
the other, and fastened by a light chain or 
by a cord. Thus the harrow is weighted 
upon one side or the other at will. The teeth 
enter the soil deeper on the weighted side, 
and this causes the harrow to revolve. The 
deeply penetrating teeth move slowly and 
but a little way through the soil, while the 
opposite teeth move more rapidly and con¬ 
trary to the direction of the draft. The ef¬ 
fect of this action is to open the soil on the 
one side to the depth penetrated by the 
weighted teeth, so that grain sowed upon 
the sui-face is worked down to a somewhat 
even depth. On the next bout, as the har¬ 
row should lap each time, the finishing side 
of the harrow sweeps rapidly around, leaving 
the soil finely broken up, and at the same 
time the grain admirably covered. 
The writer has had one of these harrows 
without the seat and the seed-sower, in use for 
several years, and speaks from thorough exper¬ 
ience of its merits as a grain-coverer, and for 
all the ordinary uses of a harrow. On hill-sides 
it is especially convenient; the weight being 
on the lower side, the harrow keeps up, draws 
straight, and does excellent work. A boy of 
