200 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Mat, 
perfect satisfaction. “ A dog that weighs 30 
pounds will run the ‘power’ and do the 
churning for 20 cows.” We have seen 
sheep used for the same purpose ; goats are 
preferred by some, as they are more active, 
and the exercise does them good, especially 
if they are kept in a stable. Anything that 
will make the work of the housewife easier, 
should be provided, especially if, as in this 
case, it can be done at only a trifling expense. 
A Device to Prevent a Cow from Kicking. 
A cow that kicks while being milked is a 
source of great discomfort, and any simple 
contrivance that will break her of the habit, 
is worthy of notice. Mr. O. T. Romig, Mont¬ 
gomery Co., Kans., writes that he prevents a 
cow from kicking in the following manner : 
“ Pass a rope around her just in front of the 
A KICKING COW TIE. 
udder, and back of the hip bones on the back; 
draw it tight enough to be pretty snug. I 
make a loop in one end, pass the other 
through it, and after drawing up as close as 
wanted, twist the end under, and the work is 
done. With a rope thus adjusted, it is diffi¬ 
cult to induce a cow to kick.” The method of 
arranging the rope is shown in the engraving. 
A Handy Log-Lifter. 
Mr. E. F. Batcheller, W orcester Co., Mass., has 
a method of handling logs which he describes 
with the aid of a sketch. The device consists 
of a long stout pole with two iron prongs, 
like a pair of ice tongs fastened in the middle. 
The tongs catch hold of the log, and two 
men, one at each end of the bar, carry the 
log along. “ It saves time, labor, wetting the 
A HANDY LOG-LIETER. 
hands and bending the back. No one ever 
using one would lift logs without it.” The 
log-lifter and method of using it is shown in 
the engraving, made from Mr. B.’s sketch. 
A Wheelbarrow is a most useful farm 
vehicle, yet many farmers who have a fine 
carriage go without the humble wheelbarrow. 
The barrow with movable side boards is the 
most convenient upon the farm and about the 
yards. In making a selection, that with a 
large wheel, with the high front board pro¬ 
jecting well forward, is best. A wide tire is 
also to be preferred, as the surface is often 
soft where a wheelbarrow is used. One can 
not do much gardening without a wheel¬ 
barrow, and it is most useful in bringing the 
wood from the yard, where it is sawed and 
split, to the shed, in which it is piled for use. 
When not employed a wheelbarrow, like 
other vehicles, should be housed, that it may 
be preserved in good order for many years. 
A Bushel Box. 
Mr. John G. Weber has constructed a bush¬ 
el measure in the following manner: The box 
is nearly square, 
the end -pieces 
being one inch 
higher than re¬ 
quired for the 
measure. The 
cleats at the corn¬ 
ers are put on with 
clinch - nails ; the 
box, when finish¬ 
ed, appears as shown in the engraving. 
Bushel boxes that are made of the form here 
given, can be stacked one over another, as 
high as one can reach, without any danger to 
the contents. Mr. W. has found them use¬ 
ful for handling tomatoes and similar fruit. 
The Bye Crop. 
It is a question on many eastern farms 
whether the Indian corn crop pays. So many 
things pay better, and western corn is so 
cheap, that many have given up raising it. 
But rye is growing in importance in the vi¬ 
cinity of all large towns, by the great demand 
for the straw for bedding, and for manufac¬ 
turing purposes. For the last four years we 
have sold the straw at an average price of 
.$20 a ton, fading but little short of the 
average price of hay. If only a ton can be 
raised to the acre, in addition to 15 bushels of 
grain, it makes quite a handsome income 
from an acre of land. The labor on the crop 
is small and comes at a time when other 
work is not pressing. We use rye as a cleans¬ 
ing crop for old pastures. Most pastures 
that are not grazed by sheep tend to relapse 
into brush. Patches of whortleberries, black¬ 
berries, sweet fern, and other shrubs extend 
year by year until the grass dies out. Some¬ 
thing may be done to suppress the growth of 
brush by persistently mowing with a bush 
scythe, but this must be followed up yearly, 
and is quite as expensive as the plowing and 
cropping with rye. The plow and harrow, 
with the growing of rye for two years, ef¬ 
fectually destroys the brush and gives a clean 
pasture for several years. The land is plow¬ 
ed in August, and the rye put in with a har¬ 
row, not later than the tenth of September. 
We have used to great advantage a half ton 
to the acre of fish scrap, fresh from the fac¬ 
tory. It is drawn upon the ground, and com¬ 
posted with surface mould a few weeks before¬ 
hand, and then spread broadcast upon the 
field and harrowed in. A second cross-har¬ 
rowing covers the rye. The advantage of 
this early sowing is that the plants become 
well rooted before frosts come, and they sur- 
A BUSHEL BOX. 
vive the winter in good condition. In the 
spring we sow clover and red-top before the 
frosts are gone. Much of this seed catches 
and furnishes gf>od fall feed, after the grain 
crop is harvested. The expense of plowing 
is about $2 an acre, of sowing and harrowing 
twice, $2, of harvesting with the horse reaper, 
$1, and the threshing, done by job, one- 
eighth of the grain, which will not vary 
much from $2, making $7 for labor, and 
about the same for manure. The grain will 
just about cover the cost of the manure and 
labor, leaving the straw clear profit. This is 
more highly esteemed for bedding by the 
livery-stable keepers than any other kind of 
straw, and is also used to a considerable ex¬ 
tent in the manufacture of paper. The price 
varies from $15 to $25 a ton, according to 
location and facilities for market. The ad¬ 
vantage of the rye crop is not confined to the 
value of the straw, for the grass is increased 
for several years, which means more milk, 
butter, cheese, beef, wool, lambs, and mut¬ 
ton. If the farmer is wise he will keep his 
pasture clear of brush by grazing with sheep 
at least in the alternate years. The labor 
for the succeeding rye crop will be lessened 
by a clean pasture. Connecticut. 
A New Agricultural Plant.-Soy. 
The European Catalogues, and some Amer¬ 
ican ones, offer “A new Agricultural Plant,” 
the very old Soy, or Soy Bean. This they of¬ 
fer as “ Soja liispida ,” though modern botan¬ 
ists unite Soja with Glycine. Some speak of 
it as a pea, and others as a bean, the latter 
being more nearly correct as its relationships 
are nearer to the bean. It forms an erect 
plant about three feet high, and very bushy, its 
many hairy branches bearing three-parted 
leaves and inconspicuous flowers, followed by 
hairy pods, each with two to five seeds, which 
are oval and “nankeen” colored. It is 
claimed that the plant resists the heat and 
drouth, and produces an abundant crop of 
seeds, which are valuable as food for both 
A NEW AGRICULTUBAL PLANT (Glycine hispid a). 
man and cattle, and that the fodder is also 
readily eaten by sheep and cattle. The plant 
is a native of Asia, and the seeds have long 
been used by the orientals, who ferment them 
and produce a dark-brown liquid, which is 
salted and made into a sauce called Soy. To 
judge from the engraving, this is closely re~ 
