98 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[March, 
of saplings or strips of lumber. These are self- 
sustaining, or supported by stakes driven into the 
ground, to which they are fastened by wire. A 
bench on which hurdles are constructed, is shown 
Fig. 1.— BENCH FOR MAKING HURDLES. 
at fig. 1: the clamp or vice at the top is made of a 
piece of spring steel with a toothed claw at the end; 
this is brought down, when in use, by the bar seen 
below the bench, and it holds the strip of sapling 
while it is flattened or shaved down on each side 
to a proper thickness. For boring the stakes, the 
guide at the front of the bench is used ; the stake 
is supported in the two rests, and the holes are 
bored opposite the slats made in front. The hurdle 
thus made is shown at fig, 2; the cross bars and 
braces are fastened by means of wrought nails, 
clenched or riveted on the opposite side. Hur- 
Fig. 4.— MANNER OF SETTING FIGURE 3L 
dies may be made by nailing the bars to the stakes, 
or by fastening them with carriage bolts, instead 
of boring; in this case, light timber may be em¬ 
ployed. To set these hurdles, holes are made 
in the ground with a pointed iron bar, and the stakes 
are driven down with a mallet or heavy hammer. 
Another kind of hurdle is represented at fig. 3. 
In this, flattened bars are nailed to upright flattened 
posts, with the ends of the bars projecting, so that 
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Fig. 5.— A SIMPLE PANEL FENCE. 
the hurdles may be set up as in fig. 4, supported 
by two stakes at each corner, these being wired 
together at the top. This makes a strong fence not 
liable to be blown over by high winds. Panels of 4 
or 6 inch strips, as shown at fig. 5, will make a ser¬ 
viceable fence. These can be locked together by 
passing the open ends through those that are closed 
by the extra strip shown at the right of the engrav¬ 
ing. The panels may be fastened by wires passed 
through the holes shown in the open ends, or by a 
single stake driven in the outside corners of the 
panels, or flexible withes may be used to fasten the 
comers. Any one of these fences is cheap, easily 
made, and so far as we are aware they are entirely 
free from any claim of the ubiquitous patent agent. 
Notes on Wheat and Corn in Alabama. 
LETTER FROM ILIAS FINCH, SHELBY CO., ALA. 
I read your request for reports of wheat-growing 
from different localities, last year; but as we are 
not a wheat-growing people, and this not a wheat¬ 
growing section, I thought it useless for me to 
make any statement in the matter. But on looking 
over the table in the February number of the 
American Agriculturist, I find that I might have 
made as favorable a report as many of them. I 
came from Northern New York, and about two 
years ago I purchased a farm here for $5,300. It 
had formerly been producing about 10 to 12 bushels 
of wheat, and 12 to 15 bushels of corn per acre. 
When I introduced my large plows, and people saw 
me turning over the soil at the rate of 9 to 10 inches 
deep, and 12 to 10 in. wide at a furrow, they all, in 
astonishment, declared that I was surely destroy¬ 
ing my land ; that I could not raise anything on the 
sub-soil thus turned on top, and that the sun would 
burn all the substance out of the soil. I harrowed 
the ground thoroughly, twice before sowing; 
sowed 26 acres of wheat about the middle of No¬ 
vember, after soaking the seed in a strong solution 
of salt and rolling it in lime, allowing one bushel 
of seed per acre, then harrowed the ground twice 
afterwards. In June, I harvested 837 bushels of 
good wheat, or at the rate of about 32‘/ 5 bushels 
per acre. No fertilizer was applied except what 
was on the ground, in the shape of weeds etc., 
turned under in plowing. It was sowed broad-cast. 
My corn ground gave equally satisfactory results. 
From 7 acres I harvested 50 bushels per acre, and 
my whole corn crop of 40 acres averaged 421 bush¬ 
els per acre. Last year was a poor wheat year ; I 
sowed the same amount in the same manner, and 
harvested only 500 bushels. My corn crop was 
equally good with the year before, though I was 
not so particular in keeping an account of it. I 
harvested 3,000 bushels. The mode of cultivation 
throughout the South, so far as I have seen, is very 
slovenly. Generally, the old primitive plow and 
hoe are still adhered to—the latter being the 
heavier of the two. The plow is the old “ bull 
tongue,” consisting of a beam attached to an up¬ 
right handle, drawn by one mule or “steer,” 
merely scratching the ground to a depth of one-half 
an inch to two inches deep, just stirring the sur¬ 
face, so that a heavy rain washes away the loose soil, 
as the land is mostly rolling. I am glad, however, 
to see that many here are introducing improved 
implements, and some labor-saving machinery. 
Poultry-Keeping in a Village. 
Mr. “ J. V. C.,” of Haddonfield, N. J., noticing 
the communication from a city in the January 
number, on poultry-keeping, sends us the follow¬ 
ing account of his experience On leaving the 
city, one of my first concerns, after getting well 
settled in this village, was to obtain a few fowls, 
and having read a good deal about the different 
breeds, I fixed upon the Light Brahmas. I found 
them good layers, and good mothers ; but we soon 
tired of them for the table, the meat being coarse 
and somewhat stringy. I then procured eggs of 
my neighbors, and soon had a mixture of several 
different kinds—smaller, more compact, and the 
meat more tender and solid. I have adhered to 
this plan for several years, and have good healthy 
fowls, never having had cholera, gapes, or any 
other epidemic among them. We winter about 20, 
and start off in the spring with some 60 chicks, 
more or less. We are scarcely ever without eggs, 
though less plentiful, of course, at some seasons 
than at others. Hens must have rest, and their 
moulting seasons when they do not lay for a short 
time. I feed principally, corn and wheat screenings, 
with usually a hot mess in the middie of the day, 
consisting of cracked corn, middlings, bran, pretty 
well seasoned with red pepper, which we raise for 
the purpose, and scraps from the table. On this 
they thrive well, and look fine. The space allowed 
them is a lot of about 45 feet square, on which grow 
two apple trees, and on which is their house for 
shelter, with arrangements for laying, etc. The 
following is my account for the year just ended: 
Eggs, 112 dozen, of which we sold 82 dozen, and 
consumed for home use and for setting 24 dozen, 
at the average price, 23 cents.$25.76 
Fowls for table use, .33 at 50c. 16.50 
Stock on hand, 18 at 50c. 9.00 
Manure, say. 5.00 
Cost of food.$21.88 $56.26 
Profits........$34.38 
The manure in the city would be of no account; 
but in a garden it is very valuable, and I am of the 
opinion that I have put it at a lower value than 
it is really worth to me. I might add to the 
cost a trifle for keeping the house in repair, care, 
etc.; but these items are scarcely worth noticing. 
Among the Iron Mines of Michigan. 
EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE. 
Turn to the map of Northern Michigan, or the 
upper Peninsula, draw with your pencil a small 
circle, having the city of Islipeming as the center, 
and you will embrace the Marquette Iron ranges 
which, it is claimed, produce nearly one-third of all 
the iron made in the United States. Thirty-four 
years ago (1845), and fully two hundred years after 
the existence of copper became known in the Pen¬ 
insula, Man-je-ki-jik, an Indian chief, led a party of 
government surveyors to an iron mountain stand¬ 
ing in an unbroken forest, fourteen miles back from 
Indian Town, now Marquette, on the south shore 
of Lake Superior. The explorers subsequently 
came near losing the prize by wrongly locating it 
on the government map. Owners of adjacent gov¬ 
ernment permits naturally became much excited, 
and began to dig for iron. Judge of their disap¬ 
pointment, and of the chagrin of the discoverers 
when it was found that the iron mountain was sit¬ 
uated twelve miles further north. The latter did 
not consume much time in having the proper cor¬ 
rection made on the Government Sectional Map. A 
large pine stump marks the spot, to which Man-je- 
ki-jik’s finger pointed, and from which very many 
tons of ore have since been taken. Companies 
were immediately organized at Jackson, Mich., and 
other points, to devel»p the Lake Superior mines. 
One of the three survivors of the little band which 
founded the present beautiful city of Marquette, 
tells an entertaining story of their journey. They 
left Michigan proper, for Lake Superior, in an old 
worthless steamer, the Tecumseh. A bread riot, an 
