340 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[September 
A Lifting Gate. 
-■«*>- 
While fences are used, gates and latches will be 
needed, however undesirable and troublesome to 
keep in order they may be. A gate and a latch that 
will meet all requirements, have hardly yet been 
devised, and possibly never will be, still there are 
some gates that are much more convenient than 
others. In this country, pans of which are troubled, 
or blessed, as the case may be, with deep 
snows in the winter, a gate that may be lifted 
up as the snow accumulates, will be a con¬ 
venience. A gate of this character, is shown 
in the annexed engraving. Rather curiously, the 
idea of this gate is given in a recent English 
paper, the “Agricultural Gazette,” which has bor¬ 
rowed many good things from the American Agri¬ 
culturist, for the information of its readers. The 
manner of its construction will be easily seen ; the 
lifting part consists of a lever, pivoted to the gate, 
and pins are provided to secure the lever, as the 
gate is raised or lowered, to suit the necessities of 
the case. The parts of the hinges, affixed to the gate 
post, are long, and admit of the other parts sliding 
upon them, as the gate is raised or lowered. The 
secured end of the lever is fitted into a piece of iron 
affixed to the gate post, as shown in the engraving; 
the free end is held in its place, by means of the 
pins inserted in holes, made in the bar of the gate. 
Among the Farmers—No 44. 
BY ONE OF THEM. 
-.J:- 
Tethering- Cows and Horses. 
The highways about us have borne an unusual 
crop of grass this season. The laws against cattle 
on the highways and “astrays,” have been enforced 
with unwonted rigor, and as a consequence many 
cows have been seen tethered along the roadside. 
They are almost always tied by the horns, and the 
Fig. 1.— A ROPE SWIVEL. 
tether-line is about 20, though often 40 or 50 feet 
long. Commonly half or three-quarter inch hemp 
rope is used, and this must be well tarred, or it will 
both kink and untwist, and wear out very fast. 
I notice that few people put swivels in the ropes, 
which would save them greatly. The best swivel 
I know of, and one I have often used, is shown in 
figure 1; it is a block of inch oak, three inches 
wide and six inches long, with two holes bored 
through it; these are filed out smooth and greased, 
or better, waxed. The ends of a rope are drawn 
through and knotted. I have used the same thing 
in iron, as shown in figure 
2. It is no better. If the 
holes are of the right size 
_ „ for the rope, there will be no 
Fig. 2. IRON SWIVEL. twisting or kinking . Stil!> 
ropes at best are poor things to tether by, and who¬ 
ever once uses a chain will continue to do so. Old 
trace-chains, even if quite worn, do very well if the 
pieces are fastened together by S links, which any 
blacksmith can make if you give him the size of 
the chain ; but the chain for cows is a little lighter. 
How to Tether a Cow. 
I disapprove entirely of the practice of tethering 
lay the head, having known several good cows 
killed by this alone. When the cow is at the end 
of her tether, and reaching out for that which she 
cannot get, (this is exactly what she wants most 
and often first, and in this she is very human in her 
ways), she raises the rope or chain just high enough 
above the ground to get it around one of her hind 
feet, when she turns. This causes her to back, and 
that only draws the tether tighter, and her head to 
one side. Every motion in her attempt to extricate 
herself, is liable to make matters worse, for if it 
happens that the ground is uneven, or terraced, as 
many roadsides are, relief only comes when the 
animal falls. The fatal cases occur when the cow 
falls with her head under her, the neck sometimes, 
even, beiug broken. We always tether a cow by 
the hind leg. I forget where I learned it, but am 
sure I have mentioned it before in my letters to the 
American Agriculturist. We have used cords, iron 
fetters, and straps to fasten the chain to the leg, 
and decidedly prefer the strap. This is applied as 
shown in figure 3 ; pass an inch strap twice through 
a ring, and twice around the pastern of a cow’s_ 
hind leg, buckling rather tight, but not tight enough 
to press the riug so as to hurt her. When any 
draft comes on the ring, it will of course be drawn 
away from the skin and will not chafe. The chain 
may be attached to the ring by a snap-hook. It is 
well to attach the chain for the first time in the sta 
ble, for then the cow will get accustomed to it and 
not kick. When lead out to feed, let her drag the 
chain for the same reason, and before driving the 
stake, let some one hold the chain in the hands a 
little while, so that she may find out that she is fas¬ 
tened and held by it. In this method of tethering, 
a cow will not hurt herself even though she kicks 
violently. Another great advantage is, that the 
chain drags through and spreads the manure while 
it is still soft. Another is, that when a rather long 
chain is used, and the grass is heavy, she need rare¬ 
ly be given over six feet 
of fresh feed at a time, 
and thus all the manure 
will be dropped on the 
space already cropped. 
The principal advan¬ 
tage, however, is the 
one already alluded to, 
by inference — that a 
cow thus tethered, can 
not hurt herself. I 
have never known a Fi 3 tether fastening. 
case of tripping and 
falling, or of any other entanglement than winding 
the chain around stakes or bushes, and thus limit¬ 
ing her range of feeding to a very short compass. 
Tethering Horses. 
While on this general subject, a bit of personal 
experience may be worth recording. I have four 
young horses, three of them half Orloff, one a two- 
year-old filly, of unknown pedigree, large for her 
age, gentle, good-natured, but bound to be a leader 
in any mischief colts can get into. She will push 
over fences if she can ; she will jump over any thing 
iu the shape of a fence, and when out will wander 
beyond all account Our fences are pretty good, 
Fig. 4.—FOOT TETHER FOR HORSE. 
but this creature knew no bounds, so we loxcnd 
her. She has been tethered now for several weeks, 
and we have had peace. The system followed is 
precisely that used in the army, and I believe copied 
from French practice, namely, picketing by the 
fore foot, as shown in figure 4. , By the hind foot 
for cows ; by the fore foot for horses is the way to 
tether safely. Thus fastened, the horse is absolute¬ 
ly secure. The tether-pin may even be loose, he 
can not draw it out it the chain or rope is six feet 
long. I have seen spirited horses thus tethered, 
and kept wonderfully quiet. They seem to under¬ 
stand their helplessness, as much as a man when 
tied by his thumbs. I think I would risk any horse 
thus fastened. I have never seen one trip and fall, 
nor pull very hard upon the chain, nor get the chain 
Fig. 5.— THE SOUTHERN HITCHING BAR. 
around his hind leg. That is really the great dan¬ 
ger in tethering a horse by the head. He gets a 
rope or chain around his hind leg, aud his fore¬ 
feet being at liberty, he plunges, cuts his pastern,, 
or wears the skin off, and if no other harm hap¬ 
pens, he has a sore very hard to heal, and liable to- 
break out as “grease ” or “ scratches ” at any time. 
In tethering both horses and cows, it is best to 
shift the fastening from one foot to the other every 
few days, so that the skin shall not be chafed. I 
have used a number of patent tether-pins for chains^ 
and decidedly prefer a simple l-incb pin, 16 inches 
long, to go through a ring, and with a big head. 
A Hitching--bar for Saddle-Horses. 
How few people make any provision for friends 
who may call on horse-back. One must hitch his 
horse to a common liitehing-post, probably near a 
border or sod-bordered roadway, or wait holding 
his horse until a man can be sent for. This, of 
course, is the style, and the thing to do,—that is— 
have a stable-boy within call to come and take the 
horse of a friend—but I don’t like it. The Southern 
way is far preferable, and that was the style even 
under the old regime. When a saddle-horse is 
hitched at a common post, he of course makes the 
circuit of it, paws up the sod, treads down the 
plants in the border, if it be near by, and makes the 
well-raked gravel look as badly as possible. Be¬ 
sides, he rubs his bridle, and will roll if he can, 
and when bis rider mounts, of course the horse is 
unhitched, and is at liberty to give him quite a 
lively turn before he can get on, unless, indeed, the 
rider be young and athletic, and can mount and dis 
mount on the trot, as is done at the riding schools. 
I enclose a sketch (fig. 5) of the Southern plan, as 
I recollect it. Two posts are set, say 14 feet apart, 
these support a bar, in the top of which several 
stout pins are set. The rider brings his horse un¬ 
der the bar, throws the reins over one of the pins, 
and dismounts. The horse is safe, he cannot rub 
or roll, or get his head to the ground, and the 
bar is located where he may paw and carry on to 
his heart’s content, and do no harm. When one 
comes to mount, he has his horse held for him, for 
he must be upon the horse in order to be able to 
reach the reins, and take them off from the pin. 
Saddle-Horses. 
A friend, who has been spending several winters 
at the South, applied to me to get him a saddle- 
horse, and he wanted “ to guide by the neck.” We 
ride so little about here, that very few horses are 
brought to New York, or indeed to Eastern markets 
as saddle-horses. If a horse can be “warranted 
sound and kind in all harness,” that is enough, and 
if he can be certified to carry a man on his back, he 
will readily sell for a saddle-horse. 
I was fortunate in being able to find a nice 
“block of a horse,” the English would call him a 
“ cob,” which had pleasant gaits under the saddle, 
and was “ good in all harness,” besides being as 
free from vice as a pet kitten. _ He guided by the 
