38-4 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October, 
accurately adjusted. All this may be done very 
rapidly by a farmer or his boy who can use tools. 
For boxes for water-wheel journals, and also for 
steps to turbine wheels, where the work is done 
under water, there is nothing better than wood of 
the kinds mentioned above, and the wear of iron 
upon wood, or of wood upon wood, is much less 
than that of iron upon iron or upon brass. The 
best lubricator for wooden boxes—excepting in 
water, when no other is required—is tallow and 
black-lead or black-lead alone ; when machine oil 
is used, black-lead should always be mixed with it. 
Milk Shelves. 
BY I,. I). SNOOK, YATES CO., N. Y. 
Our contributor, Mr. Snook, sends us drawings 
of two forms of stationary milk shelves, both with 
open bottoms. That shown in figure 2 consists of a 
single center piece of 
timber, six inches square, 
firmly fastened to a string¬ 
er at the top and below 
to the cellar floor. On this 
timber the cross pieces, 
one inch square and three 
feet long—which should 
be of well - seasoned, 
planed, and oiled wood— 
are nailed in pairs; care 
should be taken that they 
are perfectly horizontal, 
as they form the shelf 
upon which the pans are 
to sit, one upon each side 
of the center post. A rack 
thus arranged can hold 
from 20 to 26 pans, de¬ 
pending upon the length 
of post and distance between the shelves. It is not 
best to have the pans nearer to the cellar bottom 
than two feet, and, to prevent danger from mice 
and rats, an old pan can be put on the post, as 
shown in the engraving. The second form of rack, 
or shelves, is shown in 
figure 1, and has two 
upright posts to which 
the cross slats are nail¬ 
ed. This shelf can be 
placed by the side of 
the cellar, as the pans 
can all be put on from 
the same side. The 
“ standards” may be 
two by six inches in 
cross section, and if 
placed 32 inches apart, 
tV.ere will be room for 
two pans between them. 
They can be placed any 
distance apart, but the 
greater the distance the 
stronger must be the 
cross pieces. With the 
posts square, as in the 
first rack, cross shelves 
could be put on, in 
which case the whole 
rack could stand out from the wall, and we should 
have a combination of the two forms given above. 
A Water Gatherer for Upland Farms. 
There are many localities otherwise desirable for 
dairying, which are uusuited for this business, be¬ 
cause of the scarcity of water. The grass is abund¬ 
ant and good, but without good water, cows can¬ 
not give good milk. This is notably the case in 
parts of Kentucky and other Western States, where 
streams are few and wells are unsatisfactory, be¬ 
cause of the nearness of rock to the surface, and 
the open, fissured character of the rock through 
which water escapes. But there is a way out of 
this difficulty. A water gatherer may be made at 
the highest part of the farm, which will collect a 
very large supply of water. For ins'anee, a table 
of 100 feet square, or less than a quarter of an acre, 
will gather every year 30,000 cubic feet of water 
with a rainfall of 36 inches, this being equal to 225,- 
000 gallons, or 7,000 barrels ; a supply sufficient for 
60 head of stock the whole year, giving 10 gallons 
daily to each. A table of 200 feet square, or less 
than one acre, will supply four times as many ani¬ 
mals. The table, or water collector, may be 
slightly hollowed to a central point (see figure) 
where a receiving pipe is provided, connected with 
an air trap to prevent evaporation, and with drain 
pipes to cisterns in different parts of the farm, or 
to the buildings, where permanent pipes and taps 
may be fitted, from which water can always be 
drawn where it may be required. The cost of this 
arrangement will bo very moderate. If the water- 
table is covered with cement and sand 2 inches 
thick, which is advisable, as the whole rain-fall will 
then be collected, it will cost about $100 for the 
cement for 100 feet square; 1 barrel of cement, 
with 3 of sand, will cover 100 square feet 2 inches 
thick; 1 inch is thick enough in some cases, and at 
that rate the cost for cement will be reduced to 
$50. The drain-pipe will cost about §20 per 1,000 
feet laid, the joints being cemented; « galvanized 
iron pipe may be used at a somewhat higher cost, 
but with greater durability and less labor. The 
cisterns should be large enough to hold all the 
water that may fall in the wet season, as they must 
serve for storage tanks in the dry weather. They 
should be large enough to hold at least one-fourth 
of the annual supply, or nearly 2,000 barrels, with 
a 100 feet square collector. A round cistern, 18 feet 
in diameter, and 18 feet deep, will hold over 1,000 
barrels, or 60 barrels to the foot in depth. On the 
whole, the cost will amount to a small portion of 
the value of a copious supply of good water. It 
AIR TRAP AN1) SECTION OP GATHERER. 
need hardly be said that the water-table should be 
kept well fenced from all kinds of stock. Where 
there are grassy hollows in which water collects 
during heavy rains, drains may be laid from the 
lowest points of these, leading to cisterns ; and a 
large supply of water may be gathered in this way 
at little cost; but for a permanent supply, the col¬ 
lector above described will be found better than 
any other, and equal in all respects to a roof. 
Digging Swamp Muck. 
The present month is a favorable time for getting 
out muck from the swamp. Although the water 
may be high, it is easy to get out the muck by good 
management. A practicable method is as follows: 
choose a place to begin, which is easy of access to 
the bank, and begin to dig in a direct line from the 
bank into the swamp. Probably when the solid 
bottom of clay, sand, or quicksand is reached, water 
will spring up and fill the hole dug in one night. 
No matter, begin again the next morning so far 
back as will furnish one day’s digging and no more. 
Take off the top to the water level, as shown by the 
portion marked 1 in the engraving. Then dig away 
the part marked 2, leaving a piece, marked 3, as a 
dam to keep out the water. All this may be done 
without trouble before the water bottom is reached. 
All that remains is, to take away the piece marked 
3, and this will be best done by digging away at the 
bottom where the muck is softest, with care to take 
all that is possible before letting the water in. 
When it can no longer be kept out, take out the 
Fig. I- 
top of the dam, which, being tough, can be drawn 
out with grab hooks, as it is cut off into pieces with 
a sharp spade. In digging a large quantity of muck 
without any care, a man made 60 cents a day at 15 
cents a cubic yard. When this method was ex¬ 
plained to him, he dug 6 yards a day, and, after a 
time, got up to 10 yards, or one yard in an hour. 
Storing Cabbages in Pits. 
As the value of cabbages for feeding is becoming 
better known, this crop is more largely grown. The 
A CABBAGE PIT. 
greatest difficulty is in preserving them. Decayed 
cabbages are certainly the worst possible food for a 
dairy cow, and the odor and taste of the milk 
caused by them are far more disagreeable than 
when turnips are fed. The successful keeping of 
them is therefore very important. A thousand 
head of well grown cabbages will furnish a full ra¬ 
tion once a day for ten cows during at least t»vo 
months ; by pitting them, cabbages may be kept in 
good order for twice this length of time. The 
usual method of storing in cellars is not so good as 
that of storing in pits. Pitting is done by plowing 
several furrows, so as to scoop out a long hollow- or 
trench, and heap the earth upon each side of it. 
The cabbage are then packed, head downwards, in 
the trench in the manner shown in the engraving, 
and first covered with straw, then with earth suffi¬ 
ciently thick to keep out the frost. We have packed 
them without straw, and found them to keep better 
than with straw, as the closer the packing so as to 
exclude air more thoroughly, the better is the con¬ 
dition of the cabbages ; the earth, too, seems to 
have a preservative effect; the heads being packed 
downwards, no earth penetrates between the leaves. 
Fattening Turkeys. 
-©— 
It is a goodly sight, as the summer days wane, 
to see the flocks of turkeys coming home from ilie 
woods and pastures at nightfall, with full crops. 
If the farm has not been over-stocked with these 
birds, they have very largely made their living upon 
grasshoppers, crickets, worms, and other small fry. 
The regular food they have had has been rather to 
keep them wonted, than to supply any lack of for¬ 
age. As the cool nights come on, and the supply 
of insects declines, the business of fattening prop¬ 
erly commences. It should be remembered that 
plump, well dressed turkeys, not only bring a 
higher price in market, but enhance the reputation 
of the producer, and make his market sure for 
future years. The turkey is one of the finished 
products of the farm, and one of the greatest luxu¬ 
ries in the market. The farmer should do his best 
in preparing his flock for the shambles. The main 
business now is to lay on fat, and the bird should 
have, every night and morning, a full supply of nu¬ 
tritious and fattening food. Instinctively the turkey 
follows his feed, and if the supply is abundant at 
the farm yard, he will not stroll far from home. 
Boiled potatoes, mashed, and mixed with meal, and 
fed moderately warm, is a very excellent feed both 
to promote growth and to fatten. If the pigs can 
be robbed of a. part of their milk, and it be mixed 
with a part of the hot potatoes and meal, it will 
very much improve the dish. It is very desirable 
to supply the place of insects with some kind of 
animal food, and butcher’s scraps is one of the 
cheapest and most desirable forms of food for 
poultry. Grain should Lo given at least once a day 
with the soft and warm feed. Nothing is better 
