20 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
A Sliding Gate. 
Mr. E. E. Keller, Monroe Co., N. Y., lias a 
sliding gate in a tight picket fence, which is 
cheap, handy, and easily made. He writes : 
“In building the fence, the post to which a 
gate is to be hung, should be on the outside, 
and if the gate is more than four feet long, 
the second post should also be put outside of 
the pickets. A strip of hard-wood, ’le-inch 
square, and twice as long as the gate, should 
be nailed on the outer edge of the top of the 
2 by 4-inch scantling, which makes the upper 
railing of the fence. Casters are placed at 
frequent intervals in the upper surface of this 
scantling, and should project about half an 
inch above the surface. The gate is made 
with its boards or pickets facing opposite to 
those of the fence, with the lower edges of 
the scantling twice as long as the gate, and a 
half inch higher than the upper surface of 
the fence. A , | 8 -inch strip is nailed on the 
under side of the scantling, to slide easily be¬ 
tween the fence boards and the similar strip 
on the upper side of the fence scantling, as 
shown in the engraving. These two strips 
should be bound with hoop iron. A 2 by 4- 
strip is placed on the front of the gate, with 
a small wheel on its lower end, which rolls 
upon a sill placed in the ground. The casters 
which I have used are from an old bedstead. ” 
Barn Door Fastening. 
One of the best bams in the country has 
its large double doors fastened by a bar of 
iron, about six feet long, which is bolted to 
one of the doors at its middle point. The 
ends of the bar are notched, one upon the 
upper and the other on the under side to fit 
over sockets or “hooks” that are bolted to 
Fig. 1. —IKON BAR DOOR FASTENING. 
the doors. One hook bends upward, and the 
other downward, and the bar moves in the 
arc of a circle when the door is being un¬ 
fastened or bolted. The construction of this 
door fastening is shown in figure 1. A 
wooden bar may replace the iron one, and 
may be of a size and length sufficient to 
make the fastening secure. A wooden bar 
is shown in figure 2. Such a method of 
fastening could be used for a single door, pro¬ 
vided it needs to be opened and closed only 
Fig. 2. —WOODEN BAR DOOR FASTENING. 
from the inside. By putting a pin in the bar 
near the end that passes by the door post, so 
that it will reach through a slot in the door, 
such a “latch” might be used for any door. 
A Corn Fodder Holder. 
“X. Y.,” Columbus, Ohio, sends his method 
of securing uncut com fodder, which is shown 
in the accompanying engraving, made from 
his sketch. Fasten 
two staples with rings 
in the sides of the 
shed, each equally 
distant from the cor¬ 
ner, two feet or a lit¬ 
tle less, and tie the 
end of a rope to one 
of the rings, while 
the other end of the 
rope is provided with 
an iron snap. The 
corn stalks are placed 
in a standing position 
in the corner, and the 
rope is brought in 
front of them and A F0DDER holder. 
snapped to the other ring. The construc¬ 
tion of this easily made “fodder rack” 
is easily understood from the engraving. 
Cut-Worms in the Garden. 
When one has set out in the well prepared 
soil of the garden the cabbage plants he has 
carefully raised, and a few mornings after 
finds that a large share of his plants is miss¬ 
ing, the stems being cut square off near the 
ground, he says, “ The Cut-Worm.” He is in 
no mood to make entomological distinctions. 
The cabbages are killed by cut-worms, and 
to him there is but one kind —the Cut-Worm. 
In practical entomology the gardener classes 
insects by their work, and it makes no differ¬ 
ence to him if there are three or four cater¬ 
pillars, the larve of as many different moths, 
if he finds that their work is all alike they 
are all one to him in applying the remedy. If 
a cut-worm has cut the cabbage plants, it is 
possible to find its hiding place, dig it out of 
its hole, and put an end to its work. There 
is a satisfaction in knowing that this particu¬ 
lar worm will cut no more, and that in kill¬ 
ing it, future progeny is likely to be dimin¬ 
ished. It would appear that cut-worms have 
been very numerous the past season, as we 
have had many complaints of their destruc¬ 
tion of cabbage plants. Among all the com¬ 
plaints there came one suggestion of a 
remedy, or rather preventive. 
It is old, but it is a long time since we 
referred to it, and it may be new to some of 
the young gardeners of the present day. It 
comes from J. F. T. B. Brentano, Marion Co., 
Oregon, who writes : “We Oregonians cir¬ 
cumvent this pest, by wrapping a piece of 
paper around the stem of each plant as it is 
set out. The paper should extend a little 
distance below the ground, and as far above 
as it can go without interfering with the 
leaves.” In speaking of the kind of paper, 
he suggests that rich people may use green¬ 
backs, but poor ones must rely upon old copy 
books or even newspapers, but “the Ameri¬ 
can Agriculturist will not answer at all for 
this use, as it should be kept,” a conclusion 
with which we agree. That this method is 
effective we know, and we do not doubt that 
on a large scale it would pay, where the time 
required to apply the paper would cost less 
than to replace the plants destroyed. Several 
years ago some one wrote that he applied a- 
maple leaf, in place of the paper, in plant¬ 
ing a large field. The leaf of the Red Maple 
being chosen merely because it was sufficient¬ 
ly large at the time he put out the plants. 
A Plant Box with Divisions. 
Among the many devices to allow plants 
to be handled without disturbing the roots, 
we have seen none so simple as the one here 
illustrated in the figure below. A shallow box 
of any desired size is provided with partitions 
to divide it into square compartments. The 
bottom of the box, instead of being nailed on 
in the usual manner, should be small enough 
to slip inside of the frame formed by the 
sides and ends, and held in place by a few 
screws or nails that are not driven quite 
home. As many strips of straw-board are 
provided as will make the desired number of 
divisions. One set of these, should have a. 
cut made from the center to the upper edge, 
and the set that crosses them should be cut 
from the center to the lower edge ; this will 
allow the two sets to lock together. The 
compartments thus made being in place, 
they are to be filled with soil, and a few 
seeds sown in each, all the plants but one 
being removed when large enough to be well 
established. Or seeds may be sown in other 
boxes, and the plants, when large enough, 
may be transplanted to this, placing one in 
each division. When it is time to set out the 
plants, the box may be taken to the garden ; 
the screws or nails that hold the bottom 
being taken out, the frame can be lifted off, 
leaving the squares of soil undisturbed. Each 
A BOX WITH DIVISIONS. 
one of these, if carefully taken up by means 
of a flat trowel or a piece of shingle, may be 
put into the hole prepared for it, without 
breaking a root fiber. Such boxes will an¬ 
swer where seedlings are raised in the window 
as well as in a hot-bed. 
White <jJ rub and Strawberry 
aSorer. —J. Webster, Marion Co., Ill., writes 
that he and others have lost from one-fourth 
to one-half of their strawberry plants. The 
White Grub and the Borer that attacks the 
crown of the plant having been especially 
abundant during the late drouth. We have 
in recent numbers given the only method 
with the grub, i. e., to destroy the beetles- 
