1882.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
155 
go to the Landing six miles off, pay twenty 
dollars a thousand for boards, and other lum¬ 
ber, and haul them home. He had plenty of 
woodland, and with his saw-mill he could 
work off all the timber he wanted to sell. 
He said lie made his own carts, wagons, sleds, 
sleighs, and ironed them, and they were quite 
as serviceable as anything he could buy. He 
made his own shoes and boots, and the most 
of those his family wore. He said his son 
Ike took naturally to the use of tools, and 
had got it into his head that he could make 
a sleigh that would beat anything on the 
road in Shadtown. 
“ I told him a good deal depended on horse 
flesh in the matter of speed. He said he 
knew that, and he thought it was a disgrace 
to load up a smart horse with five hundred 
pounds of wood and iron, in a vehicle, where 
a hundred poimds would do just as well. So 
the boy went to work, sawed his lumber, and 
got up this sleigh you see, all but the thills, 
which you can buy cheaper than you can 
make them. He has laid out about ten dol¬ 
lar's upon it, and I guess it is as good a sleigh 
as you can buy in the market for thirty-five 
dollars. I think Ike has spent about three 
weeks on the job, at odd spells, and has got 
more satisfaction out of it than he could have 
found in hanging round the grocery or going 
to the dance. He has a comely looking ve¬ 
hicle if he wants to ride, and something that 
will bring money if he wants to sell. He has 
gained in independence by his experiment, 
and is worth more to himself and society, 
whatever may be true of his workmanship.” 
But, I asked, “How in the world do you 
find time for all this variety of work which 
usually keeps a half dozen men busy enough V ” 
“I know the old saw,” said the deacon, ‘Jack 
at all trades and good at none,’ and that other, 
‘ Let the cobbler stick to his last,’ which runs 
in the same direction. Both have a fair 
amount of common sense in them, and are 
good in certain conditions. If I had 200 acres 
of fat land, and was getting an income of 
5,000 dollars by, working it, it would not pay 
me to be my own mechanic. But that is not 
my condition in life. I inherited a small 
farm, a large part of it woodland, and pas¬ 
ture, where a man has to scrub to get a living. 
I am at a distance from any large market, 
and several miles from the village where I 
should have to go for a mechanic or for any 
little job, that called for one. Division of 
labor is a grand thing, if the laborers live 
close together, and the exchange of labor 
does not cost too much. There are a multi¬ 
tude of jobs that need to be done on my farm, 
that I can do myself, just as well as a me¬ 
chanic, and in half the time it would take 
me to bring a mechanic here, or to cany 
my job to the mechanic. On an aver¬ 
age the skilled labor of a mechanic is worth 
twice as much as that of a farm laborer, say 
$2.50 to $1.25. If I can put the skill of a 
mechanic into my brain and muscles, of 
course, it is better than to do a common farm 
hand’s work.” 
“Then why not turn mechanic and move 
into the village ? ” I asked. 
“Thereby hangs a tale,” said Deacon Jiel. 
“ It’s because I should have to go to the vil¬ 
lage or to the city to find employment, that 
I do not want to go. I should be out of em¬ 
ployment half of the time possibly. Here 
employment of a useful kind finds me every 
day and every hour. I earn enough every 
day to meet all the reasonable wants of my¬ 
self and family. This house and these build¬ 
ings ai - e mine. These acres that feed and clothe 
us are mine, as they have been my father’s 
before me, back to the first settlement of the 
country. They planted these grand old shade 
trees that shelter us in the summer heats, and 
add to the beauty and comfort of our winter 
life. This orchard and garden that yield their 
tempting fruits, an abundant supply the 
year round, were planted by those who have 
gone before me, and I feel under some obliga¬ 
tion to hand them down to those who shall 
come after me. I was born with the love of 
the soil in my bones, and could hardly be 
content away from these ancestral acres. 
With my tastes and principles, I am more 
independent and happier here than I could 
be as a millionaire in the city. There is 
something better than money .”—When I got 
home I told Mrs. Bunker what the Deacon 
said, and Sally said, “ Deacon Jiel has hit the 
nail on the head this time.” 
Ground Floor of Piggery. 
BY MR. .1. C. LAIRD, OLMSTED CO., MINN. 
I have been a subscriber to the American 
Agriculturist most of the time for the last 
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GROUND FLOOR OF A PIGGERY. 
twenty-five years, and have received a great 
many good ideas from it. You publish very 
numerous engravings of useful things that 
are great helps to a farmer, or indeed to every¬ 
body. In the February number you give the 
plan of a Piggery, or hog house, which at 
present I am quite interested in, as I want to 
build one very soon or early in summer, and I 
enclose a pencil sketch of one I have planned 
myself, thinking it would be about such a one 
as would suit me. My object is to have a 
good many hogs near together and convenient 
to feed. I propose a main building, 12 or 14 
feet high, the upper story for ground feed, 
seed corn, work shop, etc., etc., with win¬ 
dows in both gables to light it. The lower or 
ground floor is to be used for feeding, cook¬ 
ing feed, butchering, and room for a wagon. 
The pipe of a furnace can be run up through 
the floor, then carried to th<f north end of the 
building, and then run out of the roof. The 
water tank can be connected with the main 
or large tank at the well. The feed-box is to 
be connected by a spout with the feed-bin 
up stairs. The pens, 14 in number, are all 7 
feet wide by 12 feet deep. I will have open 
yards back of each pen. The roof on the 
pens would be shed roof, and hipped at back 
end, 5‘/. 2 or 6 feet high at eaves, and running 
into the main building just under the eaves. 
A door leads out of each pen into a yard. 
Also connect pens with doors or movable 
partition, and some of the pens will have 
doors into the main room for butchering. 
The main building will be 18 by 32 feet. 
A Good Roller Seat and Frame. 
Field rollers are a necessity upon many 
grain farms. For mere rolling, one section 
is quite as good as two or even three sections. 
Of course they are not quite so easily turned 
at the corners, nor do they roll uneven 
ground as well, but farmers are learning to 
dispense with dead furrows as much as pos¬ 
sible and practice level cultivation. By 
rolling around the field, a small strip is left 
at each corner when turning, and when the 
center of the field is reached, make one 
trip to each corner and back. The roller will 
turn quite easily, by turning upon a circle at 
the corners. The following dimensions make a 
well-proportioned roller: Frame made of 3 
by 6-inch hard-wood; ends 5 feet 8 inches 
long ; sides 9 feet long. The heads 
should be four in number, and 2 
feet 11 inches diameter, and cover¬ 
ed with staves 4 inches wide, 2 
inches thick, and 7 feet 10 inches 
long, projecting over the head at 
each end 2 inches. Staves should 
be attached to the heads by '/ 2 -inch 
wooden pins, or spiked on. If the 
ground is rough and stony, shrink 
on four tires, one over each head ; 
ordinarily one at each end will 
answer. An important part of a 
roller is the seat, and for safety 
and ease of riding the one here 
shown is excellent. A board, b, is 
held in position by braces of heavy 
wagon tire iron (old tire will an¬ 
swer). The one at p is secured to 
top of tongue by the same bolts 
that hold the tongue to the frame, 
while the one at a is bolted on at 
the points shown in the illustra¬ 
tion. This makes a firm, yet elastic 
and safe seat. For seat, use an 
iron one from the mower or reaper, bolting it 
on the end of the board. In a one-section 
roller the shaft may be of tough, hard-wood, 
4 inches square,with a 3-inch bearing at each 
end, which should run in a wooden boxing 
attached underneath the frame as at t. Lining 
the upper and rear part of box with a piece 
of smooth zinc, will make it run easier, last 
longer, and prevent squeaking when in use. 
Yates Co., N. Y. -■■ D. S. 
