410 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[October, 
A “Poke” for a Sucking Calf. 
Mr. L. M. Jones, Gallatin Co., Mont., sends 
us the following description of a calf “ poke 
“Make a bow, with a cross-piece under the 
neck, through which insert two sticks, to ex¬ 
tend just beyond the nose, one on each side 
of the head. These side-pieces are held up 
by a broad piece of leather over the nose.” 
The engraving makes the device plain to all. 
A Good Corn-Knife. 
-O 
Mi'. Wm. R. Plummer, Huntingdon Co., 
Pa., uses a corn-knife which lie makes in the 
following manner: The handle is of hard¬ 
wood 18 in. long, to which a blade made from 
a piece of an old scythe is fastened by rivets, 
as shown in the engraving. The blade is 15 
in. long and has the back made flat by ham¬ 
mering while heated, so that it will not inter¬ 
fere in cutting. 
An Experiment in Feeding Hogs. 
J. N. MUNCEY. AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, AMES, IOWA. 
During December of 1881 I made the fol¬ 
lowing experiment with a view to determin¬ 
ing : first, the exact number of pounds of 
pork a bushel of good corn would make; 
second, to note the effect of heavy feeding on 
the constitution of healthy hogs; third,to find 
out the profit in feeding corn worth 50 cents 
per bushel to hogs worth 6 cents per pound. 
Number 
of 
Pen. 
Average , Gain of 
weight at ' each-pen 
beginning of, for 
experiment. \ 12 days. 
! No. lbs. 
corn 
consumed. 
Gain for 
each 50 lbs. 
shelled corn. 
B 
216.7 
S2% 
353 
13.12 
C 
265.9 
76% 
343 
12.51 
E 
220.6 
7134' 
320 
12.51 
H 
202.8 
72 
321 
12.56 
I 
224.8 
6314 
34334 
10.35 
The conditions of the experiment were:— 
thorough ventilation of the hog-liouse; pens 
thoroughly cleaned twice each day before 
feeding corn. The shelled corn was fed in 
V-shaped troughs, and all that the hogs scat¬ 
tered on the floor was either put back into the 
ti'ough or weighed and deducted from the 
amount consumed. The hogs were selected 
from a lot of 40, and it was the intention to 
secure uniformity in weight and appetite. 
Each hog was weighed separately and scales 
balanced each time, between 7:05 and 8:30 
A. M., without feed or water. The dry corn 
was weighed each time before feeding, so as 
to avoid any possibility of error; and each lot 
of hogs was given all the corn they would eat. 
The following conclusions were obtained 
from the experiment:—Dry corn is the great¬ 
est fat-producer. With but three exceptions 
in twenty, the gain was as much the second six 
days as the first six. Increased consumption 
of corn, attended with diminution in gain is 
indicative of irregularity in the functions of 
the digestive organs. Heavy feeding was in¬ 
juring the constitution of the hogs, and could 
not therefore have been continued much 
longer, with profit. There was an actual 
profit of $6.99 for 12 days, on 20 hogs. 
The above experiment is essentially a veri¬ 
fication of other experiments that have been 
conducted heretofore for the same purpose. 
Some years ago an experiment was made on 
the Iowa State Agricultural College Farm 
which showed a gain of 12.63 lbs. per bushel 
of dry corn, and 9.87 lbs. per bushel of soaked 
corn; while in the above experiment the aver¬ 
age for dry corn is 12.67, and for soaked corn 
10.35. These figures compare very closely 
with each other. Of course the per cent, of 
gain will be influenced to some extent by the 
quality of corn and breed of hog. 
Treatment of the Aftermath. 
The general practice is, to feed it, or to cut 
and cure the rowen. It is so much money 
in sight, and it is hard to make the average 
farmer believe that anything better can be 
done with it. As a rule, it is best to let it lie 
upon the meadow to grow as long as it will, 
and then to protect the roots of the grasses 
during the winter. As long as the grass 
grows luxuriantly, there is an addition to the 
fertility of the soil in the increased bulk of 
the roots as well as in the tops. Any soil that 
yields less than two tons of hay to the acre, 
needs this increase of fertility, and leaving 
the aftermath is the best investment that can 
be made of it. The soil is made better, with¬ 
out any labor. There are, however, excep¬ 
tions to the general rule. If a meadow is in¬ 
fested with wild carrots, or other weeds that 
blossom and go to seed in the late summer, 
and fall, a second or third mowing is prob¬ 
ably the cheapest method of subduing them. 
The destruction of the weeds would be a 
greater benefit than the leaving of the after- 
math. Sometimes farmers have unusual facil¬ 
ities for getting manure at very cheap rates. 1 
They live near the shore, own or lease beaches, 
and can cart the wrack of the sea: eel-grass, 
rock-weed, and other sea-weeds in unlimited 
quantities, at almost all seasons of the year. 
The principal expense is the carting. Or they 
have excellent muck and peat beds upon the 
farm, and the raw material of compost heaps, 
to be had for the digging and carting. Or 
they are near the village where wood-ashes 
and bones can be had for small cost, and night- 
soil for the carting. In these cases, where the 
meadow can be kept up to a yield of two and 
a half or three tons to the acre at one cutting, 
by top-dressings of sea-weed or cheap com¬ 
post, it may be justifiable to take a second crop 
of hay. But in this case the crop should 
yield at least a ton to the acre, and should be 
cut not later than September 1st, to give time 
for a third growth, to make a covering for the 
roots in winter. Hay is among the most 
profitable crops in all the older States, and 
the aim of every farmer should be to steadily 
increase the productiveness of his mowing 
fields. “ Excelsior ” is a good farm motto. 
A Double Latch for a Barn-Door. 
Mr. D. A. Kneeland, Washington County, 
Vermont, sends us a sketch of a Barn-door 
Latch, and describes it as follows: “ The main 
arms are 3 in. thick and of any desired width; 
middle arm, 2 in. thick. The pieces a, a, are 
3 in. thick, and fastened firmly by nailing 
through the boards of the door. The sliding 
bolts, b, b, are 1'/ 2 in. square, with points 
rounded on the inside. Springs of good ash, 
c, c, or other tough timber, 2 in. wide and 1 in. 
thick at the butt, and 3 ft. long, are fastened 
by bolts or heavy screws. The lever, d, 
operating the springs and bolts is 3 ft. long, 
1 in. thick, and 6 in. wide where bolted on. 
The wires, e, e, are rather larger than a pail- 
bail, and are fastened to the sliding-bolts and 
to the lever by heavy screws. The threshold 
of this door is the first plank of the floor, and 
slanting outward. A mortise is made to re¬ 
ceive the sliding bolt, and a piece of tin or 
sheet-iron is bent and nailed on, to make a 
smooth place for the bolt to slide upon and to 
prevent the part from wearing. A similar 
mortise and inclined plane are made in the 
door-cap. A wooden pin under the long arm 
of the lever guards against breaking the 
springs by bearing down too hard. In using 
the latch, press down the lever and push open 
the door. In closing, let go of the lever and 
swing the door back, when it is instantly fast- 
BARN-DOOH LATCH. 
ened at top and bottom. This latch cannot 
warp or get out of shape, and a child can open 
or shut it.” The engraving shows the latch 
ready for the door to be opened. 
Keeping- Eggs.—Perhaps more than the 
usual number of inquiries as to preserving 
eggs until the time of high prices, has come 
to us this eason. This is probably in part due 
to the great pretensions of the “Ozone” 
chaps, who claim that eggs may be preserved 
very cheaply by their process. As this so-call¬ 
ed “ Ozone ” is nothing but Sulphurous Acid, 
produced by the burning of sulphur, while it 
may preserve the eggs, we do not believe that 
it can be used without imparting to them an 
unpleasant flavor. All the methods for pre¬ 
serving eggs now in use depend upon the fact 
that the shell is porous, and if these pores can 
be so closed as to prevent the access of air, 
the contents of the shell will remain good for 
a long time. There are two principal methods. 
One is, to smear the surface of the eggs with 
something that will close the pores, and then 
pack them in some material that will prac¬ 
tically exclude the air. The eggs are smeared 
with lard, coated with Linseed or Cotton-seed 
Oil, or with Shellac Varnish, and are after- 
