AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
532 
A Home-Made Bag-Holder. 
Mr. “ J. S. S.,” Brighton, Ontario, sends us 
a sketch and description of a bag-holder, and 
“ one of the most useful articles a man can 
have in his barn.” It consists of a post, a, 
2 by 4 inches, and 5 feet long, with six ‘/Vinch 
holes near the upper end, as shown in the 
engraving. The bar, b, passes through a 
mortise and over the pin nearest the bag, 
and under the other pin. This bar can be 
moved up or down, to suit the length of the 
bag. The post, a, sets in a bed-piece, c, 2 by 
3 inches and 2 feet long. A board, d, 18 inches 
A UANBY BAG-HOLDER. 
square, fastened upon the bed-piece, fur¬ 
nishes the necessary rest for the bag. The 
mouth of the bag is held open by means of 
hooks placed on the ends of the cross-bar, 
with another beneath the main bar. 
An Interesting Exception. 
There is a noteworthy exception to a gen¬ 
eral law of Nature, easily understood by all, 
a knowledge of which is of much practical 
utility, particularly at this season. As a 
rule, solid, liquid and gaseous substances are 
expanded by heat and contracted by cold, 
but there are a few remarkable exceptions, 
the most important of which is water at a 
certain temperature. Fill a cup with water 
at any temperature between 40° and 200’ 
Fahrenheit, and a few degrees of heat added 
will cause it to expand and overflow. If 
filled at any temperature, say between 45’ 
and the boiling point (212°), and then cooled, 
the cup will not be full, but the water will 
grow less and less in bulk until the cold 
reaches about 39J’, when the water will 
again begin to expand and increase in bulk 
with eveiy degree of temperature lost. 
When it becomes solid at 32°, the ice will 
occupy about one-eighth more space than 
the water did at 394°, or at only 7£° above. 
The cause of this expansion is supposed to 
be, that below 39’ ice crystals begin to form, 
and these arrange themselves across each 
other, so to speak, and thus occupy more 
space. A lump of sugar or marble will oc¬ 
cupy more space when broken into small 
pieces. This is 
A Most Important Provision of Nature 
in several respects. For example, if water 
contracted at low temperatures into smaller 
space, it would become heavier. Then the ice, 
as fast as formed, would sink to the bottom of 
ponds, lakes, and rivers, and they would 
soon become a solid mass of ice, which 
would hardly thaw out during the entire 
spring, and not in summer even if the water 
were many feet in depth. Now, when the ice 
forms, being lighter than water because of 
its expansion, it rises to the surface ; and as 
ice is a non-conductor of heat, it forms a 
protection to the water below, keeping in its 
heat, and so we have but a few inches, or at 
most two or three feet of ice formed, which 
soon melts when warm weather returns. 
An Immense Force. 
We can not tell why, but we know that 
when water changes into ice, it expands 
with a power greater even than that of gun¬ 
powder or dynamite. A single inch of water 
confined in the center of a large cannon 
ball would, on freezing, expand so as to burst 
it asunder, if the particles of iron around 
the water did not condense enough to make 
room for the expanding ice. Water freezing 
in the cracks and fissures of great rocks 
often bursts them into pieces. Indeed, all 
our soils were probably once solid rocks. 
These were broken by ice and the rending of 
volcanic action. The moist surfaces of the 
fragments are continually being chipped off 
by alternate expansion and contraction of 
heat and cold, and especially by the expan¬ 
sion of the freezing moisture. This action, 
with the aid of the atmosphere, is continu¬ 
ally setting at liberty potash and other ele¬ 
ments of plant food, found in the composi¬ 
tion of rocks, stones, pebbles, and sand 
particles, which are merely rocks or stones 
of very small size. Examine the smallest 
bit of sand under the microscope, and it will 
be seen to be only a diminutive rock. The 
same is true of all the fine particles of soils. 
Making Frost Enrich the Soil. 
In a frozen, compact, wet soil, the icy layer 
formed acts as a non-conductor of heat, pre¬ 
venting its escape ; and such soils do not 
freeze and thaw deeply, and less new plant 
food is supplied. If before it freezes solid we 
plow or spade the ground into a loose condi¬ 
tion, the frost will penetrate far deeper, and 
the soil be richer in plant food for the next 
summer’s crop. Deep dead furrows or drains 
made in wet fields of winter wheat, rye, and 
grass, have a like beneficial effect. But 
More Important Still 
is another benefit of removing all standing 
water from around plants and roots remain¬ 
ing in the ground during freezing weather. 
While, as stated above, most solid substances 
are contracted by cold, a soil saturated with 
water expands the same as water itself. The 
greatest cold will not kill the roots of hardy 
crops like wheat, rye, and grass, but the ex¬ 
pansion of the wet soil one-eighth of its bulk 
rends and tears their roots. Two or three 
alternate freezings and thawings of the 
ground, if wet, will do far more harm to 
winter crops than the longest, severest steady 
winter ever known. The important lesson 
taught by this is: be sure to clear out the 
dead furrows and their outlets now, and 
again early in spring, so as to drain off all 
standing water to a point below the main 
roots of the plants. It also shows one great 
benefit of draining all cultivated land which 
holds water during winter and spring. 
I&ul>t>er. biai-nientsi.— It is surprising 
how great a prejudice exists among many 
farmers to the use of rubber garments. 
Boots are in common use now-a-days for wet 
and thawy weather, but it is looked upon as 
[December, 
effeminate to protect one’s shoulders and 
legs with the same material. Many a man, 
with a poor constitution, has succumbed to 
the effects of wet and exposure, who might 
be now living, well and happy, if he had 
worn an India rubber over-coat or poncho. 
The last named article is simply a rubber 
blanket with a hole in the center to put one’s 
head through. In many respects it is better 
protection then the over coat, for in a hard 
rain the water runs off from the corners, and 
for horseback riding, it is much superior. 
The Loading of Ice. 
Mr. “C. G. T.,” Dutchess Co., N. Y., sends 
us a sketch of a method of loading ice, here 
illustrated, and writes : Whenever ice must 
be hauled on sleds, the following method 
of loading will save a great deal of heavy 
lifting. A pole of sufficient length to reach 
the bottom of the pond is firmly set through 
a hole cut in the ice. At a suitable hight, a 
chain with a loop at the end is fastened; 
through this loop another pole is passed, 
LOABING ICE EASILY. 
which acts as a lever, At one end of this 
lever the ice-tongs are attached with a rope 
or chain. A canal is cut, the ice blocks 
floated up to it, when they may be hoisted 
from the water directly into the sled. 
Work in the Woods. 
Formerly it was the American farmer’s 
pride to possess great skill with the axe. 
The lamented Lincoln won fame as a wood- 
chopper and rail-splitter. Horace Greeley 
loved his axe, and even in the latest years of 
his busy life retained in good measure the 
skill he had in his boyhood, and his ringing 
blows waked the echoes of Chappaqua as lie 
toiled for health and pleasure. The woods 
at this season invite the farmer. The sooner 
the wood is cut after sap ceases to flow in 
autumn, the sounder, more elastic, and dura¬ 
ble will be the timber. The same causes 
make it more solid, dry, and valuable as 
fuel. A good farmer can ill afford to send 
his men into his timber lot to cut at their 
own discretion. He will almost always find 
—even if he marks every tree to be cut— 
that with the recklessness of irresponsibility, 
some wrong trees will come down ; trees will 
be felled so as to lodge in others, which must 
be cut too, or so as to bring young trees, 
which should stand, with them in their fall. 
Trees will be cut with tall stumps, or so as 
to have long splinters drawn out from the 
butt, spoiling the lower log for four or five 
feet perhaps. Most of these things can be 
avoided if the farmer accompanies his men, 
and directs and leads the work. There 
