1882 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
535 
A Door for a Pig Pen. 
Mr. C. W. Castellow, York Co., Maine, 
sends us a description of the end or door of 
a pig pen that may be removed and replaced 
with ease and dispatch. He writes: The cor¬ 
ner posts are two by two joist, to the outside 
of which the boards for the sides of the pen 
are nailed. A piece, one by two inches, is 
nailed on the inside of the boards, parallel 
with the corner posts and one inch from them, 
thus making a slot for the end boards to slide 
in. The end 
boards are saw¬ 
ed square at 
the ends, and 
placed in the 
slots without 
nailing. The 
top board has 
an L-shaped 
piece of one- 
fourth by one 
inch iron, 
screwed on the 
top at each 
DOOR TO RIG PEN. , . 
end, so that 
when the top board is in place, the irons fit 
over and outside the side boards of the pen, 
thus holding the whole securely together. 
The engraving shows the end boards fastened 
as above described. In case the pen is built 
in the comer of a building, the wall end of 
the upper board should be fastened with a 
hasp and staple. 
How to Bring them Under Subjection. 
Bulls often become unruly, and positively 
dangerous, as they advance in years. Unless 
kept completely under control, they must be 
:Sold to the butcher when four or five years 
old—lest they may do serious injury to per¬ 
sons or stock. There are many ways sug¬ 
gested for overcoming this evil, but no 
method has been found positively efficacious 
in all instances. It is necessary to commence 
training early to accustom them to sub¬ 
mission. If one can keep the bull from learn¬ 
ing his power, from realizing what he is ca¬ 
pable of doing, it is well, but the moment he 
finds, by actual trial, that he can get the best 
of man or beast, just so soon is he unsafe. 
No matter what restrictions may be put upon 
him, he is constantly watching for oppor¬ 
tunities, and in a moment of forgetfulness 
on the part of his master, may assert his pow¬ 
er and even gore and trample him to death. 
One of the finest bulls I ever raised, a pure¬ 
bred Guernsey, was sent to the butcher at 
five years of age, as he could break almost 
any rope, and break or straighten any snap 
which might be fastened to the ring in his 
nose. He contracted the habit of goring 
horses which were in the same field or en¬ 
closure, nearly disembowelling a valuable 
mare, and tossing two or three well-grown 
colts quite over the barn-yard fence. When 
he was young, I put r ring in his nose, and 
taught him to submit to being led and fast¬ 
ened thereby. When he was eight or nine 
mouths old, he was broken to a bridle and bit, 
and a boy was put on him every day, driving, 
or rather riding him, for an hour or two each 
time. He was under complete subjection un¬ 
til past three years old, at which time one of 
the men tied him up with an old, weak piece 
of rope, which the bull accidentally broke. 
Ever after we could not tie him, as he 
would carefully lay back until the rope was 
tight, and then pull steadily until it was 
broken. A cross horse which was in the 
barn-yard, once started for him, but was soon 
worsted, and after that the bull was master 
of the yard. Some persons advocate knock¬ 
ing one eye out of the bull, which, while it 
may be effectual in taming him, is cruel, and 
does not commend itself to humane breeders 
of fine stock. Be gentle but firm with the 
animal when he is young. D. Z. Evans, Jr. 
Pitting 1 Beets and Mangels. 
Many persons are deterred from raising 
sugar beets and mangels, through the sup¬ 
posed difficulty of keeping them in good con¬ 
dition through the winter. They suppose 
that a room or cellar, in connection with the 
stables is essential to the proper storing of the 
crop. This, to be sure, is desirable, and 
would pay well in building or remodelling a 
barn, but it is by no means essential in keep¬ 
ing beets and mangels. They may be pre¬ 
served by pitting, as easily as cabbages or car¬ 
rots. The conditions of safe keeping are 
good drainage and covering enough to guard 
them against the hard freezing and sudden 
thawing. Select any gravelly or well- 
drained sub-soil, near the stables, or in the 
field where they are grown. Remove the 
surface soil ten or twelve inches deep, with 
plow and scraper, about four feet in width, 
and as long as may be necessary to hold the 
crop. Remove the tops without bruising or 
cutting the roots, and so stack them, as to 
make a roof steep enough to shed rain when 
they are covered. Dry, sandy earth may be 
sifted in among the roots as you stack them. 
This will aid in keeping the temperature 
more even through winter. Cover the roots 
with about six inches of straw or refuse hay, 
and outside of this, place six inches of surface 
soil. When this becomes frozen, and the frost 
increases, six inches more of soil should be 
added to the roof. Much of the work of 
covering may be done with the plow, by turn¬ 
ing the fuiTows toward the pit. If one end 
of the pit is kept thickly bedded with straw 
the covering of this end will not freeze hard, 
and the roots can be removed at any time, as 
they are wanted. Turnips, carrots, and pars¬ 
nips may be kept in the same way, and be 
always accessible for winter feeding. With a 
good supply of these roots, so easily raised on 
any land in good heart, all our stock can be 
carried through the winter in much better 
condition, and be made much more profitable 
than without them. They are an excellent 
substitute for green pastures, and those who 
cultivate and feed them largely, may not 
suffer much loss if they fail to adopt ensilage. 
KeepioBg acatl Celery.— 
For several years past we have kept sufficient 
cabbages for family use, for feeding poultry, 
and for the family cow, by burying the 
heads about six inches deep, and covering 
them with sea weed, mostly eel grass—about 
a foot in thickness. The spot selected is a 
gravelly hillside, where the water cannot 
stand. A furrow is opened with a spade long 
enough to hold twenty heads of cabbage. 
The soil for a second furrow is put upon the 
row of inverted cabbages. The second trench 
is filled in like manner, and the soil from the 
third furrow is used for their covering. This 
process is continued until all the cabbages are 
buried. As soon as steady freezing weather 
begins the whole bed is covered with the sea 
weed. Any other covering, as straw or leaves, 
would answer quite as well. The cabbages 
are accessible at any time, by removing a 
portion of the covering. They are also 
readily stored, by cutting off the heads and 
packing them in barrels, and sinking the 
barrels about two-thirds of their length in 
the ground. Celery may also be preserved in 
the same way. The barrels should be cov¬ 
ered with their heads, and also with leaves 
or straw. Either of these methods is much 
better than storing in the cellar. C. 
A Land Scraper. 
In districts where land needs draining, 
scrapers must be used. A very good one is 
shown in fig 1. It has one advantage over 
most scrapers : the team can stay on the 
bank while the scraper is thrown into the 
ditch. When the ditch is a large one, 14 feet or 
more wide at the top, it is only necessary to 
lengthen the chain. The scraper consists of 
two boards, 12 inches wide and 3 feet long, 
fastened firmly together by two strong iron 
plates, fig. 2 ,p,p, bolts, aud rod-iron nails. The 
scraper-edge is made of an old cross-cut saw, 
fastened on with rod-iron nails. Two notches 
are cut at p, p, for the hooks to pass through 
also one at n, for a holder for lifting the 
scraper when necessary. To make the scraper 
work perfectly, the rod or hook should have 
the right bend, as shown at a, fig. 3. The 
hook is fastened to the scraper by two bolts, 
b, b, fig. 3, and small pins, c, when the land 
scraper is complete. C. W. Yost, 
