1882 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
347 
A Stump Puller. 
Mr. Irving Tyler, Tompkins County, N. Y., 
writes us : “I am a farmer’s son, and therefore in¬ 
terested in the American Agriculturist. I send a 
model and description of an implement for pulling 
stumps, roots, and for lifting heavy logs or 
other heavyweights. It is called the “Samson 
Lever,” and is constructed as follows: 
The side pieces are of tough oak or elm, II inch 
thick, 7 inches wide, and 7 feet long. Draw two 
lines, 3 inches apart, lengthwise of the planks, 
and fasten the two together, that both may be 
bored alike with a 11-inch auger, beginning about 
8 inches from the foot, and boring so that the holes 
will be 3 inches from center to center, until one 
row is bored. Bore the other row in the like man¬ 
ner, with the first hole exactly midway between 
the first and second holes on the other side. Two 
blocks, 3 inches thick, 7 inches long, and 4 inches 
wide, are placed between the two side-pieces at 
the ends, and bolted with I-inch bolts. The blocks 
should be let in the side-pieces 1 of an inch, to 
prevent the blocks from splitting. Bore a large 
hole in the top block to admit the brace prop. 
There should be two iron pins of inch iron, 8 
inches long, to go through the side-pieces and sup- 
t port the lever. The lever should be 6 feet long, 
the wood part 5 feet long, with 3 iron bands on the 
•end to prevent splitting. The iron in the end of 
A “ SAMSON LEVER ” OR STTJMP PULLER. 
the lever is 20 inches long, } of an inch thick, and 2 
inches wide, with two notches in the lower side to 
fit over the pins, and a hole punched midway be¬ 
tween these notches to receive a hook. Drive this 
iron in the end of the wooden lever 8 inches, and 
then your “Samson ” is finished. The working of 
this implement will be plainly seen by the model 
and the drawing which I enclose.” 
Notes on Foods. 
In selecting our supplies of food, it is very proper 
to consider which will give us the most nutriment 
for the money. The lumbermen who go into the 
forest, where they will have hard work during a 
long and severe winter, do not consult the books 
that show the composition of food. Experience 
has shown them that, as a main reliance, as a food 
that, in their rough language, will “ stick to the 
ribs,” which is another way of expressing flesh 
formers, there is nothing equal to 
Pork and Beans. —No chemical analysis could 
lead to a better combination. In the beans the 
flesh formers are in large proportion to the heat 
producers, and as an abundance of both are needed, 
the fat of pork is added as a heat producer. We 
have not the data from which to make an accurate 
estimate, but have no doubt that for those who 
take active exercise in any occupation, the wastes 
of the body may be more economically supplied by 
this generally palatable food than by any other. 
Those who have not eaten pork and beans in a 
lumber camp, can have no idea of this food in its 
most perfect condition. The beans are first boiled, 
then placed in an iron pot which is covered. A 
hole is made in the ground, and a fire built there ; 
when this fire has burned to coals, the pot is set in, 
and the whole, pot and coals, covered with earth. 
This is done in the evening, and the pot is uncov¬ 
ered and taken out at breakfast time the next 
morning. No wonder that the lumbermen are the 
sturdy fellows that they are ! 
Pea-Soup. —A pound of peas will make a gallon 
of soup. The peas should be washed and soaked 
in cold water over night, then be cooked in five 
pints of water, with gentle simmering. A pound 
of beef or a ham-bone may be boiled with the 
peas ; for seasoning, add an onion with a few cloves 
stuck in it, salt to taste, and about forty whole grains 
of pepper. An ounce or two of sugar will add 
greatly to the richness of this, as it does to almost 
all soups. At the end of three hours’ simmering, 
pass the soup through a wire sieve or colander, 
with the aid of a potato-masher. Fry brown some 
squares of stale bread in lard or drippings, and 
add just before serving, or serve these croutons, as 
they are called, separately, to be added at pleasure. 
Bean-soup may be made in a similar manner. 
Inconsistencies in Laws for the Supres- 
sion of Contagious Diseases in Cattle. 
BY PROP. JAMES LAW, OP CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 
“The glorious Uncertainty of the Law” seems 
to have been known and appreciated in all ages, but 
the genuine inconsistency and even absurdity of 
many existing statutes are little appreciated by the 
bulk of the community. The equivocal wording of 
some statutes and the conflict of precedents by 
which their meaning is explained, are best known 
to the practising attorney, who often reaps a golden 
harvest from the acknowledged uncertainty, and 
the doubt that must attach as to the prospective 
verdict. But aside from laws that are doubtful in 
their meaning, there are others which place an ad¬ 
ministration in a position which is at once inequita¬ 
ble, inconsistent, and subversive of their alleged 
object. In no department of legislation, perhaps, 
can more striking instances of this be obtained 
than in the enactments for the suppression of con¬ 
tagious diseases in live stock. One or two in¬ 
stances of this kind may here be noted, and to show 
that the representative of a Republic enjoys no 
monopoly of this legislation, a beginning may be 
made with an Empire of the Old World. 
British Veterinary Sanitary Laws. 
After a long and sad experience of ruinous losses 
from the importation of cattle diseases that are not 
native to the soil, England, under the Cattle Dis¬ 
eases Act of 1869, ordered that all cattle landed 
from certain infected countries of Europe should 
be slaughtered in enclosures provided for the pur¬ 
pose at the several ports of landing within ten days 
after arrival. In 1878 this order was extended so 
as to embrace all cattle coming from the United 
States of America. The step was a wise one, and 
must remain unimpeachable so long as the several 
prescribed countries retain dangerous cattle plagues 
within their limits. 
But such legislation demands as a corollary that 
the proscription of countries shall be coextensive 
with the existence of these cattle plagues in the 
countries in question, and that the movement and 
sale of herds that have been exposed to infection 
in England itself shall be prohibited with a cor¬ 
responding rigor. Now what are the facts ? 
Ireland, the first portion of the British Isles to 
be infected with Lung Plague (contagious Pleuro¬ 
pneumonia), and the portion which has since been 
the most extensively infected, is allowed to ship 
her herds to any English port with but a cursory 
and necessarily imperfect port inspection. In view 
of this the Professional Officer says in his report to 
the Privy Council, 1877 : 
“Animals from Ireland can, under existing ar¬ 
rangements, be landed at any part of the coast. It 
is true that the Privy Council may make regulations 
for the detention and inspection of Irish stock, 
whenever it may be lauded, but the idea of dealing 
with animals from Ireland in a manner so excep¬ 
tional had not been entertained. * * * Inspection 
of Irish stock, as at present conducted, gives rise 
to impressions which are fallacious. The fact of a 
system of inspection having been established, nat¬ 
urally suggested the idea of restictions being im¬ 
posed on the movement of diseased and infected 
animals, whereas no restrictions are enforced, except 
in a few instances when the local authorities have 
taken action on the reports of the Privy Council in¬ 
spectors. The.results of the present system may in¬ 
deed be summed up in a few words ; a certain num¬ 
ber of diseased animals are detected by the inspectors 
during an examination which is necessarily imper¬ 
fect, and the local authorities receive information 
which enables them to act, if they are so disposed, 
but it must be added that the information frequent¬ 
ly arrives too late to be of any use, and in case the 
authorities could obtain such information, if they 
desire to base an action upon it, more promptly by 
directing their own inspectors to attend at the 
wharves where Irish animals are landed, and with 
all the necessary powers to detain diseased animals, 
and regulate the movement of those that had been 
herded with them.” 
Here it is evident: 
1st. The cattle from an infected country' are ex¬ 
cepted in the general order for slaughter, and are 
admitted to spread the infection in Great Britain. 
2d. The only inspection of such cattle is made 
at the port of landing, and therefore cannot detect 
all cases of a disease which, like Lung Plague, has 
a period of incubation (from the actual infection 
to the first symptom of disease), of from two to 
fourteen weeks. 
3d. When this confessedly “imperfect” inspec¬ 
tion succeeds in detecting disease, the local author¬ 
ities must be apprized in order to the detention of 
the stock, and usually the cattle have been carried 
on before their order can be issued. 
The condition of the internal cattle trade in Ire¬ 
land, and the facilities for infection, may be judged 
from the following extracts from the report of the 
Director of the Irish Privy Council Vet.Department: 
“ Animals exported from Ireland are very seldom 
bred by their exporters, and often, before exporta¬ 
tion, pass through several hands from those of the 
breeders to those of the final purchasers, for ex¬ 
portation to Great Britain. 
“ The changes of ownership are more frequent 
with respect to cattle, than with respect to sheep 
and swine. With each change of ownership there 
is generally a change of locality, and the move¬ 
ment entailed thereby, as well as the exposure in 
public fairs and markets, and on lands and premises 
used as temporary resting places for animals in 
transit, subject them more or less to diseases of a con¬ 
tagious or infectious nature, particularly foot and 
mouth distemper, when that malady is prevalent. 
“ In Ireland weanling and more advanced calves 
are purchased throughout the country from the 
rearers, who are not always their breeders, by per¬ 
sons who either deal in or prepare store stock, and 
when a sufficient number is collected, are kept by 
them frequently on different pastures, hired but 
for the grazing season, changing the locality as 
emergencies require, either for termination of 
tenancy, inclemency of season, deficiency of food, 
for the sake of convenience, or for other causes. 
“ Such pastures, many of which are mountain¬ 
ous and occupy large tracts, are in many cases 
grazed by cattle belonging to many different per¬ 
sons, who pay by the head for the summer grazing 
of their animals. The owners of these cattle, who 
often reside in a different part of the country, or 
out of it, or are engaged elsewhere in another 
branch of the cattle trade, or are travelling about, 
frequently do not see them nor have them visited 
until the termination of the grazing season, when 
the animals are removed to other localities more 
favorable for the time of the year, there perhaps to 
meet with other lots, belonging to the same or 
different owners, which have been brought from 
different parts of the country for the same reasons. 
“These animals in due time are brought in 
assorted lots to public fairs and markets, where 
they are generally sold for the purpose of being 
further matured ; and when matured they are again 
brought into the market, and resold as early stores.” 
The Director goes on to describe a similar series 
of changes of hands, exposures in public markets 
to thousands of cattle collected from all quarters, 
and of changes of pasturage on common ranges 
where they are admitted at so much per head, ex¬ 
tending over the second and third years, when they 
are shipped to England fat, if they have not been 
disposed of sooner for store cattle. He adds: 
“ Many of the Dublin dairy proprietors are extensive 
cattle dealers, particularly for exportation." 
Now no condition of things could prove more 
favorhble to the propagation of a contagious dis¬ 
ease than this incessant change of hands, of place, 
and of pasture, this frequent aggregation of cattle 
from all sources and an open market, this successive 
detention of different herds on the same resting 
