1882 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
367 
Broom-Corn Cutting—Unprofitable Broom 
Making. 
A correspondent who prefers to be known 
as “Kentuck,” Harrison Co., Ky., gives in¬ 
cidentally to his method of cutting Broom 
Corn, an account of his unsuccessful attempt 
to help others, essentially as follows: “A few 
years ago, we raised considerable Broom 
Corn, mainly for the purpose of giving em¬ 
ployment to an extra hand or two in winter, 
in making up the corn into brooms. Having 
a good work-room, we thought we could 
have the corn made up into plain serviceable 
brooms, by some poor men of the neighbor¬ 
hood, and sell them at a profit to them, and 
us also. But in the matter of having them 
made up at a profit for either party, we were 
mistaken. In the dark short days of winter, 
notwithstanding a light and fire were fur¬ 
nished gratuitously, they would work from 
9.30 A. M., to 3.30 P. M., taking a hour and 
a half at noon, making four and a half hours 
at work, when they should have made ten. 
The result is, our Broom-corn is now stored 
in the barn loft, where it has been for five or 
six yeais. But we made a discovery in the 
mode of cutting the crop, which I think has 
never been given to the public. It is simple, 
but will very materially lessen the labor of 
cutting, if any one will give it a thorough 
trial. The plan is to get astradle of the row, 
and back down over it, cutting the carfes as 
they come out in front of you, with a pocket 
knife, gathering the corn with the left hand, 
and throwing it into piles as cut. Three or 
more rows can be thrown together in piles 
on the ground, and gathered by the haulers. 
No ‘ tabling,’ or previous preparation is re¬ 
quired ; just put on your apron on the other 
side, and back into it, and you will find the 
brush just where you want it. The owner of 
the field will soon find that half the usual num¬ 
ber of cutters will keep his stripper busy.” 
The Clover Plant is a close and deep 
feeder, sending its fine roots far down into 
the soil, filling the sub-soil with a net-work 
of rootlets. It exposes a large leaf surface, 
and is thus able to concentrate weak solutions 
of plant food, and prepare them for the for¬ 
mation of vegetable substance. The clover 
plant grows throughout the whole season, 
and is thus able to take up the nitrates as 
they form. These compounds of nitrogen 
are produced in large quantities in hot sum¬ 
mer months, and, being very soluble, would 
be washed out by the rains, were it not that 
the clover plant absorbs them. This is one 
great advantage which clover has over all the 
common grains, that finish their growth, 
and are harvested before the time for the 
most rapid nitrification arrives. It is a 
well-known fact that clover prepares land 
for the production of large crops, and this 
is explained in large part by the long sea¬ 
son of its growth, and its deep and close feed¬ 
ing, and the storing up of compounds of ni¬ 
trogen. The clover plant is largely below 
ground, so that removing the tops takes away 
only a part of the vegetable matter that has 
been accumulated. The roots of clover are 
large and numerous; when they are turned 
over in plowing, and decay, they yield a 
good supply of plant food to such crops as 
feed near the surface, and must grow rapidly 
for only a few weeks. In this way the clover 
crop will help the succeeding wheat crop, and 
has given rise to the saying, that: ‘ clover 
seed is the best manure a farmer can use.” 
If the whole crop of clover is turned under, 
as a green manure, a much larger amount of 
plant food is put into the soil. This is one of 
the quickest, cheapest, and best methods of 
increasing the fertility of a piece of land. 
A Corn-Shocking' “Horse.” 
Mr. John Stewart, Oswego Co., N. Y., 
writes us : “ It is about two years since there 
was in the American Agriculturist, an illus¬ 
tration of a method for securing corn-fodder 
with wire bands. This method I at once a- 
dopted, and for which I have often been 
thankful. I send a sketch of my method of 
fastening these bands, which I have used 
with entire satisfaction. The fastening is 
made of hard-wood, the size of ordinary lath, 
and about five inches long, with two or three 
notches, thus adapting it to different sized 
shocks. I send, also, a sketch of an improv¬ 
ed “ Horse,” the step acts as a brace for the 
legs, and to stand upon when corn is very 
tall, so as to enable the person to secure the 
band near the top of the shock. A pin is 
shown in the “ Horse,” to hang a few bands 
upon. With these appliances one is ready to 
shock the corn. The “ Horse” and the fast¬ 
enings, are shown in the above engraving. 
Folding Poultry Shipping Crate. 
BY GRUNDY, MORRISONV1LLE, ILL. 
On farms, where chickens have full run of 
the yards, they pick up a great deal of food 
which would otherwise be wasted, and the 
cost of raising a limited number is compara¬ 
tively small; but where they must be fed 
Fig. 1.— THE CRATE, SHOWING TWO SIDES. 
grain, the profits are reduced to a fraction, 
and a very small fraction if they are sold to 
the store-keeper for “ trade.” One of the 
chief reasons why more farmers do not ship 
their own poultry is the lack of suitable ship¬ 
ping crates. Express companies charge for 
weight, and unless the crates are light and 
well made, they object to returning them 
free. Poultry sells better in crates which are 
light, handsome, and airy. 
I send you a sketch of a crate which I in¬ 
vented, and feel warranted in saying that any 
man who uses it for shipping his poultry 
once will discard all others. The crate is ex¬ 
actly square. Figure 1 shows two sides and 
the bottom, or floor, as they are made and 
attached together. Figure 2 shows the crate 
empty and folded, also the top, or cover, with 
its trap door. The entire frame-work is of 
any tough wood—ash is best—one and a half 
to two inches square, according to size of 
crate. The bottom is half-inch pine. The 
wire I use is common fence wire. The sides 
figure 1, are hinged to the bottom, or floor, 
and when folded lie flat on the bottom. On 
the top of the side, two pins, a, a, iron or 
wood, fit into holes in frame of the cover. 
The sides are hinged to a piece, which is 
securely fastened to the bottom, and when 
folded lies on the side. Through the top of 
the sides are two three-sixteenth-inch holes, 
c, c, into which bolts of the same size are 
passed and through holes s, s, in the cover 
Fig. 2 —THE CRATE FOLDED. 
and hold it down. When the crate is folded 
these bolts are withdrawn from the holes c, c, 
and passed through the holes e, e, in bottom 
piece of the same side, and then through 
holes in cover, and hold the whole crate solid 
and flat for shipping. Thumb-nuts should be 
put on these bolts, requiring no wrench. 
The crate can be made any size desired. A 
crate holding three to five dozen chickens is 
usually large enough. In shipping long dis¬ 
tances care should be taken to not crowd the 
birds. Give plenty of room and it will pay 
in the end. Where the distance is short, ten 
or fifteen hours’ travel, they will not hurt in 
this crate if crowded considerably, as they 
cannot become heated. 
When well made of good, seasoned wood, 
this crate will stand a large number of trips. 
It should he well washed after each ship¬ 
ment. The wood should be well oiled but 
not painted. If thought desirable, the wires 
on the cover may be braced in one or two 
places with binding wire. Fasten one end 
to the frame, wrap it twice around each 
wire and fasten to opposite side of frame. 
The Fairs sire Schools. —The infor¬ 
mation which a farmer can gain at an Agri¬ 
cultural Fair is of great value to him. He 
can there study and compare the different 
breeds of live-stock, and note the improve¬ 
ments that have been made in farm imple¬ 
ments, grains, fruits, etc. It also does farm¬ 
ers much good to meet each other, and talk 
over their successes and failures. 
