1882 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
371 
■acres of Rye, I cannot say, nor what l'/ 2 
acre of Clover is worth ; the second growth 
will probably be heavier than the first. 
From September until next June, I shall 
have ready sale for about 5,000 quarts of 
milk per month, at five cents per quart. If 
the drouth comes, it is difficult to produce it, 
for the more cows one purchases, the more 
the evil is aggravated; but with Ensilage, 
cows can be kept from flies, out of the sun, 
fed in the stables, and turned out at night. 
I believe the greatest utility of Silos will 
be found to consist in the means they furnish 
of preserving forage plants, in a green and 
palatable state, which may be easily grown 
in abundance in May and June, but if not 
then secured, they would become dried up 
and nearly worthless, or, if dried and housed, 
the animals appear to have but little relish for 
them in the hot, diy days of August. The 
reasons for building Silos with small com¬ 
partments are manifold : a small compart¬ 
ment may be filled and sealed up in a single 
day, thereby not seriously interfering with 
the regular work. Each forage plant may 
be taken when in its best condition. One 
compartment may be filled early with Rye 
and Clover, which is showing a tendency to 
spoil by lodging, or is full of weeds that it 
is desirable to eradicate : a second with Oats 
and a second cutting of the former Clover 
field, or a weedy, belated piece of Timothy. 
A piece of fodder corn and aftermath would 
fill a third compartment later in the season. 
If the compartments are small, they may 
be uncovered entirely and fed from the 
top, and if not all consumed, they can be 
filled up with new material; or, if one or 
more compartments are entirely emptied, 
they may be refilled in September, thus se¬ 
curing a two-fold benefit from them. From 
my experience, I judge that a compartment 
not entirely emptied in the spring, if dis¬ 
turbed only on the top, would sustain little 
loss until June if re-sealed, or it might be left 
open, and daily a little of that exposed to the 
air, fed to the horses as cut feed. Our horses, 
thus fed last winter, relished it very much. 
There are many problems in regard to En¬ 
silage, that are still unsolved; but should 
everything be found favorable to the new 
method, there are still men who would have 
no more use for a Silo, than for a trotting- 
horse. There are men having so little energy 
and skill, that should you give them the best 
herd of Shorthorns, they would have little 
better than scrubs in ten years. Under cer¬ 
tain conditions, the new method, I believe, 
can be adopted with profitable results ; hut 
he who rushes thoughtlessly into it, will find, 
I fear, that Ensilage is too “ Frenchy,” unless 
mixed with a liberal allowance of brains. 
A Pen for a Sheep. 
Mr. C. V. Prince, Bradford Co., Pa., has a 
convenient pen for sheep and young lambs 
that require extra care; those that will not 
own their lambs, etc. It may be put on the 
barn floor or in any other desired place, and 
when not in use, can be laid away in a com¬ 
pact manner. Take three boards, 6 feet long 
and 6 inches wide, for the sides of the pen ; 
nail these on an upright piece 8 feet long, 6 
inches apart, letting the piece run down 6 
inches below the bottom board. Make the 
ends in the same manner, only have the boards 
4 feet long. Cut a mortise 3 inches long by 
1 inch wide, 8 inches from each end of the 
middle side board. Set the ends of the pen 
inside of the upright piece of the sides ; cut 
slats that will fill mortises, and pass them 
through the inside ends of the pen. Put pins 
on the outside of the sides, to hold together, 
and a convenient place to keep sheep is made. 
A Gate for a Foot-Path. 
Mr. Wm. Lester, Rockingham Co., N. H., 
sends us a sketch and description of a gate. 
He writes : “This gate is common in Eng¬ 
land, where it is much used in foot-paths 
A GATE FOR FOOT-PATH. 
across fields, etc. Where careless people 
might otherwise leave openings for stock to 
get into cultivated fields,or stray away; I have 
three of these gates on my place, and no 
animal has ever found its way through them. 
It is an ordinaiy small gate, which swings 
between two posts, set far enough apart to 
permit the passage of a person. These two 
posts are the two ends of a V-shaped end in 
the fence.”—The engraving shows the con¬ 
struction of the end of the fence, with the 
two posts, between which the gate swings. 
The Ori“in <> I'lt 1 i-;iss.— Accord¬ 
ing to the story of a Plainfield, Ind., paper, 
now going the rounds of the journals, “the 
Blue-Grass, now so famous in Kentucky, was 
first raised in Indiana, at a little burgh called 
Miami Village, on White River, in Hamilton 
Co.” Some Indians, in 1781, captured two 
boys, Conner by name, in Western Pennsyl¬ 
vania, and took them to the village aforesaid. 
In due time the boys became “ big Injuns,” 
and it is through John, the Plainfield paper 
learns, that “ Blue-Grass was a native of what 
is now Hamilton.” It was Gen. Harrison’s 
army that took the grass from Hamilton Co., 
Ind., to Kentucky, where it spread rapidly. 
The writer of that article, and those who 
quote it, do not seem to be aware that Blue- 
Grass (Poa pratensis,) is a native of the north- 
temperate parts of both continents, and so 
far from being confined to Hamilton Co., 
Ind., is a native of a great many places, from 
Pennsylvania, northward. It finds specially 
favorable conditions in Kentucky, and in that 
State developes so luxuriantly that the grass 
was for a time supposed to be peculiar to it, 
and received the name “ Kentucky Blue- 
Grass.” It is now well known that this grass 
is only the old “June,” “Spear,” or “Green 
Meadow-grass.” That the grass may have 
been taken from Indiana to Kentucky is pos¬ 
sible, but that this throws any light upon the 
“ Origin of Blue-Grass,” is simply nonsense. 
Self-acting Barn-Door Fastener. 
Mr. C. Terrell, Cuyhoga Co., Ohio, thus 
describes his barn-door catch: The pole, 
which must not be 
too heavy, slides 
loosely up and down 
through the cleats, 
<2, (only the upper one 
of which is shown). 
The catch, a, of stiff 
bar-iron, rises on and 
hooks over the in¬ 
clined plane of the 
staple, b, also made 
of bar-iron, and bolt¬ 
ed in the lintel. A 
hole in the floor re¬ 
ceives the lower end 
„ ,, . . ,, PARTS OF DOOR FASTENER. 
ot the pole m the 
usual manner. This is t a self-fastening ar¬ 
rangement for swing-doors, and may be 
applied to each door separately. Put on 
axle or other grease, to prevent friction, 
until the parts have become smooth. 
A Cedar Stem Soil Stirrer. 
A convenient and quickly made implement 
for stirring and mixing manure and fertiliz¬ 
ers with the soil, may be made as follows : 
A cedar stem is cut (one about eight feet 
long is most satisfactory) and the branches 
cut off several inches from the stem, leaving 
long spurs on all sides for its whole length. 
A STIRRER MADE OF A CEDAR STEM. 
A horse is hitched by a chain to the butt end, 
and the driver guides the implement by a 
rope fastened to the rear end of the stem. 
By means of the guide rope, the implement 
may be lifted over or around obstacles, and 
turned at the end of the field. Such an im¬ 
plement is specially useful in mixing fer¬ 
tilizers with the soil, when applied in drills 
for hoed crops. 
A Portable Texas Fence. 
Mr. A. Baseke, Montgomery Co., Texas, 
sends us a sketch of a portable fence of his owu 
construction. The posts are 5>/ 3 feet long, 
2 by 3 inches thick, pointed on both ends. 
The rails or slats are 8 feet long. He writes: 
“ Lay the posts parallel, 8 feet apart on the 
ground, and nail the slats on, the upper and 
