16 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
those wheat-growing localities, where the grain has 
to be sent a long distance to a mill, and the 
flour, for use, returned an equally long distance, 
a fanner, or several associated farmers, may easily 
establish such a mill, and it would no doubt be a 
Loading Logs. 
A log is a heavy and difficult thing for one per¬ 
son to handle, unless he takes advantage of it. By 
advantage we mean, availing ourselves of any con¬ 
LOADING LOGS ON TO A WAGON. 
profitable investment, and at the same time a con¬ 
venience as well as a blessing to the neighborhood. 
Ventilating Stables. 
In the construction of stables there should al¬ 
ways be a provision for proper ventilation, and at 
the same time for preventing any draught from fall¬ 
ing directly upon the animals. While there is a 
wind, ventilation is easy to secure, but when the 
air is still, it is different, and the air of the stable 
too often becomes foul. The valvular window is 
generally preferred to all others for the introduc¬ 
tion of air, and a plain ventilating shaft for carry¬ 
ing away the bad air. This ventilator, seen closed 
in figure 1 , is a combination window and ventilator, 
the movable part being a sash of glass guarded by 
bars of iron. It is shown open in figure 2, the sash 
being against the outstanding frame. The distance 
to which the sash is opened is regulated by a 
ratcheted rod, fig. 3 , fixed near the upper end of the 
ventilator. The air, as it enters the stable, must 
rise and pass in the direction of the arrows. The 
size of the ventilator should be about two feet 
square, and situated above the heads of the horses. 
The foul air is best carried off by a small wooden 
shaft; passing from the top of the ceiling of the 
stable, to the roof, where it is protected by down¬ 
draught guards; one foot square is large enough 
for a stable of six horses. A section of a stable, 
with the shaft a, and ventilator window, b, shown in 
position, is given in fig. 4. It will be observed that 
the fresh air enters above the horses, and the foul 
vapors pass away above also, thus preventing any 
II Hill 1 / il 111 
Fig. 1. Fig. 2. 
chilling draughts that will surely come by having 
the air enter the bottom of the stable. There is 
a constant interchange of the upper and lower air. 
trivance or mechanical power which enables us to 
avoid lifting it directly up by main force. In load- 
ing logs, the work may be greatly facilitated by 
using the inclined plane. In many places there is 
not sufficient snow for logging with sleds, and the 
wagon must be used. The engraving shows the 
method of loading logs upon a wagon by ox-power. 
Two strong skids, ten feet or so in length, are pro¬ 
vided, one to be placed near each end of the wagon, 
as shown in the engraving. One hind wheel is then 
removed, the axle being blocked up; a chain is 
Fig. 3.— THE RATCHET ROD. 
fastened to the body of the wagon nearthe middle, 
and passing under the log midway from its ends, is 
brought back over the wagon to the oxen or horses 
upon the opposite side. \With this arrangement the 
log is brought upon the wagon with very little ef¬ 
fort. The team must be steady—and for this work 
oxen are to be preferred to horses—else the log 
may be carried too far, and all the work be lost. It 
is usually best to drag the logs into heaps, and, if 
possible, where the wagon may be on lower ground 
than the logs to be loaded. In snow, the same 
method may be used with a sled, with even 
greater ease than with the wagon, as it is lower. 
Tim Bunker on Town Bounties. 
When I saw Seth Twiggs coming down Hooker- 
town street with an uncommon cloud of smoke 
about his old beaver, I knew there was something 
in the wind. He hauled up at my wood pile, took 
a seat on a log, and said he : 
“ Did you ever see folks act so like a pack of 
fools as they did at town-meeting. Jest as we’ve 
got the foxes under a little, and pretty much scared 
’em out of town, they must go and repeal the 
bounty. Why, I can remember arter the bounty 
was raised that we used to pay $500 in town boun 
ties on foxes, showing that we killed at least a hun¬ 
dred foxes every season. It wan’t of much use to 
try to raise poultry, especially near any piece of 
woodland, for the foxes in spring would come right 
up to the barn and snap up geese, turkeys, and 
hens, even in the day time. Deacon Smith, I know, 
lost twenty dollars’ worth of turkeys in one night t 
and I ’spose two thousand dollars would not pay 
for the poultry killed and carried off by the foxes. 
With hunting with hounds in the winter, and dig¬ 
ging out the young ones in Uieir holes in the spring, 
they had become mighty skase and poultry stood 
a good chance.” 
“ 1 can tell jest what was at the bottom of the 
repeal,” said Jake Frink. “ Te see, George Wash¬ 
ington Tucker and myself took a scoot up thro’ the 
White Oaks last spring and holed an old she-fox* 
and arter digging the better part of a day, we took 
her out and six of her young ones, and got thirty- 
five dollars at the town treasury, bounty money, a 
pretty good day’s work. Ye see this riled Uncle 
Jotham Sparrowgrass, Benjamin Franklin Jones, 
and a few more of their set, who had opposed 1 
raising of the bounty from two to five dollars. 
They said it was making money too fast and rob¬ 
bing the treasury. So they kept Hookertown street 
in an uproar all summer and talked agin bounties, 
until they made most folks thing it was the un¬ 
pardonable sin. So you see when town-meeting 
was warned, it was put in to repeal the bounty on 
foxes. There was a general turn out at the meet¬ 
ing, especially of people who never owned a turkey 
or chicken, and the bounty was taken off. I guess 
they’ll get their pay ’fore long in the price of 
chickens and turkeys.” 
This talk occurred three years ago last spring, 
and Jake’s prophecy has come true. The repeal of 
the bounty has led to the multiplication of foxes 
beyond measure, and hardly a farmer in town has 
escaped visitation this summer. Poultry yards 
have been decimated, and in a few cases cleaned 
out, so that no Thanksgiving turkey is left for the 
spit. It has borne much harder upon the farmers 
back near the woodlands than upon people living 
on the street. The fox is a crafty creature, and: 
loves his own safety, a little better than fresh turkey 
and goose. A farm-house near a bit of woodland 
is his special delight. He can steal a young turkey 
at any time and be out of sight before his theft is 
known. In the absence of bounties, there has been 
no special inducement to hunt foxes, cur dogs have 
taken the place of hounds, and it is only as hunters 
have come in from the city that a fox has been 
killed. They have grown so bold that it is common 
to see them in the morning prowling around our 
barns. It is somewhat difficult to estimate the 
damage done by them, for they begin their depreda¬ 
tions in the spring, killing geese and turkeys upon 
the nest, while sitting, or while yet with their 
broods, before the young ones are capable of taking 
care of themselves. Some farmers, who have sold 
three hundred dollars’ worth of turkeys in a year, 
will not have half that amount this year. The tax 
upon the poultry yards is many times heavier than 
the bounty money would have been, and it is much 
Fig. 4 —PLAN OF VENTILATOR OF STABLE. 
more unevenly distributed. It is a mistaken policy 
to repeal the bounty upon foxes at any time. If it 
is kept on persistently, they wiil be hunted until 
they are driven from the borders of the town, and 
the bounty will be reduced to the minimum. Foxes 
are like weeds. None should be left to go to seed. 
They have fulfilled their mission, and no place- 
should be left for them in a civilized State. They 
are unmitigated pests and too expensive to be 
tolerated. The policy of repealing bounties is pen¬ 
nywise and found foolish. If we try to save the 
bounties, the foxes will quadruple the amount by 
laying our poultry yards under toll They will 
make poultry yards insecure and unprofitable The 
true policy would be to have the bounties offered 
by the State instead of the towns. Then the ex 
