1880 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
227 
well in accord in our views, and so thoroughly un¬ 
derstood one another that knowing so exactly what 
he wanted, I was under no temptation to exer¬ 
cise the right of private judgment. Happily I 
found an animal—a yearling—so near the stand- 
- ard that I could only hope that he would not grow 
away from it before Mr. Parke had the opportunity 
to confirm my judgment, which in time he did. It 
was a pleasure the other day to see the mature bull, 
the sire of as beautiful and uniform a lot of young 
things as one ever sees in a herd, more than fulfill¬ 
ing in his full age the promise of his youth. 
Mr. Kretchmar has one famous cow in his herd, 
“ Annie Page,” 
She is by a son of “Alphea ” (the last calf of his 
famous dam,) who stood for several years at the 
head of Mr. Parke’s herd She was a beautiful 
heifer, and at eleven months old was found with a 
fully developed udder distended with milk—and 
from that time, although she did not calve until ten 
months after, was regularly milked with the rest of 
the herd. She developed to be a cow of fully me¬ 
dium size—a deep milker, and extraordinary butter 
maker, and although tested by Mr. Parke, no mem¬ 
orandums of recent tests can now be found. She 
will probably be tested again this year. Her daugh¬ 
ter, “Annie Gold-dust,” by “Jersey Gold-dust,” 
dropped a beautiful heifer calf by the same sire, 
the day that I made my visit—double “ Gold-dust ’* 
and “Alphea ”—pretty good blood we should say 1 
Another Flood Gate. 
Hard rains will eome, and small streams and 
open ditches that are almost dry one day, may be 
rushing torrents the next. This make6 it a matter 
of importance to provide a suitable and safe flood 
gate, at all those places where the farm fences 
cross such streams or ditches—gates that are easy 
of construction, permanent, and above all, self 
adjusting. Several flood gates have been presented 
to our readers from time to time, but none like the 
one shown in the accompanying engraving. It 
consists of a stout piece of timber—a straight pole 
will answer—which fits into round holes in the 
fence posts on each side of the ditch. To this bar, 
which turns readily in the posts that hold it, the 
gate, or the length of fence, is securely fastened 
with heavy spikes, or better still, with bolts. On 
the lower portion of the gate, an addition of short 
boards, cut to fit the ditch, may be made as shown 
in the engraving. The whole gate thus constructed, 
turns readily upon the horizontal bar, the bottom 
A SWINGING FLOOD GATE. 
swinging out with the water and allowing it to 
pass, but returning to its former position, so soon 
as the water subsides. In making this gate, it 
should be borne in mind that the part below the 
turning bar, should be a considerable heavier than 
that above, so that small stock will not try to push 
their way through ; that is, it is to swing only by 
the application of a strong pressure at the lowest 
part, as is the case with a rising, rushing stream. 
Judging by the Outside.— The surface of 
an animal can be taken as an index of its health, and 
feeding powers, with considerable accuracy. An 
animal that has a long and soft coat of hair, with 
the skin soft and elastic, though with noticeable 
firmness when grasped by the finger, is generally 
one that is healthy, and has a good constitution, 
and sufficient capacity as a feeder. On the other 
hand, the harsh, coarse coat, and hard unyielding 
skin, are found upon slow feeders, and inferior ani¬ 
mals. A good judge of stock can pretty well 
satisfy himself of the quality and value of an 
animal, by the looks and feeling of the surface. 
A Home-made Field Roller. 
There are few more useful farm implements than 
the roller—and there are few, if any, the use of 
which is more generally neglected. It is one of 
those implements that may be had with very little 
Fig. 2.—COVER FOR ROLLER. 
outlay, as it can be made by any farmer who can 
use ordinary tools. Every field of winter wheat 
ought to be rolled in the spring so that the plants 
that the frosts have heaved from the ground may be 
pressed back into the soil again, and a smooth sur¬ 
face given to the field for the reaper that, in a few 
months, is to follow. There is no meadow, espec¬ 
ially if it is to be mowed with a close cutting 
machine, but that will be benefited by the passage 
of a roller over its surface. But besides its value 
upon the 
winter crops 
and mead¬ 
ow s, the 
roller has a 
more impor¬ 
tant use up¬ 
on the newly 
plowed field, 
in the break¬ 
ing down of 
such clods 
and lumps that the harrow often fails to touch. Upon 
a light soil, where there are no clods, the roller is of 
great utility in compressingthe fine particles of earth, 
thus making it sufficiently compact for the crop to 
thrive. The use of the roller after sowing seeds of 
all kinds may often make the difference between 
the snccess of a crop and its failure. By bringing 
the earth in close contact, every good seed will 
germinate, while without the pressure given by 
the roller, a large share of the seeds may fail for 
want of sufficient moisture for germination ; or 
if they do start the germ dries and is killed. Gar¬ 
deners are well aware of this fact, and in their 
operations use rollers of a size suited to their work, 
or beat down the earth with the back of a spade. 
That roller which will most effectually break 
lumps and do its other work at the least expense, is 
of course the best; but of the many kinds now in 
use it is difficult to decide which is the best for all 
cases. The cheapest, so far as first outlay is con¬ 
cerned, is one made from a log—and the oldest. 
Those in which cement is used for the roller, 
when well made, are lasting and satisfactory, and 
not expensive. The one which the writer has used 
for a number of years, was made upon the farm, 
and entirely by the farmer, except the small amount 
of iron work which was furnished by the nearest 
blacksmith at a moderate cost. It is a double 
roller, of the style shown in figure 1, that is, 
consisting of two rollers equal in all respects, 
joined end to end. A roller thus divided is much 
easier to turn upon the land, as one half turns for¬ 
ward and the other backward in the movement. 
The “barrel” portion, as the revolving part is 
called, is about 4 feet long, 3 feet in diameter and 
consists of two end pieces or “heads” of inch 
oak, to which the “ staves ” of narrow 11-inch 
oak stuff are spiked with heavy nails. The axle, 
which passes through the center of the rollers, is 
a round bar of 11-inch iron and is secured to the 
frame by close fitting iron boxes. The frame is 
made of 3 by 4 inch oak scantling firmly mortised 
together. In front and back, a board is fitted into 
the frame at the underside of the frame pieces, 
thus making a long shallow trough, into which 
stones and other things may be put as picked up 
while the roller is at work. A cover for the roller, 
made of inch stuff 
in the manner 
shown in figure 2, 
is an important 
item if there is no 
shed under which 
the roller can be 
kept when not in 
use. This cover 
fits over the body 
of the roller and 
rests upon the 
frame, and is so adjusted that it can remain in 
position when the roller is in use, but it is best to 
remove it unless the extra weight which it gives is 
needed to break the clods. Figure 3 shows the 
form of seat that may be put upon the roller for 
the convenience and safety of the driver. It con¬ 
sists of a board of sufficient strength to hold a per¬ 
son, and provided with long legs well braced. This 
“ stool ” is then fastened astride the roller in the 
middle, the lower ends of the legs fitting closely 
into the front and rear of the roller frame. The 
front end of the board may be shaped so that the 
driver may 6it astride. The whole cost of a roller 
thus equipped is not great, and it will last for 
many years, with proper storing when not in use. 
Another Mouse Trap. 
Mice are not the friends of man, and until they 
change their manner of living, or leave the country, 
traps to catch them will always be needed. The 
trap that will capture the greatest number of mice 
in the shortest space of time, and with the least 
expense, will be the best. Mr. J. B. Ritze, Franklin 
Co., Ohio, sends a sample of a trap of his make, 
which he has used with great success since 1847. 
It consists of a piece of board, on which two wood 
standards are placed, and these are united at the 
top by a short strip of wood. Through this top 
piece a round stick passes, carrying a heavy hard¬ 
wood board of the same size as the floor of the 
trap, and held from whirling about by the standard 
pins, which passthrough holes near the ends. The 
trap is set by raising the heavy board, and securing 
it in place by a bey, and string, which runs down 
to the “tumble piece ” of a “figure four,” on the 
Q 
A MOUSE TRAP. 
outside of the trap. The trap is shown set in the 
engraving. As the mouse nibbles the cheese fas¬ 
tened on the end of the long stick of the “figure 
four,” the “tumble piece” is thrown out, the key 
flies up into a slot in the stick, carrying the heavy 
board, and down comes the latter upon the mouse. 
