232 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[June, 
moved. The alternate staves in twos are cut 
away, in the manner shown in the engraving, thus 
making feeding places for a half dozen or more 
sheep. A rack of this kind can be made at very 
little cost; is handy to put the fodder into, and 
A HOGSHEAD FODDER-RACK. 
certainly can not be objected to by the sheep, as 
each one has a full and equal chance to feed from it. 
Water Supply for Barns. 
Mr. S. J. Boyd, Orange Co., N. Y., sends sketch, 
and writes: “ In April 1876, I moved upon a farm 
where water was scarce around the barn. During the 
summer I dug a well on a dry side-hill above the 
barn, and some 20 rods distant. The well (7 ft. in 
diameter, by 27 ft. deep), was so far above the 
bam, that it could be dug somewhat, deeper, and 
then draw water from the bottom of the well, to the 
bam, with a siphon. Eighteen ft. of the 27 dug, 
was through very hard slate rock, which was 
loosened with Common Rock, and Giant Powder, 
the latter doing greater execution with the same 
drilling, and much more convenient, as water does 
not injure it in the least while blasting; in fact, I 
used water alone for tamping. After reaching the 
depth of 27 ft., I stoned up only from the top of the 
rock, about 9 ft. The well then having cost con¬ 
siderable, and not being entirely satisfied with the 
supply of water, I did not care to spend any more 
money laying pipe, etc., until there was reason to 
believe the supply of water was sufficient to keep 
at least a small stream of water constantly running. 
November 18th, 1878, I finished laying a half-inch 
lead-pipe from the well to the barn, and started the 
water running. Although last winter was a cold 
one, and many farmers were short of water for their 
stock on account of the long cold spell of weather, 
my rock-well gave a stream of water and did not fail, 
neither has it failed up to the present time, (Dec. 
2nd, 1879.) This gives me every reason to believe 
that my dry side-hill water-works are a success, aud 
the convenience for cooling milk, and watering 
stock, is worth more than the interest on the cost 
of the well, lead-pipe, etc., which at present prices, 
would amount to about $100.”—[The accompany¬ 
ing engraving shows the method which Mr. B. has 
found so satisfactory, and it may suggest to others 
having a side-hill farm of a similar nature, that a 
like investment may greatly benefit them.— Ed]. 
Prickly Comfrey. 
The American Agriculturist was one of the first 
journals to bring Prickly Comfrey into notice, and 
while we were very guarded in what was said about 
it, there are so many who take the mere mention 
of a new thing as an advertisement, we were quite 
desirous that it should not turn out to be a failure. 
Singularly enough, since we published an account 
of its being planted largely in Massachusetts in the 
spriug of last year, not a single report came to us. 
This spring several inquired as to the present status 
of the plant, and wishing to know ourselves the 
present opinion of those who have grown 
it longest, we made the inquiry of Mr. 
Ashburner, of Virginia, the gentlemen 
whose communication we published with 
our first article on the subject. Mr. A. 
writes, that he has no new facts either for, 
or against the plant, and is “ still of the 
opinion that it is a very valuable fodder 
plant, and worthy of a place on every farm 
in America.” Mr. A. was the first in the 
country to import the Comfrey, and at first 
sold the plants, but he writes that he gave 
up the sale, among other reasons, because 
he did not care to be subject “to gross 
insult, from buyers who could not, or 
would not take the trouble to cultivate 
it properly, and then would not take the 
trouble to educate their stock to eat the 
fodder, when grown.” This no doubt 
touches the cause of whatever lack of 
success it may have met with, for ani¬ 
mals do not take to it at first, any more than 
wild horses will to corn, or people who never have 
eaten them, to olives. It takes a few days feeding, 
mixed with other food at first, before the majority 
of animals will accept and eat it by itself, and few 
will take the trouble. Mr. A. says, and we think 
with truth: “Unless farmers will cultivate care¬ 
fully their Comfrey, and give it a plenty of manure, 
they had better not trouble it; ” he adds : “ I look 
upon Prickly Comfrey as the most valuable green 
food for pigs, as far as my experience goes, and 
fresh pork fattened on it is worth eating.” On the 
whole, we think that the plant is one that will 
be useful to those who will take the trouble to 
make it so ; in hit-or-miss farming it has no place. 
Flax and Flax Machinery. 
No country can be regarded as really independent 
of other countries unless it produces not only all 
the food, but all the clothing material it consumes. 
So far as cotton and wool are concerned, we pro¬ 
duce an abundance, but for flax and the fabrics 
made from it we are 
largely dependent upon 
others. Three agricul¬ 
tural products seem to 
make very slow pro¬ 
gress in this country : 
sugar, from beets, oils, 
such as rape, colza, etc., 
and flax and similar 
fibres. One reason why 
these have not become 
important products of 
our agriculture is, be¬ 
cause the farmer can 
not convert the raw 
material into a salable 
product, as this either 
requires expensive ma¬ 
chinery and skilled 
labor to use it, or the 
processes by hand are 
slow, and, of course, costly. If the farmer is to 
be expected to produce the raw material only, he 
must be assured of a market before he will un¬ 
dertake its culture. Capitalists are not ready to 
establish factories until sure of a supply of raw 
material, and it takes a long time to establish the 
proper relations between the two—the farmer and 
the manufacturer. In the case of sugar, good pro¬ 
gress has been made within a few years, aud it 
looks as though we might, within a short time, cease 
to import sugar. In the matter of oils, our won¬ 
derful stores of petroleum, and the improvements 
in utilizing the heretofore almost wasted cotton¬ 
seeds, make it little necessary for us to seek any 
other sources of oils for burning, soap-making, etc. 
With flax and other fibres, one great obstacle to 
their profitable culture has been the slow processes 
of bringing them into marketable condition, which, 
at our prices for labor, made the raw material too 
costly. Every invention that tends to diminish 
this labor is of the greatest importance to the agri¬ 
culture of the country. It was with no little in¬ 
terest that we recently watched the working of the 
FLAX MACHINE. 
machine of the American Vegetable Fibre Co., of 
Philadelphia, which breaks and scutches the flax at 
one operation in the most rapid and complete man¬ 
ner. The engraving shows the general appearance 
of the machine, which is very compact, taking up 
no more room than an ordinary grain fanning mill. 
The bunch of flax being spread upon the table in 
front of the machine, the stalks are caught in a set 
of grooved rollers, these by their peculiar motion 
cause the breaking, when the flax passes on to the 
scutchers, placed in the elevated part of the ma¬ 
chine ; after being subjected to their action for a 
short time, it depending upon its condition, the 
flax comes back, is turned, and the other end is sub¬ 
mitted to the same operation. All of this takes 
but a very little time, and at the last motion the 
workman has the flax in hand, beautifully clean 
and shining, with not a fibre tangled or displaced. 
The operation is as thorough as it is rapid, a careful 
examination failing to discover any appreciable 
amount of boon remaining to be removed by the 
hackle. The officers of the Fibre Company are very 
enthusiastic over their machine and its effect upon 
the agriculture of the country, and when they as¬ 
sert that the machine “ bids fair to give a new his¬ 
tory to the whole business ”—referring to flax¬ 
growing—we can not think them extravagant. One 
of these machines in each flax-growing township 
would make a vast difference to the profits of the 
farmers. To those who now raise flax for the seed, 
the machine will be of the greatest value, as by 
proper care in handling they may get a crop of 
fibre as well as one of seed. If seed is to be saved, 
the flax is harvested when the stem has lost its 
green color for two-thirds of its length ; it is made 
into small bundles, and the few inches of the seed¬ 
bearing portion of the tops cut off with a hay or 
straw cutter having a single lever-knife ; the stalks 
are then ready for rotting in the usual manner. We 
did not see the machine work upon hemp, but sam¬ 
ples of the fibre that had been broken by it showed 
that it is equally useful for that crop. We so thor¬ 
oughly believe in a diversified agriculture that we 
gladly welcome any improvement that will allow 
our farmers to add another to the crops which they 
may grow with profit, and think it will be well for 
those who have land suited to flax, to consider 
whether they might not find it to their interest to 
undertake its culture. We have recently learned 
that a machine has been invented in New Jersey 
which does for Ramie and similar plants what this 
machine does for flax; thus the subject of fibre pro¬ 
duction is rapidly increasing, and we shall watch 
its development with the greatest interest. 
PLAN OF HILL-SIDE WATER-WORKS. 
