1880 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
339 
most he will give his opinion of the probabilities; he is 
too honest to “ guarantee ’’ to do what he knows to be 
beyond his powers ...We sometimes wonder if people 
remember what they read. Here is a letterfrom Toronto, 
Canada, inclosiDg a circular abont which the writer is 
very indignant, as he says it was sent him “ by some 
scoundrel in New York,”—and closes his letter with: 
'‘Cannot you ventilate this villain who claims to be both 
parson and doctor ?” Who does the reader suppose we 
are thus asked to “ ventilate ” f—None other than our 
particular pet, Rev. Joseph T. Inman, with his 
CORASSA COMPOUND RECIPE I 
One of our “stand bys” for these fifteen years. Other 
quacks have come and gone, but Joseph is perennial. 
We have shown the nonsense of his “ Corassa ” stuff 
over and over again, so frequently have we been asked 
about it It was only in May last that we were driven to 
showing up the trick again—and now comes our To¬ 
ronto friend asking if we cannot “ ventilate ” 11 
Wheat Culture—A New Work.— In view of 
the increasing interest in the cultivation of the staple 
•crop—Wheat,—we are glad to announce that the Orange 
■Judd Company have in press, an entirely new work en¬ 
titled: “Wheat Culture ; How to Double the Yield and 
Increase the Profits. By D. S. Curtiss, Washington, D. 
C. For many years a Farmer in Michigan, Illinois and 
Wisconsin.” The few existing works on wheat culture, 
besides being somewhat antiquated, try to tell too much, 
aad while they are useful for reference are quite too 
bulky for hand-books. The author of the present work, 
"weare informed, has had wide experience in wheat cul¬ 
ture, and has put what he has to say in a compact, clear, 
and practical form, and it cannot fail to meet the wants 
of a large number of farmers. The work will probably 
be ready soon after this paper reaches its readers. 
(Basket Items continued on page 365.) 
A Farm Gate. 
Mr. “M. H. H.,” Luzerne Co., Pa., sends a sketch 
and description of a gate he has in use, and is so 
Pig. 1.— A CHEAP AND HANDY FARM GATE. 
reheap and satisfactory that he desires that others 
may make and use it. The posts are set at the de¬ 
sired distance apart, and a heavy plank, or better, a 
timber with a smooth upper side, is laid level with 
.the ground between the posts. This makes a track 
for the wheel, fastened at the lower corner of the 
gate, figure 1. The gate is made of the same form 
and of the same material as an ordinary swinging 
gate, care being taken to fasten the bottom wheel 
■securely to the frame. A strip of board should 
come down on the outside of the wheel and hold 
-the bolt which passes through it, the wheel, and the 
gate. A pulley is placed upon 
the opposite and upper comer, 
which should be six inches in 
diameter, and with a deep 
groove, which prevents the 
pulley from getting off the up¬ 
per board of the fence along 
which it rolls. The axle, fig¬ 
ure 2, of the pulley is an iron 
rod which bends at right 
angles and passes down the 
side of the end piece of the 
gate, to which it is firmly secured by stout nails 
or screws. Old iron wheels may be often found 
around the shop to answer the purpose. 
nixed Husbandry consists in the cultivation 
•of various crops, and keeping of most kinds of do¬ 
mesticated animals,—in short it embraces all of the 
other systems, but on a smaller scale. It implies a 
thorough knowledge of animal aud vegetable life 
in all conditions of soil and climate, every aspect 
of rural economy at home and abroad, and also an 
acquaintance with the allied arts and sciences. It 
possesses one prominent advantage over the other 
systems, and that is its freedom from risk, and sure 
returns for money invested. If one crop is a fail¬ 
ure, another may be unexceptionally good ; if pork 
is low, beef and wool may be high ; if fruit is abun¬ 
dant and cheap, vegetables may be scarce and dear. 
Though mixed husbandry is seldom characterized 
by as large profits as in grain or pastoral farming, 
it is not subject to such severe losses by storms and 
bad weather. If the farm is well stocked and cul¬ 
tivated, it will be continually undergoing improve¬ 
ment, and instead of becoming exhausted, will get 
more aud more productive. Ontario. 
Preventing Collar-Galls. 
Having been considerably annoyed by the con¬ 
tinued galling of horses’ shoulders by the collar, 
the writer took time to investigate the subject. It 
was found that the whole trouble arose 
from the direction of the draft causing 
unequal pressure on the shoulder, which 
operated differently upon differently 
formed horses. The collars being simi¬ 
lar in form and size, and the line of 
draft of the harness being the same, the 
shape and inclination of the shoulder, 
the hight of the horse, the width of the 
chest, and other variations, caused an 
inequality in the pressure, which acted 
so as to gall the shoulder. Pads upon 
the collar were unsatisfactory and only 
temporary expedients, but nevertheless 
they were very useful when properly Fig-1. 
made and fitted. The best results were reached by 
using adjustable attachments to the hames for hook¬ 
ing the traces, so as to change the line of draft, to 
suit the angle of the shoulder, by raising or lowering 
the position of the trace hook on the hame. The ar¬ 
rangement is shown at figure 1. It is made of an 
iron plate, with a number of holes in which a hook 
or link can be fitted, so as to raise or lower the 
draft, and change the line of pressure of the collar 
on the shoulder proportionately. The action of the 
arrangement can be seen as soon as the horse pulls 
on the trace, and if it is not precisely correct, should 
be changed until it is, and the line of pressure 
brought parallel with the line of the shoulder. To 
protect a galled shoulder while it is healing, pads 
of the form shown at figures 2 and 3 may be used. 
These are made of stout canvas and filled solidly 
with tow or hemp; a covering of smooth,hard leather 
may be added. Straps and buckles are used to fas¬ 
ten them to the collar. The pad is fitted to the col- 
Fig. 2.— A COLLAR PAD. Fig. 2.— ANOTHER FORM. 
lar in such a manner as to relieve the galled part 
from pressure; and either kind of pad will be 
found useful for different kinds of galls. 
Cement: How to Mix. 
Inquiries by letter in regard to the various details 
of cement, its composition, methods of mixing it, 
etc., are quite frequent and we make a general re¬ 
ply. Cement is made from what is known as 
Hydraulic Limestone, that is, a rock which, besides 
Carbonate of Lime, contains a considerable portion 
of Magnesia, Silica, and Alumina or Clay. The 
Rosendale cement, the leading kind in this country, 
and nearly as good as the imported Portland ce¬ 
ment, is manufactured at Kingston on the Hudson, 
N. Y. The composition of this Kingston rock is 
as follows: Carbonic Acid 34.20; Lime 25.50; 
Magnesia 12.35; Silica 15.37; Clay 9.13, and Pe¬ 
roxide of Iron 2.25—the latter being of no value. 
Pure lime-stone is made up entirely of the first 
two substances in the proportion of, Carbonic 
Acid 56 parts, and Lime 44. 8uch a stone, when 
burned, loses the carbonic acid which passes off as 
a gas and pure quick lime is left behind. When 
this quick lime is brought in contact with water, a 
combination takes place, heat is evolved,and hydrate 
of lime is formed—this process is called slaking. 
When the water is in just the right proportion to 
slake the lime, a dry white powder results ; if tho 
water is in excess a paste of lime is formed, and is 
the substance which builders mix with sand to make 
mortar. When clay is present, as in the case of the 
Kingston stone, the burning gives, instead of quick¬ 
lime, a hydraulic lime, which combines with a much 
larger per cent of water, aud instead of falling to 
a fine powder sets into a stone again. This setting 
into a stone takes place even in excess of water, be¬ 
cause only a definite amount enters into the com¬ 
bination and the remainder is excluded. Tho 
hardening will therefore take place under water, 
and this is the most valuable property of the 
cement. When this cement is made into a thin 
paste and mixed with gravel or poured over broken 
stone, a concrete is formed which soon hardens into 
a mass with the firmness and durability of stone. 
The setting takes place quite rapidly, which makes 
it necessary that the cement be used, that is, put 
where it is to remain, very soon after it has been 
mixed with the water. The method of using 
cement is therefore quite different from that of 
mortar. The cement and sand—if sand is used— 
should be thoroughly mixed together while dry, 
and in the proportion of four parts of sand to one 
of cement, after which the water is added, and 
when a uniform paste is obtained, it should goat 
once to its place of liardeniug in the wall, etc. 
Editorial Correspondence. — Items from 
“Notes by the Way.” 
[Owing to the extra printing required by the Supple¬ 
ment, this number goes to press early, and Mr. Judd's 
“Notes and Observations at the West’’have not come 
to hand as we close these pages, except tho few 
items which we give below.— Eds.] 
Quick Crops from Prairie Soil. 
We are now passing over broad prairies, still 
unbroken by the plow, except here aud there 
where the new comers have built “sod cottages,” 
and turned over a few acres ou which are corn¬ 
stalks struggling for existence. As a rule with 
those who settle on prairie lands—as hundreds of 
thousands have done, during a year past, and as 
multitudes are now doing every month—the sod 
is broken the first year, allowed to decay until 
the following spring, before a crop of corn or 
spring wheat is put in. It is an immense gain, 
for emigrants from the Eastern States and from 
Europe who come hither early in spring, to put in a 
crop at once that will furnish food for the fol¬ 
lowing winter. There is no doubt that this cau 
be done much more largely than has been gen¬ 
erally supposed. We have seen to-day and yester¬ 
day, fair corn, pretty good oats, promising pota¬ 
toes and beans, all on ground that in April last, 
was in its wild state. The com and oats are on 
sod treated thus: First a team with the usual 
breaking plow goes ahead, and a thin sod two to 
three inches deep is turned over flat. Following 
immediately after is another common plow, 6et to 
cut one to one and a half inch deep, which takes 
up a second layer of the under soil and throws it 
upon the turned sod. A light harrow, with the 
teeth inclined backward is then put on which 
finely pulverizes the top layer and a little of tho 
soil on the sod, but without tearing up or disturb¬ 
ing the sod itself. This furnishes a good seed 
bed in which the corn is planted, and the oats 
6 own. They keep ahead of the weeds, and show 
well at this date. 
Potatoes in Presh Prairie Sod. 
We saw in one place about half a dozen acres 
in potatoes planted thus : The plow turned the 
sod over about three inches deep. A boy followed 
the plow and against the edge of the turned fur- 
