1880.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
351 
£rom the barn clown the lane, the cart is frequently 
nsed for taking tools, seed grain, etc., to the fields 
as they are wanted, thus saving the team from 
leaving their work and a loss of time. 
An Ice-House with a Cool Room. 
The requests to give a plan for an lee House 
which shall contain a cool room, are numerous. 
Some ask for a room in the house which may be 
used as a dairy, while others wish an apartment in 
which meat and other provisions, fruit, etc., may 
be stored. A plan of an Ice-House with such a 
room was given in January, 1879, which is as simple 
as anything of the kind. Those who have had the 
most experience in such matters do not approve of 
the plan of combining an Ice House and 
Refrigerator in one. Aside from the 
fact that it is often desirable to place 
the ice house at too great a distance 
from the dwelling for the convenient 
use of a refrigerator, the two things— 
Ice-House and Refrigerator—being for 
opposite uses—cannot well becombined. 
In an ice-house everything is arranged 
for the most perfect preservation of the 
ice. The value of a refrigerator depends 
upon the melting of ice, and the best 
refrigerator is that which allows the ice 
to melt, and to take its heat from those 
objects which we wish to cool. To make 
a cool room in the ice house tends great¬ 
ly to the waste of the ice. We cool a 
much larger space than there is any need 
of, and this cooling is constantly going 
on, with consequent melting of ice, 
whether the cool room be full or empty. Those who 
have had the most experience in this matter, are well 
persuaded that for the greatest economy in ice, it is 
far better to have the arrangements for storing and 
for using the ice separate and distinct, and we 
think they are right. Let the ice-house be made 
with the sole view of keeping the ice in the most 
complete manner, and take from it ice as wanted, 
to be used in the refrigerator. The si?e and style 
of the refrigerator will depend upon the uses to 
which it is put, and may be a small box or a good- 
sized room ; in either case to be so contrived that 
there will be little or no melting of the ice from 
outside heat, but only through abstracting it 
from the articles placed within to be cooled. 
Hints and Helps For Farmers. 
A Wagon Lifter or Jack. —“T. G.,” Union 
Co., HI., has recently made a wagon lifter, and it 
has proved to be the best one he ever saw. He 
writes: “ Some patented Jacks are practically use¬ 
less from one defect, namely, they allow the wagon 
to start either forward or hack, but mine holds it 
still without a block at each wheel. It is not 
patented, and all are welcome to the use of it. 
Figure 1 is the implement complete ; the foot piece 
is 2 by 4 inches, 24 inches long, placed on its edge. 
The standard, figure 2, is also 2 by 4 inches, and 27 
inches long, with a slot in the top 2 by 8 inches to 
receive the lever. The slot has several holes pass¬ 
ing through to adjust the lever to different hights 
of axle by changing the bolt. The standard is 
“ halved on ” to the foot piece and bolted fast. A 
t-inch iron brace, with a bolt at each end, secures 
it in an upright position. The lever is 2 by 3 inches, 
5 feet long, with a tapering handle, and is bolted 1 
foot from the large end. When pressed down it is 
held by a chain 2 feet long, with a link slipped 
over one of the 3 headless bolts, as seen in figure 2. 
Carriage Steps. —Whoever lives in the country 
and regards the comfort of his household will pro¬ 
vide some easy means of getting in and out of the 
family vehicle. There are many kinds of carriage 
steps or “horse blocks,” as they are sometimes 
called, the character of which will depend some¬ 
what upon the surroundings. If there is a board 
fence near by, as is often the case, between the 
carriage barn and the house, or the house and the 
street, then steps may be constructed on it after the 
manner shown in the engraving, figure 3. The 
exact size will be governed by circumstances, but it 
should be large enough to be easy to alight from. 
Its hight should be equal to that of the floor of the 
carriage. Such carriage steps are especially a com¬ 
fort to lame or aged people, to whom the getting 
in and out of the vehicle, without some such aid 
as these steps is the hardest part of the journey. 
Bag Holders. —At this season of the year, the 
grain bags are being filled all over the country, 
and some meaus of holding them is often thought 
of, even if the thought does not develop into a de¬ 
sign, and the design into a labor-saving implement. 
Nearly every boy has found the holding of a grain 
bag to be not only monotonous, but exceedingly 
tiresome to young arms, and has felt that some 
sort of a bag holder would be a great relief. There 
are now a number of patent bag holders in the 
market, but it is not necessary to go to the expense 
of one of them, provided a person has carpenters’ 
tools, and a little skill in using them. From time 
to time, we have given a number of illustrations of 
these home-make bag holders. Perhaps there is 
none easier made, and more handy, than the one 
given in October, 1874, which we reproduce here 
for the benefit of inquiring grain growers. This 
holder consists of a broad and heavy bottom 
board, to give it stability, with an upright piece 
attached at one side. A pair of diverging arms 
are fastened to the top of the upright, and are held 
out horizontally, by a brace which passes from a 
cross piece between the arms, to notches in the 
upright. The bag is held in place by having its 
upper edge slipped over a button, on the second 
cross-piece, and also turned over the projecting 
ends of the arms. The dotted line, in the engrav¬ 
ing, shows the position of the bag, and how the 
edge is turned over the button in the rear, and 
the ends of the horizontal arms in front. 
A Log Raiser.— “F. McL,” Westmorland Co., 
Pa., sends a sketch of his Log Raiser, fig. 5, which 
he describes as follows : Lay a good, stout rail, one 
end on the log to be raised, letting it extend out at 
right angles with the log ; pass the chain under the 
log, and hook if around the rail, set the “jack ” on 
the opposite side, and hook the chain to the lever, 
as near the ground as convenient. The lever 
works on two stout pins, the pins being alternately 
moved up a hole at a time. The method of work¬ 
ing the log lifter is evident from the engraving 
which is given in figure 5. 
A Cheap Level.— The accompanying engraving 
shows how easily a serviceable Level may be con¬ 
structed with an ordinary 
carpenter’s square, a 
short plumb-line, and a 
sharpened stake. The 
stake, with a split in the 
top, is driven into the 
ground, and the square 
adjusted as shown in the 
engraving. For the 
plumb-line, a string and 
a piece of lead, or, in an 
emergency, even a stone, 
for the plummet, will an¬ 
swer. The line is fastened 
to the shorter arm of the 
square, so that it will run 
close to and parallel with 
the inner edge of the 
longer arm. As the two 
arms of the square are at 
right angles, when the 
longer one is perpendicu¬ 
lar, as determined by the plumb-line, the shorter 
one is horizontal or level. Any objects sighted 
from a, along the upper edge to 6, will be in the 
same plane, or on the same level. See figure 6. 
A Barn Broom. —An ordinary house-broom is 
far too weak for the coarser and harder sweeping 
of the barn, and, in order to keep the barn floor 
tidy, a heavy broom is needed. Birch twigs, fas¬ 
tened between strips of boards that are bound 
together by wire, or, better, by small bolts, will 
make a broom that will serve a good purpose in the 
bam. But it is not convenient for all to make 
their own brooms, and for those who must buy, the 
trade supplies a very excellent and durable bam- 
broom or barn-brush made of strips of rattan, se¬ 
cured in a stout head, to which a long handle is 
attached at the proper angle. Such a brush is 
shown in fig. 7; and, when once in use, will ba 
found a most convenient and a durable implement 
with which to keep the barn floor in good order. 
