AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
69 
times has he been harnessed up, put before a 
“wagon” and put through at the top of his 
speed. Not less than $10,000 has he earned in 
these 19 years for his several owners. He has 
seen a vast number of “awful good times,” as 
they phrase it, in those 19 years. But lie was 
never tight. He has stood under the tavern 
shed, or munched his hay in the tavern barn, 
while the sound of the dance or the revel came 
to his ears, and he thought’of the fierce drive 
that was before him. What hosts of young 
men has he “ seen through,” and in how many 
delightful scrapes has he participated. Yet the 
old fellow is just as ripe for fun as he was in the 
hay- day of his youth. He does not grow old. 
Time, which sets its seal on every thing else, 
has spared “old Handy” and left him as frolic¬ 
some and spirited as if he had not reached his 
teens. May he live a thousand years. 
We have tried to immortalize our friend 
“Dandy,” but we confess to only a general ac¬ 
quaintance with his career. Those' who have 
known him best are loudest in his praise. He 
is worthy of even a longer article than this. 
He knows as well as we, that when ho trots 
along over the pavement, every body is saying, 
“ Look at old Dandy.”— Rochester Daily Amer¬ 
ican. 
For tlie American Agriculturist. 
STANCHIONS FOR CATTLE. 
Noticing an inquiry in the Agriculturist as 
to the best method of building a stable for cat¬ 
tle, whether with stanchions or stalls, allow me 
to say that I have tried both, and think stan¬ 
chions preferable for many reasons, the two 
chief of which are, that cattle thus put up oc 
cupy less room, and they will keep much 
cleaner than in stalls, unless much care is taken 
to keep them bedded. Perhaps it may not be 
amiss to state my method of building stanchions, 
because many who wish to build them have no 
rule by which to be guided, and are under the 
necessity of guessing at the dimension. Take a 
long piece of timber, the length of the stable, 
place it where you wish your stanchion to 
come. Mortice your timber so that your cattle 
will each occupy a space of 2 feet 8 inches. The 
standard part should be wide at the bottom, in 
order to keep the hay in, and the cattle from 
putting their heads through in putting them up. 
Take a log the right length, that will make plank 
from 18 to 20 inches wide, and have it sawed 
into 2 inch plank the whole width. Then split 
these slanting, so as to make them about 4 inches 
wide at one end and 14 to 16 inches at the 
other. Place the large end down, to keep the 
hay from working out. The latches should be 
from 5 to 6 inches wide. The standards being 
narrow at the top gives them plenty of room to 
play back and forth. When crowded up they 
may be fastened with pins or latches. I use for 
the top, two pieces of scantling, pinned to the 
sleepers overhead, for them to play between and 
to fasten them up. I find that the space re¬ 
quired for cows or common cattle is 8 inches, 
which gives them plenty of room, and also fast¬ 
ens them beyond a doubt. For oxen it is ne¬ 
cessary to make them wider. Any person wishing 
to build stanchions need not fear a failure if he 
follow this rule. In building stalls I use swing 
gates made of an upright scantling for a stand¬ 
ard, with a hard wood board from 10 to 12 
inches wide, morticed in and fixed so as to 
swing, or I place upright poles in the edge of 
the manger, with chain ties which slip up and 
down on these poles. These by many are con¬ 
sidered equal to stanchions. S. A. Collins. 
“Pleasant Ridge Farm”, Sodus, Wamie Co., N Y ) 
March 31,1854. ’j 
P. S.—Enclosed you will find a few seeds of 
the Sweet Potato Squash, a variety much prized 
with us. S. A. C. 
[These seeds we will give a trial in our gar¬ 
den.—E d.] 
- #*6 - 
The fewer our wants; the nearer we resem¬ 
ble the gods. 
CLAIMS OF AGRICULTURAL PATENTS 
FOE THE WEEK ENDING MARCH 2, 1854. 
Smut Machines. —Seymour Ketchum, of Lan¬ 
caster, O.: I do not claim of itself building the 
concave of staves with vertical openings be¬ 
tween or in them, for the dust &c. to pass 
through. 
But I claim the concave constructed as des¬ 
cribed, that is to say, of loose staves, so fitted 
to or connected with the heads of the concave, 
as to be capable of circular adjustment with fa¬ 
cility and dispatch, as specified, for the purpose 
of varying the number and widths of the es¬ 
cape openings between the staves, the said staves 
being formed on their inner face with a longi¬ 
tudinal step or steps inclining outwards back- 
wardly in relation to the travel of the runner, 
whereby the width of the openings between the 
staves may be made large, so as to form a ready 
escape for the smut, dust, and other extraneous 
matter without letting out the grain or wheat 
there through, and whereby the clogging of the 
escape openings by damp smut is avoided, as 
set forth. 
Machines for Forming Cultivators’ Teeth, 
—David B. Rogers, of Pittsburgh, Pa.: I claim 
the arrangement of the cutter or knife and 
swaging dies, when constructed and operated as 
described, whereby I am enabled to swage the 
sheet blank into shape, and to give to the foot 
of the tooth by the cutter its shape and edge, 
after it has been swaged into form, and when it 
is held firmly between the dies. 
Churns. —R. H. Harrison (assignor to R. H. 
Harrison & J. S. Gallagher, Jr,) of Washing¬ 
ton, D. C. : I claim, first, the construction of a 
churn vessel with hollow or solid double con¬ 
caved adjustable detachable side gatherers, as 
shown. 
Second, I claim the construction of a churn 
reservoir dasher having curved or deflective ra¬ 
dial chambers of a concavo-convex form, with 
direct radial wings or flanges, as shown, and 
using the same combined with the double con¬ 
cave gatherers. 
Thirdly, I claim also the double application 
of warm and cold water or ice, in combination 
with the dasher and the double concave gath¬ 
erers, as set forth. I do not however claim the 
application of hot or cold water solely, in the 
process of butter making, as the same have 
been employed separately or distinctly hereto¬ 
fore, as is well knowD. 
Discharging Apparatus of Harvesters.—A. 
J. Cook, of Enon, O.: I claim the device for 
forcing the unbound grain from the table, in 
combination with the arm at the end of the reel 
and the apron, by means whereof the grain is 
carried from the platform to the receiving table, 
and thence deposited upon the stubble in con¬ 
venient quantities for binding. 
Harvesters.— Wm. II. Seymour, of Brockport, 
N. Y.: I claim the combination of the shaft, E, 
for rotating the pinion, the shaft, I, for turning 
and carrying the rake and connecting the me¬ 
chanism constructed and arranged as described, 
whereby the rake is turned up and down, and 
firmly held in either position in a simple and 
convenient manner, without producing an un¬ 
due strain upon any part of the driving gear. 
I also claim the adjustment of the rake at va¬ 
rying heights from the platform in its elevated 
and depressed positions, by means of the device 
described, or its equivalent. 
Harvesters of Grain. —B. G.^Fitzhugh, of 
Frederick, Md.: I make no claim to the remov¬ 
able blade in itself. 
I claim, first, the movable blade in the fin¬ 
gers, arranged and secured as described. 
Second, the combination of a curved recipro¬ 
cating knife with a curved row of fingers and a 
curved platform, as described. 
Third, constructing the reel with curved 
beaters as set forth. 
Fourth, the combination of a continuously 
revolving sweep rake with a revolving reel, 
which disposes the grain upon the platform with 
its stalks converging to the axis of the rake, as 
set forth. 
Seed Planters. —L. B. Fisher, of Coldwater, 
Mich.: I do not claim the form of the frame or 
the method of operating the slides. But I claim 
the combination of the rod, lever, clevis, and 
pin, when the latter is movable in a longitudi¬ 
nal slot for raising the teeth from the ground, 
as set forth. 
I also claim the attachment of the rods, op¬ 
erating the slides to the hook, as described, so 
that the slides will remain at rest during the 
turning of the implement, as set forth.— Scien¬ 
tific American. 
DANGER OF PAINTED PAILS. 
I would desire to direct the attention of 
every readers of your paper to the danger 
of using pails which are painted inside, for con¬ 
taining water, for domestic purposes. The 
oxyde of lead with which they are painted, is a 
dangerous poison, and I know that it is produc¬ 
tive of evil in many cases. Last week, having 
occasion to take a drink of water from a painted 
pail, which had been in use for some months, I 
was convinced, from the taste of the water, that 
it had taken up a portion of the paint, and hav¬ 
ing analysed the water, I found it to contain a 
very minute quantity of it, sufficient, however, 
if a large quantity of the water were taken, to 
produce those fearful diseases peculiar to lead 
poisonings. James Manley, New York. 
We advise all persons to avoid using painted 
wooden pails. A coat of varnish, on the out¬ 
side is all the embellishment we ever desire to 
see on a water pail.— Scientific American. 
Corn in the United States. —The Toledo 
Blade estimates the Indian corn to be shipped 
from Toledo the coming season at 6,000,000 
bushels. The largest quantity ever shipped 
from that port in any previous season was 
3,878,047 bushels. 
Land Owners in France. —The tax-books 
for France for the year 1S54, show that 12,000,- 
000 of the inhabitants, or 1 out of 3, own land, 
with or without building upon it. 
Fighting Bees. —To stop bees from fighting, 
breaking the comb of the robbers is said to be 
sufficient, by giving them plenty of business in 
taking care of their wasting honey at home. 
It is said to have succeeded completely.— N&w- 
Eaven Register. 
A farmer, says Cole, dismissed a hand be¬ 
cause in his absence, he set only nine trees in 
a day. The farmer set out the remaining nine¬ 
ty-one of the hundred himself the next day. 
The result was that the nine bore more fruit the 
first year of bearing than all the others. 
A Large Leg of Mutton. —About fifteen 
years ago, a large sheep was sold in Fulton mar¬ 
ket, New York, by Mr. Jenkins, butcher, one 
leg of which weighed 37 pounds! It was 
bought by the late Charles Henry Hall, of Har¬ 
lem, at a dollar a pound, and sent by him to 
England. 
A Knowing Dog. —Nelson, of the Northern 
Gazette, says: “ A gentleman in Ansonia, 
Conn., sends his dog, on the arrival of the mail 
by the railroad train, for his Daily Times, and 
the dog returns to his master with the paper in 
his mouth. The other day a New-York Herald 
was handed him by mistake. The dog dropped 
the paper and springing upon the counter, 
picked out a Times, and wagging his tail in a 
can’t-come-it sort of manner, departed.” 
Use the means and trust God for the blessing. 
