1884 .] 
AMEEIOAiT AGEIOULTUEIST. 
13 
! 
culture ceases, except by irrigation, and sheep and 
■cattle graze the short herbage of the unplowed 
prairies. 
To tell men struggling on the border line be¬ 
tween tillage and pasture, that setting out trees will 
alter the climate is to deceive and injure them. A 
few years of extra rain in the growing season, ex¬ 
cite hopes, and grain is sowed, to be certainly fol¬ 
lowed by years of drouths and ruin. Seasons vary, 
but our country is laid out in such a way that the 
intelligent observer may know where he will run 
the ordinary chances of success or failure depend¬ 
ing on the weather, and where, too, he will be 
surely ruined if he plays a game against nature. 
Trees, where they will grow, will protect hillsides 
from denudation ; and the forest soil by holding 
back water like a sponge, will prevent to a great 
extent the destructive floods that rush oil from a 
bare mountain, like water from the roof, but that 
trees bring rain is not proved. Our weather ap¬ 
pears to be subject to important changes, far 
beyond the reach of a forest, or a clover field. 
A Eack Hurdle. 
The hurdle shown in the engraving is much used 
in England and other old countries for feeding oil 
clover, vetches, and such crops upon which it is 
not desirable to have the animals turned while 
A FEEDING HUBDLE. 
eating. The hurdle is placed upon the edge of 
a field bearing a forage crop, and the animals, 
usually sheep, graze through the openings. 
When all the fodder within reach has been eaten the 
feeding fence is moved forward a few feet to new 
pasturage. The panels of the hurdle are placed in 
a leaning position, resting on stays, which may or 
may not be fixed in the ground. The construction 
of the hurdle fence is clearly shown by the en¬ 
graving. A structure of this kind would do good 
service on many American farms when it is desired 
to thoroughly feed oil a small part of any field. 
A New Eeq[uirement in Modern Farming. 
A good farmer always needed skill, but in the 
changed conditions of modern farming a different 
kind of skUl is needed from that required by our 
fathers and grandfathers. This is more largely the 
case West than East, but true in both. Formerly 
It was mostly manual skill in the use of simple im¬ 
plements, such as the sickle, the scythe, and the 
common walking plow. Now the farmer needs to 
know how to adjust, run, and care for machineiy. 
Machines properly handled call for little manual 
expertness to run them. But to manage the present 
implements requires a degree of mechanical skill 
“that a large proportion of our farmers do not pos¬ 
sess. To comprehend the full extent of this change, 
■compare the modern threshing-machine with the 
old-fashioned flail, or the self-binding harvester 
with the old sickle, or its successor the grain 
cradle. Every careful observer must recognize the 
fact that the lack of skill in using and caring for 
his machinery, is one of the most potent sources of 
loss to the farmer. ' 
We have known one man to use a mower for ten 
years, without expending over thirty dollars in re¬ 
pairs—or three dollars annually—while his neigh¬ 
bor, in cutting a smaller quantity of grass used up 
three equally good machines in the same time. 
Compare the expenses of this one item: First 
farmer expended one hundred and thirty dollars, 
plus, say seventy dollars for interest—or two hun¬ 
dred dollars in all—for ten years. This is just twenty 
dollars per annum ; quite an item, you will say, for 
mowing-tools alone, but still much cheaper than 
mowing with the scythe. The other wore out 
three machines, three hundred dollars, to which 
add repairs, say same as the other, thirty dollars, 
and interest on one hundred dollars for ten years, 
seventy dollars ; on one hundred dollars (the sec¬ 
ond machine, for six years), forty-two dollars ; and 
on another one hundred dollars (the third machine, 
for three years), twenty-one dollars, and you have 
a grand total of four hundred and sixty-three dol¬ 
lars—or forty-six dollars and thirty cents per an¬ 
num—an annual expense of more than twice as 
much as the other. The same calculations con¬ 
cerning the harvester, the sulky plow, the hay rake, 
and other farm implements, make an enormous 
difference in the cost to the man who is unskillful 
in using and caring for them. An important inquiry 
is, how the present difficulty can be remedied. 
It cannot be done at once. It will only be done 
effectually when our farmers’ boys are trained to 
some knowledge of elementary mechanics, either 
in the public school, or in those established for the 
purpose. It would now be a paying investment for 
the farmers in a township to contribute money and 
hire a skilled mechanic to teach the boys—and 
men, too, for that matter—the principles and some¬ 
thing of the practice of running and keeping in 
order farm machinery. For illustration, take the 
mowing machine. There are two points in this 
needing special attention, viz., the cutting ar¬ 
rangements, the knives and guards, and the parts 
where the circular motion is converted into recip¬ 
rocating motion. It is not difficult to teach any 
one the conditions needed for a shear cut; the sec¬ 
tion should be sharp, and the corner of the guard 
against which the grass is pressed to be cut, should 
be square or sharp. This point once understood, 
there is little danger of a driver risking the experi¬ 
ment of mowing with a dull knife. The other point 
is equally important. If there are any loose bear¬ 
ings between the drive wheels and the knives, the 
power required is much greater, and the danger of 
breakage, as well as the wear and tear of the ma¬ 
chine, will be increased in a much higher ratio. 
A play of one-sixteenth of an inch in the wrist from 
where it is connected with the pitman will increase 
the power required one-fourth. Now in the school 
suggested, a skilled mechanic could teach, explain 
and illustrate such points as these until the dullest 
could not fail to comprehend the difference be¬ 
tween a machine in order and one not. It would 
be easy to make models of those parts of common 
farm machines where most trouble is met, so 
arranged as to exhibit to pupils in the most con¬ 
vincing manner the points referred to above. 
The difficult}' with many farmers is not want of 
general intelligence, but total ignorance of the 
simplest mechanical principles. A neighbor once 
asked the writer to examine a mower which acted 
strangely. It would go well enough fer a while, 
and then suddenly refuse to cut at all. He was on 
the point of throwing the machine away and get¬ 
ting a new one. Examination showed the simple 
difficulty was that the frame was loose, so that when 
any unusual strain came upon the cutting appara¬ 
tus, it spread and allowed the cogs to slip past. 
Ten minutes’ time remedied it, and the machine ran 
for some years afterward. The owner was an intel¬ 
ligent, well-informed man, but had no knowledge 
of machinery. Our Public Schools may do some¬ 
thing in teaching the elements of mechanics to the 
older boys. It would not be difficult to prepare a 
little manual which would enable a teacher who 
himself comprehended the subject, to teach much 
that would be of the greatest use to these young 
men. Something may be done also by intelligent 
farmers in furnishing these boys with a small shop 
and a few good tools, and on rainy days encourage 
them to leam their use by making small articles, 
either for play or profit. Anything which wiil cul¬ 
tivate the mechanical eye of the young, teach 
the use of tools, or develop a taste for mechanical 
employments, is in the right direction. But some¬ 
thing must be done. The West cannot afford to 
stand the enormous drain on its profits in farming, 
caused by this needless destruction of farm tools. 
Feeding-Box for Cattle or Sheep. 
Mr. J. Bartlett, Oshawa, Ont., sends us a sketch 
and description of a convenient feeding arrange¬ 
ment which has several advantages. We add sev¬ 
eral suggestions to Mr. B.’s description. It is sim¬ 
ple in construction; may be made either station¬ 
ary or portable; will save much waste of feed 
usually trampled under foot or soiled; and may 
Fig. 1.— A LAKGE FEED-BOX. 
also protect the feed from rain. It can be used for 
hay, straw, or roots. If to be stationary, set in the 
ground four strong posts, «, «, a, a, of any avail¬ 
able size, or six by six inches. Round timber, 
hewn straight on two adjacent sides, will answer. 
They may extend above ground, six, seven, or 
eight feet. The box may be of any size, but four 
feet square is a good one, and they can be multi¬ 
plied to any number needed. If to be portable, the 
posts will not be set in the ground, but a narrow 
board nailed a little above the ground will strengthen 
them, if the top boards are not strong, and firmly 
nailed on. Feeding boxes maybe put on two or 
four sides. About two and three-quarters to three 
feet above the ground, nail boards on each side, 
continuing them to the top. About two feet from 
the ground,on the inside,place bottom boards slant¬ 
ing upward to the centre at a sharp angle (fig. 2), 
like a roof—a two-sided one if there are to be two 
feeding boxes, or a four-sided one if there are to be 
feeding-boxes on all sides. From the base of these 
inside boards extend feeding boxes on the outside, 
as shown at c, c. The bottom arrangement, e, 
which will have nine to twelve inch-openings, <?, 
will keep the feed sliding down to the animals. 
Fig. 2.— SECTION OF FEED-BOX. 
or for finer feed and roots may be even narrower 
than nine inches. A cover, 6, wUl protect the feed 
from rain or snow. This may turn back a little past 
perpendicular, and be supported by a short bit of 
chain attached by a spike or staple at one end, and 
to the side of the box, or by a stake. It may 
have hinges that will allow it to turn over and down 
against the outside, but this will require more 
labor in moving it. It may be simply a loose cover 
to slide partly off, when placing in feed. If set oa 
with a little' inclination, by making one side of the 
box lower than the opposite one, it will shed rain 
better. With boxes of this kind, spacious and 
high enough, two or three days’ supply of feed 
for the cattle may be put in at one time. 
