100 
AMEEIOAl^ AGRICULTURIST. 
[March, 
state of mud contiuuously. If the sand is al¬ 
lowed to get dry, most of the cuttings will be lost, 
Some cuttings will be rooted in a week, others in 
two or three weeks. As soon as roots are formed 
at the base, the cuttings should be potted off in 
rich, light soil. Shrubs that do not root readily 
from cuttings of the ripened stem, will often grow 
readily in the saucer if a tender shoot be taken. 
A Stump Puller. 
Mr. J. E. Croll, Buffalo, N. Y., sends us a sketch 
of a very simply made stump puller. He says “ I 
have seen this wrench out some tough old fellows, 
and with a good team, nearly all stumps with par¬ 
tially decayed roots, can be cleared from a field with 
it. I think it is not patented.”—The only expense 
is for the chain (links of one-and-a-half to two 
Inch tough iron, or tough-tempered steel); ring 
(ten to twelve inches in diameter), and the hook— 
all of which any blacksmith can make. The form 
of the point of the hook is important, to get it so 
that it will strike in toward the heart of the stump 
and not tear loose on partially decayed wood. The 
lever may be twelve to twenty feet long, its size 
depending on the quality of the wood, and the man 
force to handle it. A lever twenty feet long on a 
stump two feet in diameter, tvould exert a force 
of ten tons for each one thousand pounds of direct 
pull by the team. While many durable, long- 
rooted stumps would not yield to this, the large 
majority of ordinary stumps, after decaying a year 
or two, can thus be cleared out with most of the 
roots. The whole cost of the pulling apparatus 
is small, and the operation is very simple. 
Improved Barrel Coops. 
Barrels, casks, or hogsheads, cut in two, are 
much used for 
coops, and are a 
cheap provision. But 
instead of the com¬ 
mon method of saw¬ 
ing them square 
across, a diagonal 
cut, leaving the 
halves, or the lower 
part, if but one is made of a single cask of the form 
shown in the engraving, will be found a great im¬ 
provement both in shedding rain and in appearance. 
Now for Plenty of Lima Beans. 
All would-be prosperous, forehand farmers, will 
have their garden plots planned for during the 
winter, including an ample store of well-rotted 
material set aside in the barn-yards, or elsewhere, 
and decide the amount of and each kind of vege¬ 
table, etc., to be grown. Attention enough is not 
usually given to Lima beans, well called the “king 
of vegetables,” so delicious both in succotash and 
when cooked by themselves, green or dry, at all 
seasons. Now is the time to have poles cut, 
sharpened and piled away, all ready. Every good 
sized family should have a hundred of these. Those 
burning wood can select and save many suitable 
sticks from the summer stock of fuel now in prep¬ 
aration. Cedar or locust poles are best; we have 
a lot of cedar that have been used for fifteen 
years, and still as good as ever. But any saplings 
or nearly straight limbs, two-and-a-half to four 
inches in diameter at the butts, and seven to nine 
feet long, will answer for a couple of years or more. 
Sharpen with a long bevel, so that they can be 
easily forced deeply into holes made with a crow¬ 
bar or hard-wood stick driven in two feet or so, 
according to the firmness of the soU, and worked 
each way to enlarge the hole to suit each pole. 
Lima bpans can be grown successfully up to 
forty-two degrees north latitude, and even much 
further north, if planted early, and especially on 
southern exposures. Indeed, they are so valuable 
that it will pay to grow them, if on the average 
only every alternate crop fully matures, since the 
unripe ones caught by an early frost, are excellent 
when dried in this state and kept for cooking. 
Last September’s early frosts killed many plots, 
and seed will probably be high this spring, but a 
quart will plant a large area. A single vine occu¬ 
pies six to eight feet of perpendicular space, and 
often yields two to three hundredfold. A warm, 
sandy loam, naturally or artificially drained, is de¬ 
sirable, as the chief growth is during hot weather; 
but any dry, fair soil, made light and rich with 
plenty of well-rotted stable manure, will answer. 
A great gain in time can be secured by starting the 
seed a few weeks in advance, and the crop will re¬ 
pay the trouble. Provide now a lot of boxes of 
any thin boards or other material, of tarred paper 
or pasteboard even, say six inches square, and four 
to five inches deep. Start four or five seeds in 
these well in advance, and when the soil is warm, 
transfer the whole, the roots undisturbed, to the 
hill. Sods four or five inches thick, with the surface 
grass removed, cut into six inch-squares, and left 
together, can in like manner receive and start the 
seed, and be removed to the hills at the proper 
time. It will pay to keep fifty to one hundred five 
or six-inch pots for this purpose, but the sods will 
cost nothing, and serve nearly as well. At any 
rate, let every farmer, up to the Canada border, if 
not over it, have plenty of delicious, nourishing 
Limas. Any surplus beans will almost always 
sell for 65.00 a bushel and upward, in spring. 
The Langshan Fowl. 
P. H. JACOBS. 
The recent introduction of this excellent breed 
has added much to the value of poultry, as the 
Langshans seem to possess a greater number of 
advantages for farmers than any other variety. In 
procuring Langshans, however, it should be re¬ 
membered that the Black Cochins so much resem¬ 
ble them that only experts are able to distinguish 
them. But while very similar in plumage they are 
entirely unlike in characteristics. ■ Langshans, 
though large in size, mature early, the pullets 
often beginning to lay at five to six months old, 
while the Cochins are slower in growth, and do 
not lay until from seven to ten months of age. 
Both breeds are black in plumage, elegant in ap¬ 
pearance, and grand in carriage. To distinguish 
them, first see that the legs of the Langshans are 
similar to those of a turkey, with pink between the 
webs of the toes, and the bottoms of feet white or 
flesh color. The skin should be white and thin, in 
all respects resembling that of the turkey. Any 
white feathers among the black of the wings or on 
the body are a defect, though one or two occasion¬ 
ally on the feathering of the feet is not always an 
objection. The legs are heavily feathered; the 
comb single and straight, and the eyes and bill 
dark ; the sickle feathers of the tail long and flow¬ 
ing. The size should be nearly that of the Brah¬ 
ma. The Cochin is devoid of sickle feathers, is 
yellow under the feet and between the toes, has 
yellow skin, and in shape is more compact and close 
than the Langshan. 
The Langshans do not lay very large eggs, nor 
sit before laying a fair number, but when they be¬ 
gin incubation are faithful and reliable. The 
chicks grow faster than those of any other breed, 
and are generally well feathered in a short time, 
and so do not have that lank, naked shape so pe¬ 
culiar to the Asiatics when young. If fed liberally 
the chicks average two pounds at ten weeks old, 
but ill ordinary broods, fed moderately without de¬ 
privation, it is best to allow three months for at¬ 
taining this average weight. Yet as with all other 
breeds, there are a few objections to the Lang¬ 
shans. The dark plumage and legs are a disad¬ 
vantage in a market fowl, though the flesh dresses 
exactly like that of a turkey, being white and quit& 
attractive. Unlike the clumsy Black Cochin, the 
Langshan can fly over a six-foot fence, which,, 
though not a desirable quality in a fowl, is an indi¬ 
cation of activity and disposition to forage. 
—Crossed on common fowls the Langshan makes, 
quite an improvement, for the size is thus increased, 
without impairing early maturity of the pullets, 
which is the strongest point in their favor, for they 
begin to lay nearly as soon as the Leghorns, are-, 
larger, and less hard to confine. Crossed with. 
White Leghorns the result is a white fowl with a 
few black spots, but an excellent layer. The leg 
feathering, while not necessarily objectionable, is. 
not desirable in wet seasons, but coming from 
the North of China, the Langshan is hardy, and en¬ 
dures all the temperatures natural to other fowls.. 
They are fine in bone, fine-grained in flesh, and 
nearly equal to the Games for the table. They are 
far superior to the Cochins in many respects, but 
having been crossed with them to a certain extent 
many yards of Langshans are not strictly pure and. 
free from contamination with blood of other breeds. 
Adjustable Portable Scaffolding. 
Mr. F. S. Fulmer, Gibbon, Neb., writes us: “I. 
have had a good many helps in my life, and in re¬ 
turn I send you a rough sketch of a very usefuL 
Fig. 1.— A SCAFFOLD BRACKET, 
thing I find in common use here, hoping it may be- 
valuable to others. It is for erecting scaffolding irt 
building, or other similar purposes, and is just the- 
thing, easily set in place, with no nailing to the- 
Fig. 3.— THE SCAFFOLDING IN POSITION. 
building or marring in any way. It is used im 
weather-boarding, painting, shingling, ete. A. 
scaffold can be erected or taken down in a very- 
few minutes. In figure 1 is seen a “ bracket,”" 
and figure 3 shows the scaffolding in its position.. 
