294 
AMEBIOAK AG-BlCIJLTlJBiST. 
[July, 
well worn soil this means a plenty of quick-acting 
manure, applied before the grass seed is sown. 
There are various sorts of Millets, which are 
closely related to the Hungarian, and like it are 
good for a second crop for green or dry fodder. 
A Saw Holder. 
A device for holding a saw while being tiled is 
shown in the engraving. It consists of two up¬ 
right pieces of wood a, cut V-shaped at the top and 
securely fastened to an oiit-of-the-way part of the 
A HOLDER FOR A SAW. 
work-bench or other place. The saw is set be¬ 
tween two long wedges b, which are pushed down 
and firmly hold the saw. A saw cannot be well 
filed unless it is secured from movements of all 
kinds, and this simple method will accomplish the 
desired end at very little expense. 
Summer Poultry Roosts. 
The presence of a pair of fine cedar trees in our 
poultry yard, accidentally led us into the belief 
tnat poultry fares much better if allowed to roost 
out of doors at night in summer, instead of being 
confined in hot, stifling, and often ill-ventilated, 
and filthy houses. Our poultry manifested a 
disposition to roost in the cedars in summer. Some 
of the limbs of the trees were low, drooping nearly 
to the ground, so that the fowls, even large and 
heavy Brahmas, found no difficulty in getting up 
among the branches. They were out of the reach 
of the weasel and fox, and being so completely 
hidden from vievv by the foliage, it was not likely 
that any prowling owl, or passing biped inclined on 
theft would ever discover them in the seclusion. 
The result exceeded our anticipations. N"ot only 
did our poultry lay better, and more regularly than 
ever before, but were healthier, their coat of 
feathers looked brighter and livelier, and they 
kept in better flesh than ever before at the same 
season. Close houses are a necessity in winter, 
but in summer it is doubtless best to give fowls 
much more liberty, and all the fresh, pure air 
at night that they need. 
Pulling Stumps. 
Stumps are far more easily extracted after soak¬ 
ing rains have left the ground loose and yielding, 
than alter the packing and baking of a season of 
drouth. For small stumps, especially on ground too 
wet and soft to admit the use of teams, a simple 
and effective arrangement may be used. A strong 
axle, say six inches square, is fitted to any stout 
pair of wheels, as those of a truck, to which a 
triangular lever is firmly bolted. It projects six¬ 
teen inches behind and sixteen feet in front, and is 
made of tough hard-wood, the pieces six inches 
square. To the end piece, which is mortised and 
securely bolted to the others, a chain with two 
stout hasps is attached. In using it, a broad plank 
is placed under each wheel to prevent sinking into 
the earth, aud the wheels are blocked. The hooks 
are grappled into a root, and when raised as far as 
possible by depressing the lever it is blocked and a 
new hitch taken lower down. Two men can move 
the implement from stump to stump. The lever¬ 
age would be nearly twelve to one, giving three 
thousand six hundred pounds power it the men 
weighed one Imndred and fifty pounds each, and 
could both put their weight upon the extreme end 
of the lever—a power that would start small stumps. 
The Turnip Crop. 
Kuta Bagas are the most valuable of all turnips, 
and though we have known a good crop to be 
made not far from New York City, from seed sown 
as late as the middle of this month, it is better to 
sow in June. If from any cause one has omitted 
sowing turnips until now, he can either risk a late 
sowing of Ruta Bagas, or sow those which, like 
the Aberdeen, will mature in a shorter time. As the 
chances, in a good season, are in favor of making 
a fair crop of Ruta Bagas, if sown early this mouth, 
it will be good management to sow both these and 
the intermediate kinds, like the Aberdeen. The 
crop may be greatly hastened by a thorough prep¬ 
aration of the soil. The best cultivators sow on 
manured ridges. The land is thrown up into ridges 
thirty inches apart, the manure, the finer the better, 
is placed in the furrows, and then, using a double 
mould-board plovv, the ridges are split and the soil 
thrown upon the manure, making new ridges over 
it. The seed is drilled in upon these ridges, using 
two pounds to the acre. If the black-fly, or beetle, 
is abundant, use more seed. When the plants are 
“ in the rough,” that is, have made leaves beyond 
the seed-leaves, they should be hoed and thinned. 
The usual method is to cut across the rows with a 
sharp hoe, leaving a bunch of plants at every ten 
or twelve inches, and then go over again and re¬ 
move all but the strongest plant. After the thin¬ 
ning, the spaces between the rows must be kept 
clear of weeds by the use of the cultivator, aided 
by the hand-hoe near the plants. The varieties of 
Ruta Baga are numerous, and other things being- 
equal, those the form of which is most nearly 
globular arc to be preferred. Those who grow 
turnips largely, raise their own seed, and thus 
secure a strain suited to their land. The Aberdeen 
and Yellowstone may be sown any time up to 
August 1st; they are excellent for feeding and for 
the table, but do not keep so well as the Ruta 
Bagas. In preparing the land for turnips, a dress¬ 
ing of three hundred pounds to the acre of a good 
superphosphate, will be a profitable application. 
The soil must be rich and mellow for turnips. 
A Reversible Watering Trough. 
Mr. I. E. Charles, Maple Grove, Ind., sends us a 
sketch and description of a watering trough. Saw 
in two a strong barrel or cask, as a coal oil barrel, 
about the middle, and bore a hole on opposite sides 
near the top with a two-inch auger. Set two 
posts of scantling or round timber in the earth. 
TUB WATERING TROUGH. 
boring holes in the top to correspond with those 
in the half barrel. Strong wooden pins, oak or 
hickory, support the trough, as shown in the en¬ 
graving. The trough can be inverted to throw 
out any water after a horse or cow has drank. It 
may be set near a pump with a trench below to 
carry off the waste water. Such a barrel trough is 
especially convenient in winter when otherwise 
the trough would get filled with snow and ice. 
Raising Chickens. 
Do not be in a hurry to invest in‘incubators, if 
you are a farmer, and have anything else to do be¬ 
sides looking after the poultry yard. The wooden 
incubators are well enough for men who have 
plenty of money, and make the raising of eggs and 
chickens a specialty. A good many things about 
incubators arc not yet proved, and a farmer who 
has his bread to earn, can afford to wait a little 
longer, and use the original method for hatching 
and raising chickens. The hen is good for a dozen 
eggs, and, if she be left to her own selection of 
nest, is pretty sure to hatch them, if they are fertil¬ 
ized. You may protect her against vermin, but 
she covets privacy, and desires to be left alone. 
When her brood is off, she needs a little help, a 
coop for shelter, and regular feeding with a mixed 
diet of animal and vegetable food, and water or 
milk to drink—the latter if you can get it. Noth¬ 
ing is better than milk for the fowls. The young 
chicks will help, rather than hinder in the garden, 
until they are a month or six weeks old. They will 
destroy a multitude of insects, and thrive on them. 
The early hatched chickens are best for layers, 
but late summer is quite as good for broilers. 
They never come amiss at any time on the farm. 
Among the Farmers.— New Series, No. 3. 
BT ONE OF THEM. 
I was in Central Vermont last spring, and noticed 
many fields where Indian corn would soon be wav¬ 
ing its broad leaves, upon which the manure had 
been hauled out last autumn, and left in small 
heaps. At first I thought that the intention of 
the farmers must have been to spread it and 
plow it under at once, and so it may have been, 
when winter came on, and stopped all such work. 
But there were so many fields in this condition, 
that I concluded it was a common practice to leave 
the manure out all winter, and plow it in in the 
spring. It would not do at all in New Jersey, and 
is wasteful anywhere. When frozen solid there is 
not much loss, and lying unprotected a little while 
in autumn, and six weeks in the spring, the loss is 
not very serious, but it certainly is better to have it 
spread uniformly over the ground, where itwill not 
wash, or to place it in large heaps where it will go 
on ripening for most of the winter, even if it should 
be under the snow, and the outside temperature 
be twenty below zero. No doubt the reason for 
this practice of getting out manure in the fall, 
is because the winters are so long, and the northern 
farmers cannot haul out on the snow as we can. 
They have two to four feet of snow, and this, of 
course, confines travel to the beaten paths. With 
a foot of snow, settled to four inches by a rain or a 
few warm days, and then frozen solid, we can haul 
manure anywhere, aud do many other things. 
Manure Spreaders. 
With one Vermont farmer the necessity for get¬ 
ting ready for early plowing, no doubt suggested 
the admirable manure spreader now in universal 
use among the gentlemen farmers (of whom I wrote 
in my last article), and by some other enterprising 
and reading men. It is amazing how slow such a 
great labor-saving, and time-saving, implement is 
in coming into general use by those who would be 
most benefited by it. I presume there are hundreds 
of readers of the American Agriculturist, who have 
never even heard of it. This manure spreader eon- 
sists of a cart body, which may be set at an inclina¬ 
tion to the rear, where there is a very simple ar¬ 
rangement in the place of the back-board, operated 
by the wheels automatically. This implement 
spreads the manure over a space as wide as the 
cart track, or a little wider, and much more uni¬ 
formly than it could be done by hand, and as rapidly 
as the team can walk. Two or three neighbors, 
each owning a manure spreader, sometimes com¬ 
bine, and all meet at one farm, and so manure the 
corn land in one day perhaps. Thus the man whose 
land is ready first does not have to wait long before 
his plows are running, while, quite likely, the others 
will have the same advantage, as soon as their land 
is dry enough to plow. 
Mouse and Barn Connected. 
I had entirely forgotten a noticeable feature of 
Vermont farming—for it is years since I was in the 
Green Mountain State. It is this : Almost all the 
barns are built contiguous to the houses ; in many 
cases the barn is really an “ L ” to the house. It was 
easy to sec the reason for this, or at least imagine 
it. I thought of a snow storm among these hills, 
and of the comfort it must be, wheu the snow is 
