1861.1 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
the shovels, spades, crowbars, scythes, corn- 
knives, sickles, rakes, forks, axes, and other 
tools, were scattered about the premises, gener¬ 
ally left where they were last used. 
So there was a hunt of an hour, that morning, 
in all possible places, for the log chain, but it 
didn’t turn up. The oxen stood chewing their 
cuds, philosophically waiting, as if they were 
used to such delays. It was entertaining to an 
outsider to see Tubbs shinning it, from the barn 
to the shed, from the shed to the corn crib, from 
the crib to the cart, and from the cart to the 
wood pile, scolding as he went, and blaming 
everybody but himself for the loss of his chain. 
“Look here, Bill, run over to neighbor Jew¬ 
ett’s and ask him to. lend us a chain; must have 
something to bind the load.” 
So Bill scud to the neighbor’s, a half mile off, 
to borrow. When he had made known his er¬ 
rand, Mr. Jewett replied: “It is rather doubtful 
whether you can find such an article in these 
parts,” with a drawl upon the rather , and a 
wicked kink in his eye, that squinted toward the 
slovenly habits of Joe Tubbs. 
However, he went out to the barn, where he 
shoved a door that ran back upon little wheels, 
and introduced Bill to a good sized room, where 
there was nothing else bdf tools. There were 
the crow bars, three of them of different sizes in 
one corner, the plows all cleaned, the hoes and 
shovels hung up on the sides, the rakes over¬ 
head, the harness on wooden pegs, and the 
chains hanging on cleats, and every thing in its 
place, so that the owner could lay his hand on 
it in the night, if it were necessary. 
The younger Tubbs got the chain, and a new 
Idea of order at the same time. It broke in upon 
his mind with great clearness, that it was not 
necessary to spend hours every week in looking 
up lost tools, or in borrowing from a neighbor. 
Tubbs, senior, may never build a tool house, and 
save his temper. But the boy will learn wisdom 
in his present school of affliction, and when he 
takes the farm, will have a place for everything, 
and everything in its place. * 
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Inclined Board Fences—A Valuable 
Method, Where Practicable. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
The kind of board fence described below, is 
of my invention, and I have found it to answer 
well: For the post, take two pieces of hem¬ 
lock scantling, 3x4 inches, and about 5 feet 4 
inches long; bevel the ends, and pin them to¬ 
gether at an angle at the top, so that the 
lower ends of the post will be four feet 
apart. Nail a brace across about a foot from 
the bottom. The post when set upright, forms 
a triangle, the two equal sides of which have the 
same inclination, and the surface of the ground 
on which it stands forming the base. The 
boards (I use four,) are nailed to one of the in¬ 
clined sides. To prevent blowing over, a stake 
is driven deep into the ground and nailed to the 
foot of the post which stands inside the field. 
I made the first piece seven years ago, and it is 
sound and good now—will stop cattle or sheep 
as well as a perpendicular fence; is cheap; 
costs here where hemlock lumber is worth only 
five dollars per M., 374 cents per rod finished. 
It is also durable; the rotting of the post at the 
surface of the ground only causes it to settle 
a little; it takes about the same room as a stone 
wall in plowed land, and much less in meadow 
or pasture, and cannot be thrown out of its 
place by the frost. This last item renders it 
useless in this part of the country to built board 
fences with the posts set in the ground. If 
built straight, and neatly finished, it is as pretty 
a common fence, as we can see. 
Wayne Co., Pa. ALFRED PASCOE. 
Remarks. —This plan, though not uew, is 
often useful and very convenient, where the 
winds are not too powerful. If made in short 
lengths, the fence can be moved about readily. 
The whole can be moved aside, and the ground 
be plowed, and even sown or planted, and thus 
be kept free from weeds and grass. If the 
ground under the fence be used, it would be 
well to put the boards on the north side of 
fences running east and west, to admit the sun 
on the south side. As the posts incline away 
from the field on either side, it will be easy to 
work close up to the fence. It would hardly 
answer for a sheep fence, as these animals would 
be quite likely to run up on the inclined board¬ 
ed side.— Ed. 
Sorghum—Hints on its Culture. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
Permit me to make a few suggestions to those 
who purpose cultivating the sorgho plant the 
coming season. There appears to be a great 
many varieties of seed in the country, and a 
great many of them worthless. I do not know 
them by their names. The only way to secure 
a good variety is to procure seed of some one 
who has had a good yield of sugar and molasses 
from his cane. I believe that the people 
of America have been humbugged most awful¬ 
ly by the introduction of the wrong varieties, 
and that most, if not all the good seed came 
originally through your office. 
The seed must be matured to grow well. Pre¬ 
pare it for planting by soaking it, say in a 
weak solution of equal parts of chloride of 
lime and copperas, if practicable. Prepare the 
ground well, and mark out with a chain instead 
of a plow. The germ of the seed should be just 
visible. A little flour should be mixed with it 
while wet, to prevent sticking together and ena¬ 
ble you to see it readily in covering. For plant¬ 
ing with a machine, the seed must be dry. 
Sprouted seed should be covered about | of an 
inch—less would be sufficient if the weather is 
moist and warm. One of the varieties of the 
Imphee I have found more readily convertible 
into sugar than the sorgho. This may be plant¬ 
ed the middle of May, but the sorgho should be 
planted just as soon as the ground is dry enough, 
certainly not later than the first of May. 
Do not let the weeds get the start. Keep the 
ground well tilled and clean until in July, or un¬ 
til the cane joints. The cane should be got 
further along before mid-summer than is usual. 
For this purpose, some of my friends plant in hot¬ 
beds and transplant, and with good success— 
the labor of transplanting not being so great as 
the first hoeing out of the sorghum from among 
the weeds. 
A good time to cut cane is when the top of 
the seed panicle has ripened, but it should by all 
means be cut before frost. Let it be shocked 
upon something that will raise it from the ground, 
and not in too large shocks; let it have air. 
Grind and evaporate as fast as cut, when possi¬ 
ble, and this may be done if frost holds off. 
Be sure to have an evaporator of sufficient 
capacity. Great mistakes have been made by a 
whole neighborhood depending upon one ma¬ 
chine—while the cane has waited for its turn, it 
has molded or soured, and the syrup made from 
107 
it, brought discredit upon the whole sorgho ex¬ 
periment. And while upon evaporators, let me 
say that herein lies the great secret of success. I 
know of but one adapted to the business, out of 
nearly a doze:., i have tried, and that is Cook’s 
“ Baby Rocker,'’ as it is jocosely called. I never 
could make sugar in kettles, but with Cook’s 
machine, have made as nice sugar as I ever saw. 
To secure crystalization, a temperature of 90° 
is required, and that must be regular. In this 
township we have made 4000 gallons, and our 
County (Richland) saved $35,000 during last 
season alone, by the introduction of sorghum. 
Richland Co., O. H. Mansfield. 
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Cross Plowing Greensward. 
This error is sometimes fallen into by those 
who have had little experience in farming. 
They want to make the best preparation of the 
land for crops, and do too much. If the object 
be to get a deep tilth of soil, the better way 
is to turn the turf under at once, ten or twelve 
inches deep, and mellow the surface with a har¬ 
row or cultivator. Where the sod is turned 
over, it decays much more rapidly to lie un¬ 
disturbed, than to have it broken by cross-plow¬ 
ing. The edges of the sod do not come to the 
light and air, so as to grow, and the whole 
mass of vegetable fiber is rapidly converted 
into plant food, and taken up by the crop. 
Cross-plowing is particularly objectionable in 
wet, or clayey soils. If the furrow slice is 
turned over eight or ten inches thick, and al¬ 
lowed to lap a few inches upon its neighbor, it 
forms a temporary drain in the bottom of each 
furrow. If the furrows run up and down the 
slope of the field, they will carry off the water 
after heavy showers very readily, in the fore¬ 
part of the season, when the ground is most 
likely to be injured by a surplus of water. In 
breaking up a prairie sod, more shallow plow¬ 
ing is desirable. The sod rots quicker, and 
there is fertility enough near the surface. 
- - » «i» —- - 
Canada Thistles. 
A recent number of the Mark Lane Express 
(Eng.), contains some remarks on the Canada 
thistle (Cirsium arvense) by Prof. Burkman, in 
substance as follows: 
Tliis plant, as all our farmers know, is very 
difficult to eradicate, on account of the very suc¬ 
culent subterranean stem, called by botanists 
rhizoma. From the well known fact of the in¬ 
crease of this plant by means of the under¬ 
ground growth, the cultivator often concludes 
that it is only propagated in this way, and Curtis 
the author of Flora Londinensis, entertained the 
same opinion. However, as we had reason to 
suspect some fallacy in this, we collected some 
seeds and planted ten in a pot, every one ot 
which germinated. We are therefore of the 
opinion that the Canada thistle is annually pro¬ 
duced from seeds to an enormous extent; but 
so small is its first year’s growth above the 
ground as hardly to attract notice; while the 
under-ground growth is preparing small buds 
which make a complete colony the second year. 
It happens fortunately that much of the seed of 
tliis plant is eaten by a weevil, and that which 
arrives at perfection is a favorite of small birds, 
and particularly of the finches. 
To destroy thistles of this kind in a meadow, 
we should take care never to let the leaves, 
which are the lungs of the plant, have time for 
their growth ; as soon as we see them we should 
