1877 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
137 
way. There are four beams in each half, and five 
teeth in each beam. These beams are 4 ft. 8 inches 
long, mortised into the front piece, which is 3 ft. 7 
.inches in length. The rear ends of the beams are 
secured by a piece of timber, 2x11 inches, halved 
on to the beams and then bolted. The harrow is 
made of 21x21-inch scantling, using locust wood, 
because of its great durability and firmness. There 
is nothing particularly new about this harrow, ex¬ 
cept that it is larger than common, and the novel 
way of hitching to it by which it is kept steady, 
and the teeth can be made to cut six inches or one 
inch apart. The manner of hitching is shown in 
the engraving. The draw-bar is made of fxl4 iron, 
3 ft. 4 inches in length. The chain is attached to 
this by a hook at one end, the other being fastened 
to the harrow by a staple. The chain is two feet 
long. The entire cost, I think, is about $12.00. 
Our farmers here think it to be the best harrow 
they have ever seen. 
Hints and Helps for Farmers. 
BY L. D. SNOOK, YATES CO., N. Y., 
Self-closing Doors.—A self-opening, rolling 
door is shown at figure 1. A half-inch rope, at¬ 
tached to a staple driven into the upper edge of the 
Fig. 1.— SELF-CLOSING SLIDING DOOR. 
door, passes parallel with the track, and beyond 
the boundary of the door when open, over a small 
grooved pulley and thence downward; a weight is 
attached to its end. The door is shown closed, 
and the weight drawn up. As the door is a self¬ 
fastening one, when the fastening is disengaged, 
the weight will draw the door open. By a string 
or wire connected to the fastening, the door may 
be opened while standing at any part of the build¬ 
ing, or if one end be 
attached to a post out¬ 
side, near the carriage 
way, the door may be 
opened without leaving 
the vehicle, a desirable 
plan, especially during 
inclement weather. The 
weight and pulleys 
should be located inside 
the building, but are 
shown outside to make 
the plan more readily 
understood. By attach¬ 
ing the rope to the op¬ 
posite side of the door, 
it may be made self¬ 
closing instead of self-opening, as thought most con¬ 
venient. The manner of closing a swing-door as in 
fig. 2, is so clearly shown, as to need no description. 
Sheep-racks and Feed-troughs.— The com¬ 
bined hay-rack and feed-trough for sheep and cat- 
Fig. 3.—RACK UNDER A SHED. 
tie, shown in figure 4, is a strong and convenient 
arrangement, especially in small yards. The frame 
should be made of 2x3 inch stuff, excepting the 
posts, which should be 4x4, and made about 12 feet 
in length. The hight and width will depend on 
whether the large or small breed of sheep are kept. 
The troughs are upon either side, and are made 
Fig. 4.— HAY AND GRAIN RACK. 
from four boards nailed in a V form, forming a cen¬ 
ter ridge, to which the lower end of the laths are 
nailed, as shown. If desired, grain can be fed in 
the troughs, but if hay, with weeds in it, or corn¬ 
stalks be fed in the rack, the trough should be 
cleaned at each feeding. This is a heavy rack, and 
on account of its many parts should be sheltered. 
A much cheaper, but a stationary rack, is shown in 
figure 5—it is located under a shed or in a basement. 
Pieces 3x4 in. and 3 ft. in length are nailed to the 
upper and outer edge of the sill, the top projects 
outward about ten inches, and is connected with 
the boards in front. The boards are nailed on, and 
should reach downwards to within about 5 inches 
of the sill; by this plan no chaff or seed gets into 
the wool. The plan of figure 4 may be changed by 
using boards similar to those seen in figure 5, in¬ 
stead of the slats, and yet retain the feed-trough. 
If a cover, similar to that shown in figure 3, be pro¬ 
vided, it would keep out all snow, dirt, or refuse 
matter. One board, of sufficient width to com¬ 
pletely cover the top of the trough, is hinged to 
one side. In the figure this is shown partly open, 
the legs are beveled at the top for the purpose of 
allowing the cover to hang down, if desired. 
Churning by Water-power.— Many a dairy- 
farm has its never-failing stream of water, which 
passes close to the milk-room, and is often of such 
size that by a small outlay the water may be made 
to do the churning. A small stream might have a 
dam a few feet in hight, twenty or sometimes a 
hundred feet above where the wheel is to be lo¬ 
cated. The water may be conducted to the wheel 
by a wooden trough or iron pipe, the upper end lo¬ 
cated near the bottom of the dam, so that nearly or 
quite all the water may be used if necessary. 
Figure 6 will give an idea of the general arrange¬ 
ment of a wheel, and the gearing, connecting-rods, 
etc., needed. When a small wheel and a good 
stream of water are used, the crank to which the 
pitman is attached may be secured directly to the 
shaft. If a large wheel be used, gearing will be 
needed to increase the rapidity of the movement; 
or should a small wheel move too fast, or too slow, 
it is regulated by cog-wheels. In figure 7 is 
shown a plan of gearing to the churn. The shaft 
is four inches square, and the ends work in hang¬ 
ers, attached to the wall overhead ; short arms are 
attached, each about one foot in length, and to 
these are secured the ends of the transmitting 
wires. The arm by which the dashers of the churn 
are worked is from 4 to 6 feet in length. The 
chum-dash is attached by a small wooden or iron 
pin. Frequently the water-wheel is located ten or 
twenty rods from the churning-room, the wires are 
then kept apart by short sticks working on a pivot 
attached to poles set in the ground ten rods apart. 
Yield of Crops and Profit Compared. 
THe Greatest Profit Not in the Greatest Roots. 
To grow large crops is generally the aim of the 
ambitious farmer. But it is often a matter of dis¬ 
appointment to • such a farmer to see the value of 
his large crops eaten up by the money paid for 
labor, and bills for fertilizers, while his neighbor, 
whose crops yield but half what he produces, saves 
money and in time becomes rich. There is a point 
where the profitable yield of the soil ends, and be¬ 
yond which the profit decreases as the yield is in¬ 
creased. This point depends chiefly upon the 
natural condition and character of the soil. A 
naturally poor soil may be stimulated by generous 
manuring to produce as large a crop as a naturally 
good soil would yield without the manuring. It is 
evident to the most careless farmer, that in the 
former case there would be a loss in growing such 
a crop as compared with the latter. To know the 
capacity of his soil is, therefore, the most import¬ 
ant business of the farmer. A very interesting case 
in point is recently given in a French agricultural 
Fig. 6.— WATER-POWER FOR CHURN. 
journal. A large grower of beets had experimented 
with a view to find how he could grow the most 
profitable crops ; his aim being profit, and not beets 
for themselves alone. He therefore planted five 
parcels of ground, and cultivated them all differ¬ 
ently. One plot was not manured at all; the others 
were fertilized at a cost of from $65 up to $104 the 
plot of about 21 acres. The crop on the unmanur¬ 
ed plot was about 27 tons to the plot, while the 
yield upon the others was from 39 to 58 tons. But 
the value of the roots was in almost exact ratio 
with the smallest crop. Thus, the 27 tons contain¬ 
ed 14.92 per cent of sugar, and only 1.90 per cent 
of ash, with a density of 7.1 per cent. The value 
of these roots at the sugar factory was $61 the ton. 
The net value of the crop was $178. The crop of 
58 tons, contained only 10.30 per cent of sugar, but 
the excessive quantity of 6.80 per cent of ash, with 
a density of only 5.4 per cent. The value of the 
roots at the factory was only $3.92 per ton. The 
net value of the crop was $134; the extra labor of 
harvesting a larger crop was not included in this 
Fig. 7.— GEARING FOR CHURN. 
amount, only the cost of fertilizers being de¬ 
ducted, from the whole value of the beets. Thia 
