1877.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
217 
the foot is lifted, the weight, seen behind the table, 
lifts the rod, and the elbow-jointed lever above the 
table, and draws the slide back. A fleece is folded 
rapidly one way upon the table; is put between 
the sides of the press • the foot is applied, and the 
fleece is squeezed very tightly. Some balls of twine 
are placed on pegs on the slide, and the strings are 
drawn across the press, through slots made for 
them in the front, before the fleece is placed in the 
press. The strings are tied quickly, cut with a 
knife, kept in a proper place at hand, and the 
fleeces are thrown upon a heap near by, until they 
are bagged. To make this press, all the materials 
needed are some timber, a board, some oak or 
hickory rods and pins for the joints, a few screws, 
and a few screw-eyes and staples. 
Slatted Stable Floors. 
A dry stable floor is very desirable, but very rare. 
It is a difficult task to keep a horse clean that rests 
upon soiled litter. The difficulty is not so great 
■with mares as with horses. By using a slatted floor, 
properly constructed, with drain channels beneath 
Tig. 1.— A STABLE FLOOR WITH SLATS. 
it, the litter being dry, the horse may be kept 
clean. The floor may be made of square bars of 
chestnut or spruce, an inch-and-a-half or two inches 
thick, with half-inch spaces between them, and 
having the ends let half-an-inch into the end pieces. 
The frame, as shown in figure 1, is held together 
by quarter-inch iron rods, with nuts and washers 
at each end. These are sufficient for one floor five 
feet wide. This frame should fit the stall closely 
at the width, but need 
not be longer than half 
its length, as it is not 
needed under the fore 
feet. The forward part 
of the stall may be 
planked to make the 
whole level. The drains 
should be channels, cut 
with a chisel, ax, or 
gouge, in the shape 
shown at figure 2. The 
moisture draining 
through the open spaces 
of the floor, is carried off by these to the gut¬ 
ter in the rear. Such a floor may be used with¬ 
out any bedding whatever, if dry, clean sand is 
scattered over it twice a day. Where such sand 
can be procured, this plan is healthful and ad¬ 
visable, or where litter is scarce, bedding may be 
dispensed with altogether on this floor, which is 
always dry. When clean sand is used, it is very 
easily brushed off of the animal’s coat, but if the 
sand is loamy, the coat can not readily be kept clean. 
The Winter Vetch in Hungary. 
BY G. CSELLEI, ALTENBERG, HUNGARY. 
[Hungary is a country about which our people 
probably know less than of any other portion of 
Europe. It is eminently an agricultural country, 
and the farmers are generally a remarkably intelli¬ 
gent class. The American Agriculturist finds a larger 
number of readers in Hungary than in any other 
part of the continent, and it is occasionally in the 
receipt of interesting communications from Hunga¬ 
rian farmers; an example of which is here given 
with thanks to the writer from the Eds.] 
“ The Vetch has been raised with us, (Wieseiburg 
Co., Hungary,) for a few years, and seems to be val¬ 
uable for fodder; it has been raised in Switzerland 
—to which country it was imported from England 
--since the year 1869, and in spite of the severe 
north winds of that country, it succeeded very 
well. It is sown in the end of August, or in the 
first part of September, mixed with rye, in the 
proportion of about 2 bushels of vetch and 1 bush¬ 
el of rye to the acre. The vetch is sown after 
wheat, in deep-plowed and well-manured land, and 
is followed by sugar beet, green corn, spring vetch, 
or potatoes. The Winter Vetch may be mown early 
for dry fodder, and gives the great yield of 41 tons 
in hay per acre. This large yield results from its 
numerous branches and abundant leaves; when 
mown early in spring, it grows again, and gives a 
comparatively good yield of seed also. 
Our farmers here procured the seed in the year 
1871, from Switzerland; at that time the price of 
100 pounds was about 84. Until recently it was 
only sown for seed, because the seed was yet scarce 
with us ; in the future it will be raised for green 
food also. The Winter Vetch may be mown about 
the middle of April; the second mowing, i. e., the 
grain or seed harvest, occurs at the same time as 
that of oats. The following directions may be giv¬ 
en to secure a good yield of Winter Vetch: 1. The 
sowing must be done in the first part of September. 
_2. Two or three bushels of vetches may be 
sown to an acre, thoroughly mixed with half to one 
bushel of rye_3. If the growth of the crop is 
very luxuriant in the autumn, it must be slightly 
mown, (or pastured by sheep or calves)_4. For 
the mixture of vetch and rye, we here use the so- 
called “ Johnrye,” because this remains succulent 
for a longer time than the common kind.—The Win¬ 
ter Vetch will become an important crop for our 
farmers, because we raise an early green fodder of 
an excellent quality, and the production of winter 
crops is much more secure and abundant than that 
of spring crops. I intend to send a new seed of 
Winter Vetch to America for trial this year. 
A Machine for Sorting Potatoes. 
Those who grow potatoes largely have much 
trouble in sorting them into different sizes, the 
work being done by hand, is consequently slow. At 
the best it is disagreeable work, and a machine in 
which it could be done, would be very .desirable to 
have. Such a machine is here described and illus¬ 
trated. It is intended to be operated much in the 
same manner as a grain fanning mill, but without 
the blowers. It consists of two sieves, made with 
longitudinal bars with spaces between them, of such 
sizes as will permit the smaller potatoes to pass 
through; these have spouts at the lower corners, by 
which the larger potatoes, that do not pass through 
the spaces, are discharged into boxes at the sides. 
The sieves are like that in figure 1. They are hung 
loosely, by means of iron rods, in a frame, as shown 
at figure 2, (which shows the end view of the ma¬ 
chine), so that they may be shaken easily. As they 
are shaken upon the upper sieve the potatoes are 
separated, the smaller ones falling through the 
spaces on the second sieve, where they are again 
assorted, the smallest passing through on to the 
floor or into a box placed to receive them. The. 
sorted tubers are caughtinthe side boxes, as shown.- 
Upon the top of the frame, the side view of which 
is shown in figure 3, there is a hopper, into which 
the potatoes are thrown with a scoop, and from 
which they pass through an opening in the bottom 
on to the sieves. There is no patent on this ma¬ 
chine, nor do we know of any machine that is used 
Fig. 2.— CHANNELS. 
for this purpose, of any kind whatever in the coun¬ 
try. Any person needing or wishing for the ma- 
Fig. 2.— END VIEW OF MACHINE. 
chine, must either make it for himself or order it 
made. Any carpenter or mill-wright ought to be 
Fig. 3.— POTATO-SORTING MACHINE. 
ableto make one with the help of these engravings 
and this description. As to the size and propor¬ 
tions, these may be chosen to suit any circum¬ 
stances. In bight the machine need not and should 
not be more than 3 feet, for convenience in use; for 
length, 5 feet would be a moderate size, and for 
width 30 inches to 3 feet. The material maybe 
pine or chestnut for the frame, and ash or oak for 
the sieve bars, which have the heaviest wear. 
A Guide for Sawing Logs. 
Some have asked for a method by which- inex¬ 
perienced persons may be able to saw logs, or shin¬ 
gle-blocks, square at the ends. It is very easy for 
beginners in the art of sawing to saw these uneven, 
and to do otherwise is almost impossible There 
are several reasons for this : one is, if the saw is 
not set truly, it will run to one side; old sawyers, 
with great trouble, prevent this by constant pres¬ 
sure on one side of the saw. Another reason is 
that new sawyers can not keep the handles of the 
saw steady and upright, but permit it to “ wobble ” 
about, and at every “ wobble” the cut goes to one 
side. But with a guide to lead the eye, almost any 
person can, by using care, saw a log squarely at the 
ends. Such a guide we have occasionally impro¬ 
vised for “greenhorns ” at sawing, by taking a flat 
LOG, WITH GUIDE FOR SAWING. 
hoop of a flour barrel, and tacking it to the log 
with two shingle nails, as shown in the illustration. 
