258 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
for a dry season is before it occurs, as it is too late 
to go to work when the need comes. The farmer 
who has the means of irrigating his meadows, is 
free from the painful apprehensions of the one who 
watches the clouds with anxiety, hoping for rain, 
or fearing a want of it. Fortunately, the neces¬ 
sary means are, in the majority of cases, easily and 
readily provided, and it should only need to awaken 
the farmers to the necessity for making the proper 
provision, to cause them to take measures to secure 
themselves against danger. Farmers can no longer 
plead a want of knowledge as an excuse for not 
turning to account such means of irrigation as 
their surroundings afford. The work on Irrigation, 
by Henry Stewart, and recently issued by the 
Orange Judd Company, is commended to those 
who would improve their farms by this means. 
Method of Fastening Stanchions. 
T. G., Halifax, Nova Scotia, sends a sketch of a 
simple contrivance for coupling cattle stanchions, 
and writes, after having tried some half a dozen 
different kinds of fastenings, that he put this one in 
operation in his stable, and finds it work very satis- 
METHOD OF FASTENING STANCHIONS. 
factorily, being simple, cheap, durable, and effec¬ 
tive. It consists of a piece of iron, G, ith inch in 
thickness, If inches wide, and 26 inches long, with 
a hole for a screw, and a notch: the hole and notch 
being 8 inches from either end of the iron. To fix it 
on the stanchion,screw itloosely on to the stationary 
stanchion, and run it through a square staple, D, 
(4 in. long), previously driven into the loose stan¬ 
chion, (immediately above the head of the animal, 
but far enough away to prevent the head reaching 
it), so as to catch in the notch as in stanchion A. 
At B the stanchions are shown open ; to shut them 
take hold of the loose stanchion, push it towards 
the fixed one, and as soon as the notch comes to 
the staple, it will readily and quickly catch itself. 
To open it, lift the end of the iron with the thumb, 
at the same time taking hold of the stanchion, 
when it will immediately come open itself. 
To Prevent Washing of Hill-sides. 
Much damage is done by the washing of hill¬ 
sides into deep gullies by heavy rains. Where 
sloping ground is cultivated this is unavoidable, 
unless something is done to prevent it. In some 
cases, deep plowing and loosening the subsoil, will 
go far to prevent washing, as it enables the water 
to sink into the ground, and pass away without 
damage, by slow filtration. But where the subsoil 
is not very porous, and when the rain falls copious¬ 
ly and suddenly, the water saturates the surface 
soil in a few minutes, and the surplus then flows 
down the slope, cutting the softened earth into 
many channels which by and by run together. 
Then the large body of water possesses a force 
which the soil cannot resist, and carries the earth 
down with it, often doing serious and irreparable 
damage in an hour or less. Of the many plans 
which have been suggested and tried to prevent 
this washing, the most successful is the terracing 
of the slope. This is done by plowing, with a 
swivel plow, around the hill, or back and forth on 
the slope, commencing at the bottom and throwing 
the earth downwards in such a manner that a flat 
terrace is formed, which has a small slope back¬ 
wards from the front of the hill. When this ter¬ 
race has been formed, the plowing is commenced 
ten or twelve feet above, and another terrace is 
made in the same manner. This is continued to 
the top of the slope. If thought cfesirable, the 
PROFILE OF A TERRACED HILL. 
inner furrows on each terrace may be made to form 
a water channel, and this may be connected with 
the channel on the next slope lower down, in some 
safe manner, either by a shute of boards or of 
stone, to prevent washing of the soil at these 
points where the fall will be considerable. This, 
however, is a side issue, which does not necessarily 
belong to the main work. The arrangement of the 
hill-side is shown in the engraving, in which the 
original outline of the hill, and the arrangement of 
the terraces, which are cut out of it, are shown. 
When a heavy rain falls upon the terraced hill, the 
effect will be to throw the water backwards from 
the outer slope, into the channels at the rear of the 
terraces ; and there, as well as upon the broad sur¬ 
face of the terraces, there is abundant means of 
escape by sinking into the soil. If not, and the 
amount of water is too great to be thus disposed 
of, it may be carried down the slope, by arranging 
the furrows as drains in the way previously indicat¬ 
ed. Hill-sides of this character should be kept in 
grass, when the slope is too steep for comfortable 
plowing, after it has been thus arranged ; or it may 
be planted with fruit trees, vines, or timber, upon 
the slopes, leaving the terraces to be cultivated, or 
the slopes may be kept in grass, and the terraces 
cultivated. Butin whatever manner the ground 
may be disposed of, it would be preferable to leav¬ 
ing it to be gullied by rains, barren, useless, and 
objectionable in every way. 
The Pig as a Manufacturer. 
In the decline of the manufacturing interests, 
and the want of employment'in the older States, let 
us not overlook the humble operative who always 
makes staple goods and sends them to a hungry 
market. He works upon coarse raw material, and 
manufactures pork, lard, and fertilizers, articles for 
which there is always a good demand on every 
farm, and a ready sale in the village markets. One 
effect of the large increase in the circulation of our 
agricultural journals has been to raise the price of 
fertilizers. The profits of cultivation are seen to 
keep pace with the use of fertilizers. The demand 
is especially lively in our large towns and their 
suburbs, where market gardening is followed, and 
more money is made from ten acres well tilled, 
than from many large farms. Six to eight dollars 
a cord is a common price for stable manure in these 
localities, but it is often much higher, and some¬ 
times not to be had at all. In the flush times 
through which we have passed, many villagers 
ceased to make their own pork, and, even upon the 
farm, near good markets, it has been a question 
whether there was any profit in keeping pigs. In 
the olden time it was a main resource, and the corn- 
crib and the pig-sty were as indispensable as the 
barn and the cow-yard. The best manure made 
upon the farm was the contents of the sty. It 
made its mark upon the com field, and the effects 
were seen for years after, in the oats and grass. 
After many years of experience with home-made 
manures and the manufactured article, we have 
come to the conclusion that no cultivator can afford 
to dispense with the labors of the pig as a manu¬ 
facturer of fertilizers. It is the most satisfactory 
way of filling the pork barrel, and the lard keg, 
even if there be little economy in it. Swine pay 
largely in mixing and composting the contents of 
the barn cellar that receives the manure of cattle 
kept in the stables above. We have noticed this I 
feature in the management of the most thrifty 
farmers recently visited. Pigs are kept at work 
from their birth to their slaughter. All refuse 
from the farm and garden goes to the barn cellar. 
Absorbents, in the shape of weathered peat and 
muck, head lands, swamp hay, salt marsh grass, 
sea weed, saw dust, leaves from the woods, were 
frequently added to keep the swine busy and to 
prevent all bad odors. The sty, which is so often 
a nuisance, by the use of absorbents, may be kept 
entirely inoffensive. The pigs not only thoroughly 
compost all this material thrown into the cellar, 
but by the tramping of their feet prevent excessive 
fermentation after it is mixed. The pig is especially 
valuable to the villager who is occupied as a laborer 
or mechanic during the day. He has his acre or 
two of land, his vines and fruit trees, which can 
be made to supply his table with comforts and 
luxuries the year round. The profit of his garden 
and fruit yard will depend almost entirely upon the 
free use of fertilizers. It is practicable to keep his 
soil in a high state of productiveness with fertilizers 
made upon the premises. If we made the most of 
our home resources to fill the larder, and store the 
fruit room, the times would not be so incurably bad. 
Rat-Proof Corn-Crib and Shelling-Room. 
BT J. W. P., WARREN CO., N. C. 
Many unsuccessful attempts have been made to 
dense a corn-crib that would be rat-proof. In spite 
of every precaution, rats and mice would find their 
way to the crib, and once there, it has been difficult 
or impossible to oust them. I have a plan for my 
own use, which I have no doubt will commend it¬ 
self to others, especially in the South. A crib that 
is inaccessible to rats, is an impossibility. Nine- 
tenths of the damage done by rats, is due to their 
nesting in the grain. Their depredations would be 
hardly noticable if confined to what they carried 
off. My plan effectually prevents nesting. Almost 
all Southern corn-cribs are built with upper and 
lower doors. When no more corn can be put in at 
the lower door, then the upper is used. Beneath 
this, a shelling-room is usually partitioned off, in 
which sacks are kept, and the corn shelled for mill. 
Instead of this square shelling-room, I have nailed 
slats three inches wide, one inch thick, and one- 
quarter inch apart, from the front plate of the crib, 
(which serves also for the sill of the upper door), 
SECTION OF CORN CRIB AND SHELLING ROOM. 
to within 18 inches of the rear wall, and ten inches 
from the floor. These slats run down, and are nail¬ 
ed upon strong supports. The crib, therefore, is 
filled at the upper door. With every removal of 
corn from the bottom, the whole mass moves down 
as in a hopper, and it is obviously impossible far 
rats to nest. There are no hiding places whatever, 
as the crib is made of slats and boards—not logs. 
There are several other advantages obtained by this 
