1877.], 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
259 
plan. A good, clean shelling-room is provided; 
the corn being always in motion, is well ventilated ; 
when filled for the first time, it is easy to make a 
mark for every twenty-five bushels, and as the corn 
falls in the crib, one can see at a glance exactly how 
much is used; but the greatest advantage is the 
very decided saving from destruction by rats. My 
crib has a capacity of 600 bushels, while the shell¬ 
ing-room may also be used for the storage of short 
com, which is soon fed out to fattening hogs. The 
corn is stored by the use of rope and tackle. The 
crib should be built high and of course must be wide. 
How to Clear a Choked Drain or Pipe. 
J. L., Lapeer Co., Mich., describes a method of 
clearing an obstruction, such as sediment, sand, or 
mud, from a drain. A pipe of tin is made with an 
angular elbow at one end, and a water reservoir at 
the other, as shown in the illustration. The drain 
being opened at any convenient place, the tin pipe 
is fitted to it, the junction being plugged, to pre¬ 
vent any escape of the water used. The water be¬ 
ing poured into the reservoir, the drain will be 
flushed, and the obstruction washed away by the 
force of the current. This method may be effec¬ 
tive in some cases, but 
very frequently a drain 
is obstructed in such a 
way as to require some 
force to remove the 
sediment or obstruct¬ 
ing matter. The plan 
above described would 
then exert too little 
pressure to be of use. 
Having had occasion 
recently to open an ob¬ 
structed drain, we pro¬ 
cured one of Whit¬ 
man’s “Fountain 
Pumps,” described 
and illustrated in the 
American Agriculturist 
for May, 1877, as ap- 
clearing drain. plicable to other uses, 
this use not being 
mentioned. We found it, however, very effective, 
a stream of water being forced from a barrel 
brought for the purpose, into the drain, clearing it 
completely in a very short time. The advantage of 
being able to procure a very considerable pressure, 
if needed, or to force a continued and rapid stream 
of water into the drain, is very obvious. Either of 
these maybe done with the “Fountain Pump,” 
better than with any other simple contrivance 
known to us. If mud or sand has become consoli¬ 
dated in the drain, the stream of water may be 
thrown into it with sufficient strength to break up 
the mass and wash it away. It is well to take the 
precaution, in using force to clear a drain, or a wa¬ 
ter pipe, to drive the obstruction back in the way 
in which it entered the pipe. Water-pipes, or waste- 
pipes in a dwelling, that have become obstructed, 
may be cleared very readily with this force-pump. 
Planting Corn in Drills.— We are asked by a 
correspondent to name some farmers who have 
grown corn in rows or drills, instead of hills. The 
request is evidently made by one who doubts the 
value of this method of growing corn. That any 
person could doubt this, or confess not to know 
anything of so common a practice, even in the West, 
is a surprise. Corn grown in drills, and cultivated 
one way only, will yield one fourth more than an 
equally good crop grown in hills or check rows. 
The ground can be kept equally clean if the proper 
implements are properly used. No good farmer, 
who will keep his ground clean, should plant corn 
in check rows, and no farmer can afford now to 
plant by hand. This is a waste of valuable time, 
and a disregard of economy. In the East, drill 
planting is now almost universal, and is becoming 
very common in the West. A crop of 70 acres 
grown by a farmer in Kansas, who is personally 
known to us, and planted in drills 3 feet 8 inches 
apart, with seed dropped 8 inches apart in the row, 
yielded the past season over 5,000 bushels, which 
is far above the average of crops planted in checks. 
A Good Jersey Cow. 
On page 253 we give a picture of a Jersey cow, 
whose record certainly entitles her to the distinc¬ 
tion of being represented in our gallery of portraits 
of noted ani aals. The cow, “Jersey Rosalee,” 
Herd-Book, No. 1215, is owned by S. G. Livermore, 
of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, weighs about 700 pounds, 
and has the following very interesting record: 
She dropped her first calf April 29th, 1870, at the 
age of 21 months and 4 days. In the first week of 
June she gave 23 pounds per day and made 7 lbs. 
butter. In the first week of November she made 
one pound of butter from 151 pounds of milk. 
On June 3d, 1872, dropped her 3d calf, and from 
June 11th to 20th, inclusive, she gave 3401 lbs. of 
milk, and made 20J lbs. of butter. Total amount 
of milk from June 11th to August 31st,'2312 lbs. 
Total amount of butter made from June 11th to 
to August 31st, inclusive, 136 lbs. From December 
16th to the 23d, 7 days, she gave 84 lbs. of milk, 
with 14 lbs. of cream, which made 8 lbs. of butter. 
In ten days in June, 1874, she gave 403 lbs. of 
milk, from which was made 25 lbs. and 3 oz. of but¬ 
ter; a yield of 1 lb. of butter from 16 lbs. of milk. 
In ten days commencing June 11th, 1876, she gave 
393 lbs. of milk and made 21 i lbs. of butter. 
Through the month of July she gave 964 lbs. of 
milk. In August she gave 899 lbs. of milk. 
On the 23d of May last, she dropped a heifer 
calf, and her yield is now over 2Q quarts a day. The 
measure of her udder is 48 inches around, and 16 
inches deep. This cow furnishes another instance 
of the value of the Jerseys for the butter dairy, a 
business for which a few single cows of other 
breeds may equal them, but for which they are 
excelled by no other breed of cattle. 
Repairing Roads. 
The repairs of roads annually cost a very much 
larger amount than ought to be necessary. This 
is the effect of our imperfect and wasteful system, 
both of constructing and maintaining them. In¬ 
stead of a substantial and permanent highway at 
the first, our system is to make a simple earth road¬ 
way, rounded up at the center, and ditched at the 
sides, which is immediately cut up into ruts, so as 
to be practically impassable half the year for a 
properly loaded wagon. This road is then repaired, 
generally at the worst season of the year, with the 
worst possible material, and in the most imperfect 
manner. The cost is, on the whole, equal to the 
proper maintenance of a first-class road, which 
would be passable for heavy loads at any season of 
the year. The best material for road-making, that 
is, stone, is abundant in every part of thepountry, 
excepting some of the rich prairie States, and even 
in many western localities, stone may be procured 
at a reasonable expense by quarrying it. The 
machinery for reducing stone of the hardest char¬ 
acter to a proper condition for “ road metal,” is 
both cheap and of the most effective character. 
Blake’s Stone Crusher has been alluded to and 
described in the American Agriculturist as a most 
valuable machine for this purpose, and we are 
pleased to see, in many localities, the excellent 
roads covered with broken stone, showing that 
our advice and recommendations have been ef¬ 
fective. There is, however, ample room for more, 
and every township, at least, should possess a com¬ 
plete outfit of crusher and steam-engine for road 
purposes. No more economical investment could 
be made, nor one that would pay a more valuable 
return, in money saved and labor and time spared. 
There is another aspect in which the road question 
may be viewed. In the country, there are a great 
number of men, idle either by choice or necessity, 
who have to be supported at the public expense or 
by private charity. Many of these demand work, 
and a greater number demand alms, and decline 
work. Promiscuous relief has become a most vici¬ 
ous practice, tending to demoralize a large portion 
of the community, and to encourage persons to live 
by begging and without work. In those countries 
where a considerable portion of the population are 
idle and impoverished, for whatever reason, public 
provision is made for setting those who wander 
from place to place, “vagrants” in name and in 
fact, to some useful employment, that they may 
earn a subsistence and relieve the community from 
a burden. To refuse to help a starving man, is 
Fig. 1.— HEAVY HAMMER FOR BREAKING STONES. 
more than the majority of good people can bring 
themselves to do, but to refuse, when remunerative 
labor is offered and rejected, is only just and proper. 
If work were provided for all beggars and tramps, 
there would be little hesitation in refusing to 
help those who refused to work, and in time the 
present “tramp nuisance,” which is an onerous tax 
and a disagreeable burden to farmers, and a con¬ 
stant menace to farmers’ wives, would be got rid of. 
The most appropriate work for this class of per¬ 
sons is repairing roads. This is the usual employ¬ 
ment provided for them in European countries, and 
the scene depicted in the accompanying engraving 
is a very frequent one on the public roads there. 
Piles of stone, gathered from adjoining fields, are 
deposited here and there along the highways, and 
the stones are broken into fragments of proper size 
for making and repairing the roads. The illustra¬ 
tion, fig. 3, next page, shows the manner in which the 
work is done, and the hammers used for breaking 
stone are given in figs. 1 and 2. This method might 
be introduced here in those places where it would not 
pay to use machinery for breaking the stone ; and 
elsewhere, where machines are used, this sort of la¬ 
bor might be utilized in the repair of the roads. 
The work should by all means be done by the piece. 
That is, a pile of so many loads or yards of stone, 
may be given to break for a certain sum ; and the 
piles may be made here and there, where the “ met¬ 
al ” will be needed, and so that single individuals 
may be given separate jobs. Also, when the 
stone is crushed, it may be carted to the places 
needed, and spread at a given rate per yard for a 
regulated depth of covering. In this way, the work 
can be done without costly supervision, one road- 
master serving to overlook a long section of road, 
paying only for work that is actually performed, no 
Fig. 2.— LIGHT HAMMER FOR BREAKING STONES. 
service as task-master or “boss” being necessary. 
In giving a few points to be observed in repairing 
roads, we refer only to the use of broken stone. For 
depressions, or worn places, the old surface should 
be broken up with the pick and left loose, so as to 
bind well with the new material. No stone should 
be used that will not pass easily through a ring 2 
inches in diameter. The stone should be free from 
earth, and clean, and if possible the surface should 
be roUed. Nothing is needed to bind the stone ; 
the angular corners will soon interlock, and make a 
very compact and solid bed. No road should be 
repaired until it is dry. The surface of a road 
should not be too much rounded, a rise of 6 inches 
in 16 feet is sufficient; when greater inclination is 
given, there is a tendency for loaded wagons to 
slip sideways and work the material off to the 
sides. It would be an excellent thing for all, the 
roads, the wagons, and the horses, if wagon wheels 
were make with a broader tread than is usual. A 
tire 4 inches in width is not only less destructive to 
