1877 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
337 
made of strips of wood, put together with small 
carriage bolts. The strips may be made of chest¬ 
nut, pine, or hemlock, the first being the most dura¬ 
ble and best, 2 inches wide and 1 inch thick. 
The illustration shows how these strips are put to¬ 
gether. The length of the section shown may be 
three or four feet. At figure 2 is seen the man¬ 
ner in which the sections are put together. A small 
stack may have a column of these ventilators in 
the center; a large one may have three or four of 
them ; in a mow in the ham, there may he as many 
as are needful, two or three, or more, as the case 
may he. When made in this shape, they are so 
portable, and easy to use, that the greatest objec¬ 
tions against ventilators are removed. In stacking 
fodder com, it is safest to make the stacks small. 
Three of these sections, placed together in one 
column, are sufficient for a stack containing three 
tons, and which would he about 14 feet high. The 
sheaves should be 6mall, and the stack somewhat 
open at the bottom, so as to freely admit currents 
of air. The top of the stack should be well pro¬ 
tected, to keep out the rain; a hay cap fastened 
over the top, would be very effective for this. If a 
quantity of dry straw could be thrown in between 
the bundles,and on the top of each layer of them, the 
perfect curing of the fodder would be then secured. 
A Western Locust Trap. 
A great many devices have been used for the de¬ 
struction of the locusts in those Western States 
where they have done so much mischief for a few 
years past. Whether the locusts are to remain as a 
permanent pest to the Western farmers, or not, re¬ 
mains to be proved. It is certain, however, that 
through some effects of the climate, the attacks of 
parasitic enemies, their consumption by birds and 
other animals,and by the efforts of the farmers them¬ 
selves, the locusts have of late been greatly reduced 
in numbers, and their depredations have become 
almost inconsiderable. Many methods have been 
adopted for their destruction. Rolling the ground; 
plowing furrows, and making pits in them in which 
the insects are caught; burning them in long piles of 
dry grass ; catching them in large sacks, and upon 
frames smeared with gas tar, and upon large sheet- 
iron pans containing burning fuel; all these have 
been tried with more or less success, as well as the 
negative means of diverting them from their course 
by means of thick smoke from smothered fires of 
TRAP FOR CATCHING LOCUSTS. 
prairie hay. But the most effective method is one 
that has been invented by a woman in Minnesota. 
This consists of a large strip of sheet-iron, from 
10 to 30 feet long, turned up a few inches at the 
ends and one side ; a wire is fixed to each end, or at 
proper places in the front, by which it can be drawn 
over the ground by a pair of horses or oxen. A 
light chain or rope is fixed so as to drag upon the 
ground a foot in advance of the front of the sheet- 
iron, by which the locusts are disturbed and made 
to jump, and as the machine is moving on at the 
same time, they drop upon it. A thick coat of 
gas-tar is smeared over the surface of the iron, in 
which the locusts are imbedded and stick fast. The 
vigorous kicking of the trapped insects, helps to 
keep the mass stirred up, and present a sticky sur¬ 
face. When the trap is full, the locusts are raked 
off into a pile, and set on fire and consumed. This 
machine can be drawn over young wheat without 
injury, as it is not heavy enough to break it down, 
and being flexible, conforms to the surface of the 
ground it is passing over. The engraving shows 
the manner of preparing the sheet-iron for this pur¬ 
pose. As the season when the locusts have formerly 
damaged the newly sprouted fall wheat is near at 
hand, it will be useful for many Western farmers 
to know of this cheap and effective method, which 
is not patented, and for which they may thank a 
farmer’s wife of more than usual ingenuity and 
habits of observation. 
Hints and Helps for Farmers. 
A Shaving Horse.— C. W. Yost, Lenawee Co., 
Mich., sends a drawing of a shaving horse for 
shingles, and one for other uses. The shingle 
horse, shown at figure 1, is made of a plank 10 feet 
long, 6 inches wide, and It inch thick. A slot is 
cut through this plank, and a lever, made of a 
natural crook, is hinged into it. A wooden spring 
is fixed behind the lever, and is fastened to it by a 
cord. This pulls back the lever when the foot is 
removed from the step beneath. The horse may 
have four legs, but two will be sufficient, if the 
rear end is made to rest upon the ground. Figure 
2 is made of a plank, 6 feet long, 10 inches wide, 
and 2 inches thick. Four legs, 2 feet long, are 
fixed in 11 inch holes, as shown in the engraving. 
A bench, 18 inches long, 81 wide, and 11 thick, is 
Fig. 2.— HORSE FOR GENERAL USE. 
fixed upon the horse. A slot, 8x11 inches, is cut 
through the bench and the plank, and the lever, 2 
feet 8 inches long, is fixed in this by means of a 
pin passing through the bench. Some extra holes 
are made in the lever, by which the hight of the 
head above the bench may be changed to suit differ¬ 
ent sizes of work. A head is put upon the lever, 6 
inches square each way, but beveled off at the 
front. The foot board, 5x10 inches, is fastened to 
the bottom of the lever by a strong pin. 
A Milking Stool.— H. S. Sperry, Iowa City, 
Iowa, sends a plan of his milking stool, (figure 3). 
The front of the stool is hollowed to receive the pail, 
which is kept in its place by a wire, fixed as shown 
in the engraving. The front leg has a projecting 
rest upon which the bottom of the pail is placed 
to keep it from the ground, and also from breaking 
away the wire by its weight. The milker may either 
sit astride of this stool, or sideways upon it. He 
also sends a plan of a method for raising or lowering 
The Roof of a Hat Barrack by means of a 
lever shown at D, figure 4. A is the roof of the 
barrack ; B, the post. (7, is a pole, about 8 feet 
long which rests in a notch in the lever D, and 
which is placed beneath the comer of the'roof. 
The lever rests upon the iron pin E, and as it is 
pressed down, or allowed to rise up, the roof is ; 
raised or lowered. It is then secured in the usual 
manner by an iron pin. The pin E is a spare pin, 
and is carried from one corner to another, as the 
roof is raised or lowered, one corner at a time. 
The Requirements of Fish Breeding. 
We continue to receive numerous applications, 
principally from the South and West, for informs 
tion about stocking ponds and streams with fish, 
either trout or black bass. Nothing is more com¬ 
mon than for the owner of a horse-pond or hog- 
wallow, a hundred feet across, and perhaps dry in 
the summer, to imagine that he has good facilities 
for raising his own 
fish, and supplying his 
neighbors. Two things 
are always necessary 
to make fish breeding 
a financial success: 
suitable water to raise 
them, and good mar¬ 
kets near home. If 
one desires to breed 
trout for market, 
spring water in large 
volume is indispensa¬ 
ble. The hatching can 
be done well enough 
with very little spring 
water, if it is pure, but 
the difficulty is in car¬ 
rying the fish through 
the summer. In or¬ 
dinary ponds without 
springs in them, trout 
will die, and this is one 
cause of the extermination of trout in many of the 
streams in the older States. The forests that once 
protected the springs have been cleared away, and 
the water in the summer is too warm for the trout. 
A large stream of water is wanted, not only to keep 
the trout cool, but to furnish food. Trout feed 
mainly on animal food, and the cheapest source of 
supply is usually the wastes of the fish and meat 
markets in the cities and villages, the lights and 
livers of slaughtered animals, and the offal of fish. 
If fish have range enough, they will cater for them¬ 
selves. If confined to narrow quarters, they must 
be fed constantly, or they will devour one another. 
Food supply then is an essential element in the 
question of profit in fish culture—good water avails 
nothing for trout unless you have cheap food for 
them. Black bass can be raised in much warmer 
water than trout, hut they must have room, or, 
lacking that, abundant supply of cheap food. A 
few might live in a horse pond, but there could be 
no profitable breeding. In almost any mill pond, 
with a constant stream, and a rocky or gravelly bot¬ 
tom, black bass will flourish. Of course, the larger 
the pond the better. Then fislunust be well sold, 
to pay. They should be raised within easy reach 
of a large market. 
A Method of Cooling Milk. 
The investigations of many prominent American 
and foreign dairymen, have shown that milk, as 
well as its products, are much improved in quality 
by its rapid cooling immediately after it has been 
drawn from the cow, and in consequence of this 
knowledge, many devices are in use for the ab¬ 
straction of the natural heat of the milk. It is 
known that milk, as it comes from the cow, is im¬ 
pregnated with volatile matter, which bas a peculiar 
odor, not disagreeable when it is weak, but when 
it is concentrated it is very strong and exceedingly 
unpleasant. This, which usually exists as a vapor 
or gas, by concentration, appears as a yellowish oil, 
which has very disagreeable properties. It gives an 
obnoxious odor to anything brought into contact 
with it, and when allowed to remain in the milk it 
not only communicates this odor to the cream and 
butter, but it has the effect of producing rapid de¬ 
composition in them as well as in curd and cheeses 
Fig.4. CORNER OF BARRACK. 
