1871 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
257 
for carrying grass, a light rack may be set up on 
it. It will be found useful in the feeding alley, or 
in the field where only a few animals are kept. 
If made of stout stuff, it will be found capable 
of bearing several bags of grain at a load. 
■sr-C-tsn 
Fig. 1.— TREE WITH CROOKED TRUNK. 
Implements for Moving Stone. 
A very easily constructed and liandy boat for 
moving large stones may be made as follows: 
Select a couple of small trees, six inches in di¬ 
ameter—oak or hard maple is best—with crook- 
Fig. 2. —stone boat. 
ed stems, like that in figure 1. Hew the sides, 
if desired—it will make it lighter. At the 
crook, bevel the insides for a few inches so as 
to allow sufficient spread to the hinder ends 
(fig. 2). Pin with a two-inch pin at the “ nose,” 
and wedge firmly. Put another two-incli pin 
about a foot further 
back; this is also to be 
wedged firmly. This 
pin is to fasten the chain 
on to draw logs. A 
couple of cross-pieces 
are then to be spiked or 
pinned on, and the boat 
is ready for use. This 
is a useful vehicle for 
moving plows or har¬ 
rows from field to field, 
and a very large stone 
may be rolled on to it 
with a cant-hook, and 
afterwards easily moved 
off. A deck of plank 
may be laid on with its 
sides slightly raised, and 
a ton of small stones 
may be taken at a time. 
Much lifting and much 
back-ache may be saved 
by using such a “boat,” 
rather than a wagon 
Fig. 3.—cant-hook. or car f } and it may be 
made in an hour or two without laying out a 
cent for materials. A cant-liook (fig. 3) may be 
made with a long handspike to which is attach¬ 
ed a grab-hook, by means of a short, stout rope 
or piece of chain; once get hold of a stone with 
this and it must come or something will break. 
An Egg Farm. 
by h. u. stoddard. — Third Article. 
The distance once around to each station 
amounts to several miles, and the rounds must 
be made four or five times at least every day. 
The distance would be too great for the attend¬ 
ant to walk over, even if empty-handed, and 
transporting grain and — -- 
water without a team 
would be out of the 
question. A supply of 
water through pipes, 
connecting with each 
station, would be too 
costly, especially as they 
would be idle when the 
land was cultivated. A 
running stream conduct¬ 
ed in an open ditch to 
each building would freeze in winter, make 
the ground near its banks too damp, and be in 
the way of plowing, moving buildings and other 
operations; besides, few lots suitable in other 
respects can be found where the slope of ground 
with water supply at top admit of the construc¬ 
tion of such an aqueduct. Each flock of fowls 
needs a pailful of water daily, taking account 
of the evaporation in hot weather, and the neces¬ 
sity of emptying the drinking vessels at night 
in winter to prevent freezing. Such an amount 
of water could not well be carried by hand. 
The most convenient wagon for our use is 
that sometimes kept for moving stone at quar¬ 
ries, and called a stone-cutter’s dray, shown in 
figure 1. In Maine, such are used very com¬ 
monly to carry timber about saw-mills, aud on 
short routes where no stumps or stones are 
to be passed over, thus saving much lifling. 
It is desirable that the driver should ride the 
ten-rod stages between the fowl-houses to 
lighten his labor, and that the team should trot 
to save time. But to climb in and out of an 
ordinary wagon to ride ten rods, would in¬ 
volve more exertion than walking. Besides, 
the labor of lifting grain in and out will be 
much less in a low wagon; the water-cask 
may be filled and drawn from readily, and it is 
especially convenient in gathering dry earth. 
The vehicle should be built just heavy enough 
to support a barrel of water, five or six bushels 
of grain, and the driver; or when rigged for 
earth, the amount designed to be carried is 
about equal to an ordinary horse-cart load. It 
is not intended to be used off the premises at 
all, and as there are no stones, hummocks, or 
the like, and no deep 
ruts, the body is set so 
as to clear the ground 
by only 8 inches (10 
inches are allowed in 
the Maine wagons). 
The body is 12 feet 
long, and 4 feet 2 inch¬ 
es wide behind, aud 3 
feet wide in front, the 
tapering shape being 
necessary to give a 
chance to turn the 
wagon without cramp¬ 
ing; and the turning is 
also facilitated by making the axle-trees so long 
that the wheels track 5 feet 7 inches, or about 
4 inches wider than a common liorse-cart. The 
side-boards are but G inches wide—the aim 
being to keep as near the ground as possible— 
and of two-inch plank, serving as part of the 
body frame. Four cross-pieces underneath, 
fastened to the side-boards by stout clamp bolts, 
complete the frame; and the whole is so con¬ 
structed that no part of the body projects from 
under the side-boards, the compactness of shape 
serving a useful purpose when we come to load 
dry earth. The rear axle-tree is made in one 
piece of wrought iron 2 inches square. The 
king-bolt should be made stout, and allowed to 
turn freely in the forward axle-tree. To carry 
eggs without breakage, a movable stand for the 
egg-basket, furnished with springs, can be set 
in the wagon. A low sled may take the place 
of the wagon when the season requires it. 
The road may be constructed quite narrow, 
as there will be no occasion to pass other teams; 
and an easy way to raise a path sufficiently to 
avoid wet is, to plow a strip of ground a num¬ 
ber of times over, always throwing the furrows 
Fig. 2. —SHOVEL. 
towards the center, and the rounded ridges thus 
made with ditches on each side is to remain in 
the field permanently, and may be cropped with 
the rest of the land if desired. The wheels of 
the wagon are made with very wide tires, as 
shown in the illustration, and must not be 
driven in the same track twice in succession, 
but used as rollers to smooth down the whole 
ridge, for there must be no deep ruts to cause 
the wagon-body to graze the ground. 
3. —LOADING DRY EARTH. 
poultry business, and that invaluable inven¬ 
tion the earth-closet, but for preparing absorb¬ 
ents and litter for stables and pig-pens. The 
best farmers are first learning to use dry earth 
for all their animals, not only for the cleanli¬ 
ness and health of the stock, but to lighten the 
labor of attendance, substitute a cheap litter for 
straw, and save every particle of manure. 
To gather and store dry earth, the following 
plan is submitted as available not only for the 
Fig. 
