1871 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
377 
the box. We should not consider these wagons 
fitted for very rough roads, but on ordinarily 
smooth country roads they would doubtless 
stand very well. From the style in which 
these wagons are build, heavy lateral jars or 
jerks would be injurious to them. 
— ---- ■ -- 
Reclaiming Swamps. 
If any swamp lands require plowing, it must 
be done during the months of August or Septem¬ 
ber. These mouths include the season for pre¬ 
paring the ground and sowing wheat, and in 
case botli can not be done, it is often a question 
which of them shall be put off. The alternative 
having been in many cases presented year after 
year, the swamp lias generally had the go by, 
often unadvisably, as we think. A spring crop 
or a summer fallow would often pay better than 
a crop of fall grain ; and when the question is 
presented, Shall that swamp remain forever 
unproductive? the resolution to undertake the 
task would be an eminently wise course,we think, 
even were the fall crop to be abandoned for 
one year. This experience has been passed 
through by the writer, and no regret ever oc¬ 
curred at the course taken, which was to bring 
the ground into profitable cultivation at all 
hazards. If such laud can not be underdrained, 
it may be brought in by surface draining, as 
follows: We suppose the tussocks have been 
removed, and the coarse grass mowed off, as 
either of these would seriously impede the plow¬ 
ing. The first process is to lay out the ground 
to be plowed into lands of such a width as the 
underdrains would be apart when made. If the 
land is clay, 24 feet should be the distance for 
the drains, and this should be the width of the 
lands. This, for the reason that when the drains 
are dug the open furrows will be the places for 
them, and these will be already at least one foot 
below the average surface. To lay out the lands, 
plow a double furrow, throwing them together, 
to commence a ridge, at a distance of 12 feet 
from the edge of the field. Then measure 24 
feet, and throw up another ridge, and so on 
through the piece to be plowed. An assistant, 
armed with a sharp bog-hoe, will be needed to 
cut off any roots that are not severed by the 
plowshare, and to help turn the sod into its 
place. It is often very refractory in this respect, 
and needs considerable humoring to get it to 
lie just right. Patience will be found a useful 
ally. When the lands are all carefully laid out, 
the plowing may be commenced. The assistant 
will no longer be needed. A deep slice should 
be taken, and the ridge well rounded up. The 
open furrows should be plowed out twice, until 
they are at least twelve inches deep, and the 
shovel should be used to complete them, throw¬ 
ing out the loose earth to the center of the ridge. 
When the lands are all finished, the headlands 
may be plowed, by going round the piece and 
throwing a flat furrow towards the center of the 
field. The open furrows must then be com¬ 
pleted through the headlands, by means of 
spade and shovel, and the earth thrown up, to 
finish the ridge to the lowest boundary of the 
field. Here a substantial watercourse should 
be plowed out, to carry off the flow from the 
furrows through the field, unless 
a natural one already exists, 
when a good connection should 
be formed therewith. This will 
complete the operation this fall. 
During winter, lime should be 
hauled for a dressing of 50 bush¬ 
els per acre, to be applied early 
in spring, after which, as soon as 
sufficiently dry, the field should 
be harrowed lengthwise of the 
ridges, and oats be sown. A bushel of red- 
top and a peck of timothy should be sown 
with the oats, of which grain two bushels per 
acre would be quite sufficient for seeding. 
This arrangement of lands and furrows will 
permit the use of the reaper, and the land will 
be found sufficiently dry for its use if the fur¬ 
rows be kept open. But we would not advise 
that such a field should be considered finished, 
for, if not underdrained, coarse grass will work 
in. A part of the proceeds of it should be yearly 
invested in tiles, until the whole field is thor¬ 
oughly drained. It will then doubtless be found 
the richest piece of the farm. 
An Arrangement for Spreading Liquid 
Manure. 
The cost of a suitable vehicle for spreading 
liquid manure on grass lauds is a great obstacle 
to its general use. A cart with tank especially 
prepared is an expensive article, and can be 
used for no other purpose ; its cost is therefore 
greater than most farmers could afford. With¬ 
out some such an arrangement, liquid manure 
can not be utilized, and it is therefore not col¬ 
lected. A few years ago we arranged a dozen 
large barrels (old kerosene-oil barrels, which 
held forty gallons each, and were all well 
hooped with iron hoops), so that they were sus¬ 
pended on the reach of a wagon, and by this 
means were enabled to spread liquid manure 
with ease, and at a very small cost. In the first 
place, we procured short chains, with an iron 
plate attached to each end, and by riveting 
these iron plates to the barrels, fastened them 
together in pairs (fig. 2). The barrels of each 
row were then joined together by pieces of four- 
inch rubber hose, which passed through holes 
bored in the barrels to receive them. The ends 
of the hose were slit for half an inch in length, 
and were turned down on the inside of the bar¬ 
rels and securely fastened there, and the joint 
covered on the inside of the barrel with a leaden 
plate nailed over it, and made water-tight £see 
a a a, fig. 1). Thus the dozen barrels were ar¬ 
ranged in pairs, each pair connected with the 
adjoining pair, so that all communicated with 
each other. The last pair had a tin pipe fixed 
on (5), which was perforated with holes for the 
purpose of scattering the liquid. These barrels 
were slung over a long reach on a wagon, and 
hung by means of the short chains, one of each 
pair on each side of the reach, at a sufficient 
bight to clear the ground easily. Fig. 1 shows 
the arrangement of the barrels, and the mode 
in which they were slung on the reach. When 
a load was wanted, the wagon was drawn to 
the barn-yard tank, the pump was set to work, 
and the barrels filled. They were drawn to the 
Fig. 2,— BARRELS CHAINED TOGETHER. 
meadow, the valves were opened, and the load 
spread. The valves were fixed one on the in¬ 
side of each of the last pair of barrels; were 
made of a piece of wood covered with sole 
leather, and were held in their place by means 
of a piece of spring steel. A cord attached held 
them open when desired. If the supply was 
short, one valve only was opened ; when the 
tank was full, and economy no object, the full 
supply was discharged. 
One load of 480 gallons could be spread over 
an acre of ground by attending to the valves 
properly, and regulating the discharge. When 
it is necessary to attach the barrels to the wag¬ 
on, the following ar¬ 
rangement is made: A 
frame of plank is con¬ 
structed, consisting of 
two long pieces, each of 
which passes under one 
row of barrels, and three 
cross-pieces, one at each 
end and one in the mid¬ 
dle, which hold the side 
planks together. This 
frame is made long 
enough to'permit the barrels to rest on it, and 
is supported by means of blocks about twelve 
inches from the ground. The barrels are put 
together on this frame, and when it is required 
to load them, the wagon is brought up, thereach 
taken out from the hind axle, and the front part 
of the wagon is backed up to the barrels, and 
the long reach placed between the two rows 
under the chains which hold them together; 
the hind axle is brought up and the reach in¬ 
serted. Then, with a handspike or lever, the 
frame on which the barrels stand is raised (one 
end at a time), and the blocks removed. This 
lets the frame on to the ground, and the barrels 
are suspended on the reach, and are ready for 
work. When they need to be unloaded, the 
frame is raised (ihe barrels are raised with it), 
and the reach drawn out. Figure 3 shows the 
frame for supporting the barrels; this should 
have a permanent place in a convenient situa¬ 
tion, as it must of necessity be made the resting- 
place of the barrels when they are not in use. 
Fig. 3.—WAGON-BOX. 
