178 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[May, 
•r^-r— - : ' - - ' 
in one complete peu, which is formed with fixed or 
movable iron stanchions (A) at the corners ; those 
at the head of the pen have movable clamps (B), 
with sockets, which carry a plank, (Z>), to which 
the feed-trough, (E), divided into compartments, 
Is fitted. In each compartment is a trap for remov¬ 
ing surplus feed. Water troughs are also fitted in- 
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msxm* 
M I IflH 
[|f| ; 
lEl E 
Fig. 3.— GROUND PLAN OP THE STALLS. 
to the feed troughs. An iron bar ( C) is fitted above 
the trough, to which the cattle are haltered ; the 
bar is raised sufficiently high to permit the animal 
to protrude its head and feed. Along the rear of 
the stalls is carried a strong rubber band (I) 14 
Inches wide, and firmly secured by clipping levers 
(/), which are fastened to the stanchions. The 
bands are tightened by means of a roller and 
ratchet, and furnish an elastic cushion against 
Fig. 3.—SECTION OP THE STALL. 
which the cattle are easily received when the vessel 
rolls violently. At each side of the pen is a mova¬ 
ble plank (AT), fixed to the stanchions (A, A), as 
shown in figure 5. There are also dividing planks 
{M, figure 4), separating the stalls from each other; 
these are made of ash or other flexible timber. 
These planks are fastened to the rubber band by a 
metal piece, and a rod (A), which has a thread at 
Fig. 4.— PARTITION BETWEEN TUE STALLS. 
the lower end, and is turned by means of the eye 
at the upper end, and screwed into a hole which re¬ 
ceives it, thus tightly grasping the flexible band. 
The floor is battened diagonally, and a strip of rub¬ 
ber is fastened upon each batten, so that the ani- 
Fig. 5.—SIDE OF THE STALL. 
mal not only has a more secure footing, but if 
thrown clown by the violent pitching of the vessel, 
falls upon the rubber strips, and is not bruised. 
For moving the animals into or out of their stalls, 
a box is provided, which runs upon wheels ; the 
animal being placed in this, is hoisted or lowered, 
as the case may he, and conveyed without handling 
to the pen ; there is a door in the box through 
which, when it is opened, the cattle can enter their 
pens. This arrangement is described in the Veteri¬ 
nary Journal, and will at once commend itself to 
the notice of those who make a business of import¬ 
ing valuable live stock. 
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Packing Eggs in a Barrel. 
A great number of eggs are lost every year 
through imperfect packing. In fact, faulty, or in 
many cases dishonest packing are not confined to 
eggs alone, hut seriously reduces the value of much 
of the produce sent to market. Those who have 
good articles to send for sale, and fail to pack them 
well, may lose one-half their value on this account 
alone. The salable value of a package of produce 
is measured by that of the poorest part of it; the 
good always has its value diminished by the bad ; 
but the bad article which may be with it is never 
raised in value by tlie good. If by poor packing 
any part is damaged, 
the whole is depreci¬ 
ated together; this 
is true to a greater 
extent with eggs than 
with almost anything 
else, because a badly 
packed barrel of eggs 
is a miserable thing 
to look at, and worse 
still, to handle, es¬ 
pecially when the 
weather is warm and 
a very few old nest 
eggs have been pack¬ 
ed with the good 
ones, which does 
sometimes happen in 
spite of care, though not when only glass nest 
eggs, which never spoil, are used. Sometime 
ago, in looking over the American Grocer, which 
often lias hints about marketing produce of vari¬ 
ous kinds, we saw directions for packing eggs 
very similar to what wo have already given several 
times, hut as they were accompanied by a useful 
illustration, we here reproduce it. The engraving 
represents what should be the appearance of the 
inside of a well packed barrel of eggs. The barrel 
should be a good one, clean, strong, and well 
hooped. At the bottom is placed 3 inches in depth 
of clean, dry, sweet rye or wheat straw cut In a 
fodder cutter into chalf not over half an inch in 
length. Upon this the first layer of eggs is placed 
on their sides, near together, but not touching. 
Some of the cut chaff is then scattered over the 
eggs, so that it falls between them and fills the 
spaces. Then one inch in depth of chaff is laid 
upon their, and another layer of eggs placed 
upon it. The number of eggs in each layer is 
shown by the figures at the side of the barrel—an 
ordinary sized flour barrel. The barrel will bold 70 
dozen. It is not well to crowd more than this into 
a barrel. The chaff and eggs are placed in alternate 
layers in this way until the barrel is one-third full, 
when a piece of board is laid upon the chaff and 
pressed down carefully to make the mass solid. 
This is done again when the barrel is two-thirds 
full, and it is then shaken gently to settle the con¬ 
tents. When the last layer is packed, it is covered 
with three inches of chaff, which should project an 
inch or more above the chine of the barrel. When 
the head is pressed down steadily and slowly into 
its place with some shaking of the barrel, the eggs 
will be held so firmly that no shaking they may re¬ 
ceive in the course of their journey will loosen 
them, and a severe jar will not break any of them. 
When they arrive at their destination they will be 
in good order, and bring the highest price, having 
cost no more to pack, except a little extra trouble, 
than the poorest barrel that may come to market. 
Musty or damp straw, or poor grain, will give a 
scent and flavor to the eggs which will injure them, 
EGGS PACKED IN BARREL. 
notwithstanding it is generally supposed that an 
egg shell is impervious to such influence. Cut 
wheat or oat straw is the best packing, wheat, rye, 
or oat chaff is the next; good sound oats is a good 
but expensive packing ; hay is very poor material, 
and buckwheat bran the worst, as it so readily 
heats. When the barrel is packed the number of 
eggs in it should be plainly marked upou the head. 
Rysdyk’s Hambletonian.— One of the most 
noted, and perhaps the most useful horse of the 
present century, has recently ended his career. 
This is the stallion so long and well know as Rys¬ 
dyk’s Hambletonian. He was the sire of more than 
1,500 valuable horses, many of which have been 
used iti the stud, aud thus helped to extend the 
beneficial influence of the blood of their sire. He 
was foaled in 1849, near Chester, Orange Co., N. Y., 
and when five weeks old was purchased by Mr. W. 
M. Rysdyk, with his dam, for $125. Since then he 
has not changed owners, excepting to become tiie 
property of Mrs. Rysdyk, who owned him at the 
time of his death. He was thus 27 years old, and 
has been used as a sire for 25 years. His direct 
earnings have been about $450,000, but the value in 
money that he has added to the stock of the coun¬ 
try, cannot be estimated at less than several mil¬ 
lions, besides perpetuatiug an influence for good, 
the value of which caunot be estimated. He was 
closely in-bred, and thus becomes a powerful ex¬ 
ample for those who favor close breeding. The 
skin of the dead horse is to be stuffed and present¬ 
ed to the Central Park Museum. 
A Japanese Timber Splice. 
The artizans of China and Japau have long been 
known as adepts in the ait of constructing mechan¬ 
ical puzzles. Something like one of the intricate 
Chinese puzzles, which are so difficult to put to¬ 
gether, is the building erected on the Centennial 
Exhibition Grounds, at. Philadelphia, by the 
Japanese Government. T.'tis building is of wood, 
and is framed together in such a way that there is 
not a nail or a screw about it. The joints are mor¬ 
tises and tenons, or dovetails, which fit together 
wdth the greatest accuracy and firmness. As a 
specimen of the ingenuity and beauty of the fram¬ 
ing, and as an example of mechanical art, which 
may be turned to our owu benefit, we give engrav- 
Fig. 1.— PARTS OF SPLICE. 
ings showing the manner in which the sills of 
this building are spliced. Figure 1 shows the upper 
and lower part of the splice. It is seen that the 
ends of the splice are a sort of mortise and tenon, 
which are brought together by means of wedges 
driven into a space at the center of the splice, 
and are afterwards held in their places by a 
neatly fitted key. (See fig. 2.) There is a tongue 
and groove running along each half of the timber, 
Fig. 2.— THE SPLICE TOGETHER. 
the whole length of the splice, except at the space 
left for the key-seat, which prevents side move¬ 
ment, A beam or sill, thus spliced and keyed, can 
not be separated without removing the key, and if 
the splice is accurately laid out and worked, the 
joint goes together with a sliding fit, with the great- 
