1876.] 
265 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
sis pounds. A common cotton or hemp clothes 
line is shown at M, this is fastened by one end to 
the spool, and at the other end has an iron ring, or 
Fig. 5.— EXTRA LEAR FOR TABLE. 
a stick will answer. When the weight Trails three 
inches, the spool will revolve once, and wind up 18 
inches of the line; if it falls five feet it will wind 
up 30 feet of line. For convenience, both the 
clothes line and that carrying the weight, are shown 
wound up. In use when the clothes line is wound 
up on the spool, the weighted line will be unwound, 
and the weig-ht at .the floor. To stretch the line, 
take hold of the ring and walk to the point where 
it is to be attached; this will unwind the line and 
wind up the weight. When the clothes are taken 
down, unhitch the line, and the descent of the 
weight will wind it up at once, and it will be housed 
without trouble. The spool may be placed in any 
convenient shed or out-building, or a eolumu may 
be constructed for it which will at the same time 
answer as a support for a bird house, as in figure 2. 
Hanging up Coats and Vests.— If coats are 
hung up by the loop attached to the collar, they 
will, especially if heavy, and not frequently worn, 
become stretched out of shape, and when put on 
show an unpleasant distortion. To avoid this, 
careful persons use some kind of a hanger, which 
will keep the back and shoulders in shape. A very 
common expedient is to use a portion of a barrel 
hoop, but it is not so suitable as the one shown in 
figure 3, which is made from a piece of 3 / 4 -mch 
board 5 inches wide. The length will be from 16 to 
22 inches, according to the size of the garment, it 
being an inch longer than the distance from the 
outside of one arm to the outside of the other, 
measured either across the chest or the back. A 
heavy wire, bent as in figure 4, answers to hang up 
vests. Supports for both vests and coats, made of 
heavy copper wire, are sold by the street venders in 
cities, but any one can make equally useful, if less 
showy ones, out of ordinary fence or bailing wire. 
Extension Leaf for a Common Table.— It is 
often desirable to extend or enlarge a common 
side-leaf table, and this may be readily done by a 
contrivance shown in figure 5. This shows a board, 
J3, about 18 inches wide, and as long as the table is 
wide. Two hard wood sticks, I\ P, one inch square, 
and three feet long, are secured to the leaf B by 
screws ; two holes one inch square are made in the 
end close under top A, through which the supports 
P, P, pass as indicated 
by dotted lines. This is 
a very convenient meth¬ 
od of attaching a por¬ 
table leaf, the only ob¬ 
jection being the dis¬ 
figurement of the table 
by the two square holes. 
To avoid this we would 
suggest the plan shown 
in figure 6, in which W, 
IF, are the side-leaves, 
and A 1 the extra or por- 
Fig. 0.— table extended, table leaf, which is con¬ 
nected with the table 
by swinging arms R, R, loosely attached to leaf E, 
each by one small bolt, placed near X, X, in the 
figure ; when in use, the arms R, R, are in the po¬ 
sition indicated by dotted lines, when not in use, 
fold lengthwise of leaf and occupy but little room. 
A Hammock in the Country, 
Of course those farmers who think that even the 
noonday rest for themselves, their men, and their 
animals, is a waste of time, will not regard a ham¬ 
mock upon their places as any other than a sign of 
indolence. Still we have noticed that these men 
who have no mercy upon themselves, are very 
ready to provide comforts for others, and we do 
not know of anything upon a country place that 
will afford more amusement for children, or more 
comfort to the women-folks, or the “ company,” as 
guests are often called, than a well slung hammock. 
We had always supposed that those light but strong- 
hammocks imported from Mexico or Central Ameri¬ 
ca, made from some coarse fibre that looks like 
manilla, were very expensive, until the other day, 
when we learned that a very good one could be 
bought for $2.50 or $3, while longer and more orna¬ 
mental ones, though really no better or stronger, 
cost much higher. A hammock should be hung 
where there is a good afternoon shade, and if in¬ 
tended in part for children’s use, should be hung 
so xow that small children can get into it by the aid 
o± a box or low stool, and over soft ground, so that 
the numerous tumbles that are probable will be 
harmless. If no other place is available, it may be 
hung between the pillars of a shady veranda, a 
lower part of the body, while the head moves but 
little. This is a point which cannot be observed in 
a hammock for children, who think more of it as a 
swing than as a place for comfortable repose. When 
trees serve for supports, ample provision should be 
made to prevent injury to the bark, by means of 
stout can\as or heavy bagging between the ropes to 
which it is suspended and the bark. If the hang¬ 
ing be so arranged that the hammock can be taken 
induiing long storms, it will last much longer. 
B©Yt§ <J§ §HIE» 
To Every ISoy jxiiuI Girl. 
I wish to say something- to every boy and girl old 
enough to write, and the reason of my saying it is this. 
To make things a little lively among you, I offered some 
prizes for the best stories about dogs. When the stories 
had all been read, and the prizes determined upon, I pub¬ 
lished the names of those who were to receive them. 
Before I had sent the books, I received a postal card 
which read: “I now take the liberty to write and tell 
No. 453.—Illustrated Kehns.-It is very proper that in July of the Centennial Year you should have a 
rebus that is especially related to American history. In the above you will find pictorial representations of about a 
dozen important battles of the war of the Revolution. Study up your school histories, and find them out. 
you that you had better let some one else have the prize 
place well enough for the older people who use it, 
but undesirable for children, on account of the lack 
of a soft turf, as well as for the noise which ac¬ 
companies its use by the youngsters. When chil¬ 
dren only are to use the hammock, the manner of 
hanging it is not important, but if provided for the 
use of grown persons, it should then be so sus¬ 
pended that the head will always be considerably 
higher than the foot, and much of the comfort of 
the one who uses this, depends upon a proper ob¬ 
servance of this fact. The engraving given on the 
opposite page, shows the hammock of a friend 
who, having no more suitable place, suspends 
it from the columns of his veranda. The hook 
which supports the head end, is 61 ft. from the 
floor, and that for the foot end is 31 ft., and these 
proportions should be observed wherever it may he 
bung, to secure the most desirable curve for the 
ease of the occupant. Another point to be ob¬ 
served ; the head end is fastened to the hook by a 
rope less than a foot long—just enough to properly 
attach it, while at the foot is a rope 4i ft. long. 
This gives the greatest freedom for swinging the 
for the dog story, as ——-of-is — instead of — 
years old.” I leave the names arid figures blank. You 
may suppose that I felt astonished, and then felt sad that 
any boy or girl should take the advantage of the old Doc¬ 
tor by giving a wrong age. Indeed, I could not believe 
it, and was about to ask the writer of this postal card 
more about the matter, and what proof he or she had that 
the age had been wrongly given by several years, and 
who do you suppose this “ I ” was who took “ the liberty 
to write ” ?—why it was “Yours truly, A Reader of the 
American Agricultwist ! ” Just look at it. Here is some 
one, whether hoy or girl, man or woman, I do not know, 
only some one who reads the Ani&rican Agriculturist , 
who accuses another of giving a wrong age in order to 
get a prize. In fact charges a hoy or girl with writing a 
lie, and refuses to give his or her own name. Row, chil¬ 
dren, I don’t like this. I might say a great deal about 
it, but I will now only just ask you to look and see how 
unfair it is. A person who conceals his or her name, 
accuses another by name of a very wrong act. I do not 
wish to say anything harsh, for the card may have been 
written by some young person who did not think how 
unfair it was, but if written by one old enough to know 
better, I should say that the writing of it was as had as 
the act of which it accuses, and by name another. 
