298 
AMERICAN AGriUO ULT CJRIST. 
[August, 
each side of this as a brace to stiffen the sled. The 
two runners are then held together by as many 
benches as may be thought proper, and the sled is 
made. A man can easily draw 300 or 400 lbs. of 
hay upon this over a smooth meadow, and in this 
way the cut grass may be drawn on to dry ground, 
where a team can be brought to it, or left until the 
surface of the meadow is frozen. When managed 
thus, the hay may all be cut from almost any marsh, 
and if brush is kept down and the marsh rightly 
managed, from two to four tons of hay, worth 
nearly as much as common meadow hay, may be 
gathered from any acre every year for a lifetime. 
In this way a piece of otherwise useless marsh may 
be made worth as much as any acre of the farm. 
--- 
Hints and Helps for Farmers. 
BY L. D. SNOOK, YATES CO., N. Y. 
Tethering Animals. —It is frequently desirable 
to pasture a certain part of a field, and at the same 
time not convenient to fence off a portion. In such 
case tethering may be resorted to, and the Adjust¬ 
able Sweep Tether, shown in figure 1, will be 
found convenient. A post four inches in diameter, 
and four and a half feet in length, is driven one 
foot into the ground; in the top is an inch hole 
fourinches in depth, into which a hard wood pin fits 
loosely. The sweep is from 15 to 20 feet in length. 
Two feet from the large end, a hole an inch and 
a half in diameter is bored, and this fits over the 
pin in the post. A weight is suspended at one end 
as shown ; at the small end of the sweep a strap or 
rope ten feet in length' is attached, to which is se¬ 
cured the end of the halter. The weight elevates 
the halter end of the sweep, but yet allows the ani¬ 
mal to feed at all points within the length of the 
halter, and also prevent injury from any entangle¬ 
ment. A Combined Sliding and Swinging Tether 
Fig. 2.— SLIDING AND SWINGING TETIIEK. 
is shown in figure 2. This is less cumbersome than 
. the above. The sweep is 15 feet iu length and 2 
j inches in diameter ; at one end an iron is attached 
with a hole iu it two inches in diameter, the oppo¬ 
site end is provided with a wheel five inches in di¬ 
ameter. A rod three-quarters of an inch in diam¬ 
eter, 15 inches in length, with a loop at the top, as 
shown, is driven iu the ground, through the hole in 
one end of the sweep. The halter is attached to 
a sliding ring, which by its self-adjustment traverses 
easily back and forth as the horse feeds. 
The Rail Fence Gauge.— The common method 
of laying off the corners of a rail fence, is to pace or 
guess at the distance apart, and the proper angles 
of the corners. The consequence is that few rail 
fences are iu line or have uniform angles. If a 
gauge similar to the one represented in figure 3 
Fig. 3.— KAIL-FENCE GAUGE. 
were used, this fault would be avoided. First I 
lay off a pattern corner in accordance with the 
length of rails or exposure to heavy winds. I then 
take two or three inch strips of uniform length, 
and just long enough to reach to the center of the 
foundation stones, shown iu the engraving, then 
nail one end of each together and connect midway 
by a third strip, which also serves as a handle when 
moving it. A line is drawn as shown, and the ends 
of the gauge indicate the corners along the line. 
This arrangement is inexpensive, the corners can 
be laid out rapidly, and when built, the fence will 
present a uniform appearauee, which in itself more 
than repays the little extra labor required. 
Stone Boats. —For moving plows, harrows, etc., 
to and from the fields, and 
for many other purposes, a 
stone boat is far better than a 
sled or wagon, and is many 
times cheaper than either. 
Two plans of construction are 
illustrated. The boat shown 
in figure 4 is of plank, six feet 
in length, one foot at one end 
being sawed at the angle 
shown. Three planks, each 
one foot in width, will make it 
of about the right proportion. 
A railing 2x3 inches is pin¬ 
ned upon three sides, while a plank is firmly 
pinned at the front end, through which the draw- 
Fig. 4.— PLANK STONE-BOAT. 
bolt passes. That shown in figure 5 has some ad¬ 
vantage over the former, a cheaper quality of wood 
and of shorter length can be used, and when one 
set of runners is worn out, others can be readily 
attached without destroying the frame. Oak or 
maple plank should be used for the best boats, and 
when runners are used, the toughest wood at hand 
should be selected. Don’t think because it is only 
a stone boat it is not worthy of being taken care of. 
Cellar Cisterns. —The rain-water cistern or 
reservoir is a great convenience, yet how many 
farmers’ wives, to get soft water, are obliged to set 
under the eaves or conductor, just before or during 
a rain storm, a'barrel, wash-tub, or other utensil ! 
The best, most convenient, and cheapest cistern is 
that known as the “ cellar cistern or reservoir.” 
The majority of cellars are large enough to have 
such a cistern, and a few feet square in one corner 
can be easily set apart for it. The square form will 
be found most convenient; the walls should be ten 
inches in thickness, the foundation should be six or 
eight inches below the level of the cellar bottom, 
and laid up with hydraulic cement from top to bot¬ 
tom, and finished with two coats upon the inside 
and one on the outside; the bottom should be 
filled one inch in depth with broken stone firmly 
pounded down and covered with two coats of ce¬ 
ment. The two inside walls need not be as thick, 
as they rest against the cellar wall. If constructed 
when the cellar is made, the cellar wall forms two 
sides of the reservoir, and these should be laid up 
with small flat stone, and cement applied freely. The 
wall may be built up to 18 or 20 inches of the joists, 
leaving room enough for a person to enter to clean 
or repair it. The inlet pipe is placed as shown 
iu the illustration (fig. 6). A flat stone should be 
laid on the bottom for the water to fall upon when 
nearly empty. The outlet pipe discharges all su¬ 
perfluous water into the drain when the reservoir 
is nearly full, and it should be larger than the inlet 
Fig. 0 .—cellar cistern. 
pipe, to prevent any accidental overflow. A reser¬ 
voir 4 feet wide, 8 feet long, and 5 feet high, inside 
measurement, will hold 30 barrels. 
Hog Pens and Hog Cholera. 
The weight of testimony regarding “ hog chole¬ 
ra,” or intestinal fever, as it might be more proper¬ 
ly called, goes to show that it results either from a 
variety of circumstances, all of which, however, 
can be classed under the one distinguishing head 
of neglect, or violation of proper sanitary conditions, 
or else it is due to contagion or infection from 
diseased herds. This seems to be well founded, 
and if so, the remedy is a simple, although not an 
easy one. To change the whole manner of keeping 
swine, and to avoid the danger of infection from 
the herds of those farmers who never read and 
never learn anything, is no easy matter, however 
easy it may be to say that it must be done. Much 
may be done by example, and if those who can 
adopt healthful methods of herding their swine, 
avoiding damp, filth, crowding iu the pens, and in¬ 
suring cleanliness in the feed and water, and isolate 
their herds, will use these precautions, we do not 
doubt that the plague will be stayed. The first 
precautions should be to provide roomy, dry, clean, 
airy pens, supplied with clean water, and kept in a 
wholesome condition. It is not the influence of 
locality, but the better methods of herding that 
keeps the Eastern States free from this pest. 
—-— --mow—-- 
Flax Manufacture in America. 
The commencement of a new manufacturing in¬ 
dustry in this country is exemplified in the success¬ 
ful establishment of a small linen factory at Man¬ 
chester, N. H. Some enterprising parties secured 
some land, sowed it to flax, gathered the crop, and 
prepared it for spinning, hired a Scotch flax-finish¬ 
er, procured spinning machinery, and one loom, and 
worked up the flax carefully and slowly until by 
easy steps the business was thoroughly understood 
and mastered. The amount of money risked was 
small, and in case of failure, the loss would have 
been trifling. But it is precisely such ventures as 
this, and so conducted, that succeed, and this ex¬ 
periment has become a success. A linen manufac¬ 
tory is about to be put into operation, with a cer¬ 
tainty of its being practicable and profitable. It 
w r as in this way that cotton manufacture began in 
the Southern States, where it is now a grand suc¬ 
cess. Woolen manufacture began similarly in the 
West where it is now firmly established, and we 
are well convinced that it needs only to be begun 
