1876.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
459 
protected from the sun by the shade it affords. 
Having been accustomed to handling sheep from 
my boyhood in Western Pennsylvania, then in Ohio 
and Illinois, and finally in Texas, my aim, when I 
took charge of this ranch and commenced the erec- 
catch and mark or divi 
tion of these pens, was 
to so arrange them as 
to entirely do away with 
the square corners, 
where a few sheep 
would be jammed and 
almost crushed every 
time there was an at¬ 
tempt to divide the 
flock, or catch a lame 
animal. The central 
pen, or corral, figure 1, 
is 200 feet in diameter, 
and is large enough to 
hold 2,000 head of sheep 
without being crowd¬ 
ing, and I know I can 
that number of sheep 
in less time, with less difficulty and labor, than by 
any other plan I have ever seen fordoing the work. 
By opening the gate at the head of the side alley 
(see fig. 2), the opening between the inside of the 
circular pen and the center, or shut fence, is closed, 
and one person can walk around quietly and turn 
the sheep toward the alley, 
when they will start in 
and fill up the alley and 
catch-pen full; by closing 
the gate at the head of 
the alley, you will have 
some 200 head or more 
confined in the 31 foot 
alley. Now, by dropping 
the slide-gates marked c, 
c, c , (see fig. 1,) you have 
the lot of 200 or more di¬ 
vided into 4 lots. Those 
in Kie catch-pen are in 
close quarters and can 
be caught and marked 
without disturbing any of the rest. As soon 
as the catch-pen is empty, by raising a slide-gate, 
by the cord attached to it, the pen is again filled 
Fig. 3.—SLIDING-GATE. 
from the next division ; no sheep are disturbed, ex¬ 
cept those in that division, and so on, as fast as one 
lot is disposed of, another one is moved forward to 
take its place. I have myself, alone, kept six men 
at work all the time catching sheep when we were 
marking, and I could keep the catch-pen full for 
them as fast as they could take them out. Tem¬ 
porary movable panels are used to form a connec- 
Fig. 4.— PLANK FENCE FOR COP.RAL. 
tion netween the left end of the center fence and 
the inside of the circle, whenever it is desirable to 
make the pen smaller or divide it into two lots. 
The dipping vat (figs. 5 and 6) is set with a space 
of 30 inches between the side of the vat and the cir¬ 
cular fence, so that there is a passage-way for the 
sheep between the vat and fence, should it be neces¬ 
sary to use the alley-way for counting or dividing 
flocks. The vat, a, is sunk 20 inches in the ground, is 
16 feet long, 21 feet deep, and at the end next to the 
Fig. 5 .—PLAN AND ELEVATION OF DIPPING VAT. 
dripping floor, there is an inclined plane, or plank 
bridge, c, with slats nailed across it, to make it easy 
for "the sheep to walk up and on to the dripping 
floor, where all that drains from the fleeces is carried 
back again to the vat. The dripping floor (fig. 6, b) 
is large enough to hold from 15 to 18 sheep at once, 
and when they are ready to turn out, a slide-gate 
opens to let them pass into the alley leading to the 
Fig. 6 .—PLAN AND ELEVATION OF DIPPING PEN. 
yard, back of the circular corral. Were I building 
one for a larger flock, say 10,000 or more, I would 
arrange to have two large dripping floors, each 
holding from 25 to 30 sheep, so that, while one lot 
were dripping off, the other pen could be filled. 
We have on this ranch over 3,000 head, and the 
accommodations, so far, are ample. 
The furnace is so arranged that a pipe conveys 
the liquid from it directly into the vat. (In the 
draft, or sketch, the furnace is located too far to 
the right; the walk between the catch-pen and the 
shearing floor is straight.) The shearing floor and 
the wool shed are close to the catch-pen, and by 
taking away a movable panel at the dripping pen, 
the shorn sheep loosened from the shearing floor, 
find their way to the corral, ‘back of the circular 
pen. Our sheep in this country are in good condi¬ 
tion, the wool growing interest is fast increasing, 
and will soon be second to no other in Texas. 
In figure 1, A and B are large pens surrounded 
with a plauk fence, as at figure 4; C is the catch- 
pen with movable fence at 6. At the end of this 
is the swinging gate, shown at fig. 2; a, a, being 
the outside fence, b the movable fence, and c the 
swinging gate. At B, fig. 1, is the rear pen, in which 
is the dipping vat, d, and dripping pen, e, and the 
shearing floor, /, and the wool shed. At g is a 
shepherd’s house. The live oaks are as shown. 
Plan for a Hay-Rack. 
J. S. Butler, South Bend, Indiana, sends a plan 
for a hay-rack which is in use in his neighborhood. 
To make a rack 16 feet long and 6 feet wide, the 
following materials are wanted : Two pieces of 2 x 6, 
16 ft. 6 in. pine or ash, with sound ends and with¬ 
out knots, dressed down to 14 inch in thickness ; 
four pieces of ash 24 x 2 inches, 6 feet long ; four 
pieces 11 x 21 and 16 feet long of clear and tough 
white ash, or white oak ; two half felloes for buggy 
11 inch square ; six pieces of tough ash 1 x 1 in. x v 
101 inches long ; one roller 31 inches diameter, 2 
feet 10 inches long, of hard wood; four pieces 31 
x 39 inches white oak or ash, tapered from the mid¬ 
dle to each end to 21 or 24 inches, and lastly, two 
pieces 14x0 in. x 2 feet 
long of oak or ash, arid 
two pieces 14x4x18 
inches, cut as in figure rq 0 ._ 
1, the width at the 
dotted line in the center of the 18 inch ones 
being 21, of the 24 inch ones 41 inches. There 
will also be needed : eight Vie bolts, 10 inches long ; 
sixteen i. bolts, 31 inches long; eight 1 bolts, 31 
inches long; twelve 3 /is rivets, 21 inches long ; six 
s / 16 rivets, 2 inches long; with washers for both 
bolts and rivets. To put the rack together, measure 
18 inches from the middle of each 6 foot and 39 
inch piece, both ways, and bore 7 /ie inch holes in all. 
Then, laying the 16—6 bed rails on edge, measure 
21 inches from the front and 81 inches from the 
back end, square acxross to the other edge, and bore 
f / 16 inch holes from boHi ways, to get them exact; 
then measure forward from the back holes 5—2 
inches, and back from the front holes 4—10 inches 
square across, and bore as before; then 2 inches 
from the back end and 
21 from the upper edge, 
and bore 1 or I holes 
for the pins of the bind¬ 
ing roller. Now lay the 
bed rails apart, lay on 
the 6 foot cross-pieces, 
and 39 inch pieces be¬ 
low for the bottom 
boards to rest on, and 
bolt all together; the 
bed rails will stick out in front about an inch and a 
half and behind seven and a half inches, the side 
strip to stick over also, giving all a better finished ap¬ 
pearance, besides making it stronger. Then lay on 
a 11 x 2116 foot,piece, to come just even with the 
outer end of the cross-pieces, bore 1 holes through 
each, and bolt or rather drive them in just far 
enough to hold it in place until it comes to putting 
on the arches, when they will want to come off for 
handy management; lay 
another strip with its cen¬ 
ter 11 inches from the cen¬ 
ter of the last, bore and 
drive the bolts as before, 
do the same on the other 
side; square the rack true, 
cut each of the felloes 
in two equal parts, laying 
them on the edges which 
face the side strips in 
such a position that the 
crown of the arch will be 
31 inches from the center 
of the back cross-piece; 
mark both the side strip 
and arch, and let each in¬ 
to the other 1 inch ; take 
them off and bolt to their 
places with the 1 bolts. 
Rivet on the little pieces 
of ash with the 21 rivets, 
three on a side, and rivet 
them tight, and put the 
roller in place. To com¬ 
plete the rack, as shown in 
figure 3, there must be something to keep it from 
racking out of square. For this get two pieces of 
11 strap iron, long enough, and have a blacksmith 
punch 7 /i« holes through each end, and slip them 
on the bed rail bolts which hold on the two middle 
cross 6 foot pieces where they cross each other; 
put a good rivet to prevent its pestering nervous 
ears, for otherwise it will rattle wonderfully. The 
widest ones of those pieces (fig. 1) go in front, with 
Fig. 4 .— BED-RAIL FOR HAY-RACK. 
centers 2 feet from front end, the narrow ones, 
square under the arches behind, to raise the rack 
up from the wheels. They may be put on with 
wood screws and washers, the front ones with ix5 
in., the back ones with 7 / I0 X31 screws. The bind¬ 
ing ladder in front I make as in figure 2, quite 
spreading, so as to pull more from the corners of 
the rack than is usual; A, A, are good white oak 
1x21x5 ft. 6 in. ; B, B, B, B, are 1x2; C , C, ate 
1x1, and are let into B, B, by cutting int® C, C, 1 
inch, and riveting with the 6—2 in. rivets of the 
schedule ; the hooks on the lower end of A, A, en¬ 
gage with bolts having eyes and passing through 
the front cross-piece just outside the bed rails. My 
bed rails are pine, but in case ash is used, 2 inches 
might be cut out, as shown in figure 4, making it 
lighter and ornamental, and as strong at the same 
time. I put mine together with zinc paint in every 
joint, to preserve it. I expect my grand-children 
to use it, and thought, as it was a centennial year, it 
should be a Centennial Hay-rack. The measurements 
are made for a wagon with hind-wheels 19 inch¬ 
es and front-wheels 10 inches above the bolster; 
and 4 feet 10 inches between wheels at the top. 
(We shall be glad to see the chaff crib as promised.) 
