338 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[August, 
been forwarded by the inventor through the 
Sanitary Commission, for the surgeons to test 
their utility. The inventor and patentee is Rev. 
E. Whittlesey, of Hammondton, N. J., for many 
years a missionary at the Sandwich Islands. 
A Simple Gate Shutter. 
The skill of a good mechanic who j$prks 
with furnaces and lathes, and the conveniences 
of a good machine shop, will provide many 
things for the farm which are exceedingly con¬ 
venient and useful; but we place higher value 
on a class of convenient and useful contrivances 
wrought by the native ingenuity, of the farmer 
and with the tools that are at every body’s com¬ 
mand. An example is at hand in this contri¬ 
vance for shutting a gate, which is sent to the 
Agriculturist by A. L. Hatch, of Richland Co., 
Wis., who thus describes it. A stick is fastened 
to the top of the gate, extending back over the 
fence, a little to one side and elevated sufficient¬ 
ly to clear the fence when the gate is opened. 
On the end of this stick is tied a rope with a 
weight attached, as represented in the diagram. 
A board is nailed at one end to the top of the 
fence, projecting at right angles to it and sup¬ 
ported at the other end by a small post. Two 
rollers are set in this board, and the rope passing 
down between them, will effectually shut the 
gate which ever way it may be opened. 
Hop Raising in the State of New York. 
Central New-York is the most important hop 
district of this country, but the culture of the 
hop is fast extending over other parts of the 
State; nor is the hop growing interest confined 
to New York, but is rapidly advancing in the 
Eastern, Middle and Western States. To the 
farmer engaged in the culture of hops the most 
important thing is to grow them properly, and 
the next to secure the crop in good order, and 
have them perfectly cured so as to have the col¬ 
or, flavor and texture all right, without injuring 
their strength. To do this, very much depends 
upon the picking, but the best grown and most 
properly picked hops are frequently spoiled in 
curing. If they are not sufficiently dried, they 
are liable to heat after being baled, so as to be 
entirely worthless. If over-dried, or if the heat 
in drying is raised so high as to scorch any 
part of them, much injury is done. Stoves 
made expressly for hop kilns are now generally 
used, with pipes which convey the heat around 
the room under the drying floor, and carry the 
smoke to the chimney. The drying floor should 
be about twelve feet above the ground on which 
the stoves stand. It is made of strips of plank, 
one and-one-fourth by two and-one-half inches, 
set edgewise about one and-one-half inches 
apart, so as to be strong enough for a man to 
walk ou them. This is covered with a cloth 
which is generally made of linen, like strainer 
eloth. In England this cloth is frequently made 
®f hair, which is considered best, as it does not 
“ fur up” by the gum of the hop, as cotton cloth 
does. Cloth made of hard twisted linen thread, 
and woven open, or “low sleyed,” does very 
well, as it permits the heated air to pass up 
through the hops, which should lie upon the 
cloth twelve inches thick, or more. There 
should be a ventilator above to let the steam 
pass off freely as the green hops are drying. 
A drying floor twelve feet by twenty-six will 
dry about 200 bushels at once, in eight or ten 
hours—so two floors can be dried in one day 
and night. They are generally turned over once 
or twice duriug the process of drying, but a 
skillful hand can finish them perfectly without 
moving them after they are laid on the drying 
floor, which avoids breaking the hop. Great 
care should be taken to keep them as whole as 
possible. They should not crumble in the hand, 
but be as soft as a kid glove. If too much 
dried, a little salt is sprinkled on coals of fire in 
the stove room under the hops, which are then 
allowed to lie in this damp atmosphere half an 
hour. This will cause a toughness and prevent 
crumbling as they are moved to the cooling 
room which opens from the kiln. 
The floor of the cooling room should be two 
feet lower than the drying floor, and should be 
smooth and quite spacious. When perfectly 
cool they may be put into a bin or piled up in 
the same room until the press is ready. The 
Lever Press now in use in Otsego Co., is much 
preferred to the Screw Press. The less they 
are moved while hot, the better, as they crum¬ 
ble easily while warm. Most farmers use some 
sulphur to bleach the hop while it is being dried. 
The sulphur is put on a bed of coals, or placed 
on the hot stove for an hour or two during the 
drying process. While using the sulphur the 
ventilators should be partially closed to retain 
the gas about the hops. In that case half a 
pound of sulphur will be sufficient for a kiln, 
unless the rust has attacked the hop, when the 
sulphur is more freely used. The hops are 
sprinkled with water, thoroughly mixed several 
times, and the sulphur as often renewed. 
In picking hops the universal practice has 
been to cut off the vine, and raising the pole to 
carry it to the box. The pickers strip off the 
fruit into the box, and in so doing get with the 
hops, leaves, dirt, and whatever falls from the 
mass of vines; and notwithstanding the care of 
the box-tender and owner, much foreign matter 
is almost always mixed with the hops. The 
Horizontal Hop Yard, described in detail on 
page 140 (May No.), is being extensively intro¬ 
duced. This secures a very pure quality of 
hops. The main vine is not cut at all, when the 
crop is harvested; only the arms that bear the 
hops are taken from the vine by the box-tender. 
There are no leaves except very small ones on 
these arms. It secures nice picking and makes 
it very light work to tend the pickers; even the 
girls can “tend box,” as there are no poles to pull, 
nor are the vines cut near the root. The flow 
of sap from the root when the vine is cut near 
the ground weakens all hop yards, and destroys 
some entirely; and when as by this process it is 
avoided, the full strength of the vine is pre¬ 
served to promote its next year’s growth. This 
very simple process of training the vine low on 
twine, or otherwise connecting the stakes, se¬ 
cures strong, healthy roots, as the vine need not 
be cut down before it has fully matured, and 
the sap ceased to flow from the cut surfaces. 
A good observer, who has just made a tour 
through the hop region, writes to the American 
Agriculturist, that from bleeding an unusual de¬ 
struction of boo vines has taken place this year. 
A Good Harrow. 
Mr. "W. D. Morton of Lapeer Co., Mich., sends 
the accompanying drawing of a harrow, and 
writes as follows: “ In return for many valua¬ 
ble hints in the American Agriculturist, I send you 
a plan of a harrow which I made some seven 
years ago, and have used on land both smooth 
and rough with perfect satisfaction ever since, 
and can now recommend it to your readers as 
being better than any other I have yet seen. It 
will work wherever the old-fashioned letter A 
drag will, among stumps or stones; either side, 
or the middle, may be lifted over stones or 
stumps with equal ease; and when the obstacle 
is past, it will resume its usual position. On 
smooth lands it is not so readily swung out of 
its place as the common double square harrows, 
nor drawn at an angle by any slight obstruc¬ 
tion, or irregularity in the plowing; but will 
run straight ahead. It will run hollowing in a 
water furrow, between lands, and it will run 
crowning on the top of the ridge, thus nicely 
rounding off the ridges. It will make its mark 
every three inches, with the exception of two 
spaces at each side, and one in the centre, which 
are inches each. The proper working of this, 
or any other double harrow , depends on putting the 
drawing staples in the line of draught of each 
side, which so nearly intersect the centres of 
gravity of each side, that the proper point may 
be found by hanging up each half separately , 
after the teeth and hinges are put in, so that the 
centre timber will be perpendicular. Every one 
who has used this harrow pronounces it an im¬ 
provement, and several have been made already 
from my model. Convinced of its utility I de¬ 
MORTOX’S IMPROVED HARROW. 
sire to see it in general use, and offer it freely, 
through you, to all who wish to know how to 
make a good and easy working harrow. One 
centre piece is six inches longer than the other, 
for facility in getting hold to lift the middle 
when necessary. Two teeth in each centre 
piece run in the same track; they are better to 
be both in, to balance the harrow. The draught 
bar must be equal in length to the distance be¬ 
tween the drawing staples.” 
This harrow differs from the excellent Gedaes 
harrow, which is the best form of a harrow in 
market, chiefly in the “ draught bar,” as our 
correspondent calls it, which it will be noticed 
is not attached to the point of the harrow at 
all, but is free to sway about in any way the 
chains will let it; and we see no reason why this 
“draught bar” might not be attached with per¬ 
fect ease to the Geddes harrows now in use. 
This construction will enable ns to hitch the 
team nearer the harrow and yet not lift the 
point teeth out of the ground, and if by any 
means the harrow be swung out of its proper 
