AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
137 
inquired, expecting her to show me a pail of 
foaming milk. 
“Oh, ma’am,” she answered dolorously, 
“ I slopped her all about the barn-yard, and 
I could get na-ary a drop.” 
“ Slopped her about the barn-yard! What 
does she mean ?” I said to myself. I inquired 
into the matter, and found she bad been 
“ bating ” the cow. 
“Why did you do that?” I asked. “I 
have often told you never to strike her.” 
“ But you said, ma’am, if I would slop her, 
she would give down her milk.” 
So poor Whitey had had a beating, and 
Bridget had no milk, because I had used an 
expression which I had frequently heard, but 
which she entirely misunderstood. If I had 
told her to give the cow “ a mash,” she 
would probably have known what 1 meant. 
After suitable explanations, Bridget tried 
a third time, and with much better success. 
She prepared some food which the cow 
liked, and as Mooly was not slapped, she 
stood still, and gave down her milk, Bridget 
wisely concluding that the way to a cow’s 
heart, as to a child’s, is through the mouth. 
ANNA HOPE. 
ASHLEY'S HITCHING-ROD. 
B 
CS*9S£; 
A. 
We commend the following to the atten¬ 
tion of our readers : 
For the American Agriculturist. 
I send you a rough sketch of Ashley’s 
Hitching-Rod, thinking you might like to 
show it to your numereus readers. 
As you will see at a glance, it is a very 
simple contrivance for fastening a horse so 
that he can neither damage his harness, by 
rubbing his head against the post, nor bite 
the bark from a tree, if he happens to be 
fastened to one. 
The Hitching-Rod is a simple rod, twenty 
inches long, of half an inch round iron, with 
a ring at A, to be firmly strapped to the post, 
and a ring and clasps at B, to fasten to the 
bit. It may be permanently attached to a 
post, by a common staple, or it may be car¬ 
ried in the carriage to be used as required. 
Any gentleman who has a fine tree ruined 
by a gnawing beast, or has seen the maiden 
beauty of a new harness destroyed by being 
rubbed and bruised against the hitching post, 
will appreciate the value of this simple in¬ 
vention. A Constant Reader. 
New-Bedford, Aug. 18, 1854. 
WHERE DO PLANTS COME FROM ? 
Two hundred pounds of earth were dried 
in an oven, and afterwards put into a large 
earthen vessel; the vessel was then moistened 
with soft water, and a willow tree, weighing 
five pounds, was placed therein. During the 
space of five years, the earth was carefully 
watered with rain-water or pure water. The 
willow grew and flourished ; and to prevent 
the earth being mixed with fresh earth, 
or dust blown into the pot, it was covered 
with a metal plate, perforated with a great 
number of holes, suitable for free admission 
of pure air only. After growing in the earth 
for five years, the willow tree was removed, 
and found to weigh one hundred and sixty- 
nine pounds and about three ounces. The 
leaves which fell from the tree every autumn 
were not included in this weight. The earth 
was then removed from the vessel, again 
dried in the oven, and afterward weighed; 
it was discovered to have lost only about two 
ounces of its original weight. Thus one hun¬ 
dred and sixty-four pounds of lignin or woody 
fiber, bark, etc., were certainly produced 
from the air. 
L ‘A little humor now and then, 
Is relished by the best of men.’ 
A COW SUIT. 
All who have a taste for native shrewd¬ 
ness and humor, and rvho wish to have a 
good, hearty laugh, should read the follow¬ 
ing. There is scarce any thing in Pickwick 
equal to it. The blood of the old Puritan 
stock tells well here. Alhngton and the May 
Flower, will henceforth be immortal. See 
the fifth paragraph from the close of the 
article. 
This was one of the most amusing trials 
ever witnessed by bench or jury in this coun¬ 
ty. The prisoner was indicted for an as¬ 
sault and battery upon a man by the name of 
Dodder. It seems that a Plank Road had 
just been laid in the town of Minisink, run¬ 
ning through the lands of said Dodder, and 
that. Allington is the toll-gatherer, and that 
the gate-house is built upon, or adjoining the 
lands of Dodder. The other facts will ap¬ 
pear in the evidence. 
The cause was duly opened by the District 
Attorney, when his Honor, the Judge, no¬ 
ticed the defendant sitting within the bar, 
with pencil in hand ready to take down evi¬ 
dence, without counsel. 
“ Have you no counsel, Mr. Allington?” 
inquired the Judge. 
“ No Sir.” 
“There are plenty of gentlemen around 
you who would be willing to assist you.” 
“Well, your Honor, I have feed one, and 
engaged another, and they both turn up miss¬ 
ing, and therefore I have concluded to try 
the case myself.” 
“ Very well, sir.” 
The District Attorney, after stating the 
case to the jury, called the complainant, Mr. 
Dodder, upon the stand, who testified as 
follows : 
I know the defendant; he is a neighbor of 
mine. I was driving his cows off my land, 
when he came out upon the road and stoned 
me. He sent as many as a dozen at me, and 
the last one struck me upon the back of the 
neck. It hurt me considerable—not very 
badly, however, as the rim of my hat hung 
down, and it and the coat collar prevented. 
“You can examine him now, Mr. Alling¬ 
ton,” said the District Attorney. 
All eyes were now turned upon the defend¬ 
ant. There he sat, busily engaged in taking 
notes, a little, short, red-headed, red-faced 
Yankee, with his feet resting on the lower 
round of the chair, and his body bent for¬ 
ward at an angle of 45 degrees. At that re¬ 
mark he snapped his head back like a blade 
in a jack-knife, his eyes twinkled, and in a 
shrill, loud voice he commenced : 
“ Have you been on good terms with the 
defendant, I mean me, Mr. Dodder?” 
Dodder hesitated. 
“ Come, Mr. Dodder, have we been on 
good terms ?” 
“ I can’t say,” replied Dodder. 
“Well recollect, Mr. Dodder, that you 
must say.” 
“ Say yes or no,” interposed his honor. 
ri^::vr m 7r3T'" . . . . 
“ Yes or no,” responded the defendant. 
“ I can’t say that we are on speaking 
terms,” answered Dodder. 
“ Well, Mr. Dodder, you say that I struck 
you with a stone—will you please state to 
the jury whether it was the first stone that 
struck you ?” 
“ No sir.” 
“ Did it not go fifteen feet to the right 1” 
“ About that.” 
“ Well was it the second ?” 
“ No sir.” 
“ Did notthatgo three feetover your head?” 
“ Yes, sir.” 
“ Were you not running after my cow with 
a stake sharpened at one end ? and did you 
not knock her down ? and was it not because 
you Avould not stop that I sent the other 
stone at you? 
“Well, sir, I must explain.” 
“ None of your rigmaroles here, Mr. Dod¬ 
der. No explanations, sir—Yes or No, sir.” 
“ I can’t answer.” 
“ You must answer. Come, sir. Yes or 
No.” 
“ It wasn’t a stake, it was a stick.” 
“ Y’Ys, two and a half inches at the butt 
and twelve feet long.” 
“ No, sir, one inch across and tapering to 
the end.” 
“ You knocked the cow down, didn’t you ?” 
“ I struck at her—can’t say I struck her.” 
“ Didn’t she fall ?” 
“ Can’t say.” 
“ Well, Mr. Dodder, you were chasing her, 
were you not ?” 
“I was in the road, sir, and she was on 
the side.” 
“ Was it icy ?” 
“ Yes.” 
“ Snow deep ?” 
“ Yes.” 
“ Now, will you say, on your oath, Mr. 
Dodder, that you did not strike her ?” 
Witness hesitating. “ I will not be posi¬ 
tive.” 
“Well, Mr. Dodder, were you not coming 
toward me ?” 
“ Yes, sir.” 
“ You was coming up the road and I was 
going down?” 
“ Yes, sir.” 
“ You did not run back at all, did you ?” 
“ No, sir.” 
“ You are sure you did not look or go back, 
are you ?” 
“ Certainly I am.” 
“ Are you as positive of that as you are of 
all the rest you have sworn to ?” 
“ I am, sir.” 
“Well, sir, will you then please to inform 
this jury and myself how that stone came to 
strike you on the back of the neck ?” 
Witness was evidently non-plussed, and a 
roar of laughter burst from bench, bar and 
jury, as well as the spectators. 
“ I am not done with you yet,” exclaimed 
the defendant, as Mr. Dodder seemed rather 
uneasy and inclined to vacate the chair. 
“Wliose house do 1 live in, Mr. Dodder?” 
“ I consider it mine.” 
“ Did you serve a notice on me not to use 
the rooms, the garret or the cellar, when I 
was moving in it ?’’ 
“ Yes, sir.” 
“ Was there any thing else to use, sir ?” 
“ No, sir.” 
“Who built the house?” 
“ The Plank Road Company.” 
“ In whose possession is it, Mr. Dodder ?” 
“ Plank Road Company.” 
“ How did you come to say that the house 
was yours, when the Company have it in 
possession and built it?” 
Another burst of laughter followed this 
question and poor Dodder looked as if he was 
sitting upon a hatchet. Dodder gave no 
reply. 
