ti44 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[AuarsT, 
Carrying Hay by Hand. 
■When hay is to be moved but a few rods, it is 
often more convenient to carry it on two poles, 
as represented in the engraving, than it is to 
haul it on a wagon, or cart, or with a horse, as 
illustrated on page 213 (July) of this volume. 
On salt meadows, where the ground is not firm 
enough to hold up a horse, cocks of hay are 
often collected in this manner. Two men are 
able to carry with ease a cock of hay weighing 
from one hundred to two huudred pounds. 
Two smooth poles, seven or eight feet long, 
with the ends rounded, are used; and if the 
cocks are not large, two fork handles will serve 
a good purpose. They are thrust beneath a 
cock, about thirty inches apart; and the men 
press their bodies against it, to keep it from 
turning over either way. Other material besides 
hay may be carried in this manner to good ad¬ 
vantage. Sometimes a lot of corn stalks in 
bundles are all within an area of twenty rods of 
the stack bottom. Two men will gather them 
together with poles quite as soon as they could 
be loaded on a wagon. If the shocks are securely 
bound at the tops, the poles may be thrust be¬ 
neath them. Otherwise the sheaves may be 
laid crosswise on the poles. Stooks of unhusked 
corn, and field beans may also be carried in this 
manner; and nearly every fiirmer, who keeps 
stock, will often find this a much more con¬ 
venient way to carry fodder to his animals, than 
on a fork, when it must be moved to a distance. 
The same method is extensively applied in car¬ 
rying water in a barrel, stone, brick, and other 
building material. Men are much better adapted 
to candying materials than to drawing them, 
and two men will readily carry between them, 
on poles, a cock of hay weighing two hundred 
pounds, when it would greatly fatigue them to 
draw the same cock with a rope around it. 
Plowing in Green Crops for Manure. 
One of the most economical ways of improv¬ 
ing the fertility of an impoverished soil, or of 
renovating a barren one, is by plowing under 
some kind of green crop. Farmers have relied 
chiefly on red clover for this purpose, and there 
are thousands of acres of soil naturally unpro¬ 
ductive, that have been brought to an excellent 
state of fertility by applying gypsum to the 
clover crop, and turning it under as green ma¬ 
nure. Indian corn, buckwheat, and some other 
plants are employed for the same purpose, as 
are also marrowfat peas, sown thick in drills 
between rows of early sweet corn, as soon as 
the corn is cultivated and hoed the last time. 
Then, as soon as the ears are gathered, every 
thing is turned under, by plowing crosswise of 
the rows. In those districts where broom com 
is raised, the portion that remains after the 
brush has been gathered, is usually plowed in to 
enrich the soil. The same thing is practised, in 
some instances, by farmers on our Western 
prairies. Sometimes tall weeds take almost en¬ 
tire possession of a field, which, when they are 
plowed in, furnish much vegetable matter for 
improving the fertility of the soil. 
The usual means employed for turning under 
such materials consists of a log chain, or large 
tarred rope, having one end attached to the outer 
end of the whifiie tree of the offside horse, and 
the other end hitched around the beam of the 
plow near tlie standard as represented by the 
illustration herewith given. The chain should 
always be only long enough to draw the tops of 
whatever is being plowed in, along in the fur¬ 
row, just in time to allow the fuiTow slice wlien 
turning to fall on it. If the chain is a few 
inches too long, the furrow slice will fall upon 
it, and be broken, and displaced, as the chain 
draws out. Take a “ rolling hitch” around the 
beam of the plow, and then adjust the length of 
the chain until the bight of it will remain on 
the turning furrow Slice, only two or three 
inches forward of the point where it comes to 
rest. This will draw the tops of weeds, grass, 
Canada thistles, and cornstalks completely be¬ 
neath the falling earth; whereas without such 
a contrivance, the tops would extend above 
gi'ound, and if not already matured, would 
continue to grow, sometimes quite as well as if 
they had not been plowed in. Sometimes weeds 
and cornstalks are first mowed, close to the 
ground, and hauled into the furrows, as the 
plowing is in progress. But in this practice 
the green material is not distributed as evenly as 
it is when plowed in without being mowed. 
A piece of half-inch round iron bent in the 
form of a letter U is used instead of a chain, 
for drawing under red clover, or other crops. 
But, as a chain is more flexible than an iron 
bow, it has been found more convenient. When 
the plow is drawn by oxen, the chain is attached 
to a stick about 20 inches long, bolted to the 
upper side of a beam, as shown by the preced¬ 
ing engraving. If hitched to the forward end 
of the plow beam, the chain will not always 
run far enough to the right side of the furrow 
to draw in the tops of all the stalks. However, 
if the chain is adjusted correctly as to length, 
the work can be performed quite satisfactorily. 
Some plowmen have considered it essential to 
pass a heavy roller, and sometimes a harrow 
over corn stalks, and weeds. But we have al¬ 
ways found this unnecessary, as the part of the 
team that travels on the unplowed ground, will 
always tread it down as fast as it is plowed in ; 
and they will also bend it over in the right di¬ 
rection. We have plowed in green corn stalks, 
the average hight of which was eight feet over 
the entire field, without using a roller, or harrow 
to lay it down, as the nearside horse and whifiie 
trees broke it down in the most desirable manner. 
Plowmen experience some difficulty in keep¬ 
ing the bight of the chain back in its proper 
place on the turning furrow slice. For this 
reason, they are not able to draw every thing 
under the slices, as is desirable. To obviate 
this difficulty, J. & A. Kilmer, Barnerville, 
Schoharie Co., N. Y., have recently invented 
and patented an improvement, by which the 
drag chain is kept in the place desired. Their 
advertisement in this number will convey a 
good idea of the improved attachment. We 
recently saw it tested in plowing in weeds, and 
it operated in a most satisfactory manner. It is 
strange, indeed, that such a simple and good 
contrivance should not have been thought oL 
before. The improvement can be attached to 
any plow, it being merely a small chain, or 
strap hitched to the bight of the drag chain, 
and then to the right handle of the plow. 
Hutchinson’s Horse Fork. 
Sometimes oxen only are used for hauling 
hay with a wagon, or cart. Then, if the hay is 
pitched off with a horse fork, a yoke of oxen 
is employed instead of a horse, and a strong 
fork is required. For this purpose Mathias 
Hutchinson, of Cayuga County, N. Y., has fur¬ 
nished a photograph of the first fork that 
was made in that county. It is 
not patented; and an ordinary me¬ 
chanic can make one at an expense 
of a few dollars. Friend Hutchin¬ 
son writes; “ The fork from which 
the photograph was taken, had 
been strained by hard usage, and 
the tines straitened. They should 
be made strong, especially near the 
head, if made of iron. Some make 
them of steel. The handle {B) is 
two feet long, the head (A) is three 
feet four inches, both made of hard 
white oak, 3x3 inches square. The 
tines (C7) are two feet long; they should be placed 
10 inches apart and firmly fastened into the head. 
“ The handle and teeth should stand at an 
angle of about sixty degrees. At E the side of 
the handle is gouged out to receive the rope, 
and a latch, made of a piece of iron, held in 
place by the catch (F), retains the rope in the 
groove of the handle. AVhen the forkful is to 
be dropped tlie 
small rope is 
jerked, which 
raises the catch 
{F), when the 
hay falls off, 
and the fork is 
suspended by 
the main rope 
attached to a 
ring at D, at the 
junction of the 
handle and the 
head. A wood¬ 
en button is 
fastened to the 
handle(H), hav¬ 
ing a hole in 
HUTCHINSON’S HAY FORK. gf for 
receiving the latch rope. [We think it would 
be quite as well to let that rope run through a 
smooth hole in the handle.— Ed.] It is simple 
and effective in the hands of a skillful workman, 
on which much depends. It will take off a 
tun of hay at from four to seven draughts in as 
many minutes, unless the hay is very short. A 
few boards should be nailed on the side of the 
ATTACHMKNT FOR TURNING IN WEEDS, ETC. 
