52 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[February, 
fair face of the farm into unsightly patches. 3. 
They prevent the adoption of the best systems 
of agriculture. 4. They harbor vermin. 5. 
The headlands beside them not only occasion 
a great waste of land, but they foster the growth 
of troublesome weeds, which spread yearly 
from them into the cultivated land adjoining. 
Therefore, we say, do away with fences 
wherever possible ; spend a part of the time, at 
least, that is now occupied by repairs, in re¬ 
moving them altogether; make the fields larger, 
and lessen the growth of troublesome weeds. 
These remarks will naturally lead to the in¬ 
quiry, How shall we get rid of the stones? and 
to the second one, Shall we use them in making 
underdrains ? Stones may be advantageously 
disposed of in two ways: 1. Build them up into 
sightly, cylindrical piles in corners of the fields, 
and cover them with Virginia Creeper or some 
other vine. This is the easiest way to manage 
the question, and adds to the beauty of the 
farm. 2. Bury them in the ground. In this we do 
not recommend generally that they be used in 
making underdrains. The cheapest way is to 
dig holes and trenches, dump the stones in, and 
cover them up. Whenever tiles can be de¬ 
livered on the farm for three cents a foot it will 
be much cheaper to drain the land with tiles 
than with stones, although these be dumped, 
ready for use, at the banks of the ditches, 
—cheaper in first cost, because the amount of 
excavation required for tiles is very much less 
than the cost of laying the stones; cheaper m 
the long run, because a well-laid tile drain is 
an absolutely permanent improvement, while 
the best laid stone drain is constantly subject to 
lasting and annoying obstructions. 
Farm Bridges—How to Make Them. 
A permanent stream is a fine thing on a farm; 
in fact, it is so anywhere. The longer we live, 
the more we love water—running water, 
springs, rills, brooks, rivulets. If the rivulets 
cross the farm, we are obliged often to cross 
them, and have our choice of doing so by a bridge 
or by a ford, which is deep in the spring, liable 
to be washed out or piled full of stones and 
gravel banks by summer and autumn rains, and 
icy and often impassable in winter. With a 
from the end of the sill. The two posts on the 
same side of the bridge are connected by a stout 
hand-rail, into which the posts are let two- 
thirds through, and pinned. Neither the mor¬ 
tises in the rails, nor the tenons in the posts 
should be cut before the sills are laid and the 
posts set, especially in the case of diagonal cross¬ 
.—BRIDGE TRUSS. 
ings, for a very little twist makes either the post 
or rail liable to split. When the hand-rails are 
on, lay the string-pieces and spike them to the 
sills and to the posts. They may be of chest¬ 
nut, pine, spruce, or hemlock, and upon them 
lay the flooring of oak, chestnut, pine, or spruce 
plank, the thickness being governed by the 
amount and character of the travel which will 
pass. White oak is, no doubt, the best flooring, 
if we regard simply durability, but it is objec- I 
Fig. 1.—FRAME BRIDGE. 
ford for wagons, we almost always need a foot¬ 
bridge of some kind in addition. Good bridges 
are, therefore, next to a necessity on a well- 
managed, well-watered farm. These are easily 
made when the streams are small and stones are 
plenty; for walls being laid on each side so as 
to give a sufficient channel for the water at its 
greatest rush, flat stones, rough, stone arches or 
timber, to be covered with planks, are laid 
across. When, however, the stream is wide or 
the channel deep, the bridge becomes an import¬ 
ant structure, and, both for safety and durabili¬ 
ty, should be constructed with care. We show 
in figure 1 a substantial bridge-frame, made as 
follows: Two hewn or sawed chestnut, oak, or 
pine sills are laid upon the walls; in these, near 
each end, a post is set, mortised in, and braced 
Fig. 3. —STRENGTHENED STRING-PIECE. 
tionable when heavy loads have to be hauled up 
by teams standing upon the bridge, as is often 
the case. Oak, unless subjected to constant 
wear, becomes so hard and smooth that horses 
slip badly upon it. This plan for a bridge is 
susceptible of any degree of rustic or other or¬ 
namentation ; it is simple, durable, and good 
enough for streams not so wide that the string- 
pieces will vibrate perceptibly under the passage 
of heavy loads. For wider streams heavier 
stringers stiffened in some way are employed. 
Figure 2 represents a good form for an end 
string-piece of a bridge sixteen to thirty feet 
long. The truss-beams are about half the size 
of the main timber, and are scarfed or notched 
to bear against its ends, while their upper ends, 
bearing against each other, are connected by a 
long bolt or rod having a screw and nut at one 
end, and a broad head and washer at the other, to 
a.cross-beam placed athwart the bridge and under 
all the string-pieces. The rod is 
of three-quarter-inch to inch 
iron, and passes through the 
main-timber and cross-pieces. 
Bridges may be made with three 
of these trusses for string-pieces, 
but they are always awkward in 
the middle of a bridge, and a 
better way is to stiffen a timber 
by a long iron rod passing di¬ 
agonally through its ends and 
under the cross-timber, in the 
manner shown in figure 3. Such timber maybe 
used in any desired number under the floor of the 
bridge, the planks being spiked directly upon 
them. Such bridges are usually made of sawed 
timber, and are not easily ornamented in a sim¬ 
ple rustic way. They are, however, adapted to 
any desirable “architectural” ornamentation. 
Rich Grass. 
There is one point in our December chapter 
of “Walks and Talks on the Farm” to which 
we desire to call especial attention, since it is a 
point that farmers are apt to overlook, and one 
which their best interests require that they 
should always bear in mind. It is, that one ton 
of very rich hay is more economical to feed than 
two tons of coarse and over-ripe strawy hay. 
In feeding the latter it is necessary, in order 
to have a sufficient amount of nutriment, to add 
grain to the fodder; while in the other case the 
hay itself is so rich that in consuming the same 
weight even more extra nutriment than is con¬ 
tained in the added grain 
may be assimilated. This 
the article itself tells, and 
tells very clearly. We only 
desire to carry the argument 
to its legitimate conclusion, 
which is, that in all cultiva¬ 
tion of the farm, year after 
year, it should be constantly 
borne in mind that the cultivation by which 
we rid the land of weeds and foul grasses, 
for the benefit of the growing crop, and 
the manure which we add for the increase of 
the yield, tells with great effect not only on the 
crop which we are raising, but on the future 
capacity of the soil to produce more nutritious 
grasses when it is permanently laid down. 
Furthermore, it indicates very strongly an 
additional reason for avoiding excessive grain 
growing and the too common 
practice of laying down land to 
grass after a series of exhausting 
crops, trusting to get the little 
manure that remains in the form 
of poor hay, and then to have the very last drop 
of life-blood sucked out of the impoverished 
land by poor and stunted pasture grasses. 
Faith, in Farming. 
The sight of a new barn eighty feet long by 
fifty in width, built in the most substantial man¬ 
ner, and with all the appliances for handling 
and storing crops easily, and for making manure 
on a large scale, is an indication of that faith 
which is so often wanting upon the farm. There 
is a man who believes in improved husbandry, 
and is willing to invest ten thousand dollars, 
or full half of his capital, in a good barn. He 
has no doubt that he can so manage his farm 
and barn as to get back the interest on all the 
money invested in it. In his view the barn is 
worth more to him than the same amount of 
money invested in bank stock or in. Govern¬ 
ment bonds. This kind of faith is still the ex¬ 
ception among farmers. Very few live up to 
the light they have, and are willing to invest 
their money when they have every reason to 
believe it will pay well. They know very well 
the efficiency of well-made yard manures, and 
feel the need of more of them every year. Yet 
they hesitate about putting a cellar under the 
barn, or building sheds and hovels around the 
yard, for the purpose of sheltering the manure, 
and the men while they are at work upon the 
compost heaps in stormy weather. They have 
muck and peat enough to learn its great value, 
and yet they hesitate about using labor enough 
to keep a large stock always on hand. Few in¬ 
telligent men doubt the great waste of feeding 
cattle at the stack in the winter, and yet they 
do not provide the necessary barn room or sliec.s 
to protect the animals and save the soiling of 
the fodder. They follow the old wasteful meth¬ 
ods mainly, because custom has made them 
easy. It is conceded by all who have tried 
them, that we have new varieties of potatoes 
more prolific than the old, much less liable to 
rot, and of fair quality for the table. And yet 
the mass of farmers cling to the old, in spite of 
the rot, because they have a well-established rep¬ 
utation in the markets, and sell well when 
