92 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[March, 
Fodder Cutting at Ogden Farm. 
One of the items of improved agriculture on 
which the operations of this establishment were 
originally based was the cutting of all hay, corn¬ 
stalks, and other fodder, to be consumed by the 
stock; and the barn was purposely so construct¬ 
ed as to make it inconvenient to feed long fod¬ 
der to animals. For some time, however, it 
seemed quite impossible to secure the regular 
cutting of the feed; for, even when a sufficient 
force was furnished, the labor of turning the 
machine for so large an amount of work was so 
irksome that it was impossible to get it properly 
performed; and the question of mechanical 
power became an important one. It was first 
contemplated to erect a large wind-mill on the 
barn for this purpose; but, in the absence of 
practical evidence that it would succeed, the at¬ 
tempt has not thus far been made. It was 
found, also, that the use of a steam engine would 
possibly vitiate the insurance policy on the barn 
and live-stock; and so recourse was finally had 
to the railway horse-power. A double power, 
used during the summer by an itinerant thrash¬ 
er, has been hired for the winter and set up on 
the main floor of the barn. Its belt being con¬ 
nected with a Daniels’ power liay-cutter, it is 
found that one heavy mule will drive even the 
double horse-power without undue exertion; 
and the amount of hay or cornstalks required 
for the entire foddering of about 30 head of stock 
is cut daily in 30 minutes. There is no difficul¬ 
ty whatever in securing the regular performance 
of the work, since the hay requires no more 
handling than would be necessary to deliver it 
in front of the stalls ; and the subsequent hand¬ 
ling of the chaff with the facilities provided is 
so easy that there is no excuse, and, indeed, no 
temptation, for its neglect. As a consequence, 
whatever advantage may be gained by the cut¬ 
ting of hay,—and so far as can now be esti¬ 
mated in this experiment, it is fully ten per cent 
of the whole,—is attained without additional 
labor by the use of a horse-power, hired for the 
winter for $10, and the daily use of one mule 
for half an hour. Arrangements having been 
perfected for steaming, the hay, after being cut, 
is all subjected to this process before being fed. 
The Distribution of Liquid Manure. 
All plant-food enters the roots of crops in so¬ 
lution in Avater. When ordinary kinds of ma¬ 
nure are applied to the land in a solid form, 
considerable time is usually required for the ac- 
Fig. 1. —MANURE CART ON LEVEI. GROUND. 
tion of the natural forces of the earth and rains, 
air and warmth, before it is all so far part and 
parcel of the soil as to be assimilable by the 
plant. A portion is almost immediately avail¬ 
able, but other portions gradually become so. 
The contrary is true with liquid manure. When 
it enters the soil, a great portion of it is in a 
state of immediate availability, and the rest rap¬ 
idly becomes so. When applied to crops whose 
roots already fill the soil, as to grass or grain, 
a portion is at once seized upon by the plants, 
while the rest, being absorbed by the soil, is fur¬ 
nished as occasion requires. This takes place on 
well-drained soils, most rapidly in moist seasons. 
The application on such land is best made just 
before a moderate rain, or just after one, while 
the soil is still full of water. The reason for 
this is that the large quantity of water causes a 
more general diffusion of the manure than would 
otherwise occur. The idea that manure in the 
liquid form is likely to be lost by leaching is 
erroneous. Any tolerably good soil possesses 
properties which arrest and render solid almost 
Fig. 2.— MANURE CART ON HILLSIDE. 
all substances in solution, having a high manu- 
rial value, like the alkalies, phosphates, and am¬ 
monia. This takes place most rapidly in that 
portion of the top-soil least exposed to the ac¬ 
tion of the elements. Hence it is, that rains, 
while they dissolve plant-food in the top soil, 
cannot carry it far below the surface. If, how¬ 
ever, instead of sinking into the earth, water 
flows over it, great damage may be the result. 
There are many ways of distributing liquid 
manure. It is extensively done by hand, and 
this is the best way for manuring cabbages, 
beans, and all plants growing in hills or distinct 
rows. On grass and grain a very even distri¬ 
bution may be effected from a skillfully handled 
bucket. A French or German farmer accus¬ 
tomed to it will fling his bucketful in fine spray 
over a half circle of 15 feet radius, and no one 
can tell if one part gets more than another. 
For ordinary purposes, and for common peo¬ 
ple, however, a cart made for the purpose is 
most satisfactoiy. We give figures like one 
which we know worked very well and which is 
almost identically like the one engraved, except 
that it has a tin distributor instead of a wooden 
one. Tin ones are light, but hard to clean, and 
they often need cleaning, and soon rust out. 
This cart is a pipe or hogshead set upon an 
axle. There is a hole in the top as it lies ; and 
it is set so that nearly all the water will run out 
of a hole in the rear head. A 3-inch hole is 
made at this point, and a plug with a 2-inch 
bore inserted; or no plug need be used. In 
either case a canvas or leathern hose is attached 
over the hole or to the plug, and a valve is placed 
to close the opening inside of the hogshead, 
which is shown in both fig. 3 and fig. 4. This 
valve is opened by a wire passing out at the top 
where the driver can reach it. The hose is at¬ 
tached to the distributor, and is long enough to 
allow its swinging from side to side, at least a 
foot. This part of the apparatus is easily made 
by taking a piece of 
pump tube 3 inches 
square, having a 2- 
incli bore, cutting 
it of the right 
length, plugging up 
the ends, and boring 
holes at the proper 
distances, more fre¬ 
quent towards the 
ends than in the 
middle, if of large 
size. Holes ’js-inch Fig. 3. valve and strainer. 
in diameter are about right. The distrib¬ 
utor may be attached directly and immovably 
to the cart, or it may swing as shown in the en¬ 
gravings. When this plan is followed, a a | 4 - 
inch bolt should be used, driven from the 
inside through a 5 | 6 -iuch hole. The distributor 
should swing very loose. It will then ac¬ 
commodate itself to inequalities of the sur¬ 
faces, but more especially to uniform inclines, 
like side-hills, 'which it is desirable to travel 
across, and not up and down. Figure 1 exhibits 
the liquid manure cart upon level ground, giving 
a top-dressing to a field of beets or ruta-bagas. 
A few plugs might be inserted, so that only the 
two jets nearest over the rows of roots should 
flow. Figure 2 represents the same cart on a 
side-hill, the distributor retaining its horizontal 
position, whatever be the inclination. Figure 
4 shows the side view and section at once, the 
dotted lines indicating the internal structure. 
There is a screen or strainer, to free the liquid 
from particles of straw, etc., before it enters the 
distributor, seen in fig. 3. As a safeguard it is 
also best to strain all the water through a piece 
of sacking placed in the opening in the top of 
the hogshead. Should the distributor become 
clogged or dirty, it is easily cleaned by knocking 
out the plugs and swabbing it out, clearing the 
holes at the same time. In case pump tubing 
cannot be obtained, substitutes are easily con¬ 
structed, as indicated in figure 4, a, b , and c. 
Great Milkers for Butter Dairies. 
It is fast coming to be understood that for the 
manufacture of butter simply, great milkers are 
not always the best cows. To say nothing of 
the superior butter-making qualities of Jersey 
cattle, the difference in butter-making capacity 
between different cows of any breed depends 
very slightly on the quantity of milk that they 
give and almost entirely on its quality. A 
cow giving ten quarts of milk per day will often 
make more butter than another of the same 
breed giving sixteen quarts; and where this 
is the case, if the business is exclusively, or 
chiefly, the manufacture of butter, the smaller 
