1869.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
213 
the engraving). Outside the curb, and attached 
by a leathern strap or hit of chain to the end of 
the cross-piece, as shown, is a treadle, which 
works up and down in a box. One end of this 
rests upon a pin or cleat in the end of the box, 
or is hinged upon it. When any one wishes to 
draw water, lie puts one foot on the treadle, 
and bearing his weight upon it, the cover rises, 
and he can raise the bucket; removing his foot, 
the lid falls of its own accord, provided some 
A COVERED CURB FOR WELLS. 
contrivance, like a lath nailed between the rear 
posts of the curb, prevents its passing the cen¬ 
tre. The cover is made without the slot to re¬ 
ceive the rope, only having a notch to “ gather ” 
it. With the slot, such a cover is perfectly 
applicable to wells that are worked with the 
old-fashioned sweep and pole. 
Farmers and Their Hired Men. 
Probably the difference between farming and 
almost all other kinds of business is more dis¬ 
tinctly marked in the relation existing between 
the employer and his laborers than in any other 
way; and while we fully appreciate the kindly 
relations which grow out of the friendly com¬ 
panionship of isolated residence in the country, 
and of employment at the same work, we have 
been sometimes inclined to think that if a shade 
more, . ot of superiority, but of authority, were 
made to mark the difference between the mas¬ 
ter and the man, farming might become a more 
systematic and more satisfactory business. In 
saying this, we would by no means imply an 
approval of superciliousness of demeanor, of 
unkind treatment or manner, or of any lessen¬ 
ing of the most friendly relations between two 
classes of people, who generally, except for the 
simple fact that one is the employer and the 
other the employed, stand on the same level of 
education and intelligence. We only mean that 
no work can be successful that is not system¬ 
atic. No system can be carried out in which 
there is not one head, responsible for the work¬ 
ing of all subordinates, and for the conforming 
of all parts to the requirements of the whole. 
There is a great deal of humbug in the mat¬ 
ter of the giving of orders to farm laborers. 
The fact exists that the farmer is an employer, 
and the laborer an employe. He is employed 
to do certain things, and to do them when and 
as he is told to. If he fails in this respect, he 
is, or deserves to be, dismissed from the service. 
He understands this perfectly well, and so does 
the farmer, and it is simple nonsense to convey 
orders in the honied phrases,—“ Suppose you 
feed the oxen,” or, “ You may hoe corn awhile 
to-day, if you have a mind to.”- If it is the 
man’s business to feed the oxen, it is the mas¬ 
ter’s business to tell him to do so ; and, it being 
perfectly well understood that the corn is to be 
hoed, and lioed according to orders, there is no 
sense in seeming to leave it to the discretion of 
the workman. An order to do a given piece of 
work is just as much an order when put in one 
form of words as when put in any other; and 
in our view, it implies a lack of good sense on 
the part of the laborer to suppose that he is 
not willing to be told in plain terms,—“ To-day 
you will hoe the corn,” or, “ It is time to feed 
the oxen.” If General Grant had replied to 
Sheridan’s famous communication by saying, 
“You may push things, if you have a mind to,” 
much of the force and formal authority of his 
simple “ Push things ! ” would have been lost. 
Most of our American farm hands have been 
American soldiers, and they have become thor¬ 
oughly used to being told what they are to do 
in plain English; and we know from our own 
experience that they would still prefer, in their 
more peaceful occupation, to have all of their 
directions couched in unmistakable, though by 
no means discourteous, language. It may be 
thought that this is a small matter to write an 
article about, but it is not. The manner in 
which authority is exercised over subordinates 
is an infallible indication of its value and effect; 
and the quiet determination which induces a 
farmer to tell his men in a manly and straight¬ 
forward way what they are to do, indicates by 
no means that he considers himself better than 
they are, but that his work is being carried on 
according to an established plan, and that his 
plan will be executed with that promptness and 
dispatch which are indispensable to success in 
any walk of life, whether in the army, in the 
work-shop, or on the farm. Men who are 
worth having will prefer to have their instruc¬ 
tions given to them in a definite form, as in¬ 
structions, and not as hints; and the most suc¬ 
cessful farmer, other things being equal, will be 
the one who, in this respect, adopts the course 
that we have indicated. 
Pigeon Houses. 
Pigeons are valued both as ornamental 
birds and as furnishing an exceedingly delicate 
article of food. If kept for use, or if reared 
purely for fancy, pigeons must be kept in rooms 
secure from cats, rats, weasels, etc., over the 
stable or some outbuilding. This gives the 
Fig. 1.—RUSTIC PIGEON HOUSE. 
owner access at all times to the birds and. their 
nests. The room is subdivided by lattice- 
work partitions into as many apartments as 
are desirable. When, however, persons do not 
want to make a business of raising pigeons, and 
desire to keep only one, or possibly two, orna- 
Fig. 2.—LOG CABIN PIGEON HOUSE, r 
mental varieties, it is very well to make the 
houses as well as the birds contribute to the 
Plan 1.—20 x 20 in. Plan 2.-24 x 30 in. 
ornamentation of the place. We give herewith 
some engravings of simple “ pole houses,” and 
Fig. 3.—SWISS COTTAGE. 
one which may appropriately be set, as exhibit¬ 
ed, upon a roof. For convenience of examina¬ 
tions, pigeon houses should have the roofs 
keyed on so as to be lifted off. The roofs 
should have wide, projecting eaves and gable 
ends, to keep out the rain; and the houses 
should be fastened very securely by iron straps, 
shaped like the letter L inverted ("1), screwed to 
the bottom of the houses, and to the side of the 
post. The post.'should be very smooth for sev¬ 
eral feet below the top, and painted, to prevent 
vermin getting to the pigeons. Fig. 1 and plan 
1 represent a simple house, 20x20 inches, for a 
single pair of pigeons. This has two brooding 
rooms, and a vestibule or outside room connect¬ 
ing them. The pigeons will make a nest in one 
room, which is spacious, hatch a pair of young 
ones, and before they are old enough to take 
care of themselves, the hen will make another 
nest in the other room, leaving her mate to take 
care of the squabs, which, by the time the lien 
is broody again, will be set adrift. During the 
warm weather pigeons multiply rapidly, and 
the squabs must be provided for in some way, 
or brought to the table, if the accommodations 
are not more spacious than these we are con¬ 
sidering. This house, as is also the Log Cabin, 
fig. 2, is constructed of round and half round 
sticks of as nearly a uniform size as possible, 
which, after drying with the bark on, are tacked 
