394, 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[August, 
both ends, is passed horizontally through the 
spring, and this will prick the ^ides of the cow 
if she attempts to suck. YVe believe the con¬ 
trivance will work, and it is not hard to make. 
How to Build a Row-boat. 
Those who live near the water are quite sure 
to have a boat of some kind, if it be only a 
roughly made skitf, or a “ dug-out.” Rowing 
is capital amusement and good exercise, and a 
boat is not only a source of pleasure, but is, in 
certain localities, of great use. We recently 
saw in an English magazine, directions for 
building a boat, the engravings of which w’e 
copy. Oak is the most durable material, but 
white cedar, or even pine, will make a much 
lighter boat. Figure 1 gives a general view of 
the boat, which is intended to be 1G feet long, 
and 3 feet wide. Two boards 16 feet long 
and 16 inches wide will be required for the 
sides; three boards of the same length and a 
foot wide will be needed for the bottom, besides 
material for the stern and other parts. The 
Fig. 5. 
1.—THE BOAT COMPLETE. 
boards for the sides have two blocks, each 2 3 | 4 
feet long, placed between them, and they are 
bound tightly by means of a rope, as shown at 
II, II, in figure 2. Insert a strong rod between 
the ropes at J , and twist it gradually until the 
ends of the boards nearly meet. Now insert the 
Fig. 2. —SHAPING THE BOAT. 
cut-water, which should be a strip 18 inches 
long, 3 inches wide, and an inch thick; twist 
the ropes until the cut-water is held fast. Se¬ 
cure the stick so that the ropes cannot untwist, 
and then bore several holes through both boards 
and the cut-water, and secure all three firmly 
A A 
"5= 
B 
Fig. 3.— THE BOTTOM OF THE BOAT. 
with screws. The stern is shown in figure 4. 
It is 3G inches wide at top, and 18 inches deep, 
and is fixed firmly to the end of the boat by 
means of long screws. 
The bottom of the boat is made of three 
pieces, as in fig. 3, 
the edges being rab¬ 
beted, as shown at 
B. The boards are 
held together by 
four pieces, A, A, 
screwed on firmly. 
The bottom is se¬ 
cured to the sides 
by means of long, 
slender screws, carefully put in, the cross-pieces 
being uppermost. The keel should be a strip 
Fig. 4.— THE STEEN. 
an inch square, and firmly fixed along the bot¬ 
tom, exactly in the center. The rudder is shaped 
as in fig. 5, with a cross-piece at 
the top, to which small ropes 
may be attached for the purpose 
of working it. It has two iron 
hooks, D, D, to enable it to 
be hung to a strip, A , fig. 3, 
which is placed exactly in the 
middle of the stern, and is 
furnished with two iron eyes or 
screw rings to receive the hooks. 
Row-locks and seats are to be provided, as in fig. 
1. The boat is now to be caulked, which is done 
by stuffing tow or oakum into every seam or crev¬ 
ice, and afterwards pouring melted pitch over 
them. If all has been thoroughly done, the boat 
M ill be water-tight, and may then he painted in¬ 
side and out of such color as may suit the taste. 
When to Sow Clover and Grass Seed. 
There is much discussion upon this subject 
by the Solons who figure at our Farmers’ Clubs 
in cities. It is claimed as a 
somewhat novel discovery that 
grass seed will grou' in any well- 
prepared soil, at any season of 
the year, and without any 
sheltering crop of spring or 
winter grain, as is commonly 
practiced. The old-style farmer, and the new- 
style, if he has any brains, sows his grass seed 
with his spring grain from convenience, rather 
than from any supposed benefits ■which the grain 
affords the springing grass. The ground has 
been in a course of preparation for grass during 
a rotation of four or five years. It 
has been well manured, thoroughly 
ploM-ed, and harrowed, and is in the 
best condition in which the ordinary 
implements of tillage can put it to re¬ 
ceive the seed. He gets his crop of 
grain and his ground stocked with 
clover and grass, at one operation. It 
is laid doM'ii and the plow has no 
more to do wfitli it for from two to five years, 
according to the rotation adopted. He expects 
the grain to keep the clover in check until it is 
harvested, and the clover to keep the grasses in 
check until the third season after the sowing. 
We claim for this practice that it is good 
husbandry. If we raise spring 
grain at all, it comes in as u’ell 
at this point in the rotation, as 
at any other. If we do not sow 
with grain either in the spring or 
fall, M T e are under the necessity 
of plowing and preparing the 
soil expressly for grass seed, 
which involves expense with¬ 
out any corresponding ad¬ 
vantage. Lau’ns and small pieces of land that 
are very thoroughly prepared by subsoiling 
and coating with very fine loam may be seeded 
doM'ii at any time when the ground is open, yet 
there is danger of killing the young grass by 
drought in midsummer, and by frost in winter. 
The best months in the year for stocking land 
with grass, in the latitude of New York, are 
April, August, and September; and nine-tenths 
of all the seeding is probably done in the 
first and last of these months. 
- -»« -- »-•> - 
Cheap Material for Drains. 
The question of underdraining is attracting 
more and more attention, and a growing desire 
naturally exists for some material better adapted 
than tiles for those parts of the country where 
tiles are not made, and to which their transpor¬ 
tation would be costly. Stones we consider out 
of the question for any organized system of 
underdraining. Not only are they expensive to 
prepare and to lay properly in the ditch, but 
they require a so much larger ditch that the 
extra cost of digging would usually be more than 
the cost of providing a more permanent conduit. 
Brush, poles, gravel, etc., serve for temporary 
use in new countries, but they are not to be con¬ 
sidered when better material can be procured. 
Boards sawn from wood that is of no value 
for any other purpose, coated with coal tar, or, 
what is still better and cheaper, with crude 
carbolic acid, will last for an almost indefinite 
time when buried deep 
enough to be kept al- 
M’ays w r et. If these 
boards are nailed to¬ 
gether so that they can¬ 
not be displaced by the 
pressure of the earth, 1. 
and are made in sections not more than 
five or six feet long, they may be laid in a 
narrow ditch and will form a drain only inferior 
to those made M 7 ith tiles and collars. It is usu¬ 
ally recommended that the drain be made of 
two strips, one 2 inches M'ide, and one 3 inches 
u T ide, nailed together as shown in figure 1—the 
earth bottom of the ditch forming the floor over 
which the water is to run. This drain answers 
a good purpose so long as it remains open, but 
the liability of the floor of the ditch to be wash- 
ed away by the current is a serious objection 
to it, for the earth removed from one place may 
be deposited in another, and either obstruct 
the drain entirely or seriously retard its flow. 
The use of three boards, as shown in figure 2, is 
much more satisfactory. 
These strips are each 3 
inches u T ide and 1 inch 
thick, securely nailed 
together, so that the fill¬ 
ing of the drain will not 
obstruct them. This 
conduit will have a 
capacity equal to a 
l’ja-inch tile, and will 
suffice for all lateral 
drains not more than 1,000 feet long. At the 
lower angle (at A) openings should be made 
by cutting notches in the corner of the board, 
B , before the trunk is nailed together. In 
laying, the conduit should be placed with the 
angle A at the bottom. This will ensure the 
washing out of any silt that may get inte the 
drain, as even a small stream must flow in that 
part where all silt would accumulate. It also 
places the openings for the admission of the 
water where they should be, because the M'ater 
enters the drain by rising into it front below. 
For main drains and long laterals, wide,’ boards 
may be used. To bear the pressure of the earth, 
the corner C should be more strongly nailed 
than the others, which, when once the drain is 
laid, will have little tendency to be displaced. 
Private Herd Records. 
Breeders who do not let their cattle run pro¬ 
miscuously, but who make any effort to improve 
their stock, should keep accurate records of 
their breeding. These records should show the 
name, dam, sire, color, age, breeder’s name, if 
bought, and any facts known in regard to the 
pedigree of every animal, male or female, used 
for breeding purposes. It is found convenient, 
