1875.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
301 
times at least, at such intervals as may be found 
necessary to save a loss of beans by shelling and 
scattering. Two sleds of the kind shown in the 
illustration, will be needed for 10 acres, and three 
will be enough for 20 acres. The runners are made 
Of two-inch plank, from six to twelve inches wide, 
which are fastened together by two or three other 
planks, spiked cross-wise upon them. A narrow 
strip of board may be nailed on each side, to keep 
the boxes in place. The loose boxes are more con¬ 
venient than fixed ones, as the load may be quickly 
dumped from them into the yard where the beans 
are to pop out. The yard may be a smooth piece 
of hard prairie, on which the grass has been cut 
close to the ground, left to dry, and then burned 
and swept clean of stubble, or a barn-yard fenced 
with boards may be used. For 20 acres, a yard 100 
feet square will be needed. The ground is swept 
clean and the spikes thrown upon it, a border of at 
least 20 feet wide being left all around, to catch 
SLED FOR CASTOR BEANS. 
those beans that pop outwards, as the capsules 
open forcibly. After two days the heap should be 
turned over with a garden rake, or a hay rake. At 
the end of four or five days the beans will be nearly 
all out, and the refuse may be raked into a pile 
where it should be left until the whole crop is har¬ 
vested. Those beans that have not popped out, can 
then be gathered together the last thing. The 
beans and burs are then swept up and separated in 
a common fanning mill, after which the beans are 
put in bags for sale. The harvesting of this crop 
being light easy work, may all be done by children, 
the largest boy or girl taking charge of the horse. 
A Stacking Stage. 
When straw from the thrashing machine is 
stacked in a hurry, it is very convenient to have a 
stage upon which one of the pitchers may stand, to 
reach the top of the stack. A stage is also very 
useful for finishing off a round hay or grain stack. 
There are many other uses upon the farm, or in the 
orchard, or garden, to which this stage, shown in 
the annexed illustration, may be put. It is useful 
in gathering fruit, in painting or repairing build¬ 
ings, or in digging deep cellars, when it is neces¬ 
sary to make two lifts. It is very simple in con¬ 
STACKING STAGE. 
struction. A stout frame is made, much like a 
broad ladder without rungs, and joined together by 
cross bars and braces. A series of holes are bored, 
into which two bars are fitted, and a platform as long 
and wide as may be needed, is made to rest upon the 
bars. The bars are supported by chains or ropes, 
as shown in the engraving, or by still braces under¬ 
neath, if the ropes would be in the way of doing 
the work in hand. A platform six feet long, by 
three broad, will be required in stacking, but for 
other purposes a much narrower one may be used. 
By changing the construction somewhat, the frames 
may be made to answer the double purpose of sides 
for wagon racks, for hauling hay or grain from 
the field, as well as for a support for the stage. 
Hints for the Workshop. 
The hammer best suited for all the purposes of 
the farm-workshop is one made very broad across 
the eye, so as to 
take a wide handle; 
such a hammer is 
shown in fig. 1, and 
will be seen to be 
very strong in the 
part where they 
are generally the 
weakest. The han¬ 
dle is not easily 
broken and can 
Figs. 1 and 2. 
HAMMER AND CHISEL. 
not come loose if properly wedged in. The ham¬ 
mer is thin in the eye, and is therefore lighter than 
an ordinary hammer of the same strength, while 
the weight is accumulated in the face where it is 
most needed. In place of the usual claw, there is 
a rounded nose, which can be used for riveting or 
doing fine work on the anvil. This hammer is a 
carpenters’ and blacksmiths’ hammer in one. The 
handle should be made oval, that it may not turn 
in the hand ; the part grasped in the hand should 
be large enough to give a firm hold without cramp¬ 
ing the hand in use, and the neck of the handle 
should be worked down so as to make it some¬ 
what elastic, and prevent that jarring of the mus¬ 
cles of the hand, which is often very annoying. 
The handles of chisels are very apt to be spoiled 
by battering or splitting in use ; a method of pre¬ 
venting this is shown in fig. 2. The top of the 
handle is sawed off, and two pieces of sole or belt 
leather cut to fit neatly, with a slight bevel up¬ 
ward, are tacked on with wrought or copper nails. 
The handle will then wear much longer than with¬ 
out this precaution, and if a hammer should be 
used to strike it, no injury will be done, nor will 
the face of the mallet be beaten out of shape, as 
often happens when the handles have iron rings. 
About Splitting Rails. 
For split rails only straight grained timber should 
be chosen. It is better to have knotty twisted 
timber sawn into posts and rails, or boards, than to 
waste it by working it up into poor weak splintered 
rails. The logs being chosen, the tools required 
are a maul, a few sharp-pointed iron wedges, two 
axes, and a dozen wedges of some tough hard 
wood. These wedges are best made of second 
growth hickory, or other tough wood of uneven 
grain. Small trees, of four inches in diameter, 
grown upon poor rocky soil, make the best wedges. 
They should be made with a slight ridge in the 
center of the bevel from shoulder to point, and 
above the shoulder the edge should be beveled oil 
all round, to prevent battering and splitting the 
top. The form of the wooden wedge, as well as 
tl^t of a well-shaped maul, is shown in fig. 1. 
The maul or beetle should be protected with 
iron rings, and the handle ought not to be more 
than twenty-four inches long. The iron wedges 
should be square at the heel, tapering evenly to the 
point, which should be steeled and be kept ground 
sharp. The log to be split should be first mark¬ 
ed on the line of the split with an ax driven by 
light blows of the maul. Two iron wedges are 
then driven in by alternate blows, and if the log is 
large, three will be needed. A single wedge may be 
buried in the center of the log without splitting it, 
but by using two at the same time an even seam will 
be opened. Wooden wedges are then driven in the 
opening on the side of the log, until it is split in 
halves from end to end. When very large pine 
-MAUL AND WEDGES. 
logs are to be split, a thick slab should be taken off 
from each side, and the central part again reduced 
by portions taken off each side of that, and the 
square center is then split as if it were a 6mall log. 
If the timber is inclined to run out and not split 
straight, an ax is driven in with the maul along the 
line where the timber ought to split, and iron 
wedges are driven in along this line; any “ strings ” 
which may remain are cut through with the ax. 
The half of the log is then split in the manner 
shown in the illustration into two quarters, com¬ 
mencing at one end. The quarters are split some¬ 
what differently. Instead of commencing at the 
end, the sharp wedges are driven in the side, and 
the central portion of the piece of timber is split 
off first. The next layer is then taken, which is 
split again into two parts, always driving the wedges 
in the middle, and looking out for the running of 
the timber, and preventing it as already explained. 
The outside portion is then split into halves, and 
Fig. 2.— MANNER OF SPLITTING. 
then into quarters, or into five rails if necessary. 
These methods of splitting are shown in fig. 2. 
Two Handy Bolt Wrenches. 
A wrench should be carried along with every 
vehicle, implement, or machine, in which there are 
bolts that are liable to work loose. 
A wrench that will fit bolts or 
nuts of various sizes, such as is 
illustrated at figure 1, is very con¬ 
venient. It is made of light square 
bar iron, and has a sliding jaw 
upon it. By moving thi6 jaw up 
or down, the wrench may be made 
to fit several sizes of nuts. Another 
handy wrench, a description of 
which is given us by a correspond¬ 
ent, is shown at figure 2. This is 
an ordinary wagon bolt and 
wrench, for the “hammer strap.” 
Fig. 1 . wrench. 
Fig. 3.— WRENCH ON PLOW. 
Fig. 2.—WRENCH. 
In the wings of the wagon wrench, however, are 
cut square holes of different 6izes, as 4, 1, and 14 
