420 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
See to Cleaning the Drains. 
A very important labor of the farm at this season 
is to clear out the open drains. Upon low mead¬ 
ows these will now be filled and choked with a 
mass of weeds and sediment. Unless these are 
Fig. 1.—FOUL DITCH. Fig. 2.—CLEAR DITCH. 
opened at once, it will be too late for the present 
season, and the meadow will be greatly injured for 
the next year. Generally the condition of the 
ditches at this season is as seen in figure 1. This 
shows their appearance in a low meadow on the 
writer’s farm after one season’s growth, although 
the weeds were cut several times. To clean them 
a plow was run so as to throw out a furrow on each 
side. A log of wood hewed to the shape shown at 
fig. 3, to which a pair of old plow handles were 
bolted, was then drawn in the furrow. This 
smoothed the bottom and sides and so plastered 
them that the earth did not fall in again. The 
ditches were then the shape of that shown at fig. 
2, and remained so in the spring when they needed 
no more attention. Where deeper drains have to 
be cleared or made, a different treatment is needed. 
We have used a scoop made of strong sheet iron, 
such as is shown in fig. 4. This was riveted to a 
long curved handle by which a man could reach 
the bottom of a drain without stooping too much. 
If the meadow is very wet and mucky, a board 
should be laid at the side of the ditch upon which 
the workman can stand, (see fig. 5). This will 
keep the feet dry and prevent poaching the surface 
and breaking down the edges of the ditch. Swamp 
shoes may be used in making new ditches where 
the soil is very wet and soft. These shown at fig. 
8 are made of a piece of light wood, ash being 
probably the best, strengthened with two cross 
rleats. A leather strap is fastened to go across the 
loe, and a string is passed around the instep. By 
taking a little care at first any one can walk over a 
soft muddy surface with ease and safety if he will 
only step wide enough apart to avoid putting one 
shoe upon another. The 
sods and muck thrown 
out of these ditehes 
should be left in heaps 
to drain, and when dry 
carted to the barnyard 
where they will make 
excellent material for 
compost heaps, and 
bedding for pig-pens or stables. No person own¬ 
ing a cranberry plantation should fail to clean 
out the ditches as soon as the crop is gathered. If 
there is water in them, the scoop here shown will 
take up both muck and water together, and the 
muck will drain on the bank. The muck taken out 
of the ditches should be mixed with lime and left 
until spring, when it will make an excellent top¬ 
dressing for the vines. 
How to Mend a Chain. 
What is called a loose link is one of those little 
things which cost but little, and which may often 
save a hundred times their cost in time in case of 
a break in a chain. No lumberman’s outfit is com¬ 
plete without a stock of these links, and no farmer 
Fig. 1.— CHAIN MENDED. 
should undertake to haul stones, clear land, or draw 
logs without having a few of them, or at least one 
or two and a few rivets. They are made of iron- 
rod of the best quality, of the same size as the 
links of the chain. For a trace chain, nail-rod is 
the proper size, and quarter- 
inch or three-eighths-rod is 
best for ox chains. The link 
is made, but not closed, and 
the ends are beaten out and 
holes punched in them. The 
link is left open sufficiently 
to receive the ends of the 
broken chain, and is closed with a hammer upon 
a stone or a log of wood ; a rivet is then inserted 
and clinched, and the chain is thus made fit for use 
again in two minutes. The open link is shown 
at fig. 2, and the link closed at fig. 1. Those who 
have a portable forge can make a stock of these 
links in a spare hour, which would cost several 
dollars if made at the village blacksmith’s, with¬ 
out counting loss of time in going thither. 
Fig. 2.— LINK. 
eastern market, and a large farm choicely located 
in the west. The fact is, irrigation by wells may pay 
on a valuable market garden, but never can on the 
ordinary crops of a farm under any circumstances. 
To Prevent Cows Sucking Themselves. 
A correspondent favors us with some plans for 
preventing the annoyance caused by self-sucking 
cows. This trick is a difficult one to cure. Some 
obstacle that can not be avoided, must be put in 
their way, and used permanently, or they will re¬ 
turn to their bad habit. One plan is to bend two 
pieces of hickory timber, or to use two ox-bows 
fastened together by two iron rods on each side. 
Iron staples are fastened near the bottom of the 
Fig. 1.— FRAME FOR SUCKING COWS. 
bows, through which two bars are slipped and 
fastened. This is shown in figure 1. These bars 
project along the sides of the cow, and while they 
allow her to feed, they will not permit her to turu 
her head towards her flank, so as to suck herself. 
Another plan is to 
make a bag of coarse 
sack cloth, which fits 
around the udder, 
and fasten straps to 
it, as shown in figure 
2. These straps are 
buckled or fastened 
by snap hooks across 
the loins and behind 
the buttocks. A 
double strap passes 
from the forward one 
on each side of the 
tail, and the strap 
which holds up the 
rear end of the bag, 
passes through loops 
at the ends of this 
double strap. There 
are only two buckles 
to fasten, and the bag 
is made to fit so tightly, that the cow can not get 
her nose under the edge of it. Either of these 
plans are effective if properly applied. 
Fig. 2.— BAG FOR SELF¬ 
SUCKING cow. 
A Portable Fence. 
The Quantity of Water needed for Irriga¬ 
tion. —A scientific paper recently stated that a 
flowing well furnishing 1,000 gallons of water per 
hour, would water a section of 640 acres of land. A 
well of this size, bored to 1,000 feet in depth, would 
cost $10,000. The deduction is therefore made that 
the irrigation of a farm of 640 acres on the plains 
would be a very profitable business, and might 
make a nucleus for a stock range of many thousand 
acres. This estimate is remarkably incorrect, and 
serves to very dangerously mislead people who are 
themselves too sanguine, and are inclined to think 
this business of irrigation by wells a very attractive 
one. The fact is that 1,000 gallons of water an 
hour will only irrigate two acres of land. A thou¬ 
sand gallons ef water, running for 24 hours, spread 
over two acres of ground, will supply just about 
one quart per square foot, a quantity obviously not 
too much for its daily supply in an arid climate and 
in a porous, thirsty soil. The usual allowance by 
irrigators for an acre of land is one quart (about a 
litre) per second continuously flowing. If this is 
figured out, it will be found to approach very near¬ 
ly a quart per square foot per day. To spend 
$10,000 to irrigate two acres of land, even were the 
water supply absolutely certain forever, (which a 
well is not), would be too costly, when that sum 
will buy a good farm within 10 miles of a good 
Of the many varieties of portable fences which 
have been in use, the greater part are objectionable 
on one or another account. Some require too much 
trouble to set up, some are too easily blown down, 
while others are only portable in name. At this 
A PORTABLE FENCE. 
season many farmers in the middle and southern 
states have green crops to be fed off by sheep, or 
for some reason wish to divide their pastures. The 
fence here illustrated will serve this purpose, for 
which we have recently seen it in use, as well as 
