1875.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
4 = 61 
abortion and violent inflammatory diseases. The 
careless feeding of corn in the husk to stock is dan¬ 
gerous, as smut may be very easily swallowed by 
the animals. In husking com, all smutty ears 
should be kept by themselves, and used for pig 
feed, boiling them before feeding them, and throw¬ 
ing away the water in which they were cooked. 
To Make a Tar-Boiler. 
A correspondent asks for a safe method of heat¬ 
ing tar for use in making a cement roof, and for 
other purposes. The apparatus shown in the en¬ 
graving is both safe and convenient for heating 
tab boiler. 
common tar, or gas tar, etc., and is readily moved 
about. It consists of a common sap-kettle, or 
cauldron, set in brick-work, and all mounted upon 
a sled built of heavy plank ; and a hole is bored in 
each runner to facilitate its removal from place to 
place. To set the kettle, a space of the proper size 
for the brick-work is marked off by spiking strong 
cleats to the floor of the sled ; within this a foun¬ 
dation is laid of bricks, well bedded in common mor¬ 
tar ; the brick-work is then built up high enough 
to support the kettle, and leave a fire-place below 
it, and a joint of stove-pipe is built in at the rear. 
All around the top of the sled are nailed strips 
forming a frame, to hold a coating of clay, with 
which the floor is covered, to prevent it from being 
burned. The apparatus should be stationed at a 
safe distance from buildings; and should the tar 
or the sled take fire, it may be easily put out by 
throwing earth upon it In carrying hot tar, a 
pail well hooped with iron should be used. 
--i ra ® » »' -■ ■■■— 
Gauge for Saws. 
In cutting tenons or in other work, where a saw- 
cut to an exact depth is to be made, a gauge will 
be found very useful. This may be fitted to any 
saw by drilling two or three holes in the blade, and 
fastening it in the desired position by thumb¬ 
screws, or common screws with a winged nut. The 
gauge may be a plain, straight-edge of wood, with 
slots cut in it, by which the hight may be regulated, 
and through which the screws may work into a 
common or a winged nut. A mechanic who can 
work metals, may very easily make a neat gauge of 
brass, with a scale upon it, as a guide in the set¬ 
ting. Such a gauge, with the slots, we have seen 
sawn out of heavy sheet brass, with the small saws 
of the Fleetwood Scroll Saw machine, the scale 
being made of fine saw cuts in the edges of the 
SAW-GAUGE. 
slotted portions of the gauge. The holes in the 
saw-plate were also drilled with the drilling attach¬ 
ment of the same machine. A gauge like this will 
be of great use to cabinet makers and amateurs. 
Scalding Hogs. 
A correspondent sends us from Albion, Ill., the 
following excellent plan for scalding hogs, with a 
sketch of his scaldiug vat, which we give in fig. 1 
of the accompanying engravings. This vat is 
made of two-inch pine 
plank, and is G feet 
long, 2 feet high, 3 feet 
wide at the top, and 2 
feet at the bottom. 
The bottom is made of 
galvanized iron, and 
several cross-pieces are 
fixed one inch above 
this bottom, to sup¬ 
port the weight of the 
hog or to protect the 
bottom from injury. 
Two holes are bored 
near the top on one 
side, into which the 
ends of a rope, nine 
feet long, are fixed so 
as to form a loop. The 
vat may be prepared 
for use either by set¬ 
ting it up upon bricks 
or stone-work, or by 
placing it over a trench 
in the ground, and ar¬ 
ranging a smoke-pipe 
at the further end. The 
can be put into a wagon and moved and set up ia 
moment. The fire-tube is made of sneet-iron, tbe 
joint at the edges of the sheet being folded in tbs 
same manner as the edges of a stove-pipe, and ihr. 
joint is cemented with a paste of wood-ashes sad 
lime. The tube should be about eight inches or a 
foot in diameter, and terminate in a smoke-pipe 
Fig. 2.— VAT FOR SCALDING HOGS, 
vat is two-thirds filled with water, and a small fire 
made under it. When the water is so hot that the 
hand can only be held in it for one second,it is ready 
for use. The hog, having been slaughtered, is laid 
upon the bench at the side, with its feet next to 
the vat. The rope-loop being then firmly held, the 
hog is rolled upon it and dipped beneath the water. 
After it hasremaiued there a short time, it is raised 
to be “ aired ” for half a minute, and then replaced 
in the water until the hair will slip. Then, by 
hauling on the rope, the hog may be rolled on to 
the table to be scraped. Two men are able, in this 
way, to handle large hogs. The heat is kept at the 
proper degree by adding cold water, or by increas¬ 
ing the fire. This vat costs seven dollars for ma¬ 
terials and carpenters’ wages. It would be very 
convenient to have a few of these vats in a neigh¬ 
borhood, and those who could not afford to procure 
one of their own, could hire the use of one for a 
small sum. Fifty cents each from several neigh¬ 
bors would pay a good interest on the cost of one 
each year. We have seen a vat similar to this fitted 
with a temporary bottom of boards, and made to do 
regular service during the whole year ; when not in 
use at the slaughtering season, it served as a trough 
for mixing cut-feed, for which it is well adapted. 
A somewhat different vat is shown in fig. 2. This 
we have seen in use where it was highly approved. 
It has the merit of being complete iu itself, and 
and so fitted that it is entirely surrounded with 
water A very little fire serves to heat a vat full 
of water. It is used in exactly the same manner as 
the preceding one. By making a false bottom of 
boards, bored with a number of small holes, com 
or potatoes may be boiled in it for fattening hogs. 
-- ■■ --- 
To Cure a Choked Cow. 
Now that it is the season for turning cows into 
corn-stubbles where turnips have been grown, or 
into orchards where refuse apples have been left, 
or for feeding roots in the yard, we occasionally 
hear of cows being choked. There are in use sev¬ 
eral methods of relieving animals from obstructions 
of the gullet, some of which are dangerous, amd 
on account of the possibility of lacerating the gullet 
by the force used, as bad as the evil they are in¬ 
tended to remedy. A very effective and harmless 
practice is common amongst some of the Scotch 
farmers, whom we have met in the west, they hav¬ 
ing brought it hither from their own country, where 
it is much in use. A round piece of wood, two 
inches thick and seven inches long, is fastened to 
two side-pieces, eighteen inches long, three-quartere 
of an inch thick, and 
two inches wide. Several 
holes are bored through 
the round piece, and a hole 
at the end of each of the 
side-pieces. This con¬ 
trivance is shown in the 
eng’-aving. To use it, 
the round piece is put into 
the mouth of the cow that 
has become choked, and a 
rope being passed through 
the holes in the side- 
pieces, it is fastened to 
her horns, in the manner 
of a bridle. The animal 
breathes through the 
holes in the hit or round 
piece, and in her effort to rid her mouth of this, a 
great flow of saliva takes place, and when she holds 
up her head, this runs down her throat and assists 
in causing the obstruction to be swallowed or 
ejected. Besides—and this is the most important— 
it entirely prevents the animal from becoming’ 
hoven, and thus dying from suffocation. 
--- 
Prolific Corn.— Milton Rude, of Weedsport, 
N. Y., sent to tbe Elmira Farmers’ Club a 6talk of 
halter FOB CHOKEB’ 
cow. 
