218 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[ J USE. 
the huikliug, ami when the braces were put 
in it was as solid as a balloon frame, and was 
not any more shaken by a heavy wind than such 
a frame building. The roof was nine feet above 
ground with a pitch of four feet in eighteen. 
The building was sixteen by twenty-four, and 
for such a size or for much larger ones that may 
have cross partitions in them, this plan will be 
found very suitable. One man is able to do all 
the work alone, and handle any part of the ma¬ 
terial without help. The trusses are strong 
enough to hold a flooring over-head, but are 
not able to hold any great weight of hay or fod¬ 
der unless strengthened from below by partitions 
or stanchions. For the purposes indicated in 
this article, this method will be found useful 
wherever wooden buildings are used. But this 
method of making the roof truss, figure 1, is 
equally well adapted to heavier buildings, and 
when heavy timbers or scantling are used. 
With a truss roof there is no possibility of its 
spreading, and the same strength is gained with 
lighter timber as when much heavier is used. 
Horizontal Wells. 
A horizontal well is one dug into a hill-side in a 
direction very nearly level, so as to cut a spring 
of water and bring the flow out at the surface 
of the ground. In the engraving (fig. 3) the 
position of the well as to the surrounding 
ground is shown. It is readily seen that if a 
spring of water exists at the end of the well it 
may be reached just as readily by horizontal 
Fig. 1.— CROSS SECTIONS AND PICK. Fig. 3. 
digging from the hill-side as by a vertical well 
sunk from the top of the hill. The water then 
flows from the well of itself, and no pumping 
is needed. The digging of one of these wells 
is cheaper than that of an ordinary well, inas¬ 
much as no hoisting of earth is required, and it 
is done much more quickly. In use it is cheaper 
also, as once the spring is cut, the water flows 
of itself, and no pumping is required. The dig¬ 
ging requires no more precaution than that of 
any other well. 
The proper mode of proceeding is as follows: 
Fig. 3. —LONGITUDINAL SECTION. 
When the spot is cuosen, which should be done 
with reference to the convenience of location, 
as well as to the probability of procuring water, 
an opening is made as small as is possible for 
convenient working. The workman should be 
provided with leather pads over his knees, and 
work in a kneeling position. A short pick is 
used, such as is showm at figure 1, the handle 
of which is about 16 or 18 inches long, and the 
pick itself about 10 inches, to enable it to be 
used in a confined space. The earth is gathered 
into a small box mounted on sled-runners, and 
is drawn out by means of a rope by a boy at 
the mouth, and when empty is drawn back 
again by the man inside. As the earth is picked 
away sufficiently to put the cribbing in place, 
that is put up. The cribbing is of plank—hem¬ 
lock is the best—two inches thick and six or 
eight inches wide. The shape of the well may 
be triangular, as in 
figure 1, or flat on the 
top, as in figure 2. 
The ends are fitted 
together as shown in 
the engraving; and 
as the planks are 
put in they are 
wedged tightly in place by wooden wedges 
or stones. This should be carefully done, 
as on it depends the permanence of the 
work. When the Avell is finished, a tight 
water-trough is laid in the bottom, with no more 
slope than is needed to cause the water to flow. 
This trough empties itself into a tank at the 
mouth of the well, and the overflow should be 
carried away by means of a drain and not be 
allowed to collect into a pool or quagmire; 
unless, indeed, it be utilized by collecting it into 
a tight-bottomed pool for use in dry seasons if 
the well should then fail. This kind of wells 
furnishes one method of procuring water for 
stock of which many might serviceably avail 
themselves. 
-— -——*»«*—---- 
Raising Pigs in the Eastern States. 
A correspondent at Willinmstown, Mass., 
writes: “ Ever since a boy I have intended to 
go into pork-making as a business. All to 
whom I mentioned my purpose seemed to pity 
me; they think it is about the last thing a farm¬ 
er can hope to prosper in. And now, after 
thinking the matter over for ten years or 
more, I feel like seeking yet more light and a 
broader and more intelligent discussion of the 
subject, before I embark in it. The question is, 
Can farmers make pork for a living here at the 
East, and hope to succeed as well as in other di¬ 
rections with similar appliances of brains, soil, 
and money ? Of course I do not expect to fat¬ 
ten hogs here in Massachusetts as they do in Il¬ 
linois or Missouri. My individual plan of feed¬ 
ing would be something as follows: Have the 
pigseome in March and sell them when 9 months 
old. Through the summer feed on green clover, 
cut and fed in troughs, mixed with corn-meal or 
fine feed or bran; and through the full feed on 
mangels, top and root, crushed fine, and mixed 
with meal and wheat feeds in increased quantity. 
I have fed nothing to pigs that seemed to afford 
such satisfactory results, so far as the growth of 
the animal was concerned, as mangels. I wish 
you would give us your views on the matter in 
the American Agriculturist .” 
The subject is not one which can be fully dis¬ 
cussed in a single article. But it may be said 
that it is rarely wise to embark largely in any 
new undertaking; and furthermore it is seldom 
desirable to keep only one kind of stock, and 
this is particularly true of pigs. A certaiu num¬ 
ber can be kept very profitably on the food left 
by other animals, and on the waste of the farm, 
farm-yard, stables, dairy’, house, etc. 
Whether it will pay to “ make pork ” on 
food raised or bought on purpose for the pigs, 
depends very much on what you can get for the 
pork. If we could get 10 cents a lb. for choice 
fresh pork, as a minimum price, and from that 
up to 15 cents, or an average of 12£ cents per lb., 
there would be a reasonable prospect of getting 
a liberal compensation for our time and labor. 
We believe the time is not far distant when such 
prices will be readily obtained for choice fresh 
pork. At present, such pigs as we refer to are 
almost unknown in many markets. A small¬ 
boned, well-fattened, 4-months-old pig, of choice 
flavor, that will dress 45 to 60 lbs., is what is 
wanted—or at least would be wanted as soon as 
it was known. Even now, the miserable, large¬ 
boned, coarse, lean pigs that can be used to cut 
up for fresh pork, are in great demand, and sell 
at higher prices than large well-fattened hogs. 
We like our correspondent’s suggestion in re¬ 
gard to feeding green clover, run through a cut¬ 
ting-box, and fed in troughs mixed with meal, 
and we can bear testimony to the value of man¬ 
gels. Still this plan of feeding will not enable 
us to raise and fatten pigs at present prices. 
When corn is worth only from 10 to 20 cents a 
bushel in the West, we can not hope to compete 
with Western farmers in fattening hogs de¬ 
signed for the pork-barrel, or for curing into 
hams and bacon. Our aim must be to raise pigs 
for fresh pork. If, as we believe, the price will 
ad ranee to what this choice article is really 
worth, then we think our correspondent has a 
reasonable prospect of making money in breed¬ 
ing and fattening young pigs in the manner he 
proposes. And by so doing he would certainly 
add very materially to the fertility of the farm. 
-— -—» « — —- 
A Close Time for the Buffalo. 
As the railroads penetrate into their country’, 
the destruction of buffaloes becomes more wan¬ 
ton and wasteful every y r ear. When the Kan¬ 
sas Pacific Railroad first went through to Denver 
it was thronged with herds numbering thou¬ 
sands of these animals, and the cars were some¬ 
times compelled to stop to allow them to pass. 
Not less than a hundred thousand annually are 
killed on the line of this road. The Atchison, 
Topeka, and Santa F6 road penetrates the region 
further South, where buffaloes are found in im¬ 
mense herds during the winter. Dodge City, 
on this road, has been the principal point of 
shipment for hides and meat in Kansas the 
present season. The town is only about four 
months old, and derives nearly all its importance 
from this traffic. The road reached Dodge 
City’ September 23d, 1872, and from that time 
to the close of the year 43,029 buffalo hides 
were shipped and 71 car-loads of meat, amount¬ 
ing to 1,436,290 lbs. The buffaloes that are 
killed in wanton sport or for the supply of the 
wants of the settlers are not taken into this ac¬ 
count. It is estimated that at least a hundred 
thousand of these animals will be slaughtered 
and shipped at this station the present season. 
And this is only one of the points where this 
destruction is going on. It is easy to see that 
the race can not long survive this indiscrimi¬ 
nate slaughter, vast as is the region in which it 
pastures, and hardy and prolific as it is. If 
there are one million of buffaloes left upon the 
continent, their annual increase is only about 
250,000, if we allow the same rate of increase as 
prevails among Texas cattle. The present rate 
of destruction is probably not less than 400,000 
annually. However this estimate may be, there 
can be no doubt that we are every year making 
large inroads upon our stock of buffalo, and 
