^GRICULTURe^' 
PROCRESS AND IMPROVEMENT 
[SINGLE NO. TEN CE 
TERMS, $3.00 PER YEAR.] 
straight At all events, not rounded as seen in the 
defective teeth shown in tig. 3. 
This illustration (tig. 3,) also exhibits a very 
common defect from the unskillful use of the 
tile, by which every other tooth is shorter than 
the rest. The surface touched by the tile, of all 
teeth of this kind, should be u perfect plane, uot 
rounded or uneven, and the lines forming the 
cutting edges straight, excepting the deviation 
caused by the “set.” The cut of this outer 
edge and of the extreme point is very important 
in cross-cutting saws. Where there is any fail¬ 
ure of this, the saw will not freely cut its way. 
Much pressure and friction result against the 
aides of the teeth and blade of the saw and it 
works with difficulty. 
in fig. 1 the teeth, A, A, A, are seen from the 
inside, those marked B, B, from the outside. By 
setting the points of the teeth are bent from the 
inside outwards, in very flue-toothed saws the 
whole tooth is thus bent or “set,” but in ordi¬ 
nary hand saws and the like, not above % to of 
the length of the tooth should be taken. The 
Object of the set being that the cut of the teeth 
should be Bomewhat wider than tho thickness of 
the blade, and enough of the poiul of the tooth 
should be taken in the set to enable it to cany 
forward the dust as fast as it is loosened. If too 
little of the point of the tooth is set, the chips 
will rise and slip by the side of the teeth. If 
too much of the length of the tooth is bent out 
there is unnecessary friction in passing through 
the kerf, in all cases tho widening caused by 
the set should be the least possible with tho 
easy working of the saw. l. w. 
AX ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With an Able Corps of Assistants and Contributors 
Hon. ITEfTItY 8. RA.HDALL, LT,. t>„ Editor of the De¬ 
partment of Sheep Husbandry. 
Hon. T. C. PET EUR, late President N. T. State Ag'l 
Society, Southern Corresponding Editor. 
GLEZEN F. WILCOX. Associate Editor. 
Tub Rural Nkw- Yokkkb Is designed to be nnr-nr- 
passed In Value, Portly, and Variety or Contents. Its 
Conductor earnestly labors to render the Rural ft Kell- 
able Guido on all the important Practical, Scientific and 
other Subjects connected with the business of those 
whose Interests It zealously advocates. As a Family 
Jours al it Is emhieaUy Instructive.and Entertaining — 
being so conducted that U can he saroly taken to the 
Homes of people of Intelligence, taste and discrimination. 
It embraces more Agricultural, Horticultural, SclentUlc, 
Educational, Literary and Xt-ws Matter, Interspersed 
with appropriate engravings, than any other journal,— 
rendering It by far the most complete AoaiopLTCRAL, 
Literary and Family Newspaper in America. 
Our engraving represents u simple attachment 
to a plow, intended to keep the coulter free 
from obstructions when plowing in stubble or 
turning under long manure. It consists of a rod 
of iron, one end of which is attached to the 
wheel of the plow in such a maimer that its 
turning will give the rod a backward aud for¬ 
ward motion. The rod passes along under the 
beam and is bent around Its base, or the shank 
of the plow in wooden-beamed ones, just above 
the mold hoard and forms a loop against the 
coulter. This loop working backward and 
forward works off all obstructions from the 
coulter. 
t3T* For Terms and other particulars ace last page 
Every observer knows that a great many horses 
arc lamed by neglect in shoeing, or by doing the 
work badly. In the winter time a great deal is 
neglected ; shoes arc left on too long, sometimes 
all winter, and the hoof becomes contracted and 
ill-shaped. If farm horses arc not to he worked 
In winter or driven much on the t oad it is better 
to pull their shoos off at once. A little driving 
on soft roads, or working in plowed ground, is 
good at any time for tio> feet when shoes are 
pulled oil’ that, have hecin ♦Vw alow* tlm*» if 
is a very great risk to let Worses nm a long time 
without re-setting their shoes—after two months 
it becomes a long fore— v d lt> • equally risky 
to drive on slippery road'- without being well 
shod. In nailing on shoes be careful not to nail 
yery near the heel, and give the shoe spread 
enough so it will not contract that important 
part of the foot.” _ 
Renovating a Worn-out Farut. 
S. 8. 0., Madison Co., N. Y., writes us as fol¬ 
lows:—“I have u farm, the soil of which is a 
very light gravel, and it has been plowed and 
the crops drawn off for some twelve or llfteen 
years. The soil is badly exhausted; now which 
is the quickest and cheapest way to restore it to 
productiveness ? Horse and cow manure can be 
had for one dollar per two-horse load. Is it bet¬ 
ter to pay that for manure or buy bay and stock 
each fall and feed on the farm V Or Is some 
other way cheapest and best?” 
Here is a fine subject for readers of our Far¬ 
mers’ Club to speculate on. What do you say 
to it? In this case apparently neither under¬ 
draining nor Buhsoiling are needed. For ordi¬ 
nary farm purposes we think 8. 8. C. can hardly 
afford to buy much manure at the price named. 
We should advise first, the getting of a good sod 
on the land. If it has been plowed and cropped 
continuously, grass will probably succeed much 
better than is expected, because it is a new crop 
in the rotation. Put the land in good tillage’; 
sow clover iu the spring, if it fails sow timothy 
in the fall. But sow clover and get it to grow 
if possible; top dress with manure at seeding 
time. Then if yon can afford it, and wish to 
renovate the land as quickly as possible, let the 
clover go down on the field without pasturing 
or mowing. After one season of this, corn will 
grow on the inverted sod with the aid of what 
manure you can put on it. Feed tbe corn to 
stock and make more manure; sow barley or 
oats alter corn, and seed again with clover. Sow 
plaster on the clover. Aim to work into a judi¬ 
cious rotation, to feed profitably all the products 
of the soil to stock, in order to make manure, 
and plow under a great deal of clover and clover 
sod. _ 
Fish Guano for Corn. 
We are in receipt of a sample of very nice 
corn from Mr. M. Stebimns, Deerfield, Mass. 
It is a yellow, twelve and sixteen rowed variety, 
bearing some resemblance to the Dutton, though 
from the appearance of some of the ears, we 
“ guess” it is a hybrid obtained by mixing vari¬ 
eties. Of its culture and yield Mr. 8. writes 
“ J raised this corn on fish guano alone. No 
other manure was used, and ‘ it wax an enormous 
outlay; why, it cost *33 per ton; Stebbins’ 
corn costs him $1.50 per bushel! ’ Let us see. 
Seveuty-five bushels at *1.50 per bushel bring 
$113.50. The expenses are one ton fish manure, 
*82; plowing and harrowing, *5; planting, *3; 
hoeing, |6 per acre. The com fodder pays for 
harvesting. Profits, §07.50. One-half of the 
manure is left in the soil. “Then, isn’t 1,000 
pounds of fish just ns good as 3,000 ? ” queries 
Borne one. Well, lot us see: there is a neighbor 
who has a good soil, on which he puts 1,000 
ponnds oi lh,h; cost of planting, cultivating, 
&e., is the same ns mine, and lie gets about forty 
bnshcls per acre and the quality is inferior. 
8till, the cry is, “farming don’t pay.” 
SELECTION AND PREPARATION OF WIN 
TER FOOD FOR ANIMALS-No. I. 
The unusual attention drawn to this subject 
of late, by experiments, discussions and essays, 
induces us to lay before the readers of the Rural 
a brief resume of this whole question, than which 
there is none more important to the farmer. We 
propose to take these up in their order. 
First,—Inquiring into the qualities of food to 
he sought for in the various purposes for which 
animals are fed. 
Second,— The best method of preparing food 
— cutting, cooking, &e. 
SELECTION OF FOOD. 
Very little attention has been given by the 
practical feeder to the selection of food to pro¬ 
duce a certain result. The breeder should be 
well versed in the chemical qualities of foods, 
and of their adaptation to build up the various 
parts of the animal. The trainers of celebrated 
pedestrians and pugilists understand this matter 
much better than the farmer. Weston, on his 
great walk to Chicago, is permitted to eat little 
else than beefsteak, chicken, eggs, Ac., or what 
will give strength and endurance to the muscles. 
The race-horse is fed on oat-meal and eggs for 
the same purpose. The laborer who has con¬ 
stant strain upon the muscles, requires a diet 
containing much nitrogenous or muscle-lorm- 
ing matter, such as lean meat, beans, cheese, 
&c. The English and Scotch laborers are able 
to endure great fatigue on bread and cheese, be¬ 
cause cheese is composed principally of casein 
or muscle-forming food. And when rearing 
young animals, we desire to expand the frame 
and muscular system rather than to lay on fat, 
we should select a food for that purpose rich in 
gluten or its equivalent. For developing the 
muscular system, foods are valuable in propor¬ 
tion to their amount of nitrogenous matter. 
And of this, corn aud rye contain 13 per cent,; 
oat-meal and wheat bran 18 per cent.; oil meal, 
peas and beans 22 to 25 per cent.; wheat straw 
3, corn fodder 8, meadow hay 11, pea straw 13, 
and beau straw 16 per cent. This is only flesh¬ 
forming matter. Of heat and fat-producing mat¬ 
ter, these foods contain 1—Coro 78, rye 69, oats 
73, wheat bran 63, oil meal 51, peas and beans 50, 
meadow hay 53, wheat straw and corn fodder 35, 
bean straw 33, aud pea straw 45 per cent 
This shows how to mix an appropriate food 
for young animals. Even the wheat straw, con¬ 
taining only 3 per cent, of fleBh- forming mat¬ 
ter possesses 38 per cent, of nutriment, and 
when mixed with bran in the proportion of two 
quarts to the bushel of straw, makes a food on 
which animals will grow rapidly. It will be ob* 
OAHT VTT TV ft ATCn gir TTITIO. _ No. I. 
The saw is one of the most common and use. 
1'ul tools for performing mechanical operations. 
That it may do its work easily, rapidly and well, 
it is necessary that it should lie in proper order. 
The teeth should be of suitable shape and 
properly filed and set. Many skillful workers in 
wood are by no means skillful in keeping their 
saws and other tools in the best order. The 
saw is a cutting tool of rather peculiar nature. 
To keep it iu itB beBt possible working condi¬ 
tion requires some ingenuity, a knowledge of 
the principles upon which its work is done, and 
a skillful use of the file, and setting tools. 
There are three principal kinds of saws in use 
among fanners, without Including circular, or 
rotary saws. These three are the common cross¬ 
cut hand saw, the slitting hand saw for working 
lengthwise of timber, and the large liook-tooth 
cross-cutting saw. The teetli of each of these 
Baws require to be shaped and sharpened in a 
peculiar manner to accomplish the work for 
which they we intended. 
It is the object of saw teeth to cut rapidly 
ahead, affording themselves room in the channel 
or kerf which is made, for the easiest possible 
working ol - the instrument in its passage back 
and forth. In cutting across the grain of tim¬ 
ber it is necessary the fibers of wood should be 
cut at each side of the groove the saw makes, so 
that the cbip6 or dust can he readily removed. 
The teeth of a cross-cut saw arc therefore 
shaped so that the cutting of the ends of a chip 
Is always effected a little in advance of the chis¬ 
eling operation which loosens and removes it. 
If our odd jobs are not done up this fall, the 
weather , that old scape-goat for human delin¬ 
quencies, is not to blame. Our days of grace have 
been multiplied beyond all legal precedence. 
“ Taking tbe opportunity,” 1 have been over¬ 
hauling some gates and bars — don’t smile at 
bars; they are older than you—oh, that’s the 
objection to them! Three or four boards, light 
and strong, can be soon removed, and where 
they are. hut seldom used, are cheaper and more 
durable than gates. Some of the modern gatcB 
are cheap and do not require very strong posts, 
hut I am persuaded that if the old min/j gate 
had never been seen, and I could get it pat¬ 
ented, I could beat all competitors — with less 
lying. 
More care should be exercised in setting 
posts. It is very absurd to go through all tho 
formalities of preparing posts, aud setting and 
hanging gates, and have them tumble down in 
four or live years. The difference in the first 
cost of the timber is but a few shillings;—tho 
final difference between a good post and a bad 
one is a good many dollars. A gate docs not 
ordinarily come down without a great deal of 
tribulation, loss of time, and, perhups, damage 
to crops—it is pretty snre to take a bad time to 
come down ; St is much handier to huve it stay 
up, aud if you take good, seasoned, swamp white- 
oak, and set firm, it will stay up thirty or forty 
years to my certain knowledge. I have such 
posts which have stood over forty years, and 
they bid fair to stand twenty years longer, while 
the best of rock olin rots dowu iu ten or fifteen 
yeare, and poor brash oak in less time. 1 have 
a red beech that has stood thirty-seveh years. 
Every farmer ought forthwith to put ont a long 
row of locusts for future use; they arc probably 
better than white oak. Soft maple is said to 
last well for posts. Lime and ashes, leached or 
unleached, are preservatives, and so is coal tar 
applied hot; but look out for good timber for 
gate posts.— h. t. b. 
RURAL FARMERS’ CLUB 
A Safety Gate Latch. 
J. Nixon sends us from Utica, Iowa, the fol¬ 
lowing plan of a gate latch which he has used 
for several years, and one that neither stock nor 
wind will open. A, represents the latch and 
Feed and Butter. —In a recent discussion be- 
ore the Herkimer (Jounty Farmers’ Club, Judge 
Owen gave bis views as to the influence of vari¬ 
ous kinds of feed for cows for the production of 
butter. He did not think turnips of much 
value in this respect—much less than potatoes 
which were regarded as beneficial for a change. 
The best results had been produced by feeding 
Indian meal — about two quarts twice a day to 
each cow. A number of experiments were made 
in preparing the meal, but the best results fol¬ 
lowed from feeding it in u dry state. With this 
quantity of meal and a small allowance of hay, 
a HoldemesB cow produced fourteen pounds of 
butter per week. The highest point reached 
was forty-one pounds in fifteen days, besides 
thirty quarts of milk, in the mean time, for 
family use. 
A, in figure 1, represents a tooth of this shape 
seen from the inside of it It is tiled beveling, 
as shown, so that the lineB, B, is a sharp cutting 
edge like the edge of ordinary shears, and B is 
consequently almost a point instead of a chisel- 
edge. B, represents teeth as seen from the 
outside. 
Fig. 3 represents a groove or kerf made by an 
ordinary croBS-eut saw in good order. The 
ridge continually left at the bottom of the 
groove shows the manner in which the Baw does 
iU work. From a consideration of the manner 
In which the cuttiog is effected, it will be seen 
to be quite necessary that the cutting edge of 
the teeth on the line, B, B, in fig. 1, should be 
staple, the former being five inches long, one 
and one-fourth inch wide and one-fourth inch 
thick; the latter is three and one-half Inches 
long. B, is the mortice in the post for the latch 
to play in; it is six inches deep, four high, and 
about two wide. A front view of the latch is 
also shown. _ 
Care of Horses’ Feet. 
J. Waring, Columhu6, O.:—“The most im¬ 
portant thing connected with the care of horses’ 
feet is the shoeing, and I think farmers are very 
apt to neglect caring for this as they should. 
V ‘'•'•vV' 1 ' 
»■' -‘“iajjjr’ 
