mental, giving greater security to fields and 
crops, being more expeditiously opened and 
closed, and not so liable to be broken through 
by cat.tie as arc the light rails or boards of 
the bars. 
We give this week an illustration of 
Eggleston’s Automatic Adjustable Gate. It 
ditiers little iu construction from other gates, 
except in having a device att ached by which 
it is thrown open and again closed by the 
weight of the wheel of a vehicle in ap¬ 
proaching and departing from the gate—a 
with water, and does not furnish a harbor 
for rats and mice, like a flagged bottom.” 
To MttUe Cream Cheese. 
Fon two cream cliccsc take six quarts of 
neio milk and one of meet cream, to which 
add two or three spoonfuls of rennet; let it. 
stand until sufficiently firm. Spread a linen 
cloth in a large basin of cold water, lay the 
curd gently on it, tie the cloth and hang it 
up to drain, for four or five hours, in a cool 
place; then change the cloth and put the 
curd into a vessel the circumference of a 
common plate; press it moderately eight 
hours, when it. must be taken out, turned, 
and split horizontally with a thread; lay 
the cloth between the two cakes, and again 
put them in press for twelve hours ; if Hum 
pressed enough, which can he ascertained 
by their firmness, keep them in fresh grass a 
few days, turning them morning and even¬ 
ing. They are excellent,. The grass process 
is not absolutely necessary.— 0. S. Riioadks, 
Blmfidd, Mich. 
Clollien anil Moth*. 
Somebody, whoso name we have lost, 
writes ns follows:—“To keep moths from 
woolen goods, furs, &e., wash, cleanse, and 
shake them early in the spring, before I he 
moths begin to fly about; then do them up 
in newspaper or put in tight paper boxes. 
If the germs of moths are not deposited on 
them in the operation, this is all they re¬ 
quire, as moths will not, eat through paper.” 
Another mode:—Moths are very apt to 
get, into fur and woolen garments, and eat 
holes in them during the mouth of June. 
To protect the garments from their ravages, 
put, them, during the latter part of May, in 
a box, with considerable camphor-gum, or 
cedar chips interspersed through them. To¬ 
bacco is also good for lids purpose. When 
moths get into garments, the most effectual 
way of destroying them is to hang them in 
ft closet; set in a pan of live coals,and 
sprinkle tobacco leaves on them, so as to 
have a strong smoke. 
Another:—Put some tobacco leaves about, 
the clothes in the drawer, trunk or ward; 
robe. Those who have tried it endorse it. 
It will make the protection more sure to still 
add the usual caution of an occasional expo¬ 
sure to a warm sun. 
“C’ntcli.” not Cittlbenr. 
No, no ! I do not mean cudbear in my 
recipe for coloring cotton (see Rural of 
April 9, page 239,) unfading brown. I mean 
cutch; It is the name tho dyer gave, and 
that by which it is known. The two are 
very different articles. Cudbear is a pow¬ 
der, coloring shades of reddish purple. 
Cutcli is a sort of resinous gum, of a dark 
brown color, having dry leaves, seeming, 
around and among it. I wish I had a sam¬ 
ple, I would send it. It colors splendid 
browns that never fade.— S. E. Bennett. 
How to Whiten Flannel imcl Woolen 
Hose. 
I will send you my method. Wet the 
flannel yarn or hose, (whatever you wish to 
whiten,) in weak suds; wring out. Then 
hang on sticks or cords across a barrel with 
two tftblespoonfnls of pulverized brimstone 
or sulphur burning under it; cover the bar¬ 
rel tightly. If they are not white enough 
repeat the process; hang in the open air a 
day, then wash and rinse in bluing water. 
Be careful not to have the sulphur blaze and 
scorch the garments.—A Greenwood Sub¬ 
scriber. 
We keep our woolen hose and flannels 
white by smoking them with sulphur. Take 
a common flour barrel, put a basin of ashes 
in the bottom and a few strings across the 
top, on which hang the articles as wrung 
from the suds ; put a few live coals on the, 
basin of ashes and a spoonful of sulphur up¬ 
on them; cover up close. When the smoke 
is spent, hang up to dry; if in the sun nil 
the better. 
To Cook Parsnips. 
Boil till soft; fry in butter till brown, 
season, pour a little sweet cream over them 
and serve hot.—-C lara Bliss. 
Floor Oil-clot It*. 
All housekeepers acquainted with the 
use of floor oil-cloths are conversant with the 
fact that when in constant, occasional use, 
the edges aro harder, are liable to fringe or 
■ ravel out; especially is this the case when 
placed near the doors or underneath stoves, 
&c., to protect the carpet or floor from tho 
usual wear or radiating heat. It matters not 
how well or recently it may be nailed, the 
edges soon become ragged in appearance, 
being an eye-sore to the tidy housekeeper. 
3 To successfully remove this liability would 
l he a desirable acquisition. It cau las done 
i by procuring strips of zinc one and a-half 
inches wide, and a length corresponding to 
s the circumference of the oil-cloth; fold tho 
i parallel edges of the strips nearly together; 
r into the crease thus formed insert llie edge 
3 of tllO cloth, and secure it thereto by copper 
i rivets. When properly done, the striking 
i contrast between the bits of copper, zinc, 
i and dark polished surface of stove js plcas- 
i ing.—L. D. Snook. 
three years, and came out one of the finest 
specimens of dark, mulatto soils I ever saw. 
The next crop, which was wheat, was an 
unusually heavy one. Almost the entire 
field was “ lodged." 
It is on account of their greater or less 
capabilities of shade that some crops tend 
rapidly to exhaust the soil, while others en¬ 
rich it. Wheat, by being taken off the 
ground at the beginning of the heated term, 
and thereby leaving the soil naked and 
unprotected, is an exhaustive crop. What 
antes tic (fcanamn 
canantg 
CONDUCTED BY MARY A. E. WAGER. 
SHADE AS A FERTILIZER, 
CARE OF BABIES, 
I see articles, from time to time, in the 
Rural, on the recuperative effects of clover 
and other substances upon the soil, and have 
been much interested therein. 1 think, how¬ 
ever, there appears to be a want of general 
appreciation of the reason why clover and 
other fertilizing agents exert their peculiar 
and beneficent effects upon worn-out and 
other thin soils. 
There is one thing I learned early in 
life—the great value of shade as a fer¬ 
tilizer. The first incident that called my 
attention to this fact occured when I was 
quite a hoy. One fine autumn day, being 
out in the field where there was a large pile 
of straw, 1 noticed a large volunteer squash 
vine growing from under the side of it. This 
vine was of a smalt kind designed for table 
use, the squashes growing to the 3izc of the 
two fists. The viue grew from a single 
stem, and would probably have covered the 
space of a good-sized room. It had seventy- 
six full-grown squashes on it, besides many 
more smaller ones. How many of these 
latter ones came to maturity before frost 
time 1 cannot say, as I do not remember 
to have observed. It was a late vine, lor I 
did not notice it when the oats were har¬ 
vested in tin 1 field around it. 
This pile of straw had been thrown upon 
that part of the field because it was a low 
place where water stood a good part of the 
year, and lienee the soil was so thin and 
poor that nothing could ever grow upon it. 
It had been put there only a year or two 
before, and was only very partially decom¬ 
posed— so that the extraordinary change 
that had taken place in t he richness of the 
soil could not be attributed to the rotting 
of the straw to any important extent. To 
what then was it due ? 
Without doubt to the fact that the straw 
had furnished a protective covering to the 
soil during the drying heats of summer, and 
thereby had preserved in it the necessary 
moisture to carry on those important chem¬ 
ical processes whereby the soil is enabled to 
attract those peculiar sails and gases from 
the atmosphere which render it fertile and 
productive. In other words, supposing the 
soil and atmosphere to be two parts of an 
electric battery, a certain amount of moist¬ 
ure is necessary to connect the two poles of 
it. Tliis needful moisture is furnished by 
the shade. 
This is the secret of the success of proper 
mulching in hastening the growth of young 
trees. Your late contributor’s “ experience ” 
with the use of sawdust as a fertilizer is 
another illustration of the same principle. 
The practice hi some sections of cutting 
down timber, and letting it lie on the ground 
from one to two years before clearing and 
planting, is another. Hence the great value 
of clover as a fertilizer of poor and worn-out 
soils. There is probably no other plant iu 
the world of such value to the farmer for 
this purpose. It. ftirnisbes the most perfect 
protection to the soil during the fierce, dry¬ 
ing heats of summer. Being a constantly 
deciduous plant, its leaves are perpetually 
falling, and soon form a delicate covering 
for the entire soil, sufficiently thick for 
shade, and easily penetrated at till points 
by the air, which is the great carrier to the 
worn-out soil of those atmospheric elements 
that are to enrich it. 
In this way clover furnishes at once, both 
by the growing plant and more especially 
by the dead leaf coverlet, the two essential 
conditions of a first-class fertilizer. First, 
shade, not too dense, but just sufficient to 
protect from the excessive heat of summer; 
and, second, a covering perfectly permeable 
at all poiuts to the air, as the carrier of 
moisture, gases and other supplies to carry 
on those important chemical changes, which 
take place most actively during the warm 
season, and which arc almost completely 
arrested by many crops which do not per¬ 
mit the proper moisture to remain in the 
soil for carrying them forward. 
In this way the clover plant does not con¬ 
tribute directly to the fertilizing of the soil 
by giving its own substance to it. It fur¬ 
nishes a protective covering to the entire 
ground, which encourages and stimulates 
those chemical processes by which the hun¬ 
gry and exhausted soil is recuperated from 
the vast supplies of nutriment that are held 
in tho atmosphere. In this important junc¬ 
tion, it stands unrivaled, and becomes to the 
fanner the most valuable fertilizer iu the 
world, as it does not impart fertility, like 
most manures, in spots, hut to the entire 
soil, which becomes renovated throughout. 
1 well remember a field on my father’s 
farm that, after a few years of cultivation, 
Just think of it! Not one word in this 
department for the year and a half we have 
been conducting it about the care of babies! 
Haven’t the helpless things any rights at all 
that we are bound to protect? Are the 
blessed mothers so much absorbed in getting 
their own righto as to ignore those of the 
Coming Girls and Boys? Probably just the 
reverse. So much engaged in housework 
and baby tending as to have no time to tell 
the Rural readers what to do and whatnot 
to do with a baby in the house. 
To make our remarks weighty and reli¬ 
able as the advice doled out weekly to fann¬ 
ers by the wiseacres of the Fanners’ Club, 
we assert at the outset, that practically, we 
know no more about the care and manage¬ 
ment of babies than we do of fish culture. 
But of course this ignorance makes no special 
difference. The less we know about it, the 
more competent we are to advise, of course. 
In the first place, a vast deal of harm is 
done iu 
lUuutnKiiiK 
tightly. Mercy, golden-haired and a medi¬ 
cal student, was accidentally present once on 
a time, at the first dressing of a black baby. 
“ Why! don’t you bandage the little thing 
at all?” she exclaimed to the attending 
nurse. 
“ La! no!” she replied. “ You white folks 
does, hut tee think de Lord makes ehillon 
strong enough to hold together their own 
selves.” 
A moderate bandage for the first three 
months is desirable; hut to suppose a little 
baby can endure compression anywhere that 
would make grown people uncomfortable, 
is foolish as the practice is wicked. Why, 
we have seen mothers dross their babies, and 
pin petticoat after petticoat, with great broad 
bands, so tightly around that we ourselves 
would never have endured such compression 
without drawing in a long breath, and—and 
bursting everything loose. Another thing 
we protest against is 
Itocliing Rubles to Sloop. 
We speak from experience in this; for wo 
remember perfectly well being rocked nearly 
to death. Violent, rapid, excessive, or any 
rooking at all for that matter, if persisted in, 
puts a child to sleep by first producing nau¬ 
sea, and then dizziness to such a degree that 
sleep succeeds the exhaustion produced. 
That Children need to be rocked is all non¬ 
sense. The best behaved babies we ever 
saw were those unacquainted with a cradle. 
Another thing we protest against most em¬ 
phatically is the use of 
Soothing Sirups 
for quieting children, The quieting cle¬ 
ment of these soothing nostrums is alkaloid 
of opium, or morphine. Ignorant aS the 
majority of women aro of drugs, but few 
could he so malicious as to give their little 
ones opium or morphine to put them to 
sleep as often as they give them soothing 
sirups. And yet, they are daily and hourly 
doing the very same tiling under another 
name. It is no wonder children are so puny, 
and so large a proportion die before reaching 
the age of five years. 
Irregular Feeding 
is another mistaken goodness. If the 
child cries, or feels badly, the first thing is 
to feed it. So if baby’s bandages arc too 
tight, or it is cross from opium, or trying to 
feel right after being rocked and jigged to 
distraction, food is the usual panacea. When 
we grown people feel badly, it isn’t for the 
want of something to eat, generally. A 
child should he fed at regular intervals, 
oftener, of course, than adults, but just as 
regularly. The times for feeding should not 
vary five minutes. Ten minutes over the 
usual dinner hour will make some men 
growl like wild beasts, and we should not 
expect more patience from babies than men. 
So with all your doings. Do not over-ban¬ 
dage, over-feed, over-rock the babies, nor 
make their bodies the receptacle of any¬ 
body’s patent or quack medicines. 
THE NATIONAL HAY TEDDER. 
device not entirely new, we think, though 
probably altered in its present application. 
It is further constructed with a notched 
bar at the hinged end, by which it may be 
adjusted to any height, thus rendering the 
automatic principle equally available in 
winter or summer This notched bar can 
be applied to ordinary farm and hand gales, 
making them both adjustable and sell- 
closing. The connecting rods by which the 
gate is worked can he placed either above or 
below ground, rendering tho operation ot 
opening and closing not only secure, but 
effective. The whole arrangement, is simple 
and durable, and can bo applied by any one 
of ordinary intelligence, without the neces¬ 
sity of employing a mechanic. Other infor¬ 
mation may he obtained by reference to an 
advertisement in this number of the Rural. 
To Use Three Horses Abreast. 
A Wright Co., Iowa., correspondent of 
the Western Rural tells how ho hitches up 
three horses. He says: — “I take a piece of 
two by four, or two by five scantling, and 
bore first a hole near each end, as I would 
for a double-tree; but the piece need not be 
over nine to twelve inches long; then bore a 
Hole one-thinl of the length from one end 
and two-thirds the length from the other 
end, and attach the piece by a clevis and 
ring to the plow clevis, the longest etui up ; 
then hitch my middle horse to the top and 
the team to the bottom end, or short end of 
the equalizer —using a long double-tree for 
the team, long enough for a horse to work 
in the middle. By using this simple device, 
a saving can he made of five dollars, and the 
equalizer is, I claim hotter than any other, 
for the simple reason, that it brings the 
team nearer the nose of the plow beam, and 
consequently nearer the work.” 
should have protected the ground during 
the heat of summer has been stored away 
in barn or shock. How often have we gone 
Over the stubble ground, when a boy, after 
tho shocks, having stood two or three weeks, 
had been removed to be followed by the 
plow. Although every vestige of stubble 
had been turned under, we could still point 
out where every shock of wheat had stood, 
by the superior rich ness and color ol the soli. 
Corn, potatoes and crops of that class, 
which partially protect during the hot 
weather, are better. Hemp more ucariy 
approaches the clover in its protective prop¬ 
erties, being like it in its deciduous tenden¬ 
cies. It is esteemed a great fertilizer where 
it is grown. 
Straw is also a great fertilizer, if spread 
evenly, and at proper thickness. If spread 
too thick, it excludes heat and air, which 
are the prime requisites to fertilization, and 
if too thinly it does not protect enough. 
Council Bluffs, Iowa. S. A. M. 
HAY MACHINERY, 
National liny Tedder. 
Last week mention of some of the advan¬ 
tages arising from the use of the tedder in 
hay making was made. Its importance ns a 
labor performing implement has not been 
over-rated, though its claims need not be 
here recapitulated. That the readers of the 
Rural may judge of the merits of different 
patents for stirring hay we give herewith an 
illustration of the National Hay Tedder, 
which may be briefly described as follows: 
This Tedder is provided with two sets of 
teeth, which revolve the same, way as the 
wheels. The arm to which the teeth arc 
attached revolves on a shaft, which is mount¬ 
ed on adjustable lifting arms. Each set of 
teeth has a reciprocating clearer which is 
operated by a stationary crank shaft. The 
shaft is set in such a position that, before 
each set. of teeth approaches the ground, the 
clearer is drawn back, leaving the teeth pro¬ 
jecting nearly their full length ; the clearer 
remaining in about that position until the 
teet h have passed under the shaft and raised 
the hay ; when the crank throws the clearer 
out to the ends of the teeth, before they come 
to a horizontal position, stripping off all hay 
that has become attached, preventing clog¬ 
ging, and leaving the hay in the host condi¬ 
tion for drying. The teeth are adjusted to a 
proper working position, and to the different 
height of horses, by raising and lowering the 
adjustable arms. Throwing out of gear is 
done while on the seat, by a hand-lever, 
which raises the teeth, throws itself out of 
gear, aud can be fastened iu that position at 
one motion. 
For passing obstructions it is only neces¬ 
sary to raise the teeth the same as a wheel- 
rake, which throws it out of gear, and the 
teeth come to a horizontal position; they 
can pass over an obstruction eighteen inches 
high. 
Additional information may be obtained 
from the advertisement in this number of the 
Rural to which inquirers are referred. 
A Fancy Wood Gate. 
We give another of Mr. Snook’s fancies 
in the shape of a gate which he calls “ unique 
and handsome in appearance. Posts are 
slightly embellished upon their upper ends. 
When used in connection with a square 
picket fence, the effect will be pleasing.” 
Plowing Under Manure. 
A correspondent writes the Rural :—“ I 
have manured heavily with both long and 
rotted manure, putting it on top of the 
ground before plowing; turned it under 
deep. I never yet got any good results from 
well rotted manure treated in this way; hut 
long, unrotted manure did give good results, 
and that is the way to use it, especially if it 
should be a wet season. I haul my rotted 
manure out before plowing, for wheat or any 
other crop, and put if in rows, as soon as 
there is breadth sufficient to spread this 
manure on plowed ground, 1 spread each row 
successively. When the harrow crosses the 
furrows it is thoroughly mixed with the top 
soil, and is thereto start, quick and lively, 
any crop that may be put upon the land. 
CONTRIBUTED RECIPES, 
ECONOMICAL NOTES, 
Hay Tedder.— A. G. M. is informed that we do 
not know which hay tedder “ takes the best with 
the farmers." Our advertising columns do, or 
will, contain advertisements of others than the 
one named by our correspondent as “too heavy.” 
Improved Farm Gate. 
Every thrifty farmer prefers well con¬ 
structed gates to unsightly, tumble-down 
bars. The former have an air of neatness 
and finish that adds much to the beauty of 
the farm. Gates are quite as useful as orna- 
Any Itiirnt Render who has an economical 
suggestion to make, which he has proved good, 
will be welcomed in this Department. 
