merit walls of the latter being used to form 
the silo walls on two sides, ten feet high; the 
other ten feet were formed by laying a four- 
inch wall of brick against the double boarding 
of the bam. and driving 30d nails half way 
in, and 16 inches apart between every fifth 
and sixth course. The outside and cross 
walls are built of large and small field stones, 
and Fayetteville water-lime laid in movable 
boxes. The outside walls are 34 inches thick; 
the cross wall, IS inches. The divisions of 
the silo are respectively 11 by 16 feet and 
10 by 16 feet and 19 feet in depth. Over all 
is a wooden structure nine feet high, with flat 
roof covered with tin. Both compartments 
are arranged to get pressure by a rod anchor¬ 
ed about five feet below the bottom of the silo. 
Their capacity, by filling five feet above the 
stone wall (it will settle about one foot in five), 
will be not far from l-‘>0 tons. Fig. 107 shows 
how the anchor is secured. 1, anchor plate, 
one-and-a-half foot long, six inches broad and 
one-aud-a-quarter inch thick; 11, R, pieces of 
railroad iron 10 inches long; C, railroad iron 
pieces three feet long; O, rod one-and-a-quarter 
inch square in tlu-ec sections. The top section 
has a thread cut for five feet; nut five inches 
square and three deep. Wrench handle 30 
inches long. In case the silo is filled only half¬ 
full the middle section of the rod can be taken 
out. 
Ensilage Wagon. —As it appeared to me 
to be far too much labor to get pressure by 
handling so many stones four times a year, 
(we shall fill semi-annually), the same objec¬ 
tion was found to loading and unloading 300 
tons of green material annually. The accom¬ 
panying cut Fig. 465—from a photograph—and 
the description below will, I think, make my 
invention (not patented) intelligible to all. 
P, two poles 85 feet nine inches long, of 
chestnut, pine, elm or basswood; diameter of 
front end seven-and-a-half inches, of rear end, 
five-and-a-half inches. Use the front part of 
a common w’agon and place it two feet from 
the front end of the poles. Use trucks in the 
rear, wheel two-and-a-half feet in diameter, 
with bolster tbree-and-threc-fourths feet long 
and place seven feet three inches from the 
rear end of the poles. L. L. loading skids of 
hard wood, six feet long, three-and-a-half by 
one-and-a-half inch, attached to rear of poles 
by slot and pin. One is shown down, as in 
loading; one up, ns in going to the silo. B. 
board one-and-a-quarter inch by ten inches, 
five-and-a-half feet long, loosely bolted on to 
last cross-piece between skids for a walk-way 
for the loader, and also to prevent the fodder 
from falling between the skids. Seven hard¬ 
wood cross-pieces one-and-a-half by three inch¬ 
es, bolted to the under side of the poles, form 
the foundation for the matched floor which 
may bo six inches narrower than the distance 
between tho poles; this leaves an opening on 
either side for any dirt to pass through. The 
poles or sills should be placed as wide apart as 
possible, especially at the rear end (four feet), 
where they will not interfere in turning, in 
order that a wide channel or chute may bo 
formed by the sills and floor, preventing the 
bundles from swerving to either side. S. a 
standard to support the pulley, is made, of 
four pieces, two by two-aud-a-halX inches, 
five feet three inches long. Two, two-inch 
auger holes are bored, with the proper slant, 
in each pole—one, one foot from the end; the 
other, two feet ten inches from it, Tho four 
upper ends are bolted together, and a pulley 
(five inches in diameter) is placed well up in 
the apex and secured by a bolt. A pulley is 
also tied to the rear end of the tongue at the 
point where the rod fastens it to the houuds; it 
is kept upright in position with a wire passed 
through the top end and secured to each pole. 
P 
Fig. 466. 
Sling Ropes. —Fig. 466. For one horse they 
should be about 17 feet long and five-eighths of 
an inch in diameter; the two ends splice in¬ 
to a ring-hook H. H.. In the middle a link, L 
two-and-a-quarter inches long and five-eighths* 
of an inch broad inside, is secured by tying the 
doubled rope together with a cord. This rack 
was tested by loading and unloading a bundle 
of white Southern com about eight feet high 
and as yet showing no signs of tassels. A 17- 
foot sling rope (doubled) easily encircled the 
bundle of 630 pounds, and one horse bad no 
difficulty in drawing it on to the wagon. The 
com is drilled three feet four inches apart and 
it took two rows 100 feet long to produce the 
bundle. It occupied, when loaded, a hori¬ 
zontal space of three feet eight inches. This 
would give six bundles to a load or 3,780 
pounds, which is far more than one team 
should handle on soft ground, so 1 propose to 
diminish tho number, and increase the size of 
the bundles, and use two horses to draw them 
on to the rack, and also use the same team to 
help the wheel horses to draw the load to the 
silo where they will be needed to do the un¬ 
loading. The number of sling ropes should be 
at, least twice as groat as the numlter of bun¬ 
dles it is proposed to put on one load, as the 
cutters will want half the slings to lay on the 
ground to place tho com on forth© next load. 
After the bundle is cut the hook-ring to which 
the two ends of the sling rope are made fast, 
is hooked into tho link in the middle of the 
sling rope in order that the teams and wagon 
in passing over it may not disturb it. 
R. is a pulling rope, three-quarters of an 
inch in diameter and about 54 feet long. This 
is spliced into the ring hook (H). The ring- 
hook must be small euough to pass through 
pulley (P). The pulling rope is passed under 
the first pulley at the rear of the tongue, over 
t he one in the standard (S) aud to the ground 
at the rear end of the wagon, and then passed 
through another five-inch pulley in the hands 
of the loader. 
The ring-hook, H. II, is hooked into the eye 
(I) of the { hi Hey (P). The ring-hook (II) is 
hooked into the link L. The head team is 
started, the sling (8) shirrs and rolls the bundle 
half over into the skirls. The loader follows 
the bundle, and when it is in position unhooks 
the pulling rope from the sling rope, and also 
the pulley; hooks the sling-hook of the sling 
into the link of the sling; starts the wheel 
horses aud passes to the rear of the wagon and 
ground, carrying with him the end of the pull¬ 
ing rope and pulley (P). 
1 have experimented enough to know that 
two men can load a bundle each minute, in¬ 
cluding driving between bundles, be it 500 or 
800 pounds. I think I can unload two bundles 
per minute or two at a time, as they will draw 
down the incline easily. 
Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 
-« - »■♦- 
SCREW POWER PRESSURE FOR EN¬ 
SILAGE. 
We recently examined a new silo-bam which 
has just been erected by Mr. George T. Powell, 
Agricultural Editor of the Chatham Courier, 
Chatham, N. Y., and for durability and con¬ 
venience wo Lave yet to find its equal. The 
bam and silo walls are built of concrete, in 
the proportion of IS barrels of sand to one 
each of lime and cement, with the necessary 
filling of small stones. Along the entire 
length of the barn (75 feet) is a silo, divided 
into three compartments, answ ering essential¬ 
ly to three distinct silos. The first of these is 
19,', yx 10x20 feet, with a capacity of about 150 
tons; the second is 33x16x30 feet, with a ca¬ 
pacity of 200 tons, and the third has the same 
dimensions as the first. 
A novel feature of the silos, and the one in 
which we were most interested, was the com¬ 
paratively new method of obtaining the requi¬ 
site pressnre for the ensilage, by which Mr. 
Powell proposes to do away with the laborious 
and inconvenient method of weighting with 
stones or earth. In tho top ol’ each of the side 
walls of the end silos, half way between the 
cross walls, a screw an inch and a-half in di¬ 
ameter and projecting four feet above the 
walls, is firmly imbedded. After the fodder is 
put in, a. sufficient number of planks to cover 
it Will bo laid crosswise of the silo, and upon 
the ends of these planks two timbers will be 
laid to receive the pressure from u single cross- 
timber, through tho onds of which the screws 
pass. In ease the fodder does not extend above 
the walls of tho silo so as to allow tho eross- 
timber to be acted on directly by tho screw- 
nut, blocking will be used. In each of the side 
walls of the middle silo two screws will bo set 
equidistant from the cross walls and from 
each other, A wrench with long leverage 
will bo used in turning down tho nuts. Mr. 
Powell tliinks that extremely heavy pressure 
is not necessary, and has no doubt that a suffi¬ 
cient pressure can be given the ensilage in this 
way. This phase of the experiment will be 
watched with interest. 
One of the end silos is already partially filled 
with 35 tons of clover, upon which, as an ex¬ 
periment, several loads of rye in the sheaf have 
been placed to act as a weight and to econo, 
inize space; but it is a matter of doubt if the 
ensilage comes out in good condition. The 
other end silo will be filled with millet, while 
15 acres of drilled Chester County Mammoth 
Corn will be ensilaged in tho middle apart¬ 
ment. 
The ensilage will be taken from the silos 
is> 
through doors opening from lielow directly into 
the cattle and sheep stables, and be conveyed 
around to tho different stalls by a hand-car 
or barrow. It will be fed mostly to sheep 
(about 406 in number), which is another phase 
of the ensilage-fodder question which far¬ 
mers will be interested in, inasmuch as cattle 
have heretofore been chiefly the subjects of 
experiment with the new fodder. Mr. l’owoli 
is a progressive farmer and does not propose to 
confine himself to old methods simply because 
they are old, but, on the other hand, unlike 
many neighboring farmers, he l'oels assured of 
success in his new undertaking, and m the 
“new fodder dispensation” in general. 
THE SORGHUM SUGAR INDUSTRY 
IN KANSAS. 
I have been spending the last six weeks in 
traveling over a good share of this State. I have 
visited the county seats of 42 counties, and 
being deeply interested in the welfare of the 
Amber Sugar-cane industry, I have endeavor¬ 
ed to leam what was being done in that line. 
I find that so far this season about half a mill - 
ion dollars have been expended for buildings, 
machinery, etc, to work up the crop of Kan¬ 
sas. On account of the very dry weather 
and the chinch bugs, the cane in some sections 
has been entirely destroyed, aud much injured 
all over the State. Still in the counties of 
Pawnee, Barton, Ellsworth, Rice and Iteno, 
there is some very good cane, as well as 
some very largo mills, the two largest being 
at Stirling and Ellsworth. I am under many 
obligations to the Editor of the Ellsworth Re¬ 
porter, who is also secretary of the Ellsworth 
Sugar Works, for his kindness in showing me 
the works and tho surrounding country. The 
cost of the mill and buildings when completed, 
will bo about $75.000,The cane crusher was built 
by Geo. L. Squier and BfO,, of Buffalo, N . Y. 
It is the largest over sent. Into the Western 
States. The three rollers and spur-wheel alone 
weigh 38,000 pounds. This season they have on. 
ly 1200 lie ins of cane to work; but next year they 
expect to have the produce of 6,000 acres, the 
company intending to put in a large share of 
it themselves. The mill at Sterling is nearly 
as large, and this season will crash something 
over 1,800 acres of eano, I was told. There 
are also at Sterling, Raymond, Roxbury, 
Prosper, and Bavaria, large steam mills ran- 
ning for molasses. It is pleasing to hear the 
farmers tell of tho great improvements 
that have been made in the machinery for 
working up tho cane, and how much superior 
the product is now to the old-style bitter 
sorghum of the past 50 years. I visited Mr* 
E. M. Rugg, and found he had just completed 
setting up his ninth outfit, this season. He says 
the cane is unusuaUy rich owing to the 
dry weather. I found on testing it in 
different places, that it would show from 
8 to 11 Baumd. Mr. Rugg’s first trial 
batch for sugar in 24 hours swung oil' 
five pounds of sugar to tho gallon. This I 
consider uuusually good. From August 19 
to 22 there was a general rain throughout the 
State, which helped the cane and corn crops 
very much, In my opinion there is no State 
in the Union better adapted to growing tho 
small sugar-canes than Kansas, and tho 
farmers say that if the mills now up prove 
that they can make sugar in paying quanti¬ 
ties. there will be more Sorghum planted next 
season than of any other crop. In a few days, 
I shall go East and look through the mills and 
prospects of other Western States; and then 
see what I can do in New York. 
Topeka, Kansas. C. J. Reynolds. 
ft fill Crops, 
TOBACCO GROWING NOTES. 
There is little doubt but that tobacco can 
dry too fast during the process of curing. For 
this reason a tobacco-barn should Vic construct¬ 
ed so that it can be tightly closed in times of 
dry weather, when too rapid drying—which 
invariably causes undesirable colors in the 
leaf when cured—is likely to occur. During 
dry, windy weather it is also advisable to keep 
the ground or floor of the curing barn wet by 
sprinkling it with water, which slightly moist¬ 
ens the air in the building and causes the to¬ 
bacco to cure less rapidly. 
The danger of damage to tobacco, while 
curing, from “pole sweat,” is only during 
times of damp or muggy weather, accompa¬ 
nied with extreme lioat. At such times the 
tobacco should be given thorough ventilation 
by opening the ventilating doors, which should 
bo constructed in the sides of the building, l>e- 
neath the sills, and upon the roof or in the 
gable ends. Careful watch should bu kept of 
the tobacco hanging on tho lower tiers, and if 
damage to the crop is likely to occur with all 
possible natural Ventilation gi\*en, some artifi¬ 
cial means should be adopted. Small, smoul¬ 
dering fires kept up in various parts of the 
curing room, will cause upward currents in the 
air and secure the necessary ventilation to 
prevent “pole sweat.” 
Among the first things which tho farmer 
who contemplates tobacco raising should at¬ 
tend to is a place to raise the young plants or 
the plant-bed. The beds should be prepared 
during the Summer or Fall previous to the 
Spring when they are needed for use. A few 
loads of rich muck or garden soil, free from 
stones and rubbish, drawn to some warm ex¬ 
posure and inclosed in a frame, will constitute 
the present necessary requirements. A liberal 
coating of well-rotted stable maim re should be 
Spread Over the bed, lo remain thereuntil the 
following Spring, by which time it will have 
imparted its strength to the soil of the bed. 
For early plants a covering of glass is neces¬ 
sary to exclude cold storms and winds in 
early spring-time. 
The importance of securing early an abun¬ 
dant supply of good plants has been fully re¬ 
alized dining the post dry Summer. Reports 
from the various tobacco-growing sections of 
the country an* unanimously in favor of early 
tobacco. The best crops are grown by farm- 
el's who raise enough plants for themselves 
and for their neighbors also, reserving, of 
course, the earliest mid best for their own use. 
Thus they secure enough of the best and 
strongest of the plants to meet their owu re- 
quiremeuts early in the season, which gives 
the plants time to become well established in 
the soil before the approach of the dry term, 
which has this season proved destructive to 
late tobacco generally. There have been a 
few instances during my tobacco-growing ex¬ 
perience when late tobacco has been better 
than early, owing to storms of wind or hail, 
which injured the early and larger growths 
most; yet I think 1 am safe in saying that in 
eight seasons out of ten the outcome of early- 
planted tobacco has been most satisfactory to 
both grower and purchaser. u. a. a., JR. 
Chemung Co., N. Y. 
-- 
GROWING WHEAT ON CORN LAND. 
WALDO F. BROWN. 
I live in one of tho largest hog-producing 
comities of Ohio, and corn is, of conrse, ex¬ 
tensively grown, and as wo are too far south 
for outs to do well, and much of our upland is un- 
suitod to bear bai ley—and thanks to the grow Uj 
of temperance sentiments many of our farm¬ 
ers will not grow the latter crop—it comes to 
pass that every your there is a la rge breadth of 
wheat sown on corn land. Probably the 
majority of the poorest wheat grown ill the 
county, and that which cuts down our average 
yield in the statistical reports, is from that sown 
among corn. 1 emphasize the word among , 
for I make a broad distinction between sowing 
OU corn land, and sowing in the corn. What 
1 mean by this is, that I always cut up the 
corn before sowing the wheat, even though I 
must wait till October to put in the crop ; but 
it is rarely that tho corn crop is so late as to 
make this necessary. 
The way the light crops of wheat are grown 
on corn land is usually this : The corn fields 
are allowed to become grassy, and when it is 
