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converting it into sugar, I will now try and do 
bo briefly. 
As I said in my former article, “ No foreign 
substance should be permitted to find its way in¬ 
to the sap from the time it leaves the tree till 
ready for use.” I would here still further em¬ 
phasize the assertion; though many I know 
will differ with me, and be ready to maintain 
that without the use of milk, eggH, or something 
else to clarify the sirup, yon canuot make a 
prime article; still I think if oven thoso persons, 
would try the following mode, they wonld be 
convinced that the clarifying process at least 
was no advantage, even if not a positive injury 
to the quality of the article. Set the sirup in a 
tub, with a faucet about two inches from the 
bottom, and let it stand long enough to Bettlo 
thoroughly ; then draw off through the faucet, 
thus leaving the sediment at the bottom of the 
tub, and you will find there will be nothing in 
the sugar that will injure it. Indeed. I am dis¬ 
posed to behove it to ho freer from impurities 
than when clarified by the ordinary method. 
Boil carefully in a sheet-iron pan, about eight or 
ten inches in depth and as large in area as con¬ 
venient for the size of your stove, until hard 
enough to cake. When it iB tit for this, we as¬ 
certain by dropping some on a new tin dish and, 
if when cold it oleaves readily from the dish, it 
is hard enough. Stir occasionally until cool 
enough to take out for caking in the dishes 
which should he wet with cold water to prevent 
The most convenient 
follows the plan adopted in somo of the penal 
institutions of the country, namely : the silent 
system. But oven in onr prisons this system 
has been acknowledged by somo of the best men 
who have had charge of Hiich institutions, to he 
a stupendous failure ; and in this State and 
some otherB, the system has been abandoned for 
the reason that the men are more easily con¬ 
trolled, and will accomplish more work when al¬ 
lowed to talk. Furthermore, hore in the West, 
if a man were to use the language quoted above, 
work after dark, every few nights, to finish a 
field of hay, or do something you are in a hurry 
for. But I tell you, farmers, when one hand 
refuses to wash the other, both are soon in 
a sorry pickle, and if the employer keeps his 
help’s nose constantly to the grindstone during 
every moment the pittance of pay entitles him 
to do so, he should not, and must not, expect 
anything more from him. Yet, on every farm, 
whenever a storm is coming up, it’s hurry! bnr- 
rv ! until the rain comes down. And then, in- 
who must more and more depend on the chem¬ 
ist's laboratory rather than on their barn-yards 
for fertilizers. 
Monroe Co.. N. Y. 
MANURES 
GATE LATCH 
it from sticking to them, 
form of cakes I find to be about the size of an 
ordinary brick, and dishes for these can be made 
by any tinsmith. d. j. b. 
Sink a notch in the gate-post two inches deep 
Bhaped as in the figure. In tins fasten to the 
post by a bolt the catch as shown in the cut. 
In the end of the gate, opposite this catch, place 
an iron pin or bolt % or more in diameter. Push 
the gate shut and the pin shoves the lower end 
PETJCE-SHELTER belt. 
when hiring men, he wonld find but very few 
who wonld work for him at all. Now, permit me 
to express it as my opinion, if a man is ca¬ 
pable and does his work well, hut very few 
men of sense will object to his talking ; and 
further that a man who oaunot work and talk, 
or listen at the same time, and do his work well, 
is not worth his board, whether he talks or not. 
Farther on he says : 41 I say to my men in 
plain English: ‘ Shut up and attend to your work, 
or take vour money and go. I hire men to work — 
not to spend their time in talking.’ ” Now, if 
Mr. M. naes such laugnage to his men—which 1 
doubt, notwithstanding his assertion.—I will ven¬ 
ture to say that he employs only Btupid. igno¬ 
rant men—mon hut little, if any better than a 
brute or ft machine, and who aro good for noth¬ 
ing without a driver ; for smart, intelligent men 
who know how work should he done, will not 
brook such language from their employer. 
In regard to Mr. Miner's assertion that 
it shows a lack of administrative ability in a 
farmer to be called 44 a good man to work for. 
SHELTER BELTS 
stead of saying 44 Boys rest a few minutes De- 
fore going to work again,” Mr. Miner would 
have some posts ready under the barn, on which 
he would insist that his hands, panting from 
their late exertions in his behalf, should at once 
set to work ! But even in hired help thoro still 
remains a good deal of human nature, and some¬ 
times not a little intelligence, and they are sure 
soon to loam this trick, and when called upon to 
hurry, will do so very slowly. 
Indeed, under such a master as Mr. T. B. Mi- 
nek, pray what enconragemont is there to exer¬ 
tion ? He boasts of having been “ a hard man 
to work for,” but says he was 44 good pay.” With 
regard to the first part of this there will be 
few to misunderstand him ; but with regard 
“good pay,” what does the phrase generally 
mean in the mouth of a “hard man?” In my 
experience, and I doubt not in that of most 
others, it simply moans that ha hirod men at the 
In view of the manifold advantages of trees 
for timber, sheltor and ornament, tboir conceded 
influence in securing a beneficial water supply, 
and their constant destruction to meet the de¬ 
mands of home industry and foreign require¬ 
ments. coupled with an innate disinclination in 
the miuds of many to make an immediate outlay, 
however trifling, either of money or time, for 
the purpose of insuring a comparatively remote 
benefit, however important, it would lie a na¬ 
tional blessing if a law were passed in every 
State compelling all landowners to set out a cer¬ 
tain number of trees each year until the num¬ 
ber, on every farm, should bear a specified pro¬ 
portion to its extent. 
Beneficial as such an enactment, duly enforced, 
would be at the East, its advantages would, ere 
long,he far more appreciable on the bleak-looking 
prairies of the West. Experience has amply 
shown that linos and belts of trees, by checking 
the violent swoop of prevailing winds, materially 
increase the crops they shelter; afford a hoalthf ul 
and economical protection to stock of all kinds; 
and salubriously temper the local climate round 
every homestead whose beauty and value their 
presence enhances. While for timber, it would 
not take long to establish a walnut grove from 
walnuts, and oak, hickory, maple and other suit¬ 
able deciduous treos could be procured and 
planted at a trifling expense : for shelter, a belt 
of evergreens would, on many accounts, be the 
most desirable. To say nothing of the relief 
their leafy presence affords to the bleakness of 
of the catch back and up. This drops and holds 
the gate closed. To open the gate place the 
thumb on the knob of catch. This is cheap, 
simple, effective, aDd not likely to bo opened by 
trickey cattle. This was seen on several farms 
in Climax, Michigan. 
FENCE FOR OVERFLOWED LAND 
FARM HELP, 
I. A. Youngs wants a fence for overflowed 
land. The sketch below shows a single panel, 
and also two panels set up. We use hero boards 
1 by 6, 12 feet long. Let the projecting ends 
stand out 12 inches. Tliis fence needs no poBte, 
Knowing the Rural is just enough to afford 
au opportunity for a fair presentation of all 
sides of a question, I take the privilege of mak¬ 
ing a few remarks on an article that lately ap¬ 
peared in its columns under the title “Howto 
make farming profitable.” In the first place, 
the writer, Mr. T. B. Miner, is certainly old 
enough to know that, as a general rale, farmers 
are quite hard enough on their help, without any 
of his prompting. According to his views, hired 
hands should have no more privilege or consider¬ 
ation than an ox or a horse. It would bo little 
wonder in that case, if they took no more inter¬ 
est in their work and required as oonstant watch¬ 
ing ! You think, Mr. Miner, because you aro 
rich and I am poor, that it is your place to bo n 
hard taskmaster and mine, a diligent toiler who 
must never staighten his bent back for a few 
moments' rest, however toilsome the labor or 
hot the day. As for a fair day’s work, I am glad 
to get it and never shirk it, but to work for a 
taskmaster of your type — never ! I know pf 
men that started as poor as poor could be, 
and who to-day are far richer than you (?) and 
yet they have always had the good-will of all 
about them, which you couldn’t have had, and 
have always been called 44 easy men to work for,” 
a title of honor of which you acknowledge your- 
eelf undeserving. The idea of telling a man to 
“shut up,” when he wanted to say a few words, 
just because it might take a moment that did not 
belong to him I But you, Mr. Miner, and those 
like you,do notlhesitate to ask your hired man to 
HIRED HELP 
In Rural New-Yorker for March 2nd, Mr. 
T. B. Miner proceeds to 44 lay down a few rules 
for farming,” and among some things that are 
really commendable and sensible, gives his views 
in regard to the treatment and management of 
“ hired help.” Most of these views I think aro 
wrong in principle, and would bo disastrous in 
praclioe. First, I find in rule second, ho says : 
“ A man and boy will often do as much work as 
two men, especially if the latter are left to work 
by themselves, as they frequently spend half of 
their time in talkingand ho implies that a man 
will not talk to a boy. Now, is tluB a fact ? I 
think not; for if the boy be old enough to ac¬ 
complish oven half the work of an ordinary man, 
he is as apt to talk to the man, and 'more liable to 
stop to listen than the man ; and, in several 
years Bpent on a farm, I have observed that 
men will talk to an intelligent hoy as readily as 
to a man, if there are no men in the field. Indeed, 
so far as my experience goes, it docs not pay to 
employ boy help on a farm where all the help is 
hirod. 
Again, he says : 44 When I hire a man, I tell 
him plainly that he must not 4 fool 1 away his 
time (my time) in talking to other men while at 
work, unless he wants his 4 walking papers.’ ’’ 
One would very naturally infer that Mr. Miner 
KELLOGG’S SALE OF TROTTING STOCK. 
A NEW DEPARTURE. 
Mr. Peter C. Ivellogo, well known among 
horsemen and readers of Agricultural papers by 
his nom de plume. 44 Hark;Oom8tock,” has issued 
a catalogue of horses offered at a “ special combi¬ 
nation sale” to take place on the 27th and 28th, 
in thiH city, at the building long known as the 
4 'Rink.” Mr. Kellogg has laid himself out to se¬ 
cure a selection of excellent trotting horses, which 
aro chiefly breeding animals. He has pledged 
every owner upon his honor not to have his Btock 
and two men with a team to haul the panels, 
can Bet up 400 rods in a day, if the hauling dis¬ 
tance is not too far. It is best to mako the 
panels near the line of fence. Put the boards 
together with eight-penny wrought nails. It 
withstands our winds well. Can bo taken down 
rapidly. 8. Rufus Mason. 
Ruiu'le Cane, Dodge Co., Nebraska. 
CONVERTING MAPLE SIRUP INTO SUGAR 
As I partly promised in my article on 44 Manu- 
fectnre of Maple Syrup,” to giye some hints on 
