can. Then (for corn, potatoes, etc ) the two- 
horse cultivator, with earth guards, throws the 
soil close up about the rows, but does not 
cover or break down the stalks, and gets over 
the ground twice as fast as the old one-horse 
cultivator. Finally, the shovel plow with ad¬ 
justable wings, bills up the potatoes complete¬ 
ly. And so our Western “hoed crops” are 
not hoed at all, and if properly tilled from the 
eo hard in the latter case. They prefer, too, to 
work for the farmer who works with them, or 
at least is with them most of the time, than for 
him who Is off at town or elsewhere half of 
the time. Aud as for the farmer himself, the 
old “saw” is still true, 
" For be that by the plow would thrive, 
Himself must either hold or drive.” 
On large farms in England and elsewhere the 
superintendence of the work may be enough 
f •>' the farmer, but on small American farms 
the farmer himself must usually be a worker. 
But he must be a thiuker and a superintendent 
too, and at no time of the year is it more im¬ 
portant for him to have clear aud well- 
arranged plans and promptness and decision 
in their execution than uow. For in the spring 
time the preparations are made and most of 
the crops put in whose growth and sale and 
use, mast pay his hired help, support his fam- 
and lay by something for a “rainy day” or 
for old age. 
of the frame is pivoted a lever or trigger, 0, 
which is jointed to the sliding wire frame, D. 
A bail.E, jointed to the follower is engaged by 
the catch, F. when the trap is set. and the long 
arm of the catch is retained by the upper part 
of the sliding frame, D. 
A short section of the rdge of the mole track 
la pressed down by the foot and the trap is 
pinned down over the flattened place. When 
the mole returns it presses the lever, C, upward 
in the act of opening the path, thus releasing 
the catch, F, when the tines, B, spring down¬ 
ward and impale the animal, For the goph¬ 
er the trap is fastened down over the month 
of the hole where it carries out earth. When 
it emerges with a load it presses up the trigger 
and springs the trap. 
Ibis useful invention was recently patented 
by Mr. Albert G. Rogers, of Lathrop, Mo. 
AN ADJUSTABLE MARKER 
V. A. GULLY. 
FARMERS’ EXPEEIMENT PLOTS 
Every season for three years past the 
Rural New-Yorker has suggested to its read¬ 
ers that they should experiment for themselves 
in order to ascertain what concentrated man¬ 
ure their soils stand most in need of. Some 
fields may most need potash; others phosphoric 
acid, etc. Some may need only one—some 
two—some all, or what has been termed a 
complete fertilizer. If by test it were found 
that a given field would produce as much 
corn by the addition of 3i0 pounds of bone 
flour as by the addition of a thousand pounds 
of a complete fertilizer, it is plain that Ihe 
difference in cost could be saved for one 
year or for more, according as the supply of 
the other fertilizing ingredients was greater 
or less. The diagram will sufficiently show 
our readers the best method of conducting 
such experiments. Each parallelogram may 
represent 1-40, 1-10, 1-4 of an acre or an acre, 
if so mnch laud coaid be spared to the experi¬ 
ment. 
Auy of the first-class fertilizer firms of the 
country will furnish the different ingredients 
as needed, since Bitch firms are naturally de¬ 
sirous of familiarizing farmers with the use 
of their own goods For phosphoric acid, bone 
black is perhaps the best. For nitrogen, ni¬ 
trate of soda. For potash, muriate of potash. 
The diagram will suggest combinations, and 
otheis still may occur to the experimenter. 
EXPERIMENT PLOTS. 
MOLE AND GOPHER TRAP.—FIG. 116. 
first with these implements, will not be weedy 
at all. and will be far better tilled than with 
the hoe. It is a good rule never to do by hand 
what a horse can do cheaper. Not laziness 
but true economy dictates this rule. 
Work for ttniuy Weather. 
1 am not of those who think it hurts a farm¬ 
er or his hired man, or men, to rest when it 
rains. When rain sets in in the afternoon, I 
believe it is often best to rest till night and 
give teams and men the t'.me to do the same. 
But often there are whole days of rain, and for 
such times work should be planned. Cord 
wood in a good shed msy be sawed and split 
Into stove wood, or old rails iuto sugar wood. 
Seed potatoes may be cut, potatoes “ sprout¬ 
ed " aud hay, straw and stalks chaffed for cut- 
feed to last for some days or even weeks to 
come. Barns aud cellars may be cleared out 
and put to rights and the latter whitewashed. 
Work harness may be washed and oiled, axes 
and other tools ground aud put in order for 
use, aud many jobs of tinkering be done in 
barn or shop, if ouly they are down in your 
memorandum or your mind, so that you will 
not have to stop and “ think them up.” Profit¬ 
able work, too, must be planned for times when, 
though it does not actually rain, the soil is 
too wet for tillage. There must always bo 
promptness and wisdom of decision on the 
part of the successful farmer. Ilis meu must 
beam, with a large washer and a nut on the 
front side of the latter. They arc made to fit 
snug in the notches to prevent any side motion. 
To change the teeth, the nuts are loosened— 
not taken off—when the teeth may be slipped 
along any desired distance ; if but part of the 
teeth are needed the others may be tipped up 
sidewise, as showu at, b, and the nuts lightened 
to hold them in place. 
Attached to the tongue, at c, ia a leather 
loop to hold a small, tt it wreuch for changing 
the teeth. The tongueshould he placed atsuch 
an angle with the beam that wheu the marker 
is being used, the teeth will slaat back about 
30 degrees from the vertical. This will give 
the marker a more steady woiiou than when 
the teeth are upright or poiut lorward. 
At d, is showu a tooth with a shoe or runner; 
the unde r side of the latter is beveled to an 
edge, aud shows the exact center of the mark. 
When the seed is to be sowed with a drill, or 
by hand when the ground is dry, I prefer the 
teeth with shoes, as the marker can be drawn 
more easily as well as steadily, aud more nearly 
In a straight line. The objection to using the 
shoe is that if the ground is at all moist, the 
bottom of the mark is packed too hard; if, 
however, a drill is used, the nose, or seed 
spout, will loosen up the soil when the seed is 
dropped. 
Wheie much marking is done, if. will pay to 
have a handle attached to the hand marker, as 
shown in the cut. Two men cau then do the 
work faster enough to more than make up for 
the extra hand, and with much greater ac¬ 
curacy. 
I have also used a one-horse marker made 
on the same plan. The handles of both are 
nearly as long as the beams, as shown in the 
engraving. In marking, after crossing the 
field or bed—following a stretched line the 
first time across—one tooth is drawn in the last 
mark made, for a guide; with the handle 
shown, the man who guides the marker takes 
hold of the end of the handle aud walks behind 
the guiding tooth. By looking ahead he sees 
all the crooks in the mark previously made 
and can vary the marker to make them straight. 
When the marker is turned to come back, he 
tak^s the other end of the haudle, and so on. 
With this form- of handle any careful man can 
make straight rows on even ground, while not 
one man ia one hundred will do so with the 
ordinary marker with the handles at the center. 
Lansing, Mich. 
NEW MOLE AND GOPHER TRAP 
In the Rural of March 30, we published il¬ 
lustrations of two very efficient mole traps, 
and we here present another devised for 
Spreading Manure. 
I beg leave to disagree with F. H. D. on 
spreading manure from a wagon. I think he 
is mistaken when he says It saves much time 
and is much easier. It Is the custom of our 
largest and best fanners to unload their ma¬ 
nure from the wagon la heaps, making from 
four to six piles to a load. A good mao. with 
a manure or potato hook, can unload a large 
load in this way in five or ten minutes, and the 
spreading may bo done at leisure, to fill in 
time. Most farmers keep hired help, and it is 
sometimes very convenient as well as profit¬ 
able to have soma light j >bs io store to work at 
in odd Miells to flit in time. When manure is 
spread from the wagon the team has ton-main 
idle about balf of the time, or while the driver 
is unloading; but when the manure Uuuloaded 
in heaps; which is done bv removing oue side 
board aud hauling it off with a potato hook, 
the lime required for unloading is so short that 
the team is kept busy most of the time. 
G. A. Q., JR. 
AN ADJUSTABLE MARKER. 
never see him at his wits’ end to plan work for cat-him; 
them, or dallying in doubt. If bo dallies here, of which 
they will dally at the work. Hired men work of either 
far better when they see that thoy accomplish device m 
something than wheu from the mismanagement The tr: 
of their employer, they caunot earn him their by the v 
wages, even though they may uot have to work 8 han) tlr 
No manure. 
Farm Manure. 
Phosphoric Acid 
Potash. 
Nitrogen. 
Nitrogen and 
Potash. 
Nitrogen. Pot¬ 
ash and Burnt 
Bone. 
Bone Flour. 
Leached Ashes. 
—* 
