THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JULY M 
arrangement if kept nicely painted, and any 
ordinary farmer can build it. Looking at the 
cut (Pig. 385) the lower board is eight inches 
wide and 16 feet long. There are eight feet be 
tween the posts. 
The second board is six inches wide; the next 
four inches wide. The top board is nailed on 
top of the posts, sloping to the front, even 
with the front and side of the battens or stays. 
These are six inches wide. The front side of the 
boards should be one inch thick, dressed and 
painted white, except the top and bottom 
boards which look better painted brown or 
some other dark color. The boards crossing 
Hay-rack.—Fig. 386. 
each other should not be cut in the middle, but 
merely lapped over each other. 
In the Rural of May 12 is a sketch of a hay¬ 
rack on which 1 have a little improvement to 
suggest, so I send you a sketch of the front end 
of one I am using (Fig. 386). The cross-beams 
are an inch-and-a-half thick, five inches wide 
and six feet three iuches long, and are 13 inche s 
higher at the ends. This gives it dish enough to 
hold the load on, which is especially desirable in 
a hilly country. It also raises the outside of the 
rack well over the front wheels. In other re¬ 
spects it can be made like tliat in the Rural. 
Hampden, Sidney College, Va. h. c. 
A. WINDLASS FOR LIFTING OFF AND 
SUSPENDING A HAY-RACK OR 
WAGON BOX. 
In my last article I offered my plan of a 
hay-rack. I now' send a drawing (Fig. 387) 
and brief description of an apparatus by which 
one man can lift the rack from the Wagon and 
swing it up w here it is both out of the w r ay 
and under cover. 
In my horse-barn the space above the drive¬ 
way is open to the roof, not being used for 
bay or grain. Here I have constructed this 
apparatus. In Ibe drawing (Fig. 387), the ob¬ 
server is supposed to stand in the loft above, 
looking downward. I think the general ar¬ 
rangement will appear pretty well from the 
drawiug. For the large pulley I used one of 
the rear wheels of an abandoned farm w'agou. 
I removed the tire, and nailed to the felloe a 
reiies of boards, cut as indicated in (Fig. 387), 
though I think I used eight sections instead of 
six. The boards project one inch beyond the 
outer edge of the felloe, so as to form a groove 
to hold the rojie in place. I might give system¬ 
atic directions for cutting these boards, but 
I think it is mmecesary. Any one bandy with 
tools will find a way to do it. 
A piece of 4 x 4 oak scantling with the cor¬ 
ners x'ounded will answer for the shaft. This 
is to lie carefully tapered at one end, so as to 
snugly fit the bole in the center of the wheel ( 
after the iron boxes have been removed. The 
shaft must pass through the wheel, a few in¬ 
ches to form the journal, as shown in the 
drawing. To fasten the wheel to the shaft, I 
bored a few three-eighths-inch holes through 
the huh, and a little way into the shaft, and 
drove in pieces of round iron of the same size, 
cut to the proper length. The shaft should be 
dry and fiimly driven into the hub before the 
boles are bored. The ropes are attached to 
the shaft by inserting them through holes in 
the latter, and securing them by knots tied in 
the ends. The longer pair of ropes pass over 
small iron pulleys attached to the beam, as in¬ 
dicated. 
The ratchet, rather imperfectly shown at the 
right hand part of the wheel, is an important 
part of the apparatus, as by dropping between 
the spokes as the wheel turns, it secures the 
sack or box, as fast as the latter is raised. It 
s attached to a block spiked to the scantling 
that supports the shaft, on the side towards 
the wheel, aud consists of a bit of narrow 
plank about ten inches long, pivoted at the 
lower end, and is so arranged that it may be 
drawn backward so as to clear the spokes, by 
pulling upon the string from below, but it 
drops forward again by its own weight as soon 
as released- B, Fig. 387 will perhaps give a 
better idea of the ratchet. The shoulder at 
the bottom is intended to prevent it from 
dropping over too far. 
A rope, having the ends spliced together, 
passes over the wheel, and hangs down, so 
that the wheel may be turned from below. A 
portion of the beam is left out. in the drawing 
to show a small pulley, over which this rope 
passes. This pulley helps to keep the rope in 
the groove on the circumference of the large 
wheel, and also increases the friction, so that 
the rope does not slip. It may be made of 
wood or iron, and can be attached to a thick 
block spiked to the beam, on the side towards 
the wheel. 
I used a %-ineli rope for the one that passes 
around the wheel. The smaller ones, that 
wind up on the shaft, are j^-inoh. 
If 1 have made myself clear, the manner of 
using this apparatus will need little explana¬ 
tion. The operator attaches the ropes to the 
rack, oi- box, by means of the hooks, and 
draws downward on the left-hand side of the 
rope that passes around the wheel. The rat¬ 
chet secures the weight as fast as lie lifts it, by 
dropping under each spoke as it passes, and is 
all that is needed to sustain the box or rack 
when the latter is raised. Thedraw-i-ope may 
then be hung up out of the way. In letting 
down the rack, or box, he pulls on the draw- 
store 33-2 feet under ground. Now' for the 
harm:—in three years on my 30-acre gai'den 
he has eaten, say, two bushels of potatoes, cut 
off about two dozen tomato vines and about 
as many beans. He also got in my lawn near 
my house, aud that particular one I caught 
with a trap and killed; just in the same wav 
I would kill my bf ns if they w'ould not let my 
flow'er bed alone. 
In conclusion. the gopher and I are about to 
separate, as -we have destroyed bis living, for 
the morning glories are all gone. He has only 
to go over the line to my neighbor who for 
two years has about this season mowed his 
oats and wheat to stop the growt h of the wild 
morning glories,and there the gopher will find 
plenty, if my neighbor will suffer him to live 
rope enough to loosen the ratchet, lifts the lat¬ 
ter, by pulling ou the string, and lowei-s the 
weight, by permitting the rone to slip through 
his hands, stopping it in its descent when de¬ 
sired by dropping the ratchet. 
The apparatus might of course be put up in 
other buildings as well as in a horse barn; and 
I have thought that in some cases, it might be 
used to advantage for drawing up hogs, at 
butchering time. “Elm. ” 
Htxluralisl. 
GOPHERS. 
The gopher is a small animal about the size 
of a ver 3 ' large Norway rat, with strong fore 
feet, tw'o pockets in the side of the jaws, w'hich 
it uses for the purjiose of carrying dirt out of 
its track, ditch or hole. It lives mostly under 
ground, being seldom if ever seeen outside. 
It generally commences its track or finishes it 
I 
Des Moines, Iowa. a. w. l. 
Remarks. —Gopher is the common name of 
several very different American animals, and 
on account of this confusion of names, it is 
necessary to ascertain the animal indicated by 
the word in Die sectiou in which the writer 
resides. The rodent gophers, or pouched rats, 
as they are often called, referred to in the 
above article, constitutes the sub-family 
Geomyime, and they are mostly found east of 
the Rockies. They arc very abundant in Mis¬ 
souri, Illinois and Iowa, and they are also 
found in less numbers in Canada, Mexico, 
Texas and the Gulf States, but none are met 
with in the Atlantic States north of the Sav¬ 
annah River. They feed oil grasses, roots, 
nuts, etc., which they carry to their holes in 
their pouches. Along the Upper Missouri 
they are called inuloes. The Southern gopher, 
hamster or salamander (Geomys pinetis) is a 
larger species differing much in appearance 
and is found in Alabama, Georgia aud Florida. 
In the same section a tortoise (Testudo poly- 
phernus) is also known by the name of goph er. 
Farm Fence.—Fig. 385. 
Like the rodent gopher, it burrows in the 
ground preferring dry and sandy places, es¬ 
pecially the pine barrens where these animals 
exist in troops. They live entirely on vege¬ 
table food. The adults are very strong, mov¬ 
ing under a weight of 200 pounds. The females 
are larger tbun the males. The flesh aud eggs 
are esteemed as food. There are also several 
species of gopher belonging to the genus 
Thomomys. found principally on the Pacific 
Coast, of which the California gopher is the 
largest. This is extremely annoying to farmers 
and horticulturists,and owing to its destructive 
propensities it is baited with traps aud poisons 
on all possible occusious; phosphorus and 
strychnine are the most efficacious. In parts 
of Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Northern 
Ulinois the striped prairie squirrel is com- 
in some swale or slough, digs a regular ditch 
about three to 3X feet under ground, coming 
out and leaving the dirt in small piles about one 
rod apart, always closing the hole behind it. 
Its home is always w'here the wild morniug 
glory is abundant. This is its daily food. 
There it frequently throws up numerous piles 
of dirt. If the place should be in a meadow, it 
is very annoying; if in an orchard or hedge, the 
animal does not turn aside for smull roots that 
come iri its way, but cuts them off w-ith its 
teeth. If in its course it should cross a sweet- 
potato patch, the little epicure would consider 
them superior to its common diet, and often 
frish potatoes are devoured by it. These are 
the habits of the animal as nearly as I have 
been able to learn in the three years I have 
been here. The animal is despised by every 
A Windlass for Lifting off and Suspending A Hay-rack, or Wagon Box, 
Fig. 387. 
one—in all my acquaintance not one has ever monly called gopher. It takes the plant 
spoken a word in its favor. In order to ascer- tree squirrels in the West and is well fitted 
tain the facts whether it is of uny value or terrestrial life in grassy prairies, feeding 
whether It does more harm than good we the roots and seeds of prairie plants. Uu 
should balance acts and see bow the account the pouched gopher, it is diurnal 
stands. First, what good does the little gregarious. It makes a very slial 
worker do? Well, he eats the roots of those burrow, and feeds on roots, grasses, se 
wild morning glories 365 days in a year, aud insoots aud field mice. Though it is someti 
they are Die worst pest to the farmers of Iowa. so destructive on newly culti vated district 
Then he ditches the land from his home, if in neglected fields as to necessitate a sec 
level, for 50 rods. If the rain should fill up planting, it probably makes up for the loss 
his burrow he immediately opens it, cleans the destruction of mice and noxious inse 
it out ready for the next rain. I have found It vanishes before the plow and rarely atti 
bushels of roots left over from his Winter old and well cultivated fields. Eds.] 
ORGANIZATION OF AN ASSOCIATION 
OF BREEDERS OF RED SWINE. 
COL. F. D. CURTIS. 
A meeting lias just been held at Elkhorn, 
Wisconsin, of the breeders of Red Swine, em¬ 
bracing the breeders of both the Durocs aud 
the Jersey Reds. An association has been 
founded for the purpose of establishing a 
Registry to promote the breeding of these 
hogs in a thoroughbred line and according to 
a specified standard. There was considerable 
discussion as to the basis upon which pigs 
should be entitled to be received into the 
Registry—whether upon a certain number of 
crosses or upon the filling of a certain pre¬ 
scribed standard. 
Tt was finally concluded—and very wisely in 
my judgment—to receive pigs for entry upon 
the standard of characteristics adopted and 
agreed upon in 1878, by some of the breeders 
of Duroc hogs in Saratoga and Washington 
Counties, New York, which standard was 
printed in the Rural at that time as follows: 
‘ The true Duroc, as now bred by those who 
are aiming to keep the breed perfect and 
establish them as thoroughbred, should be 
long and quite deep-bodied, not round but 
broad ou the back and bolding the width well 
out to the liips and hams. The bead should be 
small compared with the body, with the cheek 
broad and full. The neck should be short aud 
thick, and the face slightly curved, with the 
nose rather longer than in the English breeds; 
the ear rather large and lopped over the eye. 
They are not fine-boned, nor yet coarse, but 
medium; the legs medium in length and size, 
but set well under the body and well apart 
and not cut up high in the Hank or above the 
knee. The hams should lie broad aud full 
well down to the hock. There should be a 
good coat of hair of medium fineness 
inclining to bristles at the top of the 
shoulders, the tail being hairy and 
not small; the hair usually straight, hut in 
some cases a little wavy. The color should be 
red, varying from dark, glossy cherry red, 
aud even brownish hairs, to light, yellowish- 
red, with occasionally a small fleck of black on 
the belly aud legs. The darker shades of red 
are preferred by most breeders.” This is the 
type of color most desirable.’ 
Two slight amendments were made to the 
above, inserting “breadth between the eyes’’ 
and also “not erect” in speaking of the ears 
Some persons thought, it would be best to re¬ 
cognize the undoubted origin of these hogs a 
being from the Berkshire, by calling them 
Red Berkshires. But after a lengthened dis¬ 
cussion, it was finally determined to recognize 
both local names and to call them the “ Duroc 
or Jersey-Red Swine.” 
The name Duroc was very properly put at 
the head, inasmu : h as this family of red hogs 
has an authenticated history running back to 
1823; whereas that of the Jersey-Red is not so 
remote, nor so well authenticated. 
The fact was brought out. at this convention 
that, the red hogs of New J ersey were ongiually 
called Duroes before the name of Jersev-Reds 
w'as originated. The first time I recollect 
hearing this name, was about twelve years 
ago, when the late J. B. Lyman, then the 
Agricultural Editor of the New York Tribune, 
asked me what I thought of the name “Jersey - 
Reds’’for the sandy hogs in New Jersey. I 
think that the name originated at this time, 
aud this opinion agrees with that of a number 
of breeders who state thut these hogs have 
been known by this name about ten or fifteen 
years. “The Duroc or Jersey-Red Swine’’ 
will hereafter be the rooognixetj, name of these 
hogs, and the claims for difference in blood 
aud origin need no longer he made. 
Perhaps I may be permitted to add that the 
action of this convention in uniting the two 
families in one name and one club for registia- 
tion, with one common standard of character¬ 
istics, is according to facts and in harmony 
with history and exceedingly gratifying to 
myself, as I have all along contended in the 
Rural and other agricultural papers, that 
these hogs had one common origin and were 
similar in their characteristics, except as the 
latter may have been changed by individual 
crosses. 
The fee for membership was established at 
$2, and there will be annual liability to asses- 
meut not to exceed an equal amount. 
Registry fees for living pigs $1.50, and 50 
cents for dead ones, 25 cents for transfers. A 
committee was appointed to examine swine 
for which application should he made for 
entry in the club Register, said committee to 
determine their qualifications us compared 
with the standard agreed upon. Breeders are 
to pay the expenses of the committee-man to 
examine their herds. 
Committee: — Edward Ogden, Eddyville. 
udiana; G. W. Stoner, La-Place, 111.; E. B, 
