98 
February 13 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
meal, tankage, fish, etc., and put it directly upon the 
soil. Others buy grain, feed it to stock, and apply it 
is the form of manure. Mr. Derby has free trade in 
this valuable nitrogen. Crimson clover imports it 
from the air for him. A few years ago, purchased 
nitrogen was necessary on this farm. Crops could 
not be grown without it. The continued use of Crim¬ 
son clover has changed all this. The soil has grown 
darker, more compact and richer—since crop after 
crop of the Crimson has been plowed under. Mind 
you, all this may not apply to your farm ! I am writ¬ 
ing of a soil that needs vegetable matter, a climate 
particularly well adapted to growing Crimson clover, 
and a man who has made a long and careful study of 
the best way to supply the soil’s need from the cli¬ 
mate’s natural gifts. 
The feeding value of green Crimson clover is not 
entirely confined to the soil’s needs. Mr. Derby is 
something of a poultryman. He understands, as do 
others, how necessary meat is in a hen’s winter ration. 
Green Crimson clover will take the place of meat. 
With wheat and a good Crimson-clover pasture, these 
Delaware hens have a perfect “balanced ration”. 
Year before last, a sow ran four months through the 
winter with nothing to eat but Crimson clover, and 
nothing to drink but the dew and wet on it, and in¬ 
stead of dying she raised 11 fine pigs ! 
But why does Mr. Derby use dissolved rock ? Will 
it be safe for me to use it ? These are questions that 
hundreds of farmers will ask. The first question is 
easily answered. The rock is used because it is the 
cheapest form of phosphoric acid and because, how¬ 
ever injurious it might be to other crops, it is well 
suited to the growth of clover. When utilized by the 
clover plant, it is in an organic form just as much so 
as in bone. The members of the Grange in Delaware 
combine to buy chemicals. The State chemist helps 
them buy to the best advantage. Science brings the 
principles of analysis to help them. The same is true 
of feeding stuffs. We have told our readers how Mr. 
E. H. Bancroft, a neighbor of Mr. Derby, cuts the 
Crimson clover into the silo and feeds cotton-seed 
meal with this ensilage. On being offered buckwheat 
middlings at $10 per ton in a local market, he found 
that, by analysis, these middlings were actually 
cheaper than cotton-seed meal. Few people realize 
what a concentrated food the buckwheat middlings 
are. With this cheap source of muscle-makers, Mr. 
spiked to it. Then a smaller stake is driven through 
a wire loop so that it holds down the other end. The 
middle bar of each panel projects at one end. This 
end is placed along the upright, and then the “ key ” 
is driven down through the wire loop—holding the 
panel in place. 
CUTTING FODDER BY HAND. 
IS IT A “MAN-KILLING” JOB ? 
If I were to name the best ensilage cutters, I would 
say that the one that has the knives on a head which 
revolves toward the corn. This style is easily 
incased, so that the cut stalks do not fly all over the 
yard, while it is diflieult to do so with the one with 
knives on the fly wheel. c. h. mcl. 
Putnam. N. Y. 
No One Killed Here. 
We cut corn fodder for one feed for 11 horses and 
two cows, say 12 bushels of cut feed, in a few minutes 
by hand, killing no one. The feed-mixing box is 
along the barn side ; it will hold 30 bushels. The 
A LIGHT PANEL FENCE. Fig. 51. 
Bancroft is beginning to think that it is better busi¬ 
ness to buy these elements rather than to try to 
raise them on the farm. I judge that he expects to 
plow m more and more of the Crimson clover and thus 
raise more corn for ensilage. You see how these 
things may change the whole plan of a man who 
studies the underlying principles of his business, and 
thus obtains a fair basis for figuring actual cost. The 
buckwheat middlings are better suited for feeding 
Jersey cows than cotton-seed meal, in any event. 
While dissolved rock may answer for clover on Mr. 
Derby’s farm, he might not use it if he grew other 
crops elsewhere. Let us see why that may be so. 
_ h. w. c. 
THE PORTABLE FENCE. 
PANEL AND HORSE FENCES. 
A large proportion of the plans submitted for the 
prizes covered the well-known principle of panels of 
wood or wire supported by triangular pieces placed 
where posts usually go. The accompanying pictures 
show how these end pieces vary. 
I ig. 49 from E. H. Collins, of Indiana, represents 
the ordinary fence of this character. Mr. Collins says 
that he can haul 40 rods of this fence at one load and 
put it up almost as fast as you can walk. This is for 
hogs ; one plank and a barbed wire higher will hold 
cattle. 
Fig. 50 shows another fence designed by J. R. 
Holmes, Livingston County, N. Y. The lower parts 
of the posts can be driven in like stakes, thus holding 
firmly. On a sidehill, holes must be punched in the 
ground for the upper sides. 
Another form of post is shown at Fig. 51, and an¬ 
other at Fig. 52. The design is sent by J. W. Mar- 
dorf, of Missouri. The post is the simplest one yet, 
and there are three strands of wire in the panel. 
Another simple post arrangement is shown at Fig. 
53. An Illinois man, W. W. Hays, sends this. A little 
study will show you just how it works. A big stake 
is driven so that the upright and lower piece can be 
cutter is on a platform at one end, the feed as cut 
falling into the box and never clogging the fly wheel. 
A broad shelf, hinged to the wall and turned up 
when not in use, supplements the cutter box. Enough 
stalks being put on the shelf, a man standing on a 
little platform feeds with his left hand and turns the 
handle with his right. If he stops turning to arrange 
the stalks or for any other reason, the wheel keeps 
right on. The handle turns very easily; high speed 
WIRE IN THE PANEL. Fjg. 52. 
is attained. What kind of a cutter have we ? One of 
the poorest. Although it has two knives, cutting at 
right angles, it is a man-killing job to tackle a pile of 
stalks alone, stopping now and then to rest or pick 
up stalks from the floor, and each time having to 
work to store power in the wheel as a new start is 
made. We have overcome the “man-killing” necessi¬ 
ties of the work by adopting the scheme of a bright 
boy who, one day, volunteered to help the man. He 
fixed up a 10-foot leading strap with a hand-loop at 
one end and a small loop fitting snugly over the 
handle of the machine. Standing alongside the feed 
box, a boy can keep things moving after once started, 
and can think it fun to hustle the job along. The 
strap is used as a crank which can be pulled each time 
the handle revolves. If we could dispose of our 
cutter, we would buy a shredder or Tornado cutter. 
We have seen some that certainly run no harder than 
our cutter, and the feed is not left with sharp cor¬ 
ners. We have a cover to the mixing box, which lies 
back against the wall when not used, and which, fit¬ 
ting snugly, keeps in warmth if we use warm water 
in cold weather, and prevents stray cats, fowls or 
dogs from interfering with or adding to the box’s 
contents if allowed to remain for hours. The whole 
outfit is compact and satisfactory. g. w. & son. 
Rockland County, N. Y. 
Balance-Wheel Cutter for Hand Work. 
I have used both kinds of fodder cutters and find 
that the balance-wheel cutters have the advantage as 
regards ease of cutting, whereas the cylinder cutters 
are likely to wear better. For hand-power, the 
former are to be preferred, as they will satisfactorily 
do heavier work than could be done at all on a 
machine of the same size of the cylinder-cutting 
pattern. The latter are to be preferred where 
power is not so much an object. The former cut 
intermittently, the latter are almost continually in 
the fodder. The cutting of the former may be 
likened to the blows struck by an ax; that of the 
latter to the consecutive pressure on the knife of 
a lever cutter. The blades of the former pass through 
the fodder in much less time, hence less time is spent 
in friction and more time to recover the retarded 
momentum. Other points of difference might be 
mentioned, but they all seem to resolve themselves 
into the foregoing. The power to be applied should 
be the guide in selecting the style. 
L. A. Clinton says, on page 69, that cutting corn 
fodder “ is a man-killing job,” etc. I do not find it 
so : I cut only when the weather is too inclement for 
outdoor work, but have no trouble in keeping ahead 
of the jaws of my stock. When cutting and feeding 
the machine by myself, I do not know what it is to get 
tired. If I happen to cut on a Saturday when my 
13-year-old boy is at home, it is all he cares to do to 
feed. In fact, young as he is, he prefers to cut and 
let me feed, asking for the privilege. By taking 
turns, neither becomes fatigued. But as much 
depends on proper feeding of a fodder cutter as on 
feeding a thrashing machine properly. Too heavy 
feeding is at the expense of muscle with no corres¬ 
ponding gain in time or quantity of feed cut. I 
speak only for the machine I use, knowing that some 
other machines are not suited to do the work by 
hand. Cut fodder is preferable to long in many re¬ 
spects. Stock will waste less. It is more suitable for 
mixing grain feeds to prevent bolting these. The 
discarded leavings make nice, clean bedding, and the 
pith absorbs large quantities of liquid manure. If 
not needed for this purpose, they make an ideal sub¬ 
stance for mulching purposes, free from weed seeds. 
I know nothing more objectionable in a stable lot 
than long corn stalks, and would cut mine if for no 
other reason. If there is no other job more of a man¬ 
killing nature than cutting fodder, as done by me, 
there is no danger of my dying from overwork. 
Virginia. j. c. sender. 
A Hand Worker Still Alive. 
I am cutting fodder for 15 cattle this winter with 
one of these machines of torture, and I am wintering 
in fine condition. So are my cattle. My fodder con¬ 
sists of Learning corn raised for fodder, planted three 
feet apart one way and 18 inches the other, and husked 
stalks. The Learning corn was put up in very large 
shocks and left in the field until needed. We cut first 
a bundle of these, and then one of the dry stalks, 
and it is then shoved down into the basement in a 
large pile, enough to last a week, and allowed to even 
up. The dry stalks absorb the moisture from the wet 
ones. I use a lever machine which cost me $4. I have 
to feed it by hand, and I think this is best for a hand 
machine, because it takes more power to feed a cut¬ 
ter than it does to chop off the stalks. We can easily 
cut enough in one day to last 15 cattle a week. I give 
a man 50 cents a day to help jme, and we change off 
