i89o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
5i7 
Business. 
MORE ABOUT THE TREE AGENT. 
Tree Agents Not Needed In Georgia. 
The tree agent is utterly unnecessary. Mistakes are 
due partly to fraudulent tree agents (there are, however, 
some very honest ones) and partly to incompetent nursery¬ 
men who know little or nothing of their pursuit and employ 
careless and cheap help. They can be prevented by per¬ 
sonal and constant supervision of one’s business in all its 
details, and by employing competent and properly remun¬ 
erated assistants. Unintentional errors will occur at times 
in spite of the utmost precautions. A fair settlement with 
honorable men can always be made and the course to be 
pursued must depend upon each case. To build up a 
good business it is necessary to grow the best possible 
stock, true to name, and offer it at a price commensurate 
with itscost of production; never to misrepresent an article, 
and to convince one’s customers by his acts that their suc¬ 
cess with his products is his also. One must be satisfied 
with a fair profit, must not frighten off would be patrons 
by extortionate prices. One must not “boom” novel¬ 
ties unless he has an assurance from his own observation 
that they have real merits, and then he should ask a price 
but a trifle in advance of those for older but probably equally 
good articles of the same class. One should attend person¬ 
ally to his business and must not entrust it to often incom¬ 
petent “foremen.” P. J. BERCKMAN8. 
About as Square as Anybody. 
I fear I can be of little use to The R. N. Y. in the way it 
indicates, because my views of the value of the tree agent 
are so very different from those entertained by most 
nurserymen. We have never had any in our business, pre¬ 
ferring to deal directly with our customers, but from what 
we have seen of them they are about as square in their 
dealings as other classes of the community. There are 
rascals among them, and so there are among those who 
buy of them. Indeed in my experience, listening even to 
the stories of those who profess to have been swindled, it 
has been often easy to see that the agent was fully as much 
sinned against as sinning. THOMAS MEEHAN. 
TWO USEFUL DEVICES. 
Grading Target for Laying Drain Tile.— At Fig¬ 
ure 200 is shown a handy device for obtaining a grade 
when laying tile. It is made of a strip of half-inch board, 2>£ 
inches wide and six or seven feet long, with a half-inch slot 
down the center, as shown. Mark it off in feet and inches 
like a square. Cut a round piece from an inch board 
six or seven inches in diameter, bore a small hole in the 
center not quite through, to admit a thumb-screw, a; 
put a washer on the thumb-screw and insert it in the 
target through the slot from the back, and tighten to any 
desired hight. Paint the outside of the target red, and 
the center white. Level a square at the lowest point of 
the drain ; set the target at the highest point with the 
center level with the square ; then raise the target to give 
any desired descent for the fall of the water. 
Device for Scalding Hogs.— The device shown at Fig¬ 
ure 201, is simple, and its construction is explained by the 
cut. Two men bearing down on this 25-foot pole can raise 
a heavy hog into the barrel more easily than can four or 
five standing on the platform. By turning the pole 
around (see dotted lines) the hog can be swung upon 
the platform and reversed in a moment by means of the 
rope ; a is an inch iron rod driven into the post: b shows 
the form of the aperture in the pole. This is a cheap and 
excellent contrivance. Lay the pole away when not in use. 
W. ARCHER. 
IMPLEMENT NOTES. 
English Stack Rollers.— We have had quite a little to 
say about the heavy rollers used by English farmers to 
pack hay in the stack or press silage in the silo. At 
Figure 202 is shown a rude drawing re-engraved from an 
English advertisement, which will give a crude idea of the 
way these rollers are used. They are made hollow—to be 
filled with water or sand to give the desired weight. A 
large barrel is sometimes used. This, filled with water 
and tightly sealed, may be rolled about on the boards to 
press the silage or hay iuto a compact mass. A flooring 
of plank is laid on the hay and the roller is rolled about 
this flooring until the mass is hard enough. This adver¬ 
tisement describes the great value of a “ Hay Spice ” which 
is “specially prepared for mixing with hay at the time of 
stacking.” This substance is to be thrown over the hay as 
it is put in the stack, about as some farmers throw salt 
over the hay-mow. 
An Australian Potato Digger.— As we have mentioned 
before now, the Victorian government has offered a prize 
of $1,250 for improved potato diggers. In a recent issue 
the Australian Ironmonger ilustrates the various classes 
of machines entered for this prize. The Farm Implement 
News finds only one of these implements which is new or 
particularly different from those now in use. A picture of 
this will be found at Figure 203, with the description 
found in the Ironmonger : “ The machine consists essen¬ 
tially of a rectangular bar-iron frame the front portion 
of which carries the gearing, driver’s seat, and draft attach¬ 
ment, the rear portion carrying the rotary sifting cone. 
The driving wheel axle is journaled in the segmental¬ 
shaped front ends, of levers, the rear ends of which are 
pivoted to the inside of the frame, the segments being con¬ 
nected by chains to pulleys on a shaft in front, wfiich is 
controlled by a hand lever and ratchet wheel with a foot 
catch, thus enabling the driver to raise or depress the 
frame at will. On the driving axle is a loose sprocket 
wheel, which may be engaged at will by a feathered 
clutch, engagement being effected by a spiral spring coiled 
upon the axle, and disengagement by a shifting arrange¬ 
ment controlled by a crank near the driver’s seat. Motion 
is given to the sifting cage by a chain over the sprocket 
wheel driving a smaller one on a rear shaft, which has a 
miter wheel gearing in another miter wheel on the cage 
shaft. In front of the cage is the share which lifts the 
potatoes, soil and all, and throws them in a cage. The 
rear end of the latter is carried by a caster. The cage is 
conical, and consists of a number of open bars or wires 
-i,...*hw-’ 
Grading Target for Laying Grain Tile. Fig. 200. 
secured to rings, and has internal Archimedean screw 
blades, two of them running through, and two of them 
extending only a short distance from the front. The front 
of the cage has an adjustable shield, by which the opening 
may be made larger or smaller, and which prevents the 
contents falling out in front, while the potatoes, or other 
roots, thoroughly separated from all soil, are discharged in 
Device for Scalding Hogs. Fig. 201 . 
a row at the rear, or may be gathered in a special receptacle. 
A side shield prevents loose soil being thrown over lifted 
potatoes or standing rows.” 
Mowing Machines.— The remarks of Mr. Macomber in 
a late Rural on the subject of mowing machines, are 
timely and sound. Seven years ago my father bought a 
mowing machine which had the old-fashioned hook-and- 
eye pitman connection. We thought then that this part 
of the machine was sadly behind the times, but I was sur- 
English Stack Rollers. Fig. 202. 
prised to find a short time since that there has been no im¬ 
provement in this part, for the company still make all 
their machines with the same connection. When I asked 
a general agent why they did not make something better, 
he said : “ Oh that is good enough and is cheap ; when 
that wears out any blacksmith can enlarge the hook and a 
new sickle-eye costs only 35 cents: ” a very consoling re¬ 
mark for a fellow to remember when he is half a mile from 
home and 10 miles from town, and the pitman connection 
gets loose and rattles so that he is afraid of shaking the 
whole machine to pieces! I improved our machine by 
cutting off about a quarter of the pitman and making a 
sort of home-made ball-and-socket joint which I can keep 
tight. The two irons which are bolted to the pitman have 
cone-shaped ends which fit into the eye of the sickle and 
are held firmly in place by the bolts, as shown at Figure 204. 
Minnesota City, Minn. james m. drew. 
Sharp Practice in Mowers.— I notice under Imple¬ 
ment Notes in a late Rural, that C. makes an important 
inquiry : “ Why is it that in many makes of mowing ma¬ 
chines the breaks all come in one particular casting ?” and 
he might have added: Why do the manufacturers charge 
such prices for duplicate parts ? Why do they make all 
their bolts of unusual sizes* that is, half-inch bolts are al¬ 
ways one-sixteenth of an inch too large or too small, and 
so of all the others ? Why is it that all the nuts and 
threads on the bolts are cut with unusual screw-plates, 
such as no common blacksmith uses or keeps ? I know of 
a number of machines, all of one make, that are all 
broken in the same place, and, recently, when I sent for 
that particular casting, it was just the same as those in 
the broken machines—weak In one particular place. 
Never mind: “ The mills of the gods grind slowly,” etc., 
and some time a mower will be sent out that will do jus¬ 
tice to the purchaser, and the coming farmer will not be 
slow to appreciate and patronize such a machine. 
Sandy Point, Me. M. R. c. 
About Potato Plows. —This note comes from a sub¬ 
scriber in Pennsylvania: “ In The Rural of July 26, page 
486, mention is made of potato diggers that would dig two 
acres in half a day, and do it well. Does The Rural know 
of an efficient potato plow suitable for farmers who raise 
from two to six acres of potatoes yearly ? I had about the 
same trouble spoken of in The Rural in getting two 
acres dug last year. This year I have four acres and would 
be pleased to know of a plow or digger which it would pay 
me to purchase to do the work of the digging of four 
acres.” 
R. N.-Y.—There are several good potato plows in the 
market. Two of the best are made by Deere & Co. of 
Moline, Ill. Pictures of these may be seen on our last 
page. Of course, these plows are not to be compared with 
the large diggers for clean and rapid work. The only 
really successful digger is one that has a broad, steel point 
or share which runs into the ground so deep that it will 
take out dirt, tubers, vines, weeds, stones—everything. It 
must carry the whole mass up an incline so that 
the earth may fall through a grate and the 
tubers fall out behind, separated from the vines 
and weeds. The potato plows do the digging almost 
as well as the large machines, though they make a 
narrower and shallower furrow. They fail in separating 
the tubers from the dirt and weeds. Many of the potatoes 
are covered and must be picked out of the dirt. Some 
farmers run the plow through the trenches, pick up all the 
potatoes in sight and then harrow the field over. This they 
think brings to the surface all that it is profitable to dig. 
Breed’s weeder may be used for this harrowing, as it is 
light, covering a wide surface while the teeth spring and 
work in the loose soil like long fingers. Other farmers run 
the plow through the rows and then follow with long- 
handled pronged hoes with which a good workman can fish 
out the tubers left in the soil. This is slower work than 
harrowing, but probably more potatoes will be found. 
There is a considerable difference in the varieties of pota¬ 
toes. A potato like the Raral New-Yorker No. 2, which pro¬ 
duces its tubers in a close bunch with comparatively few 
small ones, could be dug with a plow far more successfully 
than the Rural Blush which “straggles ” considerably. It 
is well to remember that the potato plow is an aid to po¬ 
tato digging, not a master of the operation. These plows 
can be used for furrowing in the spring. The R. N.-Y 
would suggest a new attachment for these plows. Why 
not have half a-dozen light, steel fingers fastened to the top 
of the plow and so bent that they will scratch over the soil 
behind it ? 
The Hoover Potato Sorter.— Hoover & Prout send 
us the following note concerning the article on potato 
sorters on page 485. “That man in Westchester, Pa., is 
the first in the United States to say that he wanted to sort 
two sizes of potatoes at once. The cylinder of our machine 
is wound in a moment’s time with binder twine and then 
the seed potatoes are taken out from the small ones very 
rapidly. Our cylinder is made of wooden hoops on wooden 
slats, and the whole, after having been completed, is 
dipped in a vat of paint and hung up to drip and dry. 
This treatment puts the paint into every crevice and bear¬ 
ing, and makes a very complete and thorough job. If the 
mesh is not quite coarse enough, as may be the case in 
Colorado and California, a half hour’s work with a half- 
round file will soon make it so without in the least 
weakening the cylinder. We think the Collins sorter has 
a very great source of weakness in that the wire is a con¬ 
tinuous coil from one end to the other. The belief is that 
the potatoes will lie in this coil and slide from one end to 
the other without rolling over, as is necessary in our sorter 
in order to move on.” 
Hartman Steel Picket Fence.—A few years ago the 
country was overrun with different designs of steel fence. 
Most of them have now disappeared. The Hartman fence 
has survived and we may naturally conclude that it is the 
“ fittest.” Certainly it is fit for use wherever a fence is 
expected to be both useful and ornamental. Send for a 
circular to the Hartman Manufacturing Co., Beaver Falls, 
Pa., and see what the fence is. 
A Weed Burner.—A genius in Australia has invented 
a machine for burning weeds and utilizing the ashes. It 
is nothing but a large sheet-iron tank mounted on three 
low wheels. It is covered over with A _s haped bars of iron 
with an inch of space between each bar. A flange of sheet- 
iron is attached to the top, extending outward about two 
feet all round. The tank is drawn by one horse attached 
to a wire rope 12 or 14 feet long. The weeds along fences 
are cut and dried on the ground. Then the tank is hauled 
along and the dry weeds are forked in at the top and kept 
in a constant blaze. The ashes fall through the bars and 
are ready for use as a fertilizer. 
Disk and Cutaway Harrows.— The idea that the use 
of the Cutaway, disk and similar harrows tends to lessen 
the use of the plow, and to lead to a shallow tillage that is 
detrimental to the soil is simply ridiculous. In the prepar¬ 
ation of land for winter wheat farmers in this section 
formerly laboriously plowed the land twice, once immedi¬ 
ately after the removal of the crop, and a second time just 
before seeding. At the first plowing the land was barely 
skimmed, at the second, the plow was run a little deeper 
to make it turn the soil, and then the land was harrowed, 
re-harrowed, rolled, poled and labored with in the hot 
days of fly-time in order to reduce it to a fit condition for 
