122 
AMERICAN AGE1CULTIJEIST. 
[March, 
A Bag-Holder on Platform Scales. 
BY EBEN E. REXFORE. 
The writer lias a contrivance in use which 
does away with the need of a second person 
in tilling grain bags, and is both cheap and 
simple. It is attached to his platform scales 
for convenience in weighing, and consists of 
an iron hoop, nearly as large around as a bag. 
This hoop has four small hooks on it, at equal 
distances apart, to which the bag is fastened. 
Attached to the hoop is a piece of iron about 
six inches long, exclusive of the shank, which 
slips into a socket fastened to the front of the 
upright enclosing the rods, that run from 
the bottom of the scale to the weighing beam. 
This iron and hoop are fastened securely to¬ 
gether. The shank should fit loosely in the 
socket, to let the hoop tilt down, so that the 
bag can be readily unhooked. There is an 
eye-bolt in the hoop where the iron rod 
joins it, and a rod with a hook on the upper 
end is fastened into it. This rod reaches to a 
staple fastened above the socket on the up¬ 
right of the scales. When the hook on the 
end of this rod is slipped into the staple, it 
lifts the hoop to a level position, and is of 
sufficient strength to hold a bag of grain. 
The hoop should be high enough to allow a 
bag to clear the platform of the scales. When 
filled, a sharp blow of the hand removes the 
hook of the sustaining rod, and lets the hoop 
tilt downward, when the bag rests on the plat¬ 
form. The hoop can be swung to one side 
and entirely out of the way. I have a sort of 
hopper made out of an old dish pan with the 
bottom cut out. It is very convenient to keep 
grain from spilling while filling the bags. 
ISreedinj;' ami jiteariii" Cattle.— 
W. G. Gcoderham, in an address before the 
Framlingham Farmers’ Club, of England, 
spoke highly of the Red Polled Norfolks. 
He says their good milking and rapid fatten¬ 
ing qualities are kept up as heretofore, and 
their size, as is much desired, is on the in¬ 
crease. The bull “Rollock” had lately been 
slaughtered under three years old, and 
weighed, alive, 1,272 lbs., and dressed, 816 
lbs. of good beef. In order to make good 
milkers, Mr. Gooderham recommends that 
the parents on both sides should be chosen 
from milking families. He says nothing 
about escutcheons, but is very pronounced 
for large, well shaped udders, and teats suffi¬ 
ciently long to fill the hand. To guard 
against milk fever, he keeps his cows on hay 
and water alone a week or more before calv¬ 
ing, and two days before this gives one 
pound of Epsom salts with an ounce of 
ground ginger. If the bag seems to be over 
full, he recommends milking several times 
before calving, and after it every three or 
four hours during the day and night for a 
week, or longer if necessary, and even then 
the milking should not drop off suddenly, 
but continue until all danger is over, every 
six to eight hours, feeding nothing save hay. 
If the slightest tendency to costiveness ap¬ 
pears, give one pint of linseed oil as often as 
is required. It is absolutely essential to keep 
the bowels well open. For this purpose also, 
as an aid, we give a couple of quarts, night 
and morning, of wheat bran. 
Clay in a New Role. 
All fertile soils are largely composed of 
clay. The best lands for permanent cultiva¬ 
tion are heavy clays well drained and pulver¬ 
ized. Their fineness of grain allows the free 
penetration of the exceedingly small feeding 
roots and root hairs of plants, and by capillary 
attraction they bring up moisture from below 
to withstand drouths. A very sandy soil is 
greatly improved by mixing clay with it, to 
form a loam. In its pure state, and in combi¬ 
nation, clay constitutes the largest portion of 
the crust of the earth. In the form of brick3 
it is used in the construction of a large per¬ 
centage of human dwellings, public build¬ 
ings, and mercantile and manufacturing es¬ 
tablishments. 
Chemistry makes many interesting and 
useful revelations. It shows, for example, 
that every 58‘/ 2 ounces of dry common salt 
is made up of 23 ounces of a metal much 
like silver in appearance, and 35'/ 2 ounces of 
a yellowish gas (chlorine), so acrid, that a 
pint of it mixed with the air of a room pro¬ 
duces great irritation of the lungs, if not 
suffocation. It was discovered only 56 years 
ago that every 51 '/ 2 ounces of pure dry clay 
is made up of 24 ounces of oxygen (which 
forms four-fifths of the bulk of air and 
fifteen-sixteenths of the weight of water), 
and about 27 1 / a ounces of a most important 
metal called Aluminum. This clay metal, if 
it can be obtained pure in sufficient quantity, 
is more valuable for almost all uses than any 
other known metal, except iron. 
Aluminum is nearly like silver in color, 
with a slight bluish tinge. It does not 
tarnish like silver; nitric acid (aqua fortis) 
even will not dissolve or rust it. It is quite 
as hard as silver, but is only one-fourth 
as heavy, being only 2'/ 2 times as heavy 
as water, while silver is 10‘/ 2 times, and 
iron 8 times as weighty as the same bulk 
of water. It melts at a little higher heat 
than zinc. An alloy of two-thirds alumi¬ 
num and one-third silver is superior to silver 
for table forks, spoons, tea-services, etc, on 
account of its lightness, its freedom from 
tarnish, and its durability. For ship orna¬ 
ments exposed to salt sea air, and for all me¬ 
tallic articles exposed to sulphuretted hydro¬ 
gen, and other tarnishing gases, it will be in¬ 
valuable. One part of aluminum with nine 
parts of copper makes a metal much resem¬ 
bling gold, for watch cases, jewelry, and 
machine bearings. In short, by itself and in 
alloys with other metals, this clay metal, alu¬ 
minum, so abundant everywhere, will take the 
place of tin, zinc, lead, etc., just so soon as a 
cheap process of separating it from oxygen can 
be discovered—the change required being the 
same as in separating iron from oxygen in 
many varieties of its ores. Hitherto the pro¬ 
cesses have been so expensive that aluminum 
has been worth almost as much per ounce as 
silver, though, owing to its lightness, its bulk 
is four times greater than the same weight 
of silver. But the telegraph brings us the 
report from Birmingham, Eng., that by a 
new process aluminum can now be ob¬ 
tained at one-tenth of the previous cost, and 
in a few days instead of the nine months re¬ 
quired by the old method. This news is al¬ 
most too good to be true; but if not fully 
realized, we have no doubt that science and 
skill will soon secure such results. Our heavy 
clay soils will have a new interest for the 
worker, though they are too abundant to 
warrant the hope of their being raised in value 
by the development of this new industry. 
A Hopple for Jumping Horses- 
Not long since, I saw a method of re¬ 
straining horses from jumping, and was 
assured by those who were using it that it- 
proved efficacious. It consists of a surcingle 
about the body of the horse, together with 
two short straps that pass through the sur¬ 
cingle and around each foreleg, being 
buckled so that when the horse stands 
upright the strap will fall about half-way to 
the knees. This arrangement, which allows 
the horse to walk quite freely, prevents its 
running as well as jumping. A similar plan 
is to connect the forelegs of a horse by straps 
secured just above the knees, but those who- 
have tried both plans prefer the one herewith 
illustrated. Some horses are difficult to 
catch when at pasture, and this device will 
prove valuable in such cases. L. D. S. 
Fat Shortliorn t'astie. —At all the" 
recent Fat Stock Exhibitions, both at home 
and abroad, Shorthorn cattle have maintained 
their reputation. At the annual Smithfield 
Club Show at London, in December last, a 
Shorthorn won the champion first prize, and 
a grade ox obtained the second. At Chicago, 
in November, the grand sweepstakes prizes 
were awarded to a living Shorthorn grade 
steer, and a full-bred heifer. A Hereford 
steer won the prize for the best dressed car¬ 
cass; but it must be recollected that he was 
imported from England, and reared and fed 
there under their most painstaking system. 
The question arises, now, if that steer had 
been bred, reared, and fattened in America, 
would he have been awarded the first prize? 
This competition of an English steer against 
American was not fair, and ought not to have 
been allowed for the purpose of obtaining a 
valuable prize, though otherwise it would not 
have been objectionable. 
