1883 .] 
AMEKICAA AGEIOULTURIST. 
411 
A Desirable Milking Shed. 
Reeeutly, while in Steuben County, N. Y., we 
observed a peculiarly constructed building used 
as a milking shed during the warmer portions 
of the year. It is a common frame structure, 
thirty-five feet in length and eighteen feet wide, 
with posts eight feet high. The sides and ends 
are boarded up and down with eight-inch stuff, 
leaving a space three inches wide between the 
boards for ventilation, light, etc. A row of com¬ 
mon stanchions are placed along each side. A 
door is made at one end, through which the cows 
enter. If grain is fed, it is placed in position be¬ 
fore the cows are admitted. A small quantity of 
salt is kept on the floor, immediately in front of the 
stanchions, thus allowing the cows to obtain a 
supply twice each day. This manner of salting is 
an inducement for the cows to enter the building 
and take their accustomed places ; it also tends to 
keep them quiet while milking. This arrangement, 
for cleanliness, ventilation, etc., is far superior to 
the common basement stables, and is a great im¬ 
provement over the usual plan of milking in the 
open yard, where broken stools, spilled milk, and 
irritable tempers are the rule rather than the ex¬ 
ception. No matter how stormy it may be with¬ 
out, this shed always secures a dry place, with 
comparative quiet. A greater supply of milk is 
obtained with such a shed. The floor of the stable 
portion may be of earth, covered with coarse gravel. 
Shelter Belts of Trees. 
In all of the prairie States, and in other locali¬ 
ties where there are wide plains, over which the 
wind has full sweep, belts of trees are necessary 
for protection against the prevailing winds. The 
necessity for such shelter has been forced upon 
farmers and others by so many losses, that it is 
now generally admitted, and the only question at 
present is, as to the kind of belts to provide. 
Whatever may be said of the formal appearance of 
a country, cut up by rows of trees, the question of 
esthetics must give way to that of utility. In 
many places it is between formal rows of trees, 
and no orchards, often bad field crops, and no 
shelter to cattle and sheep. Besides these, shelter 
is needed for the farm dwellings and barns, not 
only against winds but severe snows, and even 
roads can only be kept passable when lined by 
trees. In planting belts of timber, the first con¬ 
sideration is time ; that which will form a shelter 
the soonest is the best. For rapidity of growth, 
the Poplars and Willows take precedence of all 
others. These are grown from cuttings, the size 
of which is not important. Different planters use 
them from eighteen inches to four or five feet 
long, and from one to four inches in diameter. 
The smaller ones are planted by means of a spade 
or crowbar, and the larger are driven into the soil. 
The larger cuttings of willow are sometimes set 
only six inches apart, but three feet apart is better. 
Of Poplars, the Cottonwood has been in 
favor for high dry ground, though Mr. Judd 
writes from Nebraska that many Cottonwood 
trees in that State have been ruined by the 
Cottonwood-worm. It is desirable to procure 
cuttings from male trees only, as the female, 
when in fruit, scatters the cottony down of 
its seeds, and this for awhile is very annoy¬ 
ing. Among Willows, the White Willow and its 
variety, the Golden Willow, are the most useful. 
In spite of the fact that the White Willow was 
over-praised several years ago, and cuttings of any 
kind of willow were sold under this name, at a 
high price, the tree is a valuable one, and allows a 
shelter to be made in a short time. These trees, 
the Poplar and Willow, will soon be large enough 
to allow other and more valuable kinds to be added 
to the shelter belt. The Ash-leaved Maple, often 
called Box-elder, is an excellent tree for this pur¬ 
pose. It grows rapidly, and if planted somewhat 
thickly at first, say ten feet apart, its thinnings, as 
soon as the trees encroach upon one another, 
will afford valuable fuel. A belt being once estab¬ 
lished, any other trees suited to the climate may be 
planted, and in time the willows and poplars, hav¬ 
ing answered their purpose, can be removed. The 
trees added to the belt should be in part ever¬ 
greens, for the sake of the greater protection they 
afford in winter. Some planters prefer only native 
kinds, among which the White Pine and Red Ce¬ 
dar are the most prominent. The form of Red 
Cedar, common at the West, is so different in habit 
and rapidity of growth from that common on the 
sea-coast, as to appear like a different tree. Among 
exotic evergreens useful in belts, the Norway 
Spruce is one of the best. The European Larch 
and the Deciduous Cypress of our Southern States 
(where it will flourish), though not evergreens, are 
conifers of very great value for shelter belts. 
Five Good Acres Free. 
Riding along an interior highway in New York 
State, we stop to make the following suggestive 
notes : Here is a farmer with his men cutting an 
excellent crop of hay right in the road, that is, on 
the strips twenty-eight to thirty feet wide each side 
of the central wagon track. The grass is good for 
one and a half ton per acre. The “ public ” only 
need the wagon track, and the owner of the farm 
through which the highway runs, rightly claims 
that the use of the land, so far as not needed by 
the public, belongs to him. Cattle, horses, pigs, 
and other animals are not “ free commoners ” in 
the town. This farmer has prepared the land be¬ 
tween and clear up to the fences, and keeps it as 
well cultivated and free from briars and weeds as 
the rest of the farm. The side ditches are hol¬ 
lowed out broad, and yield first-rate Timothy. 
Result: the road extends thus nearly three-quar¬ 
ters of a mile, say two-thirds, and is four rods 
wide ; the wagon track about six feet wide, or say 
eight feet. A little figuring will show that every 
seven hundred feet, fifty-eight feet wide, gives a 
good acre, and three thousand five hundred feet 
(two-thirds of a mile) supplies five acres of good 
grass, from which,as we write, the farmer is cutting 
about seven and a half tons of first-class hay, from 
what very many others allow to run to waste I 
Arbitration as a Means of Avoiding 
Litigation. 
Mr. L. J. M. writes us: In your article in the 
June American Agriculturist, on “How to Avoid 
Litigation,” you do not, among valuable sugges¬ 
tions, mention the method by arbitration. Would 
not this be a proper, and oftentimes very valuable, 
means of avoiding litigation, especially among 
farmers, whose differences in many cases do not 
involve many legal principles, but result from mis¬ 
taken notions of facts? If I am correctly in¬ 
formed, it is perfectly lawful for persons to refer 
their disputes to one or more disinterested out¬ 
siders, and that the decision so arrived at becomes 
just as binding upon the parties as the judgment 
of a Court. 
Answer. —It is perfectly proper and legal for 
persons who cannot settle their differences between 
themselves, to get arbitrators to do it for them. 
The law favors arbitration as a peaceable and inex¬ 
pensive method of settling difficulties. In many 
of the States there are statutory provisions, by 
which a judgment of the Court may be rendered 
on the award or finding of arbitrators, concerning 
a matter duly submitted to them. It is almost al¬ 
ways possible to take a case out of Court, and 
submit it to referees at any stage of its progress. 
In the absence of any statutory provisions, it is 
always lawful for parties to agree to submit their 
differences to arbitrators, and abide by their de¬ 
cision. The agreement to do so may be either oral 
or written, but the latter is the better way. The 
form is not essential, except that the meaning 
should be carefully expressed. It is customary, in 
addition to the agreement, for the parties to exe¬ 
cute to each other an arbitration bond, conditioned 
on each party performing the award given by the 
arbitrators, whatever it may be. If the award is 
properly made, it then becomes binding on the par¬ 
ties. But it is not always easy to make an award 
that will hold, and this fact, so far as it extends, is 
an objection to the method. In the first place, the 
award must conform to the terms of the submis¬ 
sion, as contained in the agreement to refer. The 
arbitrator’s authority comes entirely from the sub¬ 
mission. If they exceed it, their whole work fails. 
The precise question submitted to them, and noth¬ 
ing else, should be answered. The award must 
not affect strangers in any way. It must be cer¬ 
tain ; that is, so expressed that there can be no 
reasonable doubt as to what is meant. It must be 
possible, otherwise it will be senseless and of no 
effect. It must be reasonable and final, and made 
in perfect and entire good faith, and upon full and 
impartial hearing. If deficient in any of these re¬ 
quisites, it will not bind the parties. Either party 
may revoke his submission at any time before the 
award is made. The death of either party revokes 
the submission, as also does the death of one or 
more of the arbitrators. When the award is made, 
it is common for the referees to deliver it to the 
prevailing party, on payment by him of the fees 
of arbitration. A better method is to seal and ad¬ 
dress a copy to each of the parties. 
It will be seen that arbitration is, after all, only 
a kind of litigation, and that if it were counted 
among the means of avoiding litigation, it would 
only be classing the end to be avoided among the 
methods of avoiding it. Still it is well worth con¬ 
sidering by farmers, who find themselves in dis¬ 
pute about some simple question of fact, as, for 
instance, the amount of damage which A’s breechy 
