1883 .] 
525 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
A Barrel Cess-Pool. 
Mr. Charles L. Conover, of Basking Bridge, 
N. J., sends us a sketch and description of a con¬ 
trivance for carrying away the sink water from the 
house. It consists of a stout water-tight barrel 
set on four-inch oak runners, as shown in the en¬ 
graving. Two and a half by.four inch joists are 
placed across the runners, and pieces of plank 
are nailed upon these to give the barrel sufficient 
bight. Stout pegs are driven into each corner of 
the frame, which keeps the barrel firmly in place. 
Two-inch holes are bored near the bottom of one 
head of the barrel for letting out the water ; corn 
cobs may be used for plugs. One horse is attached 
by means of a chain passing through devices in 
the ends of the runners. A pipe from the sink 
leads into a square hole in the top of the barrel. 
In this way the waste water is easily removed from 
the house, and, during a dry season, may be 
used profitably upon the garden or elsewhere. 
Legal Acquirement of Real Estate. 
How do I get a farm ? is a question which may 
well occur to the would-be farmer, for he must 
possess himself of land before he can follow the 
business of agriculture. There are in law two 
methods of acquiring title to real estate, namely, 
by Descent—as where a man upon the death of his 
ancestor inherits his property as heir-at-law, and by 
Purchase—which in a broad meaning is made to 
cover all other legal methods. The first of these 
is valuable mainly to those few fortunate individu¬ 
als who happen to be the heirs of rich relatives not 
likely to make wills; the second is of more general 
importance, since it covers not only what is usu 
ally meant by the term purchase, but a dozen or 
more other methods, among which Possession and 
Accretion are perhaps the most common. 
The mere Possession of land will, under certain 
circumstances, give absolute and full title to it. 
One who is in possession of land, that is living on 
it and exercising control over it, or collecting its 
rents and profits under a claim of right, is 
regarded by law as the owner of it, at least to 
the extent that no one can dispossess him of it 
without showing a title of higher and better char¬ 
acter. This must be done within a certain time, 
for in all of the States there are limitation laws, 
which, to secure the peace of community, do not 
allow an action to be brought, or the titie to land 
questioned, after the lapse of a specified time. If, 
therefore, the one claiming a better title does not 
properly assert it within the time limited, he loses 
his right to do so, and the title of the one in pos¬ 
session becomes complete and perfect. This is the 
way “ squatters ” get lands, and their titles thus 
perfected are as good as any. But in order to get 
title by possession, under the operation of the 
statutes of limitations, the possession must be ac¬ 
tual, open, notorious, and adverse, and it must be 
continuous during the whole of the period pre¬ 
scribed. This period is fixed by the statutes of 
the various States, and it is not uniform. It is 
generally twenty years, in some States fifteen, and 
in a few only ten. The possession must be of land 
belonging to some one against whom the statute 
of limitations will run ; for, if it is of Government 
or State lands, or the lands of any one who is un¬ 
der any legal disability, like infancy or insanity, 
etc., the limitation does not apply. In the latter 
case the possession must be for the time pre¬ 
scribed after the disability is removed. Govern¬ 
ment lands can never be obtained by possession. 
Title to land may also be obtained by Accretion, 
which is the gradual addition through natural 
causes of particles of soil to that already possessed 
by the owner. If one, therefore, owns a farm bor¬ 
dering on a body of water which gradually deposits 
alluvium on his shore, the additions so made be¬ 
long to him, even though they amount to many 
acres in the course of a lifetime. But such addi¬ 
tions must be gradual, for if they come by any 
sudden convulsion, as by the abrupt change in the 
course of a stream, caused by a flood, or the like, 
then the rule does not apply. Questions of much 
nicety on this point have arisen concerning lands 
at many places along the Mississippi River. 
Lastly: Title to land may be obtained by grant. 
Grant is the expression for a formal transfer of 
title to real estate, as where the Government grants 
land by patent, or an individual grants land by 
deed, etc. The lands of the General Government 
may be got by purchase, preemption, homestead¬ 
ing, and tree culture. The lands of individuals 
may be secured sometimes at public or judicial 
sale, made by some officer of the law, in pursuance 
of a decree or order of a court, or under an exe¬ 
cution, or the provisions of law for the enforce¬ 
ment of payment of taxes, etc. Sucli sales are 
made without warranty, and the purchaser gets 
generally whatever title the owner may have had. 
But the most common and universal method of 
getting land is by buying it at private bargain and 
sale. Every one is familiar with this method, but 
it may not be known to all that the agreement does 
not become binding unless it, or some memoran¬ 
dum of it, is reduced to writing and duly signed. 
The payment or acceptance of earnest money does 
not “bind the bargain,” as in the case of a sale of 
personal property. The law early regarded the 
selling and buying of real estate as a matter of 
such importance that it required contracts to that 
end reduced to writing. In the twenty-ninth year 
of the reign of Charles the Second, the British 
Parliament enacted the “ Statute of Frauds,” which 
provides, among other things, that all contracts 
for the sale of lands must be put in writing, and 
signed by the party to be charged. This provision 
has been adopted, with slight modifications, by all 
of the States. A “refusal” of land, or an offer to 
sell at a given price, can not, therefore, be en¬ 
forced; and if one party relies upon a verbal 
promise of that sort, he will have no remedy if the 
other “backs out,” even though much trouble and 
expense have been occasioned. 
Making Cattle Docile—Handling Cattle. 
In many cases a cow’s value is increased ten dol¬ 
lars when W'ell broken to the halter to be lead and 
Fig. 1.— THE HALTER. 
handled. A gentle cow is a pleasure, au unmanage¬ 
able one a nuisance. A docile cow will give more 
milk. She can often be tethered where she can 
get extra food, at the same time utilizing grass- 
plats and fence corners which would otherwise go 
to waste. It is no trouble to put such a cow in 
the stable to be milked with comfort, and where 
she can be fed many things from the house, thus 
increasing the milk, and making her more profit¬ 
able. It is very easy to train calves to lead. Tie them 
up a day or two at first, to accustom them to the 
halter, and teach them to follow one leadingtliem, 
by carrying a pail before them. A few lessons are 
sufficient. A halter (figure 1 ) is easily made from 
a rope by weaving one end in for a nose-piece and 
making a loop to pass the leading rope through. 
This loop allows the head-piece to pass over the 
liorus of the grown cow, and when the end is 
fastened the halter is always secure, with no 
danger of choking. Always place the head-piece 
behind the ears so that it will not draw across the 
eyes. A cow unbroken to the halter can be kept in 
subjection, and from running away, by passing the 
long end of the halter, if made strong enough, 
through a girth around the body, just behind the 
fore-legs (figure 2.). This gives a person holding 
the halter a strong leverage on the head ; but not 
so great as in the form shown in figure 3, when the 
rope passes through a ring strapped to the fore¬ 
leg below the knee. This method enables one to 
keep a wild or refractory auimal from running 
or escaping, and to hold it in subjection when mov¬ 
ing it from one place to another; though it does not 
a'ilow leading, which is best taught by beginning 
at an early age with the calf. 
Cold. Weather Shelter for Stock Profitable. 
Not one farmer in a hundred understands the 
importance of shelter for stock. This has much to 
do with success or failure of tens of thousands of 
farmers. Animals fairly sheltered consume ten to 
forty per cent less food, increase more in weight, 
come out in spring far healthier ; and working and 
milk-producing animals are much better able to 
render effective service. The loss of one or more 
working horses or oxen, or of cows, or other farm 
stock, is often a staggering blow to those scarcely 
able to make the ends of the year meet, and the 
large majority of such losses of animals are trace¬ 
able to diseases due, directly or indirectly, to im¬ 
proper protection in autumn, winter, or spring. Of 
the food eaten, all the animals use up a large per¬ 
centage in producing the natural heat of the body 
at all seasons, and heat enough to keep up ninety- 
eight degrees all through the body is absolutely es¬ 
sential. Only what food remains after this heat is 
provided in the system can go to increase growth 
and strength and to the manufacture of milk in cows 
and of eggs in fowls. When heat escapes rapidly 
from the surface, as in cold weather, more heat 
must be produced within, and more food be thus 
consumed. In nature this is partly guarded against 
by thicker hair or fur in winter. 
Any thinking man will see that an animal either 
requires less food, or has more left for other uses if 
it is protected artificially against winds that carry 
off heat rapidly, and against storms that promote 
the loss of heat by evaporation of moisture from 
the surface of the body. A dozen cows, for ex¬ 
ample, will consume from two to six tons more 
of hay if left exposed from October to April, than if 
warmly sheltered, and in the latter case they will 
be in much better health and vigor, and give much 
more milk. Other cattle, horses, sheep, and swine 
will be equally benefited by careful protection. 
Thf, Goat is not, properly speaking, an agricul¬ 
tural animal, however useful it may be on the out¬ 
skirts of cities or on the marsh lands surrounding 
mining villages, collieries, etc., or to turn to ac¬ 
count the scanty and varied herbage of untillable 
mountain land. Still, people reared upon goats’ 
milk are very fond of it, and speak of its nour¬ 
ishing qualities in the highest terms. 
