1846. THE CULTIVATOR. 255 
ROOT AND BUSH PULLER.—(Fig. 68.) 
August and the fore part of September are the best 
months for clearing'and improving boggy and wetlands. 
Such lands are often more or less covered with small 
trees, or bushes which grow in stools or clumps. The 
implement above represented is very effective in tear¬ 
ing out such trees or bushes. It is made of iron and is 
very strong. The ground is first (if the roots are large) 
loosened around from the centre of the stool, when the 
claw is fastened to one side, and a pair of oxen are at¬ 
tached by means of a chain to the implement, and the 
roots are forthwith “twitched” out. One man and a 
smart yoke of oxen with this tool, will do the work of 
ten men. 
RECENT AMERICAN PATENTS. 
Reported for u The Cultivator ,” by Zenas C. Robbins, 
Mechanical Engineer, and Agent for -procuring Pa¬ 
tents, Washington , D . C. 
For an improvement in self-acting Brakes for Car¬ 
riages; John Dubois, Jr., Trout Run, Lycoming Co., 
Pa., June 13, 1846. 
Claim .—“What I claim as my invention, and desire 
to secure by letters-patent, is the placing on the rear 
ends of the extended hands ( C, C ,) which support the 
pole, an adjustable movable sway-bar, ( E ,) having 
brakes or rubbers attached to each of its extended ends 
in a position to act on the forward wheels of a wagon 
or carriage when its forward motion is retarded by the 
pole, the adjustable sway-bar being connected to and 
operated by the pole by means of connecting rods and 
levers; the whole combined and operating substantially 
in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.” 
For the improvement in Clover-Hulling Ma¬ 
chines; Martin H. Mansfield, Mifflintown, Pa., June 
6th, 1846. 
Claim. —“What I claim as my invention, and desire 
to secure by letters-patent, is the manner in which the 
projecting rubbers, ( c , c,) in the concave (B,) and 
cylinder ( A ,) are combined and operate with each 
other, viz., their backs being broad, (either straight or 
wedge-shaped,) and their roughened sides tapering to 
a sharp edge at their fronts, are placed in the concave 
and on the cylinder, and in such a position that the 
front edges of the revolving rubbers on the cylinder 
will pass between the front sharp edges of the rubbers 
in the concave; the clover seed or rice being hulled by 
the action of the oblique side of the rotating rubbers 
while passing between the oblique sides of the stationary 
rubbers.” 
POTATO DISEASE. 
Some persons have recommended cutting off the tops 
of potatoes to save the tubers from rotting. The theo¬ 
ry is, that the disease first attacks the tops, and that by 
cutting them off, the disease is prevented from passing 
to the tubers. We cannot say how much soundness 
there is in this theory. So long as the tops remain 
healthy, we would by no means advise cutting them; 
but where the disease has already attacked the tops so 
as to disorder the sap, it seems reasonable the tubers 
can derive no further advantage from their connection 
with the tops, and it is not improbable that the separa¬ 
tion, by preventing the flow of the disordered sap to the 
roots, may tend to prevent the decay of the latter. 
A writer in the Saturday Courier mentions a case 
where a man mowed off the tops of his potatoes as soon 
as they showed symptoms of disease, and on digging 
them they proved sound. But it should be remembered 
that to have made the experiment decisive, alternate 
rows through the lot should have been cut and left 
standing. The difference, if any, in the condition of 
the tubers in the cut and uncut rows, would have 
shown the effect produced by cutting off the tops. As 
it was, however, it is questionable whether the sound¬ 
ness of the potatoes was attributable to cutting the tops. 
We could cite several cases where the tops were con¬ 
siderably attacked, and the growth of the potatoes evi¬ 
dently checked by the disease; but yet remained sound 
till harvested, and even kept quite well through the 
winter. 
PRESERVATION OF SWEET POTATOES. 
Mr. Tucker—I send you the following method ol 
keeping sweet potatoes, which I have practised with 
complete success for several years, having now some 
large yams as sound as they were when dug. 
Select a high dry spot, make a circular bed of six or 
seven feet in diameter, elevated a few inches above 
the surrounding earth by digging a trench 8 or 10 inches 
deep, and throwing the earth taken out of it on the bed; 
throw down a layer of dry pine straw, 7 or 8 inches 
thick; take the potatoes immediately from the patch as 
they are dug, and put them on the bed without being 
bruised, from 30 to 50 bushels in a bed.) Over them 
throw a layer of dry pine straw, 5 to 6 inches thick; 
oyer the straw a layer of pine bark pulled from dead or 
decaying logs, throw on earth to the depth of six inches, 
and on the whole make a slight shelter of pine boards. 
Leave a small hole at the top of the bark without earth , 
covered with a piece of pine bark, to let the steam es¬ 
cape. In April, take potatoes and remove them to a 
dry and cool room in the barn or other out house, and 
spread them over the floor, and you can eat them till 
June or July. H. F. B. 
Kingston, N. C ., 1846. 
FATTENING CATTLE. 
At a late meeting of the Newcastle (England,) Far¬ 
mer’s Club, an account of which we find in the Agri¬ 
cultural Gazette, Mr. Glover, the secretary, spoke of 
his mode of stall-feeding cattle. He said he was par¬ 
ticular to have his cattle fed at stated times. The cat¬ 
tle, he said, “ knew perfectly when meal time had arriv¬ 
ed, and were restless and uneasy when disappointed of 
their food.” He thought “cleanliness and a good sup¬ 
ply of litter should never be neglected. To keep the 
skin clean, and use the currycomb liberally, tended to 
fatness.” He remarked that the food should also be 
given with regularity as to quantity. “ They should 
not be exposed to alternations of hunger and surfeit. 
The food of cattle should also be varied as much as 
possible. Like human beings they were fond of variety 
and capricious in their appetites. Two pounds of oil¬ 
cake, five pounds of barley-meal, and five pounds of hay 
chaff, with a plentiful allowance of Swedish turneps, 
had been recommended as a daily allowance.” 
He spoke of the use of linseed oil in feeding, which 
he said had been attended with much success. “ The 
oil was sprinkled on good oat straw, layer after layer, 
at the rate of a gallon of oil to a week’s allowance of 
straw. The straw to be frequently turned over, and 
kept two days before used: by which time the oil would 
be absorbed, and there would be a slight fermentation 
in the food.” He described, also, the mode of making 
Warnes’s Compound, which is highly esteemed for fat 
tening cattle. “He put 166 lbs. water into a boiling 
cauldron, and when boiling, stirred into it for five min¬ 
utes, 21 lbs. linseed meal. Then 63 lbs. of crushed 
barley was sprinkled upon the boiling mucilage, by one 
