16 _AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. [January, 
■with great ad van lags adopt for our own use. 
It is not an aristocratic “ trap ” developed by the 
circumstances of an extravagant sporting life, 
but a sort of “ self-made ” affair that has grown 
from the ordinary horse-cart, and has been 
made, by one addition after another, a most use¬ 
ful and by no means inelegant vehicle for all 
who have much running about to do, and who 
are liable to have friends or bundles to carry at 
any time. The cart-body, as shown ii> the 
engraving, rests upon a pair of elliptic springs. 
Each side has a top-rail supported by rungs, 
and inside of the rungs there is a thin boarding 
which extends about one half the liiglit of the 
open space. The tail-board is arranged to be 
held at any desired angle by means of straps. 
The seats rest upon the boarding, and are held 
in place by means of notches which fit the 
rungs, and hold four persons, two of whom face 
to the rear and rest their feet upon the tail- 
board. Strong iron uprights support a heavy 
strap which auswers as a back to the seats. 
Mud-guards are placed over the wheels, and 
steps at eacli sido, front and rear. In the engrav¬ 
ing a part of the mud-guard is removed to 
show the seats. It is a velwclc combining 
strength, convenience, comfort, lightness, and 
cheapness—the lamps and mud-guards, and 
the back to the seat, giving it a certain air that 
it is pleasant to have when more essential things 
do not have to be sacrificed to it. 
To Make a Jumper. 
A “jumper” which will answer many of the 
ordinary purposes of the farm, such as drawing 
light loads of wood, feed, or fodder from one 
to the post-office, or t he village, can he made at 
home with a little ingenuity, a few tools, and 
such materials as are almost everywhere at 
hand. IVhat is needed is a couple of white-oak 
poles for the runners, about four or five inches 
thick. Shave off with a draw-knife about half 
the thickness where the bend 
or crook is wanted. With 
an iuch-and-a-half auger 
bore holes for the posts, and 
one to receive the end of the 
rave at the nose of the 
jumper. The rave may be 
made of a piece of timber 
similar to the runner, flatten¬ 
ed or not, as may be wished. 
When the sides are finished 
connect them together by 
three or four beams, the ends 
of which are let into holes 
bored into the inside of the 
raves. These holes should 
be bored so that the runners 
spread a little; this makes 
the jumper firmer, also less 
liable to upset with a load. 
Thills similar to those of a 
cutter are required, as this 
is a “ one-horse machine.” 
The top represented in the engraving is of 
wicker-work, but it may be a box, a rude 
hamper, or whatever the owner chooses. 
Cutting Roots. 
As the practice of feeding roots is becoming 
more general, it is well to consider the best 
mode of doing it. As it is often done, it is far 
from being safe. We often hear of choking 
cattle, and are asked for modes of relief. Now, 
prevention is much easier than a remedy in this 
case. If the roots are cut there is no danger of 
choking. The cattle, more 
especially fattening cattle, 
are able to consume them 
with so much greater ease 
that they thrive better. 
Sheep can hardly cat 
turnips without being cut, 
and hogs also find difficul¬ 
ty in dealing with them. 
The simplest mode is chop¬ 
ping them in a box with a 
sharply ground shovel. 
Where hut a few bushels 
a day are used, this may 
answer the purpose very 
well, hut it is not a neat practice. A 
turnip sheer, which is a machine armed with 
knives, which slices up all sorts of roots, is 
probably the best apparatus that can be used. 
Of these there are various kinds that may be pur¬ 
chased from $15 upwards. We give an engrav¬ 
ing of one that may be made at home, that will 
probably be found as useful, in a small way, as 
any. It is made of a circular piece of plank, 30 
inches in diameter, hung with a crank like a 
grindstone. Sloping mortises are cut through 
in four places sufficiently large to admit of 
broad steel blades being fixed in, which slice up 
the roots, as they come in contact with them, as 
they pass the open side of a hopper in which 
the roots are fed. With the exception of the 
blades this machine may be built at home. For 
the sketch of this machine we are indebted to a 
correspondent in Western New York. 
'What a Heavy Sod will Do. 
The sod makes the corn. This may be taken 
as an axiom, as undoubted as that a straight 
line is the shortest distance between two points. 
If the sod is right the com can take care of it¬ 
self. What is wanted is a mass of roots, filling 
the soil to the depth of three, four, or five inches 
or more, and such a mat of vegetation on the 
surface as will inevitably belong to such a mass 
of roots. Now, what such an amount of veg¬ 
etable matter, easily decom¬ 
posed, and such as com 
loves to feed upon, would 
measure, can very easily be 
estimated. It would certain¬ 
ly be within bounds to say 
lhat there would be on every 
square rod of ground 90 
cubic feet of matter equal 
in fertilizing power to aver¬ 
age barn-yard manure. This 
is over three quarters of a 
cord per square rod; and 
1G0 rods going to make up 
an acre, there would be over 
120 cords of manure to the 
acre. This amount of barn¬ 
yard manure would seem 
perfectly bewildering to a 
farmer, and would be be¬ 
yond the power of many 
to haul out and spread. And here it is, on 
the spot, in the most perfect shape possible 
to be utilized. Does it then need any fur¬ 
ther argument to show clearly that a heavj" sod 
is the best, cheapest, and most easily handled 
manure a farmer can procure or invent ? The 
vexed question of whether one should plow deep 
Fig. 2. — A HEAVY SOD. 
or shallow for corn, here gets a satisfactory and 
simple reply. Witli such a sod, or any sod, we 
may say, one must plow sufficiently deep to get 
enough loose soil on the lop to allow the har¬ 
row to work and make a seed-bed. No more, 
MONTREAL DOG-CART. 
A JUMPER. 
part of the farm to another, running to mill, or 
HOME-MADE ROOT-CUTTER. 
