90 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[March, 
The Thomas Smoothing Harrow. 
In an article in the Agriculturist for August, 
1871, we spoke of the Thomas Smoothing Har¬ 
row as an excellent implement; it is designed 
for a wider range of operations than any other 
harrow in use. It serves not only as an imple¬ 
ment to bring the soil into a proper state to re¬ 
ceive the seed, but to destroy the weeds which 
germinate immediately after sowing, and by 
harrowing the growing crop to stimulate its 
growth and keep it clean at the same time. All 
this is effected by using a large number of fine 
steel teeth, and sloping them backwards at an 
angle of 45 degrees. Thus the teeth do not 
weeds and mellowing the ground, both of 
which are of very essential service. In a simi¬ 
lar way the potato crop may be worked. 
Thomas’s harrow has been used by several of 
the editors of the American Agriculturist , and 
they unite in speaking favorably of it. A com¬ 
mittee of the Farmers’ Club of the American 
Institute reported unanimously in its favor. The 
inventor and manufacturer of this harrow is Mr. 
John J. Thomas, widely known as a farmer, 
editor, and author of valuable works on farm 
implements, fruit culture, etc., and in view of all 
the testimony in its favor, we have put this im¬ 
plement (figured on the preceding page) upon 
our premium list. See page 119. 
Ogden Farm. Papers.—No. 26. 
\ - - 
It is very probable that my readers may be in¬ 
terested in the details of some other butter-mak¬ 
ing experience than my own. I have given in 
another article an account of a cow owned in 
Providence. I was satisfied that her perform¬ 
ances were due not entirely to the fact that she 
is a good Jersey, but in very great measure to 
the treatment she receives. I knew that it would 
be easy to make wheel-grease butter from her 
milk. I have therefore endeavored to find out 
all I could about Mr. Perry’s practice, and 
about Mrs. Perry’s part of the work, too. 
My letters of inquiry have brought the fol- 
speakman’s combination or prairie fence. 
penetrate the fine soil more than two inches, 
which is not sufficient to permit them to injure 
the sprouting seed or the young shoot, and by 
a dragging motion which presses downward at 
the same time, they are able to pass over the 
surface without tearing out the growing plants, 
but at the same time disturb the small growth 
of weeds sufficiently to destroy them. The 
large numbers of this harrow now in use 
amongst farmers all over the United States, and 
the increasing demand for them, show that it is 
what it claims to he—a practical and useful in¬ 
strument, As a pulverizer of the ground, after 
plowing and previous to sowing, it is in our 
estimation a perfect harrow, leaving the ground 
smooth and mellow, and in the best condition 
for the drill. Besides this primary use, it has 
many others to which it adapts itself in the most 
satisfactory manner. It can not clog either with 
trash, sods, or coarse manure, but rides easily 
over all obstructions and forces them into the 
soil. In harrowing plowed sod-ground this pecu¬ 
liarity is especially valuable, as also in harrow¬ 
ing meadows in the spring, which have been top- 
dressed during winter. By its use the manure 
is broken up fine and evenly worked down 
into the grass. The draft is also much de¬ 
creased, botli by the small size and position of 
the teeth, and a field may be harrowed equally 
well in half the time required by a common 
harrow. But as a cultivator it is most valua¬ 
ble, for no other harrow can be used to culti¬ 
vate growing crops. On winter wheat it has 
been used in thy spring with the best effects, 
and assists very much in securing a successful 
stand of clover. On growing corn and pota¬ 
toes it has also been successfully used until the 
crops are sufficiently advanced to resist the ill 
effects of weeds, and the ordinary cultivator 
comes into operation. The corn crop is the 
one which it is claimed is essentially benefited 
by the use of this harrow. It is necessary 
to plant the corn level with the surface to ena¬ 
ble the harrow to ride over the crop without in¬ 
jury. By its use corn may bo cultivated in 
drills, using the corn planter, which will easily 
plant and cover ten acres per day with the 
labor of one man and a horse, and a gain of 
one fifth in the quantity of the crop be made. 
The round, sloping teeth pass over or through 
the young corn without injury, destroying the 
A Prairie Fence. 
We give an engraving of a “ Combination or 
Prairie Fence,” invented and patented by 
Thomas Speakman, of Philadelphia, and de¬ 
signed specially for Western farms. The fence 
is of wire. As many strands may be used as may 
be needed for small or large stock. The posts 
may be eighteen feet apart if desired, and the 
stretching posts 500 to 1,000 feet, according to 
circumstances and the size of the wire. 
Between the stationary fixed posts are placed 
intermediate slats, the object of which is to 
strengthen the fence and make it plainly visible to 
stock. These intermediate slats are four inches 
wide, and may be of any desired thickness. 
They are bored edgewise, and the wires pass 
through the holes; thus a flat, broad surface is 
presented to view, making the fence conspicu¬ 
ous. The stretchers consist of movable posts, 
working in slots sunk in the ground, and the 
wires are tightened by means of cross-bars pass¬ 
ing through the posts; the ends of the cross¬ 
bars being mortised to receive wedge-shape pins 
which, on being driven home, draw the mova¬ 
ble posts together and stretch the wires tight. 
It is not necessary to stretch this fence as tight 
as iu an ordinary wire fence, as the slats support 
the wires and prevent sagging; only tension 
sufficient to keep the fence in line is required. 
The end posts are strongly braced, to resist the 
strain, as in an ordinary fence. The stretching 
bars may be removed when needed to afford a 
passageway into or out of the field. 
This fence combines the advantages of the 
wire fence with those of the ordinary picket 
fence, and its cost is about eighty cents to a 
dollar per rod for a three-wire fence, and a dol¬ 
lar and a quarter per rod for a five-wire one. 
If galvanized wire is used, this fence is very 
durable. The slats may be renewed at any time 
by using two pieces and cutting grooves in each 
to receive the wires, and fastening them together 
with wrought nails. In a similar manner the 
posts may be renewed, and the whole fence 
may be thus replaced, as needed, piecemeal. 
The inventor thinks this fence meets all the 
requirements of cheapness, durability, and effi¬ 
ciency; and although we have not seen the 
fence in operation, it seems to us as though it had 
sufficient good points to make it worthy of trial. 
lowing reply: “ I unite grazing and soiling, 
because it is more convenient for me to do so. 
I feed as great variety of food as I can readily 
obtain at fair cost, and always intend to give 
my cows the kinds or kind which they appear 
to like best and will eat the most of; keeping in 
view the chief object which I have in feeding 
them, which is to get the most ‘gilt-edged’ 
butter I can, at least cost, without forcing the 
animals to their injury. 
“ In the season for grass my cows get from 
one quarter to one half their food grazing, and 
the remainder from soiling with the common 
kinds of soiling-plants in their season, such as 
clover, corn, millet, kale, cabbage, beet-leaves, 
etc. I then give them but little grain in any form. 
Though if the cows are extra good ones for butter, 
(and I endeavor to keep no other), they will fall 
off in flesh to such an extent that they are almost 
skeletons, and too poor to be in good working 
condition, or even to look healthy and whole¬ 
some. To prevent this I give from one to two 
quarts of Indian meal per day, generally dry, 
sometimes clear, and sometimes mixed with 
wheat bran. I do not like to feed much con¬ 
centrated food to milch-cows, any way, for I 
think it has a tendency to fill up the carcass 
more than the cream-pail. In winter and spring 
I feed hay, made from grass cut quite green, 
and rowen, which is still better for cows in milk. 
For the nearer hay approaches green grass as 
animals get it in the fields, the handsomer and 
better the butter will be. In addition do all the 
good hay they will eat, I give from a quarter to 
a half bushel of roots, to each cow, according 
to age and size, every morning. I raise several 
kinds of beets, carrots, and turnips, and change 
them iu feeding as I think they will do the most 
good. Iu the evening each cow has her ration 
of from four to six quarts mixed feed, composed 
of wheat-bran and Indian meal, iu about the 
proportions of 100 lbs. bran to 50 lbs. meal, or, 
iu bulk, from five to six times as much bran as 
meal. I sometimes feed corn and oats, ground 
together half and half, but always mixed with 
bran—say 100 lbs. of the latter to two bushels 
of the former. Ido not use cotton-seed meal 
when making butter. I think I like well-cured 
fodder corn and stalks, for a change, and for 
making winter butter, about as well as hay.” 
“I have told you my present way of feeding 
