258 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
feet. The frame consists of four corner posts, 
a sill, a cap-piece, and two girts on each side 
and end. The lower girts are placed a foot 
from the sill, and on them rests the movable 
bottom (fig. 3), on the middle cross-bar of which 
is fixed two hooks, seen at a, a , fig. 1. At b, b, 
fig. 1, is shown a roller which works in boxes 
bolted to the posts on one side. This roller is 
furnished with guides (c, c), which confine the 
rope as it is wound up, and a ratchet and catch 
to keep it in position when turned by the lever 
shown in fig. 2. This lever fits in slots in the 
wheels (d, d), which are preferably of cast-iron, 
and as it is pressed flown turns the roller and 
winds up the*rope, which passes through a 
pulley-block at the top of the frame and raises 
the movable bottom. At the top of the frame 
are shown the ends of some loose bars (two or 
three are sufficient), e, e, e. These are slipped 
in over some loose boards placed on the hay 
when the press is filled, and confine them to 
their place when the press is worked. To work 
the press, it should be brought near the mow or 
stack, the cords, made of proper length to tie 
the bale, looped at the end, and placed in posi¬ 
tion, as seen at figure 1, the hay thrown in, and 
one man in the press should tread it down as it 
is forked to him. When the space is filled as 
closely as possible, the top boards and cross¬ 
bars ( e , e) are put in place, and the bale pressed 
until it is brought to a thickness of 2’/ a feet, 
when it is tied securely, and lowered and re¬ 
moved from the press through the lower half of 
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Fig. 3. —BOTTOM FOR PRESS. 
the side which is made movable. This movable 
side is held in place by four bolts,which are easily 
withdrawn when necessary. To facilitate the 
removal of the bale it is well to make the frame 
of the press two inches smaller each way at the 
top than at the bottom, then, by releasing the 
catch of the ratchet-wheel, the bale will slide 
downwards by its own weight without binding 
by its elasticity. A bale of hay made in this 
manner needs no slats or sticks of wood at the 
corners, and will weigh about 180 pounds. A 
Fig. 4.—HAY-BALE WITHOUT LATHS. 
common wooden screw*, similar to those of the 
old-fashioned cider-presses, may also be fitted 
into' the frame to work the press, but it is more 
cumbersome in working, and occupies more 
room than the roller. 
Besides this sort of press, there are several 
more powerful, which may be worked by a two- 
horse power, and will bale ten tons per day. 
Their cost is $100 and upwards. As by the 
process of baling, hay can be transported by rail 
at reasonable freights, when unbaled hay can 
not be moved unless by wagon, it is seen how 
easily a much increased value is given to this 
important product; this as well as straw, 
which is subject to the same conditions, always 
bears a high price in large towns and cities, 
while a hundred miles distant it may be com¬ 
paratively valueless to turn into money. 
What Lands will it Pay to Drain? 
Our readers do not need to be told that we 
are firm advocates of underdraining. We be¬ 
lieve that when judiciously done it is the most 
profitable improvement that we can make. At 
the same time, we have narrowed down our 
ideas of what is judicious in draining, until we 
have reached the following conclusion : 
It is not judicious to spend money in draining 
land that needs draining , so long as we can use 
the money to good advantage in the better cultiva¬ 
tion of other good land that does not need 
draining. 
In other words, we believe that the true 
maxim for the improving farmer is: “Be thor¬ 
ough as you go.” Don’t improve the whole 
farm at the same time—gradually getting the 
worst lands into condition to pay half their 
expenses—but (unless the working capital is a 
large one) confine yourself to land that will 
pay full expenses—and a profit. If a field that 
is otherwise the best of the farm fails to do as 
well as it ought because it needs draining, then 
drain it by all means, and when it is dry manure 
it and cultivate it thoroughly, and continue to 
devote to it all the manure and care for which 
it will pay a good profit. When it is in such 
good condition that more money can not profit¬ 
ably be spent on it, then take up the next best 
field and improve that. If it needs draining, 
then drain it; but if not, then, instead of drain¬ 
ing some other field, let the draining wait, and 
use the money to make this land as good as, 
under the circumstances, it will pay us to make 
it. And so go on—being thorough as you go— 
devoting the first investment to the best laud, 
and the next to the next best, and letting the 
character of the land determine whether the in¬ 
vestment shall be in drains, in manure, or in 
labor, or in all three of these. 
It may pay very well to underdrain land at a 
cost of $70 per acre, when the effect will be to 
increase the hay crop from l 1 /* ton to 2 tons. 
The s / 4 ton is an addition to a crop that we 
must go to the expense of making, and if hay 
is worth $20 per ton it will pay a profit equal 
to about twenty per cent of the cost of tlio 
draining. But it will not pay to spend this 
amount to underdrain waste land for the sake 
of raising its produce from nothing to one ton 
per acre—for such a crop would pay no profit. 
The old saw is right in saying that he is a 
benefactor of the human race, not who makes a 
blade of grass grow where none grew before* 
but who makes two blades grow where one 
grew before. If the old saw-master had been 
a high-farmer, he w’ould have given even greater 
praise to him who made three blades grow 
where two grew before; for the reason that in 
this case the extra yield would have been pro¬ 
duced at less cost of labor, leaving more labor 
for other productive work. 
When this principle shall have been adopted, 
then we shall see underdraining much more 
largely resorted to. But farmers soon sicken of 
draining swamps to let them lie waste, because 
it won’t pay to manure and work them at the 
expense of the better parts of the farm. 
The Southern Park-Gate. 
Dr. Gilbert, of Memphis, sends us a drawing 
of a park or plantation gate, which he says is 
“ the only perfect gate, and the most econom¬ 
ical one ever invented—plumb, immovable, and 
unchangeable. It can not sag; admits wagons 
loaded with cotton or hay; keeps out thieves; 
and is very valuable for stock and stable-yards 
near cities.” The size of the opening is 10 ft. 
by 14 ft. The posts should be of cedar or 
locust, the brace straps of oak, aud the other 
parts of light stuff, well seasoned. This gate 
is prevented from sagging by means of the 
diagonal rod across the top, in the middle of 
which is a screw by which it may be drawn up 
SOUTHERN PARK-GATE. 
tightly -when needed. The gate-post turns in a 
cup in the sill. A small quantity of blacklead 
aud tallow in this cup will cause it to turn 
easily and without creaking. The hole in 
