1872 ] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
297 
grind a thousand bushels without dressing, and 
cost $20. The frame is a very simple affair, 
made very stout; the lower stone is stationary, 
and is bedded on the frame; the upper stone is 
suspended on the spindle, and is turned by 
means of the pulley above. A screw on the 
upper part of the spindle raised and lowered 
the stone as became necessary. The hopper 
above fed the grain into the eye of the stone by 
a shoe and shaker, as in any ordinary mill. A 
hoop surrounds the upper stone, and the meal 
is discharged through a spout in front into a box 
or bag placed to receive it. The economy and 
convenience of such a mill arc very great when 
one is located at a distance from a miller, and 
even when this is not the case it is a great con¬ 
venience to be able to do all the work-of the 
farm at home on days when the weather is not 
fit for out-door work. The saving made in 
feeding ground grain is such that where no 
more than ten head of stock are to be fed it 
would be profitable to incur the cost of a mill 
to do the grinding. These mills are very easily 
kept in order, and the method of dressing the 
stones is so simple that any one can learn to do 
it by trying- a few times and following directions. 
How to Ring a Pig. 
There are circumstances in which pigs should 
not be allowed to root. In fact, when they are 
not constantly penned up, or where a lot can 
not be appropriated altogether to their use, it is 
absolutely necessary to prevent .them from root¬ 
ing. All methods of cutting the snout have 
with us been unavailing; the wound very rapidly 
heals, and nature seems to have provided so 
effectually for the perfection of the rooting im¬ 
plement, that nothing save a ring which acts 
mechanically prevents its use altogether. The 
best ring avc have used is a horseshoe nail with 
the point beaten out into a slender wire, which 
may be passed through a hole made in the snout 
with a common awl, and twisted two or three 
IUKGING A PIG. 
times around the head of the nail. This stays 
in place, and offers so much obstruction to the 
action of the edge of the snout, that the hog 
can not root while it remains there. It does 
not operate by any sharp points pressing on the 
snout painfully, and therefore may be used by 
the most humane and considerate man without 
any qualms of conscience. 
The main difficulty in ringing a hog is to hold 
him during the operation. This is done very 
easily by coaxing him up to a trough, and tak¬ 
ing him by one ear; he immediately squeals, 
and when the mouth is open a noose is slipped 
over the upper jaw back of the tusks and drawn 
tight. The end of the rope is passed round a 
fence-post or anything which may be handy, 
and the pig will hold back, steadily hanging on 
the rope, without making any other movement. 
It is then the work of an instant, having every¬ 
thing all ready, to pierce the snout and insert 
and fasten the nail. The rope is loosened, and 
slips off the pig’s jaw in an instant. Good- 
sized hogs may be thus ringed by one man 
without the need of any help besides the tools. 
----- 
A “Buck-Board” Wagon. 
All the costly appliances of modern carriage¬ 
building hardly accomplish a better result—so 
fiir as comfort goes— 
than is secured by the 
very simple “ buck- 
board” of the back- 
woods, which is cheap, 
simple, and effective. 
The accompanying il¬ 
lustration shows a 
modification of the 
original device, which is 
in use in some parts of 
the country, and which 
deserves to be more gen¬ 
erally adopted. The two 
axles are connected by 
a platform of oak or ash 
boards, wdiich doe3 duty at the same time as a 
reach, as a body, and as springs. On this plat¬ 
form, which is about three feet wide, there is 
built a common buggy-seat, with or without 
springs, for two persons, so placed as to bring 
the weight half-way between the axles. 
This wagon, which may be built at any coun¬ 
try shop, will be found as easy and comfortable 
as the best buggy. It is susceptible of high 
finish, and may be made an elegant vehicle. 
. — « C 4 ■ rgg <5> CTf i ► ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ 
Applying Manure to Wheat. 
We know two quite distinguished farmers in 
Western New York whose land is thoroughly 
underdrained and in 
very high condition. 
Both grow a great deal 
of clover and feed a 
large number of sheep. 
All the clover and 
straw grown on the 
farm, as well as the 
corn and corn-stalks, 
are fed out, and a large 
amount of rich manure 
is made every winter. 
Both pile their manure 
in the spring, and keep 
it over until the fall. 
One applies it to his 
winter-wheat, and the 
other spreads it on his 
grass land that he in¬ 
tends to break up in the spring for corn. 
The farms adjoin. Both are noted for their 
great productiveness. It would be difficult 
to select two better managed farms in the State. 
But we noticed that the farm on which the 
manure is applied to the grass land is far cleaner 
than that on which the manure is applied to 
the wheat. We think that it will not be an 
easy matter to get rid of the weeds so long 
as the manure is applied to a crop, like 
wheat, that can not be cultivated or hoed. 
We are well aware of the advantages result¬ 
ing from applying manure to wheat. It is a 
crop which we sell, and which brings in a good 
round sum of money at once. We are all 
anxious to get a large yield, and it is certainly not 
an easy matter when there is some good manure 
in the yard to refrain from drawing it on to the 
wheat fallows when we know that it is likely to 
add ten or fifteen bushels per acre to the crop. 
When land is clean, and when the hay', straw, 
and grain crops are free from weeds, the prac¬ 
tice of applying manure to wheat has many ad¬ 
vantages. But on farms where even clover is 
not free from docks and red-root, and where the 
wheat, oat, and barley straw is mixed with in¬ 
jurious plants, the manure must contain large 
numbers of Aveed-seeds. Piling and fermenting 
the manure will not destroy the vitality of these 
seeds. Many of them will be pretty sure to 
grow in the wheat, and will go to seed, and so 
land and manure will become more and more 
infested with these troublesome plants. 
It would seem, therefore, that as long as our 
farms and crops are weedy we must adopt some 
other method of enriching our land for wheat. 
If the land is poor, we might apply the manure 
to a one or two-year-old grass or clover sod in 
the fall, say in August or September. Spread 
evenly and harrow thoroughly. The weed-seeds 
would germinate in the fall or spring. Then 
pasture the field next spring, and plow it up be¬ 
fore the Aveeds go to seed, and fallow it for 
Avlieat. We should be pretty sure of getting a 
good crop, and the land would be clean, and the 
following crop of clover would be heavy and 
free from weeds, and we should have made a 
commencement toAvards that cleaner and bet¬ 
ter farming, Avliich Ave must ultimately adopt. 
Harvesting Buckwheat. 
“ A Young Farmer” wants information about 
harvesting buckivlieat, Avliich Ave give somewhat 
A STOOK OF BUCKWHEAT. 
in fall, as it is of general interest, and the crop is 
sufficiently valuable to make the proper harvest¬ 
ing of it worthy of more care and attention than 
are generally given to it. No crop is more care- 
