8‘tO 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[SEPTEMBER, 
through a knot at each end of the rope, and the 
ends of the gambrel-stick are laid in the angle 
formed by the rope and one end of each bar. 
The bar is then turned around the gambrel- 
stick, and the rope is wound up and the carcass 
is hoisted. When sufficiently high, hooks 
may be used to suspend the beef, or ropes 
may be used for the same purpose, or one 
end of each bar may be twisted so as to pass 
on the open prairie, all ready for the plow, and 
who may be carried thither comfortably on the 
“ cars,” can have an idea of the straits through 
which many now wealthy farmers once passed 
when they made “ashes” on the land now cov¬ 
ered by fields of wheat and orchards. Then, 
far removed from what is called civilization, 
they were buried in the woods, depending solely 
on themselves, or on the mutual assistance of 
In many rocky, rough parts of the country 
these potash camps were moved from one point 
to another as the land was cleared of the tinv 
her, and abandoned as worthless for any other 
purpose, and thus large tracts of mountain 
lands were stripped of their woods and left to 
grow another crop. But in all these cases the 
work and the ways and means of doing it were 
the same, the labor was heavy and great and 
Fig. 2.— LEACHING AND BOILING DOWN. 
beneath the beam, and then, resting against it, 
will prevent the rope from unwinding and keep 
the beef suspended, or a rod may be placed be¬ 
tween the ropes and the bars, as shown in fig. 
2, with the same effect. It should be remem¬ 
bered that beef as -well as all other meat is 
always better flavored, and keeps better, when 
it is permitted to lose all its animal heat and 
become “set” and rigid before being cut up. 
-— ■ ■—«<>»- . —- 
Potash-Making-. 
The manufacture of potash has heretofore 
been largely carried on in the heavily wooded 
parts of this country and Canada, but of late 
one or two neighboring settlers situated just 
like themselves, for all they might require. 
There slowly throughout the winter months 
the great trees were chopped down and cut into 
lengths of twelve or fourteen feet, and with the 
help of a “ logging bee ” rolled up into heaps 
ready for firing. Thus the land was cleared and 
prepared for the first crop of potatoes or wheat 
to be put in, without the plow, but by means of 
a rough harrow built of logs and armed with 
wooden teeth. These log heaps were in due 
time fired and burned down into ashes, which 
were gathered and protected from the rain by a 
rough shed roofed with bark or split slabs. 
When the scanty crop was sown or planted, 
the leaches were made, the ashes run off, and 
the profit small, and much hardship was en¬ 
dured. In the illustrations, our artist has shown 
the .prominent parts of potash-making—the log¬ 
ging (fig.l), which is the heaviest part of the busi¬ 
ness, and needs the assistance of the neighbors, 
who help each other in turn, and make “ bees ” for 
this purpose; the burning (fig. 3), which is done 
mostl 3 r at night, and is a very picturesque scene 
to outsiders who are not obliged to get black from, 
head to foot with coal-dust, nor be blinded with 
smoke or sparks, nor have to stir up the heaps 
with a long pole or handspike to keep them 
burning, but who can enjoy from a prominent 
point of rock or a little hill all the beauties or 
romance of the scene without any of the hard 
realities; and then the leaching and boiling 
years has greatly fallen off. While the manu¬ 
facture is to be regretted, as it abstracts from 
the soil a vast amount of valuable fertilizing 
material, yet the peculiar position of a back- 
woods settler is such that he is forced to make 
the sacrifice, and rob his future farm to supply 
his present needs. Poor in everything but 
strength of muscle and endurance of hardship, 
the backwoodsman very often depends on a few 
barrels of potash as the source whence he can 
procure those things urgently needed by his 
wife and young children, and few now settling 
the lye boiled down to dryness, and the heat 
increased until the mass melted. When coli^, 
the potashes were turned out of the kettle, 
broken up, packed into barrels, and as soon as 
possible taken to market and exchanged for 
provisions, clothing, or groceries, and occasion¬ 
ally, though but very seldom indeed did this 
occur, a dollar or two in money was procured. 
In this way these hardy pioneers “got along” 
until their crops were harvested, when the tide 
of fortune turned for them, and thenceforward 
they thought themselves independent. 
down (fig. 2), which also needs attention night 
and day until completed; and finally the 
packing into barrels (fig. 4), which no doubt, 
as it is the finishing operation, is the most 
pleasant, and is most cheerfully performed. 
The localities in which potash-making is 
practicable or profitable are annually becoming 
fewer, and it is to be hoped that some of the 
many projects for obtaining potash from mineral 
sources will be attended with success, and that 
the necessity for robbing the land of this im¬ 
portant (dement of fertility may cease. 
