78 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
STACKING GRAIN. 
In most parts of Europe, and in the state of Pennsylvania, and per¬ 
haps in other states, it is the practice to secure grain in stacks. This 
is not a matter of necessity, but of choice, from an impression that the 
grain keeps better, and is more secure from vermin, than when stored 
in the barn. There is probably no district of country that can boast 
of better and more capacious barns than are to be found in Pennsylva¬ 
nia ; they may be termed splendid structures, and frequently costfrom one 
to two thousand dollars: and yet they are hardly ever used for storing 
the unthrashed grain. In travelling in that state in August, we saw 
stack yards often containing from ten to twenty stacks of grain, but 
seldom saw any in the barns, several of which we examined; and we 
were informed, that the grain remained sometimes for years, in one in¬ 
stance seven, and until the market price was high, without sustaining in¬ 
jury—the farmer being rich enough to do without the avails of his 
crop till he got a good price. But there are many who must stack 
their grain from necessity; and as it is very important that the stack¬ 
ing process should be rightly managed, we have deemed it useful to 
copy from Low, a description of the mode practised in Scotland, where 
the business is managed in the most approved form. It follows: 
“The stacks may be made circular, with a diameter of 12 feet or 
more, according to the convenience of the farmer, and the size of his 
barn. The manner of working is this: 
“ A circular layer of straw, or other substance, is laid, to form the 
bottom. The workman begins by placing a sheaf upright in the cen¬ 
tre of the intended stack, round which he places other sheaves, also on 
their but-ends, with the tops inclining inwards; and this he continues 
to do in regular courses, the sheaves being placed closely together, until 
he nearly reaches the outside of his foundation. He then lays an out¬ 
side layer all around, the buts being outwards, with the top and upper 
half of the sheaves resting upon the inner ones. In this operation of 
laying the exterior layer, he first grasps a sheaf, and then placing it 
close to, and somewhat upon, the sheaf last laid, he presses upon it with 
his hands and the weight of his body, and lifts himself forward, until 
he has placed his knees upon it; and then grasping another sheaf, he, 
in the same manner, places it in its position, and so moves on from 
sheaf to sheaf. He thus lays a layer of sheaves all around, and then 
a second laj'er, in the same manner, filling up, where necessary, the in¬ 
terior of the stack, until he has raised the whole nearly to the same 
level as the top of the upright sheaves before mentioned. 
“ Having completed the first part of his work, that is, having laid his 
outside layers, and filled up the heart, so that the whole maybe nearly 
level, but with a slight dip from the centre outwards, he proceeds 
thus:—He lays his second course of sheaves all around, with their buts 
about 15 or 18 inches further back than those of the outside course. 
Having done this, he fills up the interior of the stack; but, in filling'up 
the interior, he does not generally observe the same order of courses 
which he does in laying the outside layers; he merely packs the sheaves 
in a proper manner, so that they may fill up the whole interstices. He 
now lays an outside layer all around, with the buts outward, as before, 
and the ear-ends slightly elevated, by resting upon the buts of the last 
laid or inner course. Thus he proceeds, alternately laying the out¬ 
side and the inner course, and filling, as he proceeds, the heart or inte¬ 
rior, carefully preserving, as has been said, the dip of the sheaves from 
the centre outwards. 
“Sometimes when the stack is very large, or the straw short, more 
than two internal courses are laid. The process, however, is the same. 
The different courses overlap, and the workman proceeds by laying the 
courses in succession upon each other, and filling up the heart. 
“ When the workman has carried his stack to the height of 12 feet, 
or more, he begins to contract it. But he first lays a course projecting 
a few inches beyond the outer course last laid. This is intended to 
form the eaves of the roof; but often this is dispensed with, and it is 
not essential. 
“ After this he contracts the stack, each successive course of sheaves 
being laid more inwards. At the same time, the elevation of the cen¬ 
tre is not only preserved, but increased, so that the sheaves may have 
an increased obliquity as the upper part of the stack is-formed. 
“ When the workman has contracted the top to a platform of three 
or four feet in diameter, he rises from the position in which he had 
hitherto worked, and places a sheaf upright in the centre, and this lie 
surrounds with sheaves standing in like manner upright, but with their 
tops inclining inwards, and leaning upon the centre-sheaf. This sum¬ 
mit of upright sheaves he firmly surrounds with two or three turns of 
a straw-rope, the ends of which are sometimes fixed to opposite sides 
of the stack, so as to prevent the summit from being blown down. 
“ The stack is now in the form of a cylinder with a conical top. It 
is usual to make the diameter of the stack increase as it rises in height. 
This deviation from the perpendicular, however, should be very slight, 
as it tends to render the stack more apt to incline to one side. 
“ The stack is now to be thatched, after it has subsided a little, and 
it is proper that a certain quantity of straw be in readiness for the pur¬ 
pose. The straw is formed into bunches, by drawing it out by the 
ends into handfuls: the short straw which is separated in this opera¬ 
tion is reserved for other purposes, as forming the bottoms of the stacks, 
and partly also for thatching. 
“Twisted straw-ropes are to be in readiness. 
They may be made by means of the simple in¬ 
strument, Fig. 1. It consists of a handle of from 
two to three feet long, bent at one end like a bow, 
and having at the other a ring and swivel, 
through which ring a straw-rope is passed, which 
is lied round the waist of the worker. The 
straw to be twisted is fixed to a notch at the end 
Fig. 1. 
of the bow, and gradually supplied by a person from a heap. The 
other worker, who may be a very young person, the work requiring no 
exertion of force, walks backward turning his bow round with one 
hand, until the rope is formed of the length required. The ropes thus 
formed are coiled upon the arm, and reserved for use. 
“ The workman who thatches 
the stack stands upon the roof. 
The bunches of straw being 
handed or forked to him, he 
spreads the straw in handfuls 
all around the stack, laying suc¬ 
cessive layers until he reach¬ 
es the top, the higher over¬ 
lapping a little the lowerand 
and he takes care, by working 
backwards, not to tread upon 
the straw already spread.— 
When he reaches the upright 
sheaves at the top, he lays a 
thick row of covering on, which 
may consist of short straw, 
which he draws to a point at 
the top, and makes tight with 
a thin straw-rope wound round 
it. 
“The straw is then fastened 
down by means of the straw- 
ropes already described. The thatcher stands upon a ladder aloft, so 
as to be able to reach the summit, while two assistants remain on the 
ground below, or are supplied with short ladders. He lays the ropes 
over the roof in a series at the distance from each other of 12 to 15 
inches. They are passed obliquely over the roof, and fixed to, or 
wound round, another rope placed above the eaves, or below them, as 
in figure 2.” 
Conklin’s Revolving Press Harrow —figured in the 2d No. of the cur¬ 
rent volume, promises to become very serviceable to the farmer, and 
for a purpose not originally anticipated. The object of the inventor 
was to obtain a machine to scarify old meadow and pasture grounds, 
for the purpose of destroying the mosses, pulverizing the surface, and 
covering seeds of the cultivated grasses. As a scarifier, for tillage 
lands, it is found highly beneficial—first, in superseding repeated 
ploughings; and, secondly, in saving for the crop, the fertilizing mat¬ 
ters of the sod, in grass lays, which are turned up and wasted by a se¬ 
cond ploughing. By its action upon an inverted sward, or upon a stiff 
clay, the surface is thoroughly pulverized, and a fine tilth is expedi- 
tiously obtained, for covering the seed. Our neighbor, C. N. Bement, 
has one of these machines in operation, and is highly pleased with its 
performance. 
NEW BARN DOOR FASTENING. 
Thomas D. Burrall, Esq. of Geneva, who has invented and put in 
operation many excellent machines to abridge the labor of the farmer, 
has sent us a model of a barn door fastening, which combines simplicity, 
cheapness, strength and durability. We give a representation of it be¬ 
low, as shown with the doors open. A, is an upright bar, attached by 
a half inch bolt, or pin. B, which serves as a pivot, to one of the doors, 
near the edge, and is held in its place by brackets, a b at top and bot¬ 
tom, and the spring c. On the other door is seen the slide latch or 
catch D, kept also in place by bracket c, and spring e. The latch may 
be six inches broad, and should be bevelled on the inner side. A knob 
for opening the door, is attached to the latch, and passes to the outside 
of the door, through which an opening is made for it to slide. Over 
the centre of the doors, is a catch f , firmly fixed, into which the up¬ 
right bar A, fastens' when the door is closed; and below it, in the sill, 
is a mortice G, which fastens the lower end of the bar. When the 
doors are to be opened, the latch D is drawn back by means of the 
knob, and the door opens; and by pressing the foot or hand against 
the bottom of the upright bar A, on the other door, it is thrown into 
the position indicated by the dotted lines 2-2, and the second door 
opens. When pushed to, both doors become instantly fastened. A 
